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.
These letters are the views, opinions and beliefs of the individual people who have written them – who are part of our union of Baptist churches.
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31 August 2025
To the Editor:
We recognise that the injustices between the Arab states and Israel did not begin on 7 October 2023 but are part of a much longer history of fear, trauma and violence.
The horrific unprovoked attack by Gaza (Hamas) on the 7 October 2023 was brutal and without mercy, killing women, children and babies, as well as taking 230 hostages. This was an act of war perpetrated by Hamas living in Gaza and Israel responded accordingly.
We call on all Christians in New Zealand to pray for the following:
1) An immediate and permanent halt to all bombing of Israel.
2) The release of all hostages, dead and alive held in Gaza.
If these conditions are met a peace treaty can be a reality.
John & Liz Murray, Roxburgh Baptist Church.
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1 September 2025
Dear sir,
It was with shock my husband and I heard in our church about this petition [Concerning Gaza, Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, 14 August] written by members and making the rounds of Baptist churches. But, after reading it, we concluded the instigators of such must not have any idea of Biblical history, Biblical prophecy and are instead listening to mainstream media reports.
Another letter I read in response to it stated why is there no condemnation of the tens of thousand Christians currently being murdered in Nigeria nor rage regarding other war hotspots, eg. Ukraine, Syria,. Yet they are galvanized by Gaza.
While we want the people of Gaza to finally be at peace, it will never come for them while hamas remain.
May above all else, we be praying and fasting for the salvation of this nation and Iran, where actually many are turning to Christ because of the situation they are now in and the corrupt ones leading them.
The Bible tells us to pray, to seek God's will for these nations. To stand in the gap. Why is there a nationwide petition and not a call for corporate unity and prayer and fasting. This is a spiritual battle, not a time for petitions.
"The steadfast prayer of a righteous man availeth much."
"What is impossible for man is possible with God."
Finally, 2 Chron 7:14.
Let's be instigators of the miraculous, let's bring Heaven to earth, because of our Amazing God and All He is.
Sincerely,
Pam Davies, Oxford Baptist Church,
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10 September 2025
Dear Editor,
I am responding to last months [14 August] ‘Statement concerning Gaza, Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem’.
One thing that stood out is the statement around how Israel is alleged to be acting in Gaza.
Who are the sources of these allegations? Mainstream media (MSM) gets it’s information from Hamas, who has it's own ‘journalists,’ often terrorists, and the Gazan Ministry of Health, also Hamas. Any information that they provide is suspect, requiring careful examination.
Please check out alternative sources of information easily assessable online on Facebook and web pages – Amir Tsarfati, Israel Institute of New Zealand and the Indigenous Embassy Jerusalem are a few. Don’t assume that what you hear via MSM is the truth. More than ever we need the wisdom and discernment of the Holy Spirit.
Liz Carter, Otumoetai Baptist Church.
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15 October 2025
[This letter is a version edited by the author of a much larger communication first received on 1 September]
Dear Editor
The 14th August 2025 statement [Concerning Gaza, Israel, the West Bank and East Jerusalem] attempts to address concerns from both sides. Yet, it glaringly lacks an explicit call on Hamas to surrender, disarm, and be removed from Gaza. It is also highly emotive and missing key context and nuance. All these grossly compromise and undermine the statement.
The main issues are:
· deliberate misrepresentation of the war in Gaza
· omitting Hamas' atrocities past October 7th and its responsibility for the war and its associated destruction,
· ignoring key historical context
· over reliance on unscrutinised data from Hamas, the UN and mainstream media
Hamas is a prescribed terror organisation in NZ, whose stated goal is to destroy the state of Israel. Hamas's Oct 7th terror attack deliberately targeted, killed, and kidnapped Israelis and non-Israelies. Following this horrific attack, Israel declared war on Hamas, aiming to free the hostages and prevent Hamas from threatening Israel again.
There is no denying this war is horrific and is causing immense suffering for the people of Gaza. However, the main reason for the immense toll of this war is Hamas' disregard to civilian lives and its human sacrifice strategy, as admitted by its leadership [1]. This entails fighting while embedded in civilian population and illegally using hospitals, schools, mosques, and other civilian areas for military purposes [2, 3, 4]. It is amplified by Hamas' extensive tunnel network dug under Gaza, many accessed through piers emplaced in the above facilities or civilian homes [5]. Furthermore, Hamas's refusal to allow civilians to shelter in the tunnels [6] substantially increases the death toll. Yet, this strategy, which aims to maximise civilian casualties for propaganda purposes, is not mentioned in the statement.
In contrast, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) upholds International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in high regard and take extensive and active steps to follow it and minimise civilian casualties. Even though it makes terrible errors at times, it is still highly committed to following IHL [7].
All these factors make Gaza an unprecedentedly complex urban battlefield, as assessed by military experts, who have been on the ground in Gaza [7], and military historians [8]. These complexities, and Hamas' cynical abuse of Gaza's civilians and infrastructure, are the main causes for the high casualties and destruction. Yet, the statement fails to acknowledge the significance and impacts of these complexities and condemn Hamas for its abuses and violations past the October 7th attack.
The statement fails to call on the obvious way to relieve suffering and enabling aid by demanding Egypt opens its border with Gaza to allow civilians in where they can safely receive aid, shelter and medical care. This prevention of civilians fleeing a war zone is unprecedented, and starkly contrasts evacuations in other conflicts (Ukraine, Syria, and Sudan [9]).
The statement fails to acknowledge Hamas' control and restrictions on any information coming out of Gaza, on which NGOs, media reporting and the statement are based [10, 11, 12]. We should not plainly accept Hamas' claims and statistics at face value and without any scrutiny. This damaging and unprofessional practice is also conducted extensively by most media outlets and the UN [13]. This is in addition to the disproportional media exposure and focus on this particular conflict, despite horrific wars occurring concurrently which receive much less exposure and coverage (e.g. Ukraine, Sudan, Congo). The values identified in the statement should invoke similar calls for action in other conflicts.
The statement's demands regarding Judea and Samaria are incomplete, lack historical context, and ignore the many unprecedented concessions Israel made in order to progress peace. These include withdrawals from ancestral, historical, and strategic areas. Furthermore, it completely absolves the Palestinian Authority (PA) of any responsibility and agency for their rejection of generous offers for a state, which were rarely offered to others in the Middle East. These continuous refusals make many wonder whether what Palestinians really seek is their own state, or is it Israel's destruction?
The quotes from the WCC only add malicious and false accusations against Israel and the Jewish people [14]. These will only alienate those the statement states it wishes to support. The statement was adopted to the NZ context. There is no need to add malicious bias and agenda to it.
In order to address these issues, the following edits are recommended:
· 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.
In summary, despite its attempted balance, the statement ignores key information and historical context. Furthermore, it fails to explicitly call for Hamas's surrender, disarmament and removal from Gaza. The omission of these key and reasonable demands from those who started this war severely undermine the statement, as without these Hamas will exploit any ceasefire and aid to regroup and rearm for its next violent attempt to destroy Israel. This was publicly confirmed by Hamas leaders [1, 15]. And those hurt the most from Hamas remaining in power are Palestinian civilians.
From Amir Levy, Dunedin City Baptist Church.
References
[1] https://edition.cnn.com/2025/09/25/middleeast/hamas-official-oct-7-golden-moment-intl
[2] MEMRI – Sami Abu Zuhri on Hamas embedding in civilian infrastructure: https://www.memri.org/tv/sami-abu-zuhri-hamas-gaza-war-babies-women-wombs-martyred-american-campuses
[3] Henry Jackson Society – Hamas’s Human Shield Strategy in Gaza: https://henryjacksonsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/HJS-Hamass-Human-Shield-Strategy-in-Gaza-Report-WEB.pdf
[4] HonestReporting – Foreign journalists on Hamas human shields: https://honestreporting.com/foreign-journalists-acknowledge-hamas-human-shields-tactics/
[9] ReliefWeb – Chad’s open border policy for Sudanese refugees: https://reliefweb.int/report/chad/open-letter-international-community-sudan-conflict-enters-its-third-year-two-years-crisis-how-sudan-conflict-has-disrupted-millions-lives-eastern-chad
[10] Committee to Protect Journalists – Hamas intimidation of Gaza journalists: https://cpj.org/2025/05/gaza-journalists-speak-out-about-hamas-intimidation-threats-assaults
[11] https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/israel-insider-guide
[12] HonestReporting – Foreign journalists on Hamas human shields: https://honestreporting.com/foreign-journalists-acknowledge-hamas-human-shields-tactics/
[13] https://www.thefp.com/p/journalists-against-journalism-media-news-editorial
[14] https://ngo-monitor.org/pdf/NGOMonitor_ApartheidReport_2022.pdf
[15] MEMRI – Ghazi Hamad vow to repeat October 7: https://www.memri.org/reports/hamas-official-ghazi-hamad-we-will-repeat-october-7-attack-time-and-again-until-israel
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Read previous letters
May 2025 Letters by Kaaren Mathias (Ilam Baptist Church), Robert Jensen (Snells Beach Baptist Church), and Bradley Nicolson (Oxford Terrace 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).
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.
