This is a traditional ‘Letters to the Editor’ for the people in our union of 240 churches across New Zealand. For more about this: baptist.nz/mailbox Mike Crudge is Communications Director at the Baptist National Support Centre in Auckland. He is also part of Royal Oak Baptist Church.
Thank you for participating
Thank you to all those who participated in letter writing this year as we re-started this form of ‘internal-family’ communication after a hiatus of more than a decade. From this point on please limit your letters to 300 words – letters longer than 300 words will be abridged. The following letters are not 300 words, and end our introductory grace period of allowing long letters.
Letters
To the editor
I feel a response is called for to the group of letters published in the last Letters to the Editor, following the publication of the document entitled “Concerning Gaza, Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem,” which was published on 14 August.
One letter referred to the “horrific unprovoked attack by Gaza (Hamas) on the (sic) 7 October 2023, which was brutal and without mercy, killing women, children and babies, as well as taking 230 hostages.” I agree with most of this statement, apart from the use of the word “unprovoked.” Do your correspondents not realise that for 17 years Israel has imprisoned over 2 million people in Gaza and controls everything that comes in and out of that territory, including the number of calories needed to enable the people of Gaza to stay alive? Gaza has been aptly described as the world's largest open-air prison. I would ask your correspondents what they would think if an Arab country were to imprison 2 million Jews in the same way? If these imprisoned Jews were to respond in a way similar to the way Hamas responded, would they call that an unprovoked attack?
This same letter called upon us to pray for “an immediate and permanent halt to all bombing of Israel.” I am incredulous. It is well known that over the years, Gaza has sent numerous homemade rockets (not bombs) into Israel, but there has been no bombing of Israel anything like the bombing of Gaza since October 2023. According to Wikipedia, “By October 2024, Israel said it bombed 40,000 targets in the Gaza Strip. By one estimate, as of April 2024 the bomb tonnage dropped on Gaza was more than 70,000 tonnes, surpassing the combined bomb tonnage dropped on Dresden, Hamburg, and London in World War II” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_bombing_of_the_Gaza_Strip). And that was just in the first few months of Israel’s destruction of Gaza. Should we not also pray for the immediate and permanent halt to all bombing of Gaza?
Another letter suggested that “the instigators of such must not have any idea of Biblical history, Biblical prophecy and are instead listening to mainstream media reports.” Perhaps your correspondent could enlighten your readers about biblical history and biblical prophecy, and also advise us where else to get information about the genocide that has been happening in Gaza.
A third letter also criticised mainstream media. Your correspondent asks, “Who are the sources of these allegations? Mainstream media (MSM) gets it’s (sic) information from Hamas, who has it's (sic) own ‘journalists,’ often terrorists, and the Gazan Ministry of Health, also Hamas. Any information that they provide is suspect, requiring careful examination.” This question masks a much deeper problem. Is your correspondent not aware that Israel has banned all foreign journalists from Gaza? Furthermore, Israel has killed over 270 journalists and media workers in Gaza in the last two years. Does your correspondent have any evidence that those reporting from Gaza are terrorists, as she claims? Your correspondent also suggests that the information from the Gaza Ministry of Health is suspect. Is she not aware that the UN considers these figures to be generally reliable, and by all accounts, they are considerably understated, and that the number of those people killed is more likely approaching 400,000?
I have several issues with the final, much longer letter you published. I raise several points for consideration.
Your correspondent refers to the IDF upholding International Humanitarian Law and taking extensive and active steps to minimise civilian casualties. The evidence from Gaza seems to point in a different direction. Almost all the hospitals, mosques, schools and churches have been destroyed, and over 20,000 children have been killed. According to Al Jazeera, a leaked classified Israeli military database shows that 83% of the deaths in Gaza are civilian deaths (https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/8/21/israeli-data-shows-83-percent-of-gaza-war-dead-are-civilians-report). He points out that Gaza is “an unprecedentedly complex urban battlefield”, and this is no doubt correct. If Israel was able to pinpoint an individual in an apartment in urban Tehran and assassinate that individual, could it not do something similar in Gaza? If IDF intelligence ascertained that a terrorist was in a school, should it not isolate that terrorist, rather than destroy the entire school and its neighbourhood? If your correspondent’s child was in a school with an active shooter, would he advocate destroying the whole school?
Your correspondent also wants Egypt to open its borders and let the people of Gaza escape. If he knew a little history, he would know that most of the population of Gaza are descendants of those expelled from their homes in Israel in 1948 and 1967. Is there any good reason why they should be ethnically cleansed from Gaza into Egypt, rather than being enabled to return to their homes in Israel as mandated by UN resolution 194, which has never been complied with?
Your correspondent also questions “Hamas’ control and restrictions on any information coming out of Gaza.” This differs slightly from the claim of your previous correspondent, though it is also inaccurate. By banning all foreign journalists from Gaza, Israel has severely restricted information coming out of Gaza. Where else, apart from Hamas sources (which, as I mentioned above, the UN considers to be reliable), is this information to come from?
It is frustrating to read your correspondent’s references to “Judea and Samaria.” By using these anachronistic biblical names, favoured by right-wing Israeli politicians, your correspondent reveals his real agenda. This is not Judea and Samaria; this is Palestine and the West Bank. And perhaps he could enlighten us on Israel’s “unprecedented concessions” and the “generous offers.” Maybe he refers to Netanyahu's statement that there will not be a Palestinian state under his watch. The indigenous Arabs (not counting the 2 million Arab Israelis - very much second-class citizens of Israel, not being Jewish in a Jewish state), are now confined to about 22% of what was known as Palestine before the formation of the state of Israel. Within this 22% of the territory, there are 700,000 Jewish settlers, living on land stolen from these Arabs. Moreover, snaking around and through this 22% as a nine-metre-high separation barrier (euphemistically called a security fence by Israel), in many cases, separating these people from their livelihoods. These people have suffered from the ongoing denial of their human rights for almost 80 years, simply because of where they were born.
Your correspondent finishes his letter by calling for five edits to the previous statement. These are,
· A clear call for Hamas' unconditional surrender, disarmament, removal and prohibition from any future involvement in Gaza
· Call on the PA to recognise Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people; declare that their war with Israel has ended and that a Palestinian state will be Israel's neighbour, not its replacement; and end its demand for return to Israeli territory
· Call on Egypt to open its border for civilians who flee the conflict zone where they can safely receive aid, shelter, and medical care
· Demand for accountability and transparency from the UN and that they focus on aid delivery instead of politics
· Remove all references and quotes from the WCC declaration.
Let me conclude by amending these to suggest ways to achieve a just peace (with my edits in italics)
· A clear call for Hamas’ unconditional surrender, disarmament, removal and prohibition from any future involvement in Gaza, accompanied by Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, and the unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, the provision of international peacekeeping forces to monitor the current ceasefire, and for the billions of international aid needed for the reconstruction of Gaza and the rebuilding of destroyed homes schools churches mosques and hospitals. Bring all war criminals on both sides of this conflict to trial before the ICJ or the ICC.
· Call on the PA to recognise Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people; declare that their war with Israel has ended and that a Palestinian state will be Israel's neighbour, not its replacement; and end its demand for return to Israeli territory, and call on Israel to recognise a Palestinian state and ends its occupation of Palestine, and to withdraw to the 1967 borders, dismantle the separation barrier and remove all illegal settlements.
· Call on Egypt Israel to open its border for civilians who flee the conflict zone, where they can safely receive aid, shelter, and medical care in the homes and villages from which their ancestors were expelled at gunpoint in 1948.
· Demand for accountability and transparency from the UN and that they focus on aid delivery instead of politics, and demand the dismantling of the GHF and the reinstatement of the UNRWA to enable the full and free delivery of humanitarian aid, and stop all restrictions on aid entering Gaza
· Remove all references and quotes from Retain the WCC declaration or explain how the NGO monitor report is more accurate than the WCC declaration.
Philip Church, Royal Oak Baptist Church
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To the Editor,
Our response in regards to the statement made regarding Israel, Gaza, Judea and Samaria.
1:
1. We believe in the sovereignty of God and the redemption of sin through the shedding of the blood of His son Jesus as a substitutionary atonement.
2. We believe in the indwelling of the Holy Spirit given to us upon salvation.
3. We believe in the Baptism of believers.
4. We believe in the sovereignty of scripture
5. We believe the God of the Old Testament is the same God in the New Testament.
6. We support His chosen people, Israel.
7. We support the work and will of Almighty God who has returned His people to the very land He promised to them (Amos 9:15) and to restore His people in ways He sees fit.
8. We support the Jewish people against the tyranny of the nations and including those within the church who seek their destruction and have sought to hamper the very will of God.
2:
We disagree with the whole statement written and signed by some members of the New Zealand Baptist Churches and find it to be against the word and will of God for His people and lacking in wisdom, insight, discernment and truth. The information used to form these statements concerning Israel, Gaza, Judea and Samaria (not The Westbank) to be misinformed and aligning with a worldly rather than Biblical view of the Middle East. It concerns us greatly that some church leadership, who have authority, and who are responsible to shepherd their flocks in truth have signed this document.
We pray for the peace of Jerusalem.
We pray for the completion of God’s will for His people.
We pray for their many enemies that they would find salvation and turn from their wickedness and their evil intent to rid the Jewish people from the land.
We believe in the sovereign territories given by God to the Nation of Israel.
We do not join with the goat nations (Matthew 25: 31-46).
3:
We reject the Baptist Church of NZ taking a position to petition the government in the support of the sanctions and the encouragement of a 2- State Solution which would see the further division of more of Israel’s sovereign territory that has been appointed by God.
We await the return of our Messiah to the land of Israel as written in His word.
Revelation 2- 4 speaks of the 7 churches that Jesus writes to – which church will we be known for? The one that aligns with the very Word of God or aligns with the world.
We end with this quote from Jim Showers – President of the Friends of Israel Gospel Ministries.
“God gave the Jewish people the title deed to the Promised Land, and He has never taken it away. Even though their ability to live in the land and enjoy it is conditioned on their obedience (Dt 28-29). It was God who led them into the land; it was God who exiled them from the land; and it is God who is bringing them back to the land. The Jewish people’s return and the establishment of the modern State of Israel are according to God’s sovereign will and leading. It is our responsibility as Christians to stand with Israel and oppose those who seek Israel’s destruction. There is no justification for striking the apple of God’s eye (Zech 2:8) or for drawing a moral equivalence for the actions of Israel’s enemies. God loves Israel with an everlasting love (Jer 31:3) and we should too. We are called to comfort God’s people (Isa 40:1) .
In October 2023, we should have seen the church rise up in support of Israel and defend God’s uniquely chosen nation. Some churches answered the call, but far too many kept silent. It is time for Christians to embrace God’s plan for the ages and stand firmly with the Jewish people. To do otherwise is to oppose the Lord and His sovereign plan”
Scriptures:
Genesis 12:3
Leviticus 25:23
Deut 32:43
Jeremiah 31:3
Joel 3
Zephaniah 2:4
Zechariah 2:8
Romans 11
James 4: 4
From
Philip & Paula Hutton – Roxburgh Baptist Church
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To the Editor
'Concerning Gaza, Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem'
'Peace' and 'Justice' without Truth is not peace and justice!
1. The online Baptist statement being circulated is prefaced by Mike Crudge and in paragraph 5 he states: 'This is not a Baptist Union of New Zealand statement, but one from 20 individual New Zealand Baptist Christians... offering a call for peace, and encouraging fellow Baptists to do the same'.
NB. The new leader of the Baptist Union Chris Chamberlain and the new head of Carey Baptist College, Paul Jones have both signed it, thereby endorsing the statement. It is presented for Baptists to sign as a petition to present before parliament and to publish more widely.
2. At the end of the first section, titled 'Israel and the occupied Palestinian Territories' - a very loaded title in itself, the last portion of the last sentence of this section reads “…believing that the gospel calls us to stand alongside those who suffer, to name injustice when we see it, and to seek just peace grounded in truth and compassion.”
It is the last part of the sentence I have big issues with, namely, 'Truth'. It is Truth that is gravely lacking in this statement by the Baptists.
3. Mike Crudge also states that the Baptist online platform is to be a place for a 'voice of the people'. Tragically though, what I have seen is that the 'voice of the people' really means those who endorse and support the views presented on this platform, views which have been almost always antisemitic and definitely not 'grounded in truth'.
4. Let's unpack some history and context (not opinions) prior to Oct. 7th 2023 that led directly to the current ongoing war in Gaza.
In the name of 'Peace' Israel removed many Jewish people and the IDF presence out of Gaza in September 2005. Here was yet another opportunity for the Gazans to create their ideal 'Palestinian state'. In 2007 The palestinian people (Arabs) elected Hamas, a radical islamic terrorist organisation for their leaders over the slightly less radical Palestinian Authority.
(Hamas had and still has the stated goal of annihilating Israel. They have declared it openly many times and do so to this day).
5. Millions of dollars of international aid money poured into Gaza. Iran also poured millions into Gaza but where did this money go? It went to fund Iran's proxy army Hamas and palestinian jihadists. Did this money go to better the lives of the Gazan civilians? No, instead it built the largest terror base on earth. The one goal - to facilitate the destruction of the state of Israel. It was used to create what some have called the 'Gazan metro'. An elaborate, hundreds of miles long, labyrinth of tunnels, in some places five stories and more deep. These tunnels were built with much terrorist infrastructure, shafts coming up under and within hospitals, schools, mosques, residential houses. Hamas command centres, living quarters for the terrorists, places to hide weapons, money, and also strategically to hide Israeli hostages.
6. 'The indiscriminate bombing' by Israel is far from the truth but suits the narrative the baptist statement has contrived.
Hamas and Palestinian Jihadists embedded themselves deliberately everywhere in civilian infrastructure to make it extremely difficult for Israel to target only terrorists and to draw international condemnation. The Palestinian women and children were cynically used by Hamas as human shields and still are.
Hamas and Palestinian jihadists used the roles of journalists and doctors to incite and commit terror. Israel dropped thousands of leaflets again and again warning civilians to leave because they were going to bomb these sites - civilian sites being used for terror purposes. Text messages were also used. It was far from 'indiscriminate'.
Why is Gaza now in such a state? Because its leaders refused to give back the hostages, refused to disarm and surrender, and still refuse to lay down their ideology that calls for a holy war to wipe Israel off the map. Don't blame Israel! Blame Iran and Hamas and other palestinian jihadists that consider it is more important to kill Jews than to better the lives of their own people.
The lack of truth re Islamic ideology is also very disturbing. 'Islamophobia' is the handy term used to stop people with eyes to see and ears to hear - to make them afraid to speak the truth. It is Muslims in many places in the world massacring Christians and other minorities, raping girls and women and committing many acts of violence. Are we supposed to pretend this isn't happening?
The lack of truth, history and context in this Baptist statement/petition is quite frankly appalling. It makes a distorted sham of the statement's 'concern for peace and justice'. The intention is clearly to vilify Israel despite the lengthy preamble pretending otherwise. Quite frankly, it is shocking in its inaccurate portrayal of the situation.
For those who want more details re: the false narratives, false accusations and antisemitic content of the Baptist Statement I draw your attention to an excellent detailed letter, with links, by Amir Levy, 15 October 2025.
From
Stella Furniss, Snells Beach Baptist Church.
Got something on your mind to share?
Send an email to: [email protected] or post a letter to: Baptist NZ Letters, C/- Mike Crudge, PO Box 12 149, Penrose, Auckland 1642.
We will occasionally collate a selection of letters to share with the wider Baptist family.
- Limit your letter to 300 words (we will abridge if longer).
- Follow our guidelines for articles, opinion pieces and online comments.
- A writer’s full residential address is required on all letters, including emails, and a phone number (this data will not be published).
- Indicate which New Zealand Baptist Church the writer is a member of (this will be published).
- Pen names or pseudonyms are not accepted, and titles won't be used.
- The Baptist National Support Centre communications team reserve the right to edit or decline letters without explanation. Please note: there is not an actual ‘Editor’ position as there was in the past.
Read the letters of 2025
October 2025 Letters by John & Liz Murray (Roxburgh Baptist Church), Pam Davies (Oxford Baptist Church), Liz Carter (Otumoetai Baptist Church), and Amir Levy (Dunedin City Baptist Church).
August 2025 Letters by Patrick Baker (Glen Eden Baptist Church), Andrew Baldwin (Petone Baptist Church), Steven Goulstone (Wellington South Baptist Church), and Rob Kilpatrick (Ponsonby Baptist Church).
May 2025 Letters by Kaaren Mathias (Ilam Baptist Church), Robert Jensen (Snells Beach Baptist Church), and Bradley Nicolson (Oxford Terrace Baptist Church).
Photo credit: overlayed image of the ‘Mailbox’ column in the last newsprint version of The Baptist magazine, December 2014, over a photo of a desk.
