I've been invited to join a Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA) delegation to Palestine, April 1-8. This delegation is made up of leaders from advocacy organizations that focus on issues adjacent to Palestinian liberation, such as immigration, LGBTQIA+, housing, peacemaking, antiracism, environmentalism, and reproductive justice. We will meet with organizational leaders so that we may learn from, listen to, and relay the stories of the Palestinian people to our own communities when we return home.The goals of the delegation are: 

• Being with and encouraging the people who are under attack
• Exposing human rights violations
• Strengthening and encouraging U.S. advocacy for a just peace

The complicity of the United States in the ongoing forced displacement, illegal detainment, military occupation, and indiscriminate killing of Palestinians is clearer now than it ever has been. As we witness the continued violence of Israeli occupation, many have awakened to the realities of the ongoing Israeli project to destroy Palestinian culture, identity, society, and population. I believe we must continue sharing information and lifting up the moral imperative for Palestinian liberation. Therefore, I am putting my beliefs into action and going in person as a witness to the West Bank. 

I am embarking on this journey with a learner's mind. I know very well that I don’t know everything there is to know about the history of this crisis and the current situation on the ground, which is why I will go and learn from human rights organizations and faith-based organizations within Palestinian communities. I invite you to support this learning immersion journey through donations of any size. My participation is self-funded through my own personal contributions and my professional expenses, but additional funds raised through this platform will be donated to Sabeel for other delegates who do not have the funds to participate. 

If you choose to donate, you do NOT need to donate additional funds to the zeffy platform. Just select zero when it comes to that field on the form (www.zeffy.com/en-US/fundraising/meagan-henry). I will share real-time experiences via social media (Instagram and Facebook) and I will be available to continue to share what I witness and learn upon my return. You can find me on Instagram (@revmeaganbelden) and Facebook (@meaganhenry). May we be mutual partners in the pursuit of freedom. 

In solidarity, Rev. Meagan

By this time, we know this Administration’s playbook. It looks haphazard, and perhaps some of it is, but much of it is calculated to drive us to despair and numbness, to focus our attention on the fear invoked by the Executive Orders and dramatic statements, to draw the eye away from what’s really happening. Underneath all the intended layoffs of federal workers, for example, is the truth in plain sight – Musk and other Administration Republicans are making themselves unthinkably wealthy by raiding public coffers. 

I know personally that this approach to distraction and fear is effective. As we well know, it’s the playbook of authoritarian regimes. A fate from which we as a country now recognize we are not exempt. 

Neither, however, are we powerless. 

In a call this week, a lawyer reminded us that the Executive Orders are no more than a wish at this point. Our current laws and protections still (largely) exist and can be fought for and defended. 

As I listen to Trump’s claim that he’ll move Palestinians to Jordan and Egypt and make Gaza instead “a luxury paradise,” I recognize that same distraction strategy. It’s not that he’s not serious in his intentions, as this would be consistent with his imperialist core. Instead, it’s the recognition that his bluster and bluffing is meant to distract us, again, from the very real dangers he is creating.

The same playbook Netanyahu has used for years. The lies that Israel was in danger and must defend itself against the Palestinians was never true. This claim is a gas lighting of the actual truth, that the deeply oppressed Palestinians fought back in the way they knew and know how against their captors.

It was this same justification that was underpinning Netanyahu’s absolutely leveling of Gaza, a genocide funded by this country and continuing to this day.  The false belief that the destruction of another – the Palestinians, immigrants, transgender individuals – is necessary to the success of society. This has never been true, but this “othering” provides wildly powerful cover for the very worst of human right abuses.

Which is where we find ourselves now. Fighting parallel wars, in the US, in Palestine, in much of the world, as humanity continues to try to hold back a rising tide of authoritarianism.

For it is all intertwined – our fight for our Palestinian siblings is tied up with the safety of our immigrant, transgender, and otherwise vilified cohabitants on this shared earth. When we can dehumanize one group, we don’t stop there. We find ever more groups to dehumanize, until there is nothing left but the “preferred” individuals. We know this horror all too well. 

What, then, do we do as Unitarian Universalists?  

This is the time, beloveds, to be brave in a way most of us never have before. When we were fighting safely from a far distance, with great intent and effort, but still essentially safe. That time is over. 

This administration threatens to deport students who protested the genocide in Gaza, to jail those who use “anti-Semitic” language (which is just code for speaking out against Israel’s actions), to separate us in ways that make us afraid of naming our own truths. 

Yet the Palestinians themselves teach us otherwise. For three-quarters of a century, they have fought for their home, for each other, for mutual care and the strength of love, against brutal conditions and captors.  

We are only just beginning that same fight for our homeland – and for theirs. And if we do it now, not stunned into inaction, we have some hope of saving our country before it descends into a truly authoritarian regime. The time to act is now. 

So, what do we do? 
One answer is to reach out to your local UUJME chapter. If you don’t easily find one, reach out to UUJME directly for help in getting involved UUs in many locations are drawing the connections between the multiple oppressions we face here and that the Palestinians face there, and moving people into meaningful action in community, accountable to the request of the Palestinian liberation movement. 

And this list gives great, finite, suggestions, for those just feeling stuck, not knowing where to begin. 

If you do nothing else, call your representatives every day, and remind them of their power to halt government gone astray. They have powers that they are not yet using. 

Keep the faith, friends. This is a fight we can win.

Rev. DL Helfer

We condemn efforts by the Trump Administration to perpetuate dire conditions for Palestinians.

Unitarian Universalists affirm the guiding power of Love and the values of Justice and Equity, as well as a belief in the dignity of all humans, democratic rights, and compassion in human relations. Our religion has a long and proud history of supporting the United Nations and its efforts toward global justice. UUJME takes inspiration from the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights. Nearly three-fourths of delegates to the Unitarian Universalist Association General Assembly in 2024 supported a resolution to take action in solidarity with Palestinians.

One of President Trump’s recent Executive Orders mandates withdrawing the U.S. from the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) and extends President Biden’s ban on United States funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the main organization providing humanitarian assistance to Palestinian refugees. This action continues a devastating impact on the UNRWA budget, restricting the amount of life-saving food and healthcare, as well as education, for millions of Palestinian refugees. The need for UNRWA is greater than it has ever been, after 15 months of genocidal attacks on Gaza, and an escalation of attacks on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. The Trump Administration is promoting outrageous designs to continue denying aid to Palestinians while continuing to supply weapons to Israel, and proposing a massive expulsion of Palestinians from their homeland.

UNRWA was established in 1949 to provide support to the 750,000 Palestinians violently displaced from their homes and lands between 1946-1948 during the formation of the State of Israel. The protracted nature of the situation means that refugee status is retained across generations. The State of Israel’s army attacked numerous UNRWA schools and aid sites during a 15-month assault on Gaza and blocked UNRWA trucks carrying food and other aid during the war with full U.S. support. The Israeli parliament has just activated a ban on UNRWA operations in Israel, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza, which is an illegal measure for a member state of the United Nations.  Despite Israel’s attempt at cancellation, “the UN Relief Works Agency continues to operate on the ground in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and East Jerusalem, carrying out its life-saving humanitarian assistance at this critical moment,” as reported on February 4.

Support the campaigns of the UNRWA USA National Committee:

• Spread awareness. 

  • Distribute the #HandsOffUNRWA flyer in your congregation and other circles.

  • Speak up on social media using the sample posts in the flyer to repost the Hands Off UNRWA graphics on Instagram.

• Advocate. Contact your U.S. representatives using the UNRWA USA advocacy portal to urge them to restore US government funding.

• Donate to UNRWA (tax deductible) at https://donateunrwa.org/int/en/general.

• Stay informed. Check the UNRWA Situation Reports page and follow UNRWA USA on social media: @unrwausa

Our work and the work of UNRWA will continue until there is a just solution. 

A beautiful red wildflower grows abundantly across historic Palestine in the spring and early summer. It is called Hannoun (passionate) and shakik (brother) in Arabic, the Palestinian poppy in English, and its Latin name is anemone coronaria. 

To make this craft, which echoes colors of the Palestinian flag, gather the following supplies:

• Sheets of red, green, and black construction paper
• Glue
• Scissors

Cut out two green leaves and six red petals for each flower. Bend the petals slightly. Cut out a black circle and use scissors to make the edge of the circle fringed by making cuts close together all the way around the edge. Fold the fringe slightly upward.

Glue the petals together at the base. Glue the black center on top of the petals. Glue a leaf to the back side of a petal on opposite sides of the flower. 

You can make this a group activity at your congregation and use the flowers to decorate the sanctuary or the refreshment and fellowship hall.

Read more about the symbolism of Poppies at The Koboi Project. "There is...irony here. The Imperial British symbol of remembrance, the red poppy, is also a national symbol of Palestine, a nation whose obliteration was initiated in one of the closing acts of said imperium."

Post a photo of your poppy/poppies on social media with any or all of these suggested hashtags: #uupalestinepoppy #uupalestineaction #uujme #uuchristians #uusofinstagram #advent #palestine #indigenouschristians #palestinianchristians 

Photo credit: Emile Ashrawi

“Jesus in The Rubble”

Make a Creche Kit to Remember the Children in Gaza

In the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, city and church leaders canceled all Christmas festivities in December 2023 to mourn the more than 20,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza (at that time). A Christmas sermon, “Christ in the Rubble: A Liturgy of Lament,” delivered by Reverend Munther Isaac at the landmark Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, received international attention for a nativity scene depicting the figure of baby Jesus in a keffiyeh, surrounded by rubble. “If Jesus were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble in Gaza,” preached Isaac, who condemned using theology to justify Israel’s killing of innocent civilians. “If we, as Christians, are not outraged by the genocide, by the weaponization of the Bible to justify it, there is something wrong with our Christian witness, and we are compromising the credibility of our gospel message.” A link to a video of the sermon and an interview with Rev. Isaac can be found at the Democracy Now website, the show of December 26, 2026.

In our places of worship, we can remember the children in Gaza with a small, portable creche of “Jesus in the Rubble” made with simple materials. Wrap a baby doll in cloth or paper printed with a keffiyeh pattern. Darken the skin a bit if the doll is pink. Some Styrofoam painted grey and cardboard packaging materials can serve as the “rubble.” The lid of a box for shipping reams of paper can serve as the base for the scene. The whole box functions as a kit for transporting and storing the creche. It can quickly be “rebuilt” each time you set it up; there’s no need to glue all the parts in place.

At your place of worship, you could set up the creche alongside literature of your choice on the topic of peace and justice in Palestine. A backdrop/poster at the back of the scene reads:

Jesus in the Rubble

At the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem,
Rev. Munther Issac explains why the Christmas manger
 is on a pile of rubble. A liturgy of lament.

Friends of SABEEL North America

www.fosna.org/preach-palestine-blog/born-under-the-rubble

This creche is not terrifying in any obvious way. Children in your congregation may look at it, read the backdrop, and ask questions. For thinking adults, however, this simple artwork might be a reminder of the ongoing violence in Gaza, which has been described as a “war on children” (as nearly half of the Palestinians in Gaza are children), a “holocaust,” and a “probable genocide” by the International Court of Justice. Who would have thought that nations of world would enable the violence to continue unabated for more than a year, with no cessation in sight. The statistics of the killed, the maimed, and the orphaned are there for anyone who cares to read them. But children are not numbers. And words fail us. Could a simple work of art rekindle some viewer’s empathy, and inspire them to action?

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Materials for making the creche shown below.

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Steven Sellers Lapham is a board member of UUJME and volunteer for Voices From the Holy Land Online Film Salon