"For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not be quiet, until her righteousness goes forth as brightness, and her salvation as a burning torch."
Isaiah 62:1
Dear Friends,
Israel in Focus: This is our ongoing effort to share the stories behind the headlines, to give you a deeper understanding of the struggles, sacrifices, and triumphs unfolding here in Israel. This month, we are not writing to you about a battlefield or a border town. We are writing about a document. It was unveiled in Bethlehem, it is addressed to the global Church, and it may already be circulating in a congregation near you. It is called Kairos Palestine II, and we believe every believer who loves Israel, especially in the United States and the United Kingdom, needs to know what it says.
What is Kairos Palestine II?
In November 2025, an organization called Kairos Palestine, which describes itself as a Christian Palestinian movement, published a new theological and political manifesto titled A Moment of Truth: Faith in the Time of Genocide. It was released at a conference in Bethlehem marking the sixteenth anniversary of the original Kairos Palestine Document of 2009 and presented as a renewed moral appeal to churches around the world.
To understand the new document, it helps to remember the first one. The 2009 Kairos Document denied the Jewish people’s historic connection to the land of Israel in theological terms and characterized terrorism as legal resistance. Jewish leaders and organizations condemned it widely. Rabbinic voices noted that it revived the old supersessionist claim that the Torah apart from Christian revelation is a dead letter, an idea most mainstream denominations abandoned generations ago. The Simon Wiesenthal Center described it as a revisionist document of hatred for Israel and contempt for Jews. Yet for more than fifteen years it has circulated through churches and activist networks as a tool for boycott campaigns.
Kairos Palestine II is not a softening of that legacy. According to a detailed analysis published in January 2026 by the research organization NGO Monitor, the new document continues it and intensifies it.
What Does the New Document Say?
Several themes stand out.
First, its treatment of the Hamas assault on Israel on October 7, 2023. The document presents the Hamas massacre of October 7 as the product of decades of injustice and blockade, and it argues that Israel cannot claim self-defense at all, asking how a colonizer can defend itself against those it has colonized. It includes a brief caveat that context does not justify the killing or capture of civilians, but the overall framing treats the deadliest attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust as an understandable consequence of Israel’s existence rather than an atrocity to be condemned on its own terms.
Second, its theology of resistance. The document wraps political struggle in the language of faith, declaring that holding on to faith and hope is resistance, that prayer is resistance, and that safeguarding the holy places is resistance. It reaffirms what it calls the right of all colonized peoples to resist their colonizers. When resistance is framed as a divine calling while terrorism goes unnamed and uncondemned, believers should ask hard questions.
Third, its handling of antisemitism. Rather than reckoning with the antisemitism embedded in its own history, the document condemns those who raise the charge of antisemitism, presenting such concerns as a tactic to silence Palestinian voices. It rejects widely adopted frameworks for identifying antisemitism, including the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition, and even positions itself as the judge of what counts as genuine antisemitism.
Fourth, its verdict on Israel itself. The document does not confine its accusations to particular policies or borders. It describes the State of Israel, established in 1948, as the continuation of a colonial enterprise built on racism and ideas of ethnic or religious superiority, and it applies the language of genocide, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing to the very existence of the Jewish state. In other words, this is not a critique of a government. It is a denial of Israel’s right to exist.
Finally, its marching orders for the Church. The document calls on churches to press their governments to isolate Israel, impose sanctions, boycott it, and ban arms exports. It goes further still, urging churches to refuse dialogue with anyone it labels a Zionist voice. This is the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions agenda presented as a religious duty, and it asks Christians to close the door on their Jewish neighbors rather than open it.
Why Believers in the US and UK Should Pay Attention
This is not a distant controversy. Three Christian organizations, the Presbyterian Church USA, United Methodists for Kairos Response, and Friends of Sabeel North America, prepared a congregational study guide built around Kairos Palestine II, released this year in time for Lent. That means this document is not staying in Bethlehem. It is being packaged for small groups, Sunday classes, and church councils across the very nations where so many of you live and worship.
We share this not just to alarm you, but to equip you. Scripture calls us to test everything and hold fast to what is good (1 Thessalonians 5:21). When a document arrives clothed in the language of faith, justice, and peace, many sincere believers will receive it in good conscience, never knowing its history or its aims. You can be the one in your congregation who knows. You can ask where a study guide comes from, what its authors have said about the Jewish people, and whether its theology leaves any room for God’s enduring covenant with Israel.
“Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name…”
Matthew 24:4–5
In the United Kingdom, the story has moved further still. The General Synod of the Church of England voted overwhelmingly to encourage engagement with the Kairos II document. To be fair, the Synod did not vote to endorse its conclusions; it affirmed that the document deserves to be heard as a fair representation of the narrative held by most Palestinian Christians. That distinction matters, but it has been largely lost in the outcry that followed. Jewish groups in Britain, Christian Zionist organizations, and a number of Protestant pastors strongly condemned the move. We believe it was a serious error. When a historic church declares that a document filled with distortion deserves a hearing, it lends that document a legitimacy it has not earned, and it damages the credibility of the very Scriptures the Church is called to uphold.
Where Vision for Israel Stands
People sometimes ask why we take a side in this conflict. Are there not grievances on both sides? Our answer is simple: we take the side of truth. Yeshua said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me (John 14:6). Few things are more life-changing for a believer than to internalize that. In every situation where a Christian must decide where to stand, it is always right and never wrong to stand with the truth. And a document built on distortion, slander, and old heresies dressed in new language is not the truth.
For more than thirty years, Vision for Israel has stood on a simple conviction: God keeps His promises. His covenant with the Jewish people has not been revoked, and His word to Abraham still stands: I will bless those who bless you (Genesis 12:3). We reject replacement theology and every teaching that erases the Jewish people’s connection to their ancient homeland or dresses their delegitimization in the garments of faith.
Our answer to documents like this is not anger, and it is not despair. It is love in action. Every week, our team serves Jewish and Arab families alike, feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, standing with survivors of terror, and comforting the brokenhearted. That is our resistance: resisting darkness with light, and lies with truth lived out in deeds.
We also want to say a word about our Palestinian Christian brothers and sisters. Many of them long for peace, dignity, and a future for their children, and we pray for them without hesitation. Loving them does not require hating Israel, and loving Israel does not require ignoring them. The Gospel is large enough to hold compassion for both peoples, and it is expressed one act of kindness at a time. That is the road we choose.
We invite you to respond in two ways. First, pray. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem, for the Church in the nations, and for Palestinian Christians who long for a different voice. Second, stand with us in practical compassion. Your gift helps us keep serving the people of Israel with food, aid, and hope at a time when they are being slandered before the world. You can give today HERE.
Truth needs witnesses. Thank you for being one.
Shalom and blessings,
Barry & Batya Segal
