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The Hidden Agenda of Christ at the Checkpoint
Once again, Bethlehem Bible College will host its bi-annual conference, Christ at the Checkpoint (CATC), on May 21-26, 2024, in Bethlehem. CATC is an evangelical organization established in 2010 that is known for its anti-Israel views and advocacy. NGO Monitor exposed the anti-Zionist activities of the organization when it reported that:
CATC seeks to advance the Palestinian nationalist agenda within Evangelical Christian churches while simultaneously reviving theological antisemitic themes such as replacement theology.
… Other anti-Jewish themes promoted at CATC conferences include the de-Judaizing of Jesus and the promotion of a racial theory of Jewish origins.
The language in the online promotional ad for this year’s conference seems balanced, almost benign. It includes words and phrases like “Evangelical spirit, peace, justice, and reconciliation.” But something is troubling, and it begins with the name Christ at the Checkpoint, which creates the absurd optic of Jesus as a Palestinian attempting to enter Israel through an Israeli border checkpoint. This evokes the image of Jesus as a non-Jewish Christian Palestinian blocked from entering his homeland because of the evil Jewish occupation.
The obvious problem with this narrative is that Palestine did not exist in Jesus’ day. In 135 CE, the Romans — in attempting to erase any Jewish existence in, or connection to, the land of their ancestors, spitefully renamed Judea as “Syria Palestina” or “Philistia” in honor of Israel’s ancient extinct enemy, the Philistines (think David vs. Goliath).
By naming their organization Christ at the Checkpoint, the leaders seek to portray Jesus as culturally connected to modern Palestinians — and, in so doing, distort and erase the longstanding Jewish connection to the land of Israel.
Another speaker at the upcoming CATC conference is Rev. Munther Isaac, pastor of the Evangelical Lutheran Christmas Church in Bethlehem, dean of Bethlehem Bible College, and director of CATC. In 2023, his church featured a nativity scene made not with a wooden manger, but with bricks and rubble that encased a baby Jesus doll dressed in a Palestinian keffiyeh. During his Christmas message , he proclaimed: “If Jesus were born today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza.” Rev. Isaac creates the perfect non-Jewish Palestinian Jesus, while ignoring the Hamas murder of 1,200 people that led to the Gaza war.
Christ at the Checkpoint is clearly trying to erase and undermine the Jewish connection to the land of Israel. The Romans attempted something similar and failed, and their contempt for Jews consigned them to the dustbin of history.
Aaron David Fruh is a research fellow at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy at the Woolf Institute at Cambridge University, in the UK, and President of Israel Team Advocates, an Evangelical nonprofit organization dedicated to combating the growing Antisemitism on Evangelical college campuses.
The post The Hidden Agenda of Christ at the Checkpoint first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.