Statement from CMEP on the Interconnectedness of Violence
As Christians, we are reminded in First Corinthians 12:26 that “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it.” This truth speaks powerfully to our present moment. Violence in one part of the world does not remain confined to borders or battlefields. The suffering reverberates across societies, faith traditions, and nations.
At Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), we recognize that the violence unfolding across the Middle East is not isolated from the rest of the world. The grief, fear, and trauma felt in Gaza and the West Bank, Israel, Lebanon, Iran, and across the region are also experienced by diaspora communities around the globe, including here in the United States. Many Americans have family members, loved ones, and deep ties to the Middle East. As they watch tragedy and destruction unfold from afar, they too suffer.
This painful interconnectedness was tragically evident in the attack on Temple Israel in West Bloomfield Township, Michigan, on March 12, 2026. Reports indicate that the attacker had been deeply affected by the recent deaths of family members, including children, killed during Israeli bombardments in Lebanon. While such grief can never justify violence, the incident illustrates how war and trauma ripple outward, fueling anger, despair, and further acts of harm far beyond the original conflict.
We have also seen violence directed at Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian communities in the United States, from the stabbing and drowning attacks on children to armed assaults on student encampments and other acts of intimidation and mass violence FN. We have also seen the rise in offensive Islamophobic discourse voiced by elected officials in Washington, DC – violent rhetoric that incites hatred and violent actions. Across the country, fear has spread through Jewish, Muslim, Arab, Palestinian, Israeli, and other communities connected to the region.
Study after study confirms that discriminatory attitudes and actions, including both antisemitism and anti-Palestinian/Arab racism, are on the rise, with attacks becoming more frequent and more dangerous. These realities reaffirm a painful truth: war does not make anyone safer.
Israel’s destruction of Gaza has not brought greater safety to Israeli or Jewish communities. Likewise, missile fire directed at Israel has not brought freedom or relief to Palestinians suffering under occupation. Instead, violence and war have caused tens of thousands of deaths and displaced millions of people, hardened divisions, deepened trauma, and intensified insecurity for communities across the region and throughout the world. Indeed, the safety of Jewish and Arab (Muslim and Christian) populations in the United States and abroad has steadily declined, and Palestinians continue to endure worsening conditions under occupation.
As people of faith, we must reject the illusion that violence can create lasting peace. Instead, we must recommit ourselves to diplomacy, dialogue, and the difficult work of building just societies. We must learn again to see one another not as enemies or abstractions, but as human beings created in the image of God, each deserving equal dignity, safety, and respect.
The words of Scripture remind us that our suffering is shared. When one community suffers, we all suffer. And when we pursue peace together, we help create the conditions in which all people can live in security and hope. CMEP calls on leaders in the United States and around the world to abandon the failed logic of war and urgently return to diplomacy and development, which must include the voices of those impacted. The future of Israelis, Palestinians, and all the peoples of the Middle East, and the well-being of communities around the globe, depends on it.