Reflecting on Israel-Gaza at One Year: War Abroad, Polarization at Home

War in the Middle East has the entire world on edge. Here at home, the war is also contributing to America’s divisions, from anti-Semitism on college campuses to hate crimes against Arab Americans to a significant breakdown in Jewish-Muslim relations. What has a year of peacemaking among America’s faith groups looked like amidst those tensions? And what does a biblical call to peacemaking (Matthew 5:9) look like for Christians here in the US? 

Andrew Hanauer is the President and CEO of the One America Movement, an organization founded by faith leaders to fight toxic polarization. One America supports faith leaders and faith communities to reject toxic forms of division and offer a moral vision that transcends our divisive and disconnected culture. Under Andrew’s leadership, the One America Movement has become one of the largest and fastest growing organizations combating division in American society, quintupling in size in the past three years.

Andrew is a frequent public speaker at houses of worship of all kinds and has represented One America before gatherings of the National Governors’ Association, Americorps, Points of Light, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and many more, and podcasts as wide ranging as Fuller Seminary and Islamic Relief USA. His work has been published or featured by USA Today, The Washington Post, National Public Radio, Salon, the Christian Citizen, and media outlets across the US.

When he is not fighting toxic polarization, Andrew is spending time with his family, coaching little league, rooting for the Golden State Warriors and Arkansas Razorbacks, and participating in small groups at his church.