An event seeking to immerse visitors in scenes of bloodshed, famine and terror in Gaza is taking place at a Rock Spring church this weekend.
“Spotlight on Gaza: A Wake-Up Call for Christians” will walk visitors through a series of rooms at Rock Spring Congregational United Church of Christ (5010 Little Falls Road) depicting aspects of the ongoing devastation in Palestine.
At one station, for instance, people will view photos and a video about children emaciated from lack of food. In another area, they’ll listen to an audio recording of a 6-year-old pleading for help while surrounded by dead bodies, in a phone call that ends with the sounds of gunfire. Another station will seek to bring visitors the experience of running for their lives after the Israeli Defense Forces announce that they are going to bomb a location.
Yet another station will serve as a “resilience haven,” showing scenes of joy among people still living in Gaza.
The goal of the event, which begins at 2:15 p.m. on Saturday and will end with remarks from international human rights attorney Jonathan Kuttab, is to jolt visitors and Christians in particular into action. Organizer Rula Khoury, who comes from the Christian village of Taybeh in the West Bank and still has family there, said she hopes to restore a greater sense of urgency around the conflict.
“We want them to break the numbness,” Khoury, who currently lives in Herndon, told ARLnow. “If you don’t see or feel or touch the thing [that] is going on, you are not going to wake up.”
Khoury’s co-organizer, Katie Akbar, wanted to host an event like this after attending a similar immersive experience at a mosque. Rock Spring UCC connected with the pair through partners at Churches for Middle East Peace and the Congregation Action Network.
Both Khoury and the Rev. Laura Martin, an associate pastor at the church, evoked the teachings of Jesus in calling for more attention to Gaza.
“Following in the way of Jesus, who lived in a time of occupation himself, we have a model,” said Martin. “Jesus said, ‘If you’re hungry, give me food.’ And so, we ask that our government sends food and not weapons.”
Rock Spring UCC has a long history of advocacy on Palestine. They have previously hosted youth from the region, Palestinian clergy members, rabbis and faith leaders from various traditions, who have spoken on the conflict that the United Church of Christ’s General Synod has declared to be a “genocide” and a “humanitarian crisis that calls for immediate action.”
“We all have a part to play in having our brokenheartedness about the situation be responded to in how we live,” said Martin, who was arrested this summer at a demonstration in D.C. “There is something that each of us can do in this moment that is so full of despair.”
The event has personal significance for Khoury, who texts or calls her family in the West Bank every morning to make sure they are OK.
She wants the experience to show visitors the pain of the Palestinian people and inspire them to speak up.
“It’s a wake-up call,” Khoury said. “Our event … is a spotlight on Gaza and a wake-up call for Christians.”
