When Empires Rage and the Church Sleeps: An Afrikaner’s Perspective on the Palestine Israel Conflict – by David J. Kleinhans
Young Afrikaners wave the then South African flag, some armed with guns, make the yearly pilgrimage to the Voortrekker Monument on signal hill overlooking the city of Pretoria. The Christian Nationalist government of the apartheid South Africa set aside 16 December to commemorate the battle of Blood River where the Voortrekkers under the leadership of Andries Pretorius decisively defeated the Zulu army. +-1992, Pretoria, South Africa.
Abstract:
This paper is born out of deep wrestling. I write as a white, Afrikaans South African pastor who grew up with a father deeply committed to Apartheid theology, Afrikaner nationalism, and the legends of Afrikaner heritage. Drawing from my lived experience, I weave personal narrative and historical reflection to interrogate the politics of empire and resistance, and how our commitment to either is shaped largely by our proximity to power. I seek to advance a Christian prophetic witness in this critical moment between Israel and Palestine.
I explore how, during moments of gross injustice—like Nazi Germany—those unaffected often remain passively neutral until their own safety is threatened. Solidarity with victims, it seems, tends to form only in hindsight. I argue we are repeating this pattern in Palestine.
Guided by history, and generating meaning through analogy, I trace the violence of October 7th and the subsequent onslaught on Gaza, to its historical roots, most notably the Nakba of 1948, when nearly 800,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced to make room for a Jewish state. I argue that violent resistance, including the rise of Hamas, must be understood in tension with this history, and that Israel’s ongoing oppression in Gaza and the West Bank only deepens this crisis, making peace impossible and revolution inevitable.
Drawing from South Africa’s past, I contend that peace will only come when Israel becomes a truly democratic state built on equality. As with Apartheid, this will require global pressure: Boycotts, Divestments, and Sanctions.
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