“In Jerusalem, hatred is a constant temptation”
On October 7, 2023, you wake up… How do you learn of Hamas’ attack on Israel?
When I get out of bed, like any journalist, I check my phone. I hadn’t heard the first alerts. The terrible images broadcast by Hamas take my breath away. During the day, those of the BBC And Al Jazeera further accentuate this astonishment. It’s a butcher’s shop.
The following days, the streets of Jerusalem were empty. Fear gripped everyone. Palestinians and Israelis fear the city will turn into a battlefield. The October sun illuminates Jerusalem, but my heart, my soul, my intelligence are plunged in total darkness. An endless night begins.
A few days later, you write to your loved ones: “ I claim to cry over all the dead. » A backwards message…
The first few days, I couldn’t talk to anyone. I did not want to hear the possible joy of some Palestinians, nor the astonishment of Israelis who refuse to understand the causes of Palestinian resentment. I have known Israel for thirty-eight years. I arrived there with Zionist ideas. But the first intifada (1987-1993, Editor’s note) opened my eyes. I witnessed scenes of extreme violence, and understood a little of the resentment of the Palestinians linked to the creation of the State of Israel.
What led you to live in Israel?
It was July 1986, I was 21 years old. Two years earlier, I had expressed the desire to join the Benedictines in France. But first, I wanted to see the Holy Land which already attracted me. Arriving in Jerusalem for this pilgrimage, I felt at home, and I entered the Benedictine community installed on the Mount of Olives.
A few months before my solemn profession, I thought that I did not have the makings for the vow of obedience. Returning to France, I became a journalist. After ten years in the Bayard group (editor of Le Pèlerin, Editor’s note), I returned to my first love, Jerusalem, by joining the editorial staff of Holy Land magazine, the Franciscan magazine. As good sons of Saint Francis of Assisi, they seek to listen to the aspirations of each camp, to build bridges and not walls.
This work pacified and unified me. I learned to reconcile within myself what had become two loves: the Jewish people and the Palestinian people.
You are now its editor-in-chief. How do you talk about conflict when working in a country at war?
In France, where our readers live, the conflict is extremely divisive. Defending the Palestinians should be a left-wing position, while the right should support the Israelis. This is an aberration!
We are working to deconstruct the vision that would have us believe that there are the good guys on one side and the bad guys on the other. To do this, we give our readers the keys to understanding the conflict and informing it, beyond the propaganda of both camps.
Isn’t not taking sides considered, locally, as a form of cowardice?
But I took sides! I sided with both. And this choice costs me friends, on both sides. But we must have the humility not to understand what fear can cause in others. I must accept it and persist in looking at my friends, however dehumanized they may be by hatred, as men. It is a voluntary act. When you live in Jerusalem, hatred is a constant temptation.
For what?
Because we see things to vomit. Abuses by Israeli settlers or the army in the occupied Palestinian territories. Extrajudicial eliminations. Failure to respect the law. The violence of Hamas operations. The permanent lie on both camps.
And faced with what people are capable of writing in comments to press articles, or on social networks, disgust grips you. Is respect for others still possible? There is no more truth. Only propaganda, on both sides.
And the Christians in this conflict?
Since October 7, the Christian community is no longer defined by its differences – here we find thirteen confessions of Eastern or Latin Christians! – but by its belonging to a territory. Some Christians were able to understand Hamas’ actions on October 7. The majority try to contain their feelings, and pray for peace. Their economic situation is catastrophic.
The abrupt end to religious tourism has led to the loss of jobs for half of Jerusalem’s Christians. A tiny handful can benefit from Israeli compensation measures, but it is insufficient. In Bethlehem, more than three-quarters of the community finds itself without resources. Some have already left the country. We are very worried.
Despite this darkness, you manage to discern “ lights » around you…
It was that or die! A few days after the attack, I spoke with Mikhail, a former Israeli army sniper. As part of his missions, he killed many Palestinians without showing any emotion. Until the day one of the soldiers in his unit defended a terrorist against those who were preparing to lynch him.
His brother-in-arms’ act of courage transformed him. He confided to me: “Killing is easy, it’s within the reach of any imbecile. But seeing the man in your enemy is what makes you a man. »
That day, I needed to find reasons to hope, and Mikhail’s testimony was one of the first lights in the night. As I opened my eyes further, I saw many dots sparkling around me: Israelis and Palestinians continuing to reach out to each other. They believe that reconciliation is still possible. Despite everything.
Since October 7, 2023, no solution has emerged. Faced with this escalation of violence, which is now sweeping across Lebanon, is peace not a utopia?
I’m not talking about peace, but about healing. We must look at these two sick people and seek to heal them. The policy has failed. Whatever the solution – two states, one federation, one binational state – it will not solve the problems if Israelis and Palestinians do not agree to live side by side. They carry within them a mutual and rooted hatred. It is the hearts of men that we will have to repair. That’s the only real question.
What do you think should be done?
First, stop expressing sweeping judgments about everyone. They only fuel the war. What is happening in the Holy Land is infinitely more complex. Let’s start by rejecting any Manichean discourse, without imprisoning either the Israelis or the Palestinians in their errors.
We must learn to discover the riches of these peoples. Do not look away from their suffering. The dead have names, faces, stories. No life is more valuable than another.
Finally, we must protect Jews from themselves. Israel is going too far, the Jewish people are heading towards their own destruction. If we love Jews, we must help them stop.
What can be the Christian response to war?
Christianity offers the resources needed for healing hearts, whether Muslim, Jewish or Christian. They are found in the values of unity, peace, justice. Our religion intrinsically conveys the possibility of living together and shows the path to get there.
I am convinced that if everything did not fall in the Holy Land, it is thanks to prayer. Particularly that of monks and nuns. Let us join in their prayers!
The path to peace and healing seems so long… How can we not get discouraged?
When we see how hatred and radicalism have spread to our societies, it is legitimate to be concerned. Hearts are damaged, misery has set in, lastingly. Being a Christian here, in the Holy Land, changes things profoundly. We live in the land of Christ. He who carried the weight of sin and agreed to die to save us. It is through his wounds that we are healed. And then we know that in Jerusalem the tomb is empty, because Christ is resurrected. The world is already saved! Hope is not a matter of heroism, it is received from God himself. And our task as Christians is to carry this light.
In the Holy Land, a pastor guides us in this pastoral work of peace: Cardinal Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Latin Patriarch. His presence constitutes a sign of hope. Being the bishop of the one who bombs – there are Hebrew-speaking Israeli Catholics – and of the one who is bombed represents a difficult mission. The Church of the Holy Land brings together enemy peoples. In this, it is prophetic.
Are you able to save a place to recharge your batteries, an oasis in the turmoil?
I retire to my inner monastery. Through prayer, and following the invitation of Saint Benedict to “dwell with oneself”, I enter into the depths of my heart. And I pray. This is where I draw my strength.
