Local clergy, political leaders step up calls for Gaza ceasefire

Demand release of hostages, increased humanitarian aid

Faith leaders from across Greater Boston sang and prayed for peace in Copley Square recently, joining a chorus of religious leaders nationwide who have been pushing for an end to the bombings in Gaza that have cost thousands of innocent lives.

“Sail on freedom,” they sang, while some people held giant banners that read “CEASEFIRE.”

With the Israeli-Hamas war entering its fourth month and bodies of the innocent mounting, religious and political leaders gathered the evening of Jan. 24 on the steps of the Boston Public Library to urge the ceasefire to save innocent Israeli and Palestinian lives, the return of all hostages and the delivery of humanitarian aid to the region.

“We ask God the Almighty to bring peace to Palestine,” said Imam Ahmad Barry, of The Islamic Institute of Boston, in a public prayer.  “We ask God the Almighty to bring peace [to] the entire world. We asked God to unite all humankind, to stop the wars, to stop the genocide, to stop the injustice that is going on. [We] ask God to guide mankind to righteousness and save us from His anger.” 

The bombings began after the Hamas-led massacre on Oct. 7 that left roughly 1,200 Israelis dead and some 250 captured as hostages. Israel’s response was brutal, with massive bombings that have vanquished more than 26,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. More than 100 people remain hostages.

In the United States, President Joe Biden has been under intense pressure, including among Black parishioners and ministers, to push for a ceasefire. The New York Times recently reported that more than 1,000 Black pastors representing hundreds of thousands of congregations nationwide have issued the demand. 

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (center) and faith leaders from across Greater Boston sang and prayed for peace in Copley Square. PHOTO: DEIDRE MONTAGUE

The calls for peace are also heard on the streets of Boston, where local rabbis, pastors and imams, joined by political leaders, have been becoming more vocal about pressing their political leaders to prioritize innocent Israeli and Palestinian lives.

Rabbi Rebecca Hornstein, executive director of Boston Workers Circle, said each day without a ceasefire will cost more lives.

“This is a price we’re unwilling to pay and we’re unwilling to sit by and watch. In the face of all of this, how do we keep going? How do we keep going for a ceasefire? How do we keep going for mutual safety, freedom, equality and dignity for Palestinians and Israelis? How do we keep each other going? How do we keep the flame of our shared humanity alive?” Hornstein said. “We do so by coming together to grieve together, to act together, to choose courage together, knowing that those in Gaza have no choice but to gather the courage they need to survive.”

“Every mother, every child, every journalist, every doctor, every minister, every service worker, who has been killed [and] who has been made to suffer indiscriminately by this violence — I grieve for the individuals and families, Jewish, Christian and Muslim, made to suffer by the policies, the rhetoric and the actions of their nations,” said the Rev.  Darrell Hamilton of First Baptist Church in Jamaica Plain.

The Rev. Willie Bodrick II, senior pastor at Twelfth Baptist Church in Roxbury, said faith leaders are prime to fight for peace.

“Our mandate is clear. Ceasefire now! We as people of faith and goodwill are the last line of defense — the last line of defense [for] courage, the last line of defense for truth, the last line of defense, the last line of defense for love,” he said.

In the defense for humanity, “we are the last line of defense for peace,” he added.

Tahirah Amatul-Wadud, executive director and chief legal officer at CAIR-Massachusetts, said her organization has received numerous calls from people seeking to voice their dissent over the war without retribution. CAIR — the Council on American Islamic Relations — is the largest civil rights organization that protects American Muslims and allies. Many people have lost their jobs after voicing their support for Palestinians after Oct. 7, she and others said.

“We stand in solidarity and an appreciation of the courage of the professionals, the medical professionals, the students, the workers, whose employers have taken jobs from them, have threatened to take jobs from them and who have silenced them and attempted to silence them for speaking of political dissent, and an important truth,” she said.

Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley, who has been joining faith leaders in their public calls for peace, told people at the Copley Square protest that millions across the world echo their calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“Our pro-peace, pro-humanity movement is strong,” Pressley said. “It is intersectional, and it is growing daily. From the pope to the UN, to our labor siblings, to our Jewish, Muslim, and Christian neighbors, right here in the Massachusetts seventh [district], from Gaza to Capitol Hill, to these very steps of the Boston Public Library. Our destinies are tied, our shared humanity is on the line. What brings us here tonight is equitable outrage, compassion, [and] radical love.”

She noted that the country recently observed the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. and pointed out that many people are quick to quote him but do not want to apply his principles and values.

“We all know the real King was doing the work of combating the three evils of poverty, racism, [and] militarism,” Pressley said.  “People are very quick to quote King, but they don’t want…to heed his words and his call. Vengeance is not a foreign policy doctrine. We are all God’s children: Palestinian, Israeli, and American alike — regardless of our religion or nation of birth. We are one human family, and we have a collective righteous mandate to save lives and the mandate is clear: ceasefire,” she said. 

Pressley said as people continue to mourn and grieve thousands of lives stolen, they should also remember they have a moral obligation to be one another’s keeper.

“May we continue to pray for peace, to call for peace, to march for peace, to work for peace,” she said. “Now many of you here…have been told to be silent. But as my favorite poet Audre Lorde reminds us — your silence will not save you. Our silence will not save us, and it certainly will not save them…. We must never be silent in the face of injustice. For the sake of the children, for the sake of humanity, Lord, hear our prayer — ceasefire.”