This episode was released after a period of pause following the Bondi attack, as we grieved in solidarity with our Jewish brothers and sisters. In the final episode of In the Shadows of the Holy Land, we speak with Fr David Neuhaus SJ, an Israeli Jesuit priest, theologian, and one of the most important voices in Jewish–Christian relations in the region.

Born into a Jewish family shaped by exile and the trauma of the Holocaust, raised in apartheid-era South Africa, and later received into the Catholic Church, Fr David’s life has unfolded across some of the defining moral crises of the modern world. That journey has given him a way of seeing the Holy Land from the margins.

In this conversation, Fr David reflects on identity and belonging, the legacy of 1917 and the modern roots of the conflict, the misuse of Scripture in Zionism and Christian Zionism, and the dangerous illusion that security can be built on domination and exclusion. He speaks candidly about anti-Semitism, its reality, its horror, and its weaponisation, and about the Church’s struggle to speak clearly in the face of injustice.

Drawing on theology, history, and personal encounter, this episode wrestles with what it means to be prophetic in a time of war, how lament is not a failure of faith, and where fragile but real signs of hope might still be found.

In this episode of In the Shadows of the Holy Land, we begin by widening the frame with Fr Shiran Fonseka, a Redemptorist priest from Sri Lanka now based in Melbourne. Shiran reflects on three decades of civil war, how neighbours learned to see one another as enemies, and how the Church worked to rebuild trust through preaching justice, defending human dignity, and simply staying with communities while everything around them fell apart. His story, including his congregation’s response to the recent floods in Sri Lanka , reminds us that war and reconciliation are human stories, not tribal ones.

From there, we turn to our main conversation with Sami El-Yousef, CEO of the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem and a lifelong Christian resident of the Old City. Sami outlines the fragile yet deeply rooted Christian presence in Palestine and Gaza, the network of schools, parishes, and institutions that often step in where the state cannot, and how the Church navigates its mission under both the Palestinian Authority and Hamas. He speaks candidly about the scale of destruction in Gaza and the West Bank, the loss of hope, international silence, and the Church’s courage to name injustice without becoming a political pawn.

Together, these two conversations invite us to recognise patterns that repeat across continents: division, dehumanisation, courageous leadership, and the slow, patient work of rebuilding trust. What does it mean for the Church to stand with people in the midst of war , and what might genuine solidarity look like from places like Australia?

Tune in and find out.

In this episode, we talk with Hana Bendcowsky, Program Director at the Jerusalem Center for Jewish-Christian Relations at the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue. For more than two decades, Hanna has worked at the heart of Jewish–Christian relations , creating programs that bring communities together across painful histories, unequal realities, and deeply felt fears.

Growing up as part of the majority in Israel shaped how she sees responsibility, empathy, and the moral weight of dialogue. In this conversation, she reflects on what happens when people carry trauma, faith, and identity into the same room, and why genuine encounter matters even, and especially, during times of war.

Hanna speaks candidly about the challenges of teaching religious literacy in a place where religion is often weaponised, and the quiet courage required to stay in conversation when everything around you pulls towards division.

This episode offers a grounded, human look at what interfaith dialogue can be when the stakes are unbearably high.

Watch the full video at www.commonhome.tv

Visit the Rossing Center for Education and Dialogue to learn more about their work for peace in a time of war.