Author and ex-head of Church of Today, Marrianne Williamson has dismissed Israel's occupation of Palestine but also its ongoing genocide whilst weaponizing spirituality to whitewash U.S.-backed ethnic cleansing in her failed 2024 bid.
Marianne Williamson, 2024 Democratic presidential hopeful and former spiritual leader, denied Israel's settler-colonial occupation of Gaza — "Israelis can't go there at all" —and rejected extermination claims despite the ongoing and live-streamed Israeli genocide of Palestinians.
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Marianne Williamson, a self-help author and former spiritual leader of the Church of Today (a Unity Church in Warren, Michigan, 1998-2002), positioned herself as a progressive voice during her 2024 Democratic presidential campaign — announcing in March 2023, suspending in February 2024 after poor primaries, briefly re-entering in July 2024, and ending by June 2024 amid Biden's nomination. Yet, her commentary on Palestine reveals Zionist apologism that denies Israel's settler-colonial occupation and ethnic cleansing, perpetuating dehumanization of Palestinians under 77 years of Nakba-fueled violence, blockade, and genocide.
In a December 13, 2023, Instagram Live with singer Lauren Jauregui, Williamson explicitly denied Israel's occupation of Gaza: "Israel is not an occupying force in Gaza, and Israelis can't go there at all." Despite acknowledging Israel's blockade, carpet bombings, and ground invasion — actions enabling over 45,000 deaths by October 2025, per UN estimates — she failed to connect them to occupation, seemingly unaware of routine Israeli forces' incursions, home demolitions, and farmland destruction throughout the 2007-2023 blockade, as documented by human rights groups like B'Tselem. This erasure frames Israel's control — via air, sea, borders, and economy — as non-occupying, aligning with Zionist narratives that legitimize apartheid while branding Palestinian resistance as unprovoked. Williamson's suggestion that Jauregui "go to Israel" to understand, and accusation that her views implied "genocide of Jews," weaponizes antisemitism to silence decolonial critique, conflating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism amid rising U.S. suppression of pro-Palestine advocacy.
Post-backlash, Williamson clarified on X (December 15, 2023): "I've always understood that Israel's siege on Gaza is morally indefensible... but I had mistakenly assumed that Israel's withdrawal of settlements from Gaza in 2005 meant the term 'occupation' no longer applied... I stand corrected... as President, I will fight for a future free of siege and occupation." This correction, while noting UN and human rights bodies' consensus on ongoing occupation, came reactively, underscoring her initial ignorance or denial despite decades of documented settler violence.
Further, in her October 13, 2023, Substack post "Israel and Hamas: An Eye for an Eye Leaves Everyone Blind," Williamson wrote: "While it is often stated – incorrectly – that the goal of Israel is the extermination of the Palestinians, in fact the stated goal of Hamas..." This denial ignores explicit genocidal intent from Israeli officials, such as Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's October 9, 2023, "complete siege" order — "no electricity, no food, no fuel" — while calling Palestinians "human animals"; Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu's November 2023 nuclear bomb suggestion on Gaza; Knesset member Revital Gottlieb's October 2023 call to "Flatten Gaza. Without mercy!"; and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's advocacy for "voluntary emigration" (code for transfer). Other statements include MK Ariel Kallner's October 2023 "Nakba that will overshadow the Nakba of '48"; Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel's plan to decrease Gaza's territory; and MK Galit Distel Atbaryan's urge to "erase all of Gaza from the face of the earth." These, compiled in Law for Palestine's database of over 500 incitement instances, evidence intent for ethnic cleansing and genocide, as affirmed by the ICJ's January 2024 provisional ruling and UN inquiries labeling Israel's actions genocidal by September 2025.
Williamson's rhetoric, couched in spiritual platitudes of "peace" and "both sides," dehumanizes Palestinians by equating their Indigenous resistance with settler aggression, whitewashing U.S. complicity — $18B+ aid since October 2023 — in famine, displacement of 90% of Gazans, and ecocide of agricultural lands.
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🔒Genocide Denial:
Anyone rejecting the reality of the very real and active genocide in Palestine is not only denying decades of dehumanization and erasure of Palestinians but also turning a blind eye to the blatant systemic oppression documented by reputable institutions.
The Institute of Genocide Studies, the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention, genocide survivors and even international bodies like the World Court have all recognized credible evidence of genocide — with their statements only corroborated by multiple reputable organizations including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Oxfam, Save the Children, Al-Haq and Euro-Med Watch.
”The Lemkin Institute believes that the annihilation of approximately 1% of the total population of the Gaza Strip, which stands at 2.3 million people, including entire generations of Palestinians, and the infliction of “severe bodily” and “mental harm” upon the Palestinian population at large, which will result in the majority suffering life-changing injuries and psychological trauma, taken together with the persistent and pervasive genocidal rhetoric as manifested by Israeli officials, particularly within decision making circles, as well as by segments of Israeli society at large, against the Palestinian group “as such,” amounts to the commission of genocide, as outlined in Article II (a) and (b) of the UNGC and Article 6 (a) and (b) of the Rome Statute.” - The Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention
”By analysing the patterns of violence and Israel’s policies in its onslaught on Gaza, this report concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the threshold indicating Israel’s commission of genocide is met. One of the key findings is that Israel's executive and military leadership and soldiers have intentionally distorted jus in bello principles, subverting their protective functions, in an attempt to legitimize genocidal violence against the Palestinian people.” - Francesca Albanese, Human Rights Council, 2024
“I am going to bed tonight in full certainty that as I sleep, Israel, a member state of the UN, abetted, armed, and egged on by the US and the other G-7 countries that rule the world, is committing genocide in Gaza” - Jeff Halper, ICAHD, 2023
”The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR), Al Mezan, and Al-Haq, vehemently denounce the initiation of the ground invasion by the Israeli military into eastern Rafah. This egregious act stands as a stark testament to the failure of the international community to stop the ongoing genocide in Gaza, as per their legal obligations, and compel Israel to adhere to the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ).” - PCHR, Al Mezan, Al-Haq
”The ICJ in its provisional measures order ruled that some of Israel's actions constitute a “plausible claim of genocidal acts”. The international community continues to be bound by their obligations under international humanitarian law, and the ICJ ruling, to ensure Palestinians are protected. Whenever we learn lessons from the past, we resolve to never again let “atrocity crimes” unfold. The test is now right in front of us. Children are being starved while trucks of food are denied access and continued fighting prevent delivery of the little aid coming into Gaza. We are failing that test.” - Save the Children
“After reviewing the facts established by independent human rights monitors, journalists, and United Nations agencies, we conclude that Israel’s actions in and regarding Gaza since October 7, 2023, violate the Genocide Convention.” - University Network For Human Rights
Additional evidence, statements of incitement and information can also be found at:
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