session resolution ON ISRAEL/PALESTINE

As a response to 9/11, LOPC sought to broaden our interfaith relationships and develop mission partnerships which would respond to human suffering in tangible ways. Locally, we have fostered meaningful relationships with interfaith houses of worship. For more than two decades, we have supported the Atfaluna School for the Deaf in Gaza City. We also provided a much-needed x-ray machine to the Ahli Arab Hospital in Gaza City. Both have been destroyed in the recent conflict.

We celebrate the October 2025 agreements which led to the release of all remaining live Israeli hostages in Gaza and the release of additional Palestinians held captive in Israel.  We celebrate with the families who have been reunited with their loved ones. We join with the world in holding hope that this will begin the healing for citizens of Israel and Gaza/Palestine and especially for all who have been traumatized by this conflict.

We seek to be faithful witnesses to the love of Christ towards all people. This includes those who have been involved directly and indirectly in the conflict in Palestine/Israel. Guided by our Christian values and the materials and positions of the Presbyterian Church (USA), we decry the tragic loss of life, inhumane actions, injustice against innocent civilians, and life-long trauma inflicted on entire populations. These hostilities have also had a traumatic impact on our local Jewish, Arab, and Muslim brothers and sisters. We weep and mourn with them.

We stand against all forms of Antisemitism/Anti-Jewish racism and Islamophobia/Anti-Arab racism, condemning both as pernicious forms of evil, dividing and separating us from our interfaith siblings.

We join with the PCUSA and the Presbytery of San Francisco in speaking out on this conflict. Specifically, we:

• Condemn unequivocally the attack by Hamas (a U.S. designated foreign terrorist organization) on Israel on Oct 7, 2023.
• Condemn unequivocally the collective punishment by Israel which has been formally identified as a genocide by a UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry, Amnesty International, B’Tselem, and other respected international humanitarian organizations.
• Call on the President and US Congress to require Israel’s adherence to international law and accountability by conditioning all current and future U.S. arms deliveries to Israel upon a sustained massive influx of humanitarian aid and redevelopment efforts into Gaza.
• Express our commitment to justice and lasting peace for both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.
• Stand with those threatened with any harm that inhibits their full participation in the life and liberty of local and global communities and express our commitment to justice and lasting peace for the Israeli and Palestinian peoples.

We acknowledge the complexities which have led to these enormous tragedies while being faithful to the teachings of the Gospel that all lives are equally precious. We continue to support Israel’s right to exist as a free and sovereign nation within their internationally recognized borders, the right of Israeli citizens to live safely in secure borders, and for the state of Israel to hold accountable to justice those who carry out acts of violence against them.

Likewise, we stand firm in support of the right of Palestinians to self-determination, including the right to establish an independent sovereign nation within their internationally recognized borders, the right of its citizens to live safely without occupation in secure borders, and to hold accountable to justice those who carry out acts of violence against them.

In support of our mission partners, and others working on the ground, LOPC has raised funds to provide relief and humanitarian support, and we will continue to do so. We will also remain in solidarity with our Jewish, Arab and Muslim neighbors with the hope of fostering reconciliation within our local community. In worship and through prayer, we will continue to lift up the victims and families, those who are still held captive, and intercede for lasting peace, the cessation of hostilities, and the flourishing of all people.

We, the Session of Lafayette-Orinda Presbyterian church, acknowledge a wide range of perspective and opinions on the matters addressed in this resolution among those in our congregation, and the right of private judgement is a key principle of our polity. One of the great ends of the church, however – the promotion of social righteousness – provides a clarion call to try and speak the truth, as best as we can discern it, into this tragic situation.

Received and approved December 16, 2025