People mourn for the Palestinian policemen killed by Israeli bombing at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, May 23, 2026. Five Palestinian policemen were killed by Israeli bombing of a police site in the northern Gaza Strip on Saturday, Gaza's General Directorate of Police said in a statement. (Photo by Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua via Getty Images)
Please pray for Khalid.
Gracious and Holy God, we come before you seeking your wisdom as the commissioners of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) gather in Milwaukee. We lift up all overtures and business before the 227th General Assembly. We especially lift up the overtures related to addressing the violence in Palestine and Israel. Lord, we pray for a spirit of discernment for committee members and all commissioners as they discuss the overtures wording and content. Pour out your Holy Spirit. Grant the commissioners the grace to listen to one another and to honor the diverse voices in the Presbyterian church. We especially ask that the overtures for Palestine and Israel might in some way work to provide Khalid, his family and all Palestinians with justice, peace and hope in their land. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen.
Context: Overtures to the 227th General Assembly related to Palestine and Israel.
Overture RIW-04 proposes five actions. If approved, it would:
condemn the Israeli government’s violation of the UN Genocide Convention, citing a January 2024 ruling by the International Court of Justice finding “plausible” evidence of genocide and ordering Israel to stop;
encourage members to contact Congress and the president to block military sales to Israel until it complies with international human rights law;
encourage boycotts of Israeli company products;
stand against both antisemitism and Islamophobia; and
affirm explicitly that “standing up for basic human rights is not antisemitism.”
Overture RIW-06 proposes nine actions. If approved, GA would:
call on the church to not remain silent to the “wanton killing that has taken place in Gaza and the Middle East”;
condemn “unequivocally” the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas on Israel that killed 1,200 people, a majority of whom were civilians;
condemn “unequivocally” Israel’s war in Gaza and the assault on Palestinians in the West Bank, reasserting the 225th GA’s labeling of Israel’s action as apartheid;
call Israel’s war in Gaza against the Palestinian people a genocide;
call on the U.S. president and Congress to stop military sales to Israel;
express a commitment to justice and lasting peace for both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples;
condemn and stand against all forms of antisemitism/anti-Jewish hate and Islamophobia/anti-Arab racism, as evil, while also affirming that standing up for the denomination’s values is not antisemitism.
encourage PC(USA) congregations to preach and teach on these critical issues; and
publicize the overture’s passage on the PC(USA) website and other print or digital formats.
Historical Context: These proposals represent the strongest actions proposed by the denomination since the Israeli Palestinian conflict began, building on prior 2024 General Assembly actions that included divesting from Israel bonds and reaffirming previous designations of Israeli policies as apartheid.
Additional reading:
https://pres-outlook.org/2026/05/overtures-seek-israel-embargo-genocide-declaration/
For the full RIW overtures, click on the link below, then click on the overture name of interest.
https://myga.pc-biz.org/business/committees?event=3000005&committee=3000131
