Lutheran bishop denounces Israeli genocide in Gaza during Jerusalem service

Sani Ibrahim Azar, head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, has condemned Israel for committing genocide in Gaza during a Reformation Day service at Jerusalem’s Church of the Redeemer.

“What does Reformation look like after two years of genocide? What does Reformation mean when we look at a world, a country, that is so broken?” Azar asked during his sermon in the Old City on Friday.

His remarks drew immediate backlash from a German delegation representing the North Rhine-Westphalian state parliament, which attended the service as part of an official visit to Israel.

“We expressly distance ourselves – especially as a German delegation – from the one-sidedness of what was said during the service,” the delegation said in a statement issued from Dusseldorf on Saturday.