Memorial – Pitt Street Uniting Church

The Wall of Tears is a powerful 15 metre by 3 metre hanging which contains the names of the 18,457 children killed in Gaza from October 2023 to July 2025. Created by American artist Phil Buehler, the Wall is in Australia thanks to the Perth Doctors Medical Aid for Palestine group, bringing the names and stories of children who have died to public attention.

At Easter in 2025, Rev Charissa Suli, National President of the Uniting Church wrote:
“With humility and repentance, we confess that our voice has not been clear or courageous in naming the immense and disproportionate suffering of Palestine. We lament our silences and hesitation. We know we cannot claim peace as our prayer if we have not named the injustices we see.

For more than seven decades, Palestinians have lived under the weight of occupation. On 7 October 2023, a horrific attack by Hamas militants in Israel claimed over 1,100 lives and saw 250 people taken hostage. Following this terrible violence, Israel unleashed a ferocious retaliation…. (And) the Palestinian people have endured merciless bombardment. Homes, hospitals, sacred places of worship, and centres of learning lie in ruins. Nearly two million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced. Medical workers, journalists, and humanitarian servants have been targeted and killed. Human rights abuses occur daily.

(Over 70,000) Palestinian lives – many of them women and children – have been stolen with unspeakable cruelty. For those who live, there is nowhere safe to go. We believe unequivocally that this desecration of human life is an outrage, a grievous wound in the heart of God.

To remain silent about the disproportionate suffering and long-standing oppression faced by Palestinians would be to deny the truth of what we see, and can never give us a just peace.”

The exhibition is sponsored by Amnesty, Palestinian Christians in Australia and Pitt Street Uniting Church.
Speakers at the launch will include Chris Sidoti, former Australian Human Rights Commissioner and member of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory founded by the UN, Dr Saira Hussain, who has done four medical missions to Gaza and Suzan Wahhab, the President of Palestinian Christians in Australia. Sydney Friends of Standing Together and the Muslim Collective are also participating in the launch and exhibition.

The Uniting Church in Australia responds to the Bondi Beach Attach with grief and call for solidarity and peace

The Uniting Church in Australia expresses its deep sorrow following the attack at Bondi Beach, which NSW Police have identified as a terrorist act.

The violence occurred while families and children were gathered to celebrate the start of Hanukkah, a long-held religious tradition, in peace. What should have been a time of joy, faith and community was instead marked by fear and devastation.

We grieve the lives lost and hold in prayer all who have been injured, traumatised and affected.

As the Uniting Church in Australia, we unequivocally state that any attack on families and children gathered peacefully to celebrate faith is utterly unacceptable. We name and reject antisemitism in all its forms. Violence and hatred must never have the final word.

We stand in solidarity with the Jewish community and commit ourselves again to compassion, peace, and care for one another. We reaffirm our commitment to stand with our Jewish friends against hatred, violence, and fear. This horrifying moment reminds us as a nation that the safety and dignity of our neighbours must never be taken for granted and that protecting one another, especially children and those targeted for their faith, is a shared responsibility.

The Uniting Church affirms the dignity of every person and the right of all people to gather, worship, and celebrate their traditions without fear or violence.
At moments like this, when terror seeks to unsettle our sense of safety and unity, we reject fear, hatred, and division. As a Christian church, shaped by the life and teachings of Jesus Christ, we are called to speak with moral clarity and to act with deep compassion.

We give thanks for the courage and care of first responders, health workers, and all who have supported those affected during this time.
We invite the church and the wider community to join us in prayer and quiet reflection for all who are grieving today.

The Uniting Church continues to hold in prayer the Jewish community, the families and children impacted, and the wider community as it grieves and seeks healing.

𝗥𝗲𝘃 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗮 𝗦𝘂𝗹𝗶
𝗣𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁, 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗵𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗮

Uniting Church in Australia is with Charissa Suli.

Category Archives: Memorial

Exhibition of Phil Buehler’s Wall of Tears

UCA stands with Jewish Community in grief