We, the Middle East Justice Project, come to you today with heavy hearts and ask that you join us in a moment of silence to mark a grim anniversary: one year of a genocidal assault on the Palestinian people carried out by the Israeli military with the full material, political, and diplomatic support of the United States. Our political leaders have rightfully commemorated the Israeli victims on October 7th, 2023. We humanize the nearly 1,200 people killed and 250 taken hostage; they have names, faces, families, and futures. Their fates are a tragedy. But the lines of what's considered acceptable political discourse have made it glaringly clear that the same level of empathy and human dignity are not afforded to the orders of magnitude larger number of Palestinian victims in the 76 years prior and 1 year since October 7th, 2023.

Our political leaders undermine the humanity and dignity of Arabs and Muslims with one-sided rhetoric in service to US political goals that ignore the horrors of human death, dispossession of land, political oppression, and environmental destruction when they think recognizing those tragedies would be inconvenient. Our principles here at First Unitarian call us to do better. When we say there is a unity that makes us one, we extend that to all people in this world. We stand with those who are dispossessed and suffering wherever they are, sharing in the full grief and joy of the human experience and striving for salvation for all people in this life.

Before we take our silence we ask that you internalize the following statistics not simply as numbers, but as whole human beings robbed of their lives and livelihoods. Since this war began in Gaza over 43,000 people, including over 12,000 children have been counted in the official death toll. Scholarly estimates of the full direct and indirect deaths range from 180,000 to 400,000 due to the inability to accurately count the dead and the continued blockade of water, fuel, electricity, medical equipment, and food. The official count includes over 900 entire families wiped out. The list of the dead includes 13 full pages of infants under the age of 1 year old and over 20,000 children have been orphaned. Additionally, over 170 journalists, 350 healthcare workers, and 200 aid workers have been directly targeted or deemed acceptable collateral damage.

The history of our time has not yet been written, but we are all but certain that it will see this as another genocide that America shares responsibility for. If we are to find the salvation that all hearts yearn for, it requires our shared liberation. We see the encroachment of fascism here at home and so many other countries, and governments inching toward war that threatens to become global. It is easier to look away and carry on with our busy lives, hoping "it can't happen here" but we know we must act, and we must care about liberation and justice not just here, but everywhere. Our own liberation is tied to Palestinian liberation by the actions of our government and by our shared humanity.

We now ask that you join us in silence and hope that you carry forward in your hearts these lost souls, shattered lives, and our call to action.

One Year Plus One Hundred Seven

Board of Directors of UUJME, October 2024

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We mourn.

Exploding pagers. Targeted killing of innocent civilians, demolished hospitals, schools, refugee encampments, water supplies. Delayed and blocked relief convoys.

Genocide in Gaza, brutality in the West Bank, the bombing of Lebanon, and now the great threat of major Middle East war and conflagration.

At the Christmas Lutheran Church in Bethlehem, Rev. Isaac Munther has preached: “In Gaza today, God is under the rubble. He is in the operating room. If Christ were to be born today, he would be born under the rubble. We see his image in every child killed and pulled from under the rubble. In every child in incubators.”

For the Netanyahu regime and its US and western enablers, there is no red line – there is no cruelty too great for them in their pursuit of corporate interests. The only winners so far are the skyrocketing profits of Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Chevron, and the like. The remarks about a plan to reshape the Middle East are staggering in their arrogance and deadly intent.

It’s hard to remember, sometimes, that Netanyahu is not representative of all Israeli Jews, any more than Trump was representative of all Americans when he was President.

Israelis have suffered, too. From disinformation, displacement, fear of worsening war, concern for their own safety, and grief over the deaths and hostages from October 7th.

Not that we center their loss, because Palestinians are suffering and have suffered unimaginable losses. At least 42,000 are known to have been killed in Gaza and the number could be four times that. Half of the dead are children. Palestinians have also been subjected to terrible losses and trauma the Balfour Declaration on November 2, 1917, nearly 107 years ago, when Britain started enabling the eventual dispossession of 750,000 Palestinians in 1948. During the nonviolent Great March of Return in 2018, Palestinians suffered 36,100 injuries and 217 deaths. Mourn with them.

But it’s not a hierarchy of pain.

As Rabbis for Ceasefire say, “Mourn the dead and fight like hell for the living.” Each and every life is precious.

Our role as people of faith is to hold onto our humanity. Even in this bleak moral environment, where we need more people to raise their voices, we see millions more than ever before activated for peace, we witness unimaginable kindness in the midst of so much loss, and we know that despite the corruption of governments, people are good. People want peace. 

We are people living in a nominally democratic nation that is providing the weapons being used in Gaza, Lebanon and potentially in Iran. If a ceasefire had been achieved in the past few months, perhaps there would not have been exploding pagers, leveling of apartment buildings in Beirut, displacement of 1 million Lebanese people, and hundreds of missiles fired by Iran into Israel. Every life is precious and has worth. We must insist on siding with love and life.

We must call for our country to desist in its support for genocide in Gaza and members of a world community is to call for our country and others to desist from acts of "plausible" genocide and enabling of these acts in Gaza as demanded by the International Court of Justice. We must stop US support for wars in Lebanon and Iran., as demanded by the International Court of Justice. We must keep advocating for an end to the US supply of aid and weapons to Israel.

These efforts embody solidarity with Palestinians, supporting the Action of Immediate Witness: Solidarity with Palestinians that we helped to pass at the UUA General Assembly in June. We understand that safety is achieved through solidarity, an embodiment of love. 

If a ceasefire had been achieved in the past few months, perhaps there would not have been exploding pagers, leveling of apartment buildings in Beirut, displacement of 1 million Lebanese people, and hundreds of missiles fired by Iran into Israel. Every life is precious and has worth. We must insist on siding with love and life.

Respecting the human rights of every human being is the only path into the future. We keep working toward the world we know is possible. We rise to that vision.

UUJME's Mission: 

To work within the Unitarian Universalist community to educate and mobilize individuals, congregations and denominational leaders to recognize and counter inequality and injustice in Palestine-Israel and to support our allies in the global justice and anti-oppression movements.

Download the Newsletter Highlights File to post on your local bulletin board.

To volunteer to help us with graphics, outreach, organizing, and other tasks, please send an email to [email protected].

In this newsletter:

• Chalice Moment - Resources for Sunday, October 6th Worship Service
  
  
• DRUUMM Vigil for Gaza - October 6 (8 pm ET) - Register at https://www.druumm.org/events
  
  
• Webinar - October 9 (7:30 pm ET) - Register at Author Talk - Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism 
  
  
• Film Salon - October 20 (3 pm ET) - Voices from the Holy Land - film series: The Past and the Present Tell Us: Palestine’s Future has to be Different!
  
  
• Monthly Palestine/Israel 101 Teach-In - October 24 (7 pm ET) - Register at Palestine/Israel 101 Teach-In for October 2024 
  
  
• Join us in taking action - Tell your senators to support the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval
  
  
• Promote the Action of Immediate Witness: “Solidarity With Palestinians,” 
  
  
• Webinar - October 5 (12 pm ET) - with Israeli Jewish scholar Ilan Pappe - Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace - Meeting Registration - Zoom
  
  
• Share the Plate with UUJME - Donation

Chalice Moment

What many have feared has come to pass: an escalation with Israel detonating pagers injuring many people in Lebanon, civilians as well as combatants, and bombing to assassinate Hezbollah leaders, followed by more bombing and an attempted ground invasion. No one anywhere in the region is safe. We must keep insisting on diplomacy, ceasefire, ending the occupation, and a political resolution.

UUJME will be posting a statement on our Blog soon.

In the midst of grief and fear, it is good to be part of solemn and mindful ritual and worship. Being that this time is a time of grief as well as the Jewish High Holy Days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, we are grateful to our organizer India Wood for initiating the creation of Resources for Sunday, October 6th Worship Service featuring Jewish and other faith leaders' content, and that this resource has been included in the UUA's Worship Web. 

DRUUMM Vigil for Gaza - Sun. Oct 6 @ 8 pm ET - Open to all!

We invite you to join us on Oct. 6 for “Still Here: A Unitarian Universalist Vigil for Gaza” at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT. UUJME among several co-sponsors of this important grief processing space of witness.

UUJME Webinar on Antisemitism - Wednes. Oct. 9 @ 7:30 pm ET

It's true that antisemitism is on the rise. Lorber & Burley's book helps explain the relationship of antisemitism to white nationalism and other bigotries, what’s missing in contemporary debates about antisemitism, and how to build safety through solidarity. Join this webinar for a presentation by the authors, and then participate in Q&A.

RSVP at Author Talk - Safety Through Solidarity: A Radical Guide to Fighting Antisemitism - Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East (uujme.org).

SAFETY THROUGH SOLIDARITY takes the fight against antisemitism out of the hands of status quo defenders, and into the hands of social movements. Using history, analysis and interviews with front-line organizers, it situates the fight against antisemitism where it belongs– alongside the fight against all forms of oppression. Lorber and Burley help us break the current impasse to understand how antisemitism works, what’s missing in contemporary debates, and how to build true safety through solidarity, for Jews and all people.

Shane Burley is known for his work on the far-right and left-wing social movements. He is the author of Fascism Today: What It Is and How to End It (AK Press, 2017) and Why We Fight: Essays on Fascism, Resistance, and Surviving the Apocalypse (AK Press, 2021), and editor of the anthology ¡No pasarán!: Readings on Antifascism (AK Press, 2022).

Ben Lorber is Senior Research Analyst at Political Research Associates, a social movement think tank, where he studies and publishes on antisemitism and white nationalism. He previously worked as national campus organizer with Jewish Voice for Peace, supporting justice-driven young Jewish communities across the country, and has written extensively on antisemitism, Israel/Palestine and Jewish identity.

You can obtain the book at a number of outlets listed at Safety through Solidarity by Shane Burley, Ben Lorber: 9781685890919 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books.

Read the book ahead of the event, if you can, and attend the webinar to hear the presentation and participate in Q&A with the authors.

UUJME Monthly Teach-In on Palestine/Israel - Thurs. Oct. 24 @ 7 pm ET

Take action - Tell your senators to support the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval

In the words of the Side with Love communication sent on October 2:

We can honor the commitments of our 2024 General Assembly’s Action of Immediate Witness, “Solidarity With Palestinians,” and move towards the necessary humanitarian demand of calling, yet again, for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and prisoners, and for the U.S. to stop shipments of military weapons to Israel.  

Join us in taking action and renewing this commitment by calling your representative to ask that they support the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRD) introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, which blocks a proposal to send $20 billion in weapons to Israel. 

Discussion with Israeli Historian Ilan Pappe - October 5/12 pm ET

Christian Zionism and the Israel Lobby: A Conversation with Ilan Pappe

Dr. Ilan Pappé is an Israeli historian and professor of history at the University of Exeter, where he leads the European Centre for Palestine Studies. He is the author of numerous books including The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine. Those who donate $100 or more to the organizer of the event, Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace (PCAP), will receive a copy of his most recent book: Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic (One World Publications, 2024). UUJME is a proud co-sponsor of this event.

To make a donation, visit Donate — Palestinian Christian Alliance for Peace (pcap-us.org).

Share the Plate with UUJME

UUJME has received several "share the plate" donations from congregations over the past year. We are very grateful for this. If your congregation has a tradition of sometimes sharing the plate offering, please consider asking your congregation's leaders to plan a share the plate collection for UUJME. We are a 501c3 non-profit and can provide a tax ID. Donations can be sent by check to

UUJME

PO Box 380355

Cambridge MA 02238-0355

or can be made online via the Donation page on the website (https://www.uujme.org/donation).

Help us build on the amazing grants we have received, to make our plans sustainable into the future! Consider becoming a monthly donor. That option is available on the donation page of our website.

We rely on the generosity of our supporters to carry out our programs! Please help us make a difference and donate to UUJME in whatever amount you are able—gifts are appreciated and none are too small. Click here to donate.

Our vision is of a just peace in Palestine-Israel that reflects our UU values of respect for the inherent worth and dignity of every human being and justice, equity and compassion in human relations. Our mission is to work within the Unitarian Universalist community to educate and mobilize individuals, congregations and denominational leaders to recognize and counter inequality and injustice in Palestine-Israel and to support our allies in the global justice and anti-oppression movements.

Copyright © 2024 UUJME All rights reserved.

Dear UUA Press Release Team,

This letter is written to you on behalf of the SWANA DRUUMM Caucus. Your statement released on September 23rd of this year titled Living Our Shared Values Amid Ongoing Violence was extremely harmful to our community. We found it fraught with misconceptions, untruthful obfuscations, painful disregard, and a prevalent categorization of dehumanizing rhetoric. Our caucus is everlastingly compassionate, patient, and faithful. We have lived in this society and understand that our demonization is used as a tool for nation building. Parsing through the propaganda, stereotypes, and even linguistic mistranslations can be difficult for non-SWANA folx. We’re tired, however, we are willing to take the time to break through those colonialist underpinnings, belief structures, and societal formations. It has no longer become productive to share our grievances in a manner which does not share our dynamic cultural lens. That is what this letter is going to convey: The manner by which your statement was harmful, and a critique of the general narrative which the letter pronounced; a narrative which is objectively false.

Your statement begins by recounting the aspirations of Raghad Ezzat Hamouda, an English literature student living in Gaza. It then mentions the October 7th attack, immediately after recounting Hamouda’s story. This implies to readers that Hamas is the cause of inaccessibility to schooling. The use of passive language further perpetuates this narrative. For example, you say, “few schoolbooks that remained accessible to students in the weeks after Hamas’ attacks on October 7th are now scattered and burned.” Where this statement fails is describing how these books were “scattered and burned.” How the Israeli military has been methodically destroying every school in Gaza using demolition charges. Secondly, you reference the “death of parents, caregivers, and siblings across generations,” however you do not indicate how they died. They were killed in Israeli airstrikes, by Israeli soldiers, using Israeli drones, or Israeli artillery funded by the United States. Not naming this is a complete obfuscation of the truth. The parents of Palestinian children did not disappear into thin air. They were murdered by the state of Israel: discriminately and indiscriminately.

Israel has been strategically bombing infrastructure for decades. These bombing campaigns have taken place in 2008, 2012, 2014, 2021, and 2022. In each bombing campaign Israel killed mostly civilians. The ruling Likud party refers to this military tactic as “mowing the grass,” which has of course, all too predictably, morphed into full scale annihilation of the Palestinian people. The framing in your statement serves to deny this fact. By only mentioning the displacement of “Gaza’s 625,000 schoolchildren” you erase the thousands of Palestinians who have been killed by the Israeli military. Over the past year, Israel has killed over 40,000 people and maimed or injured over 100,000. This intentional mass killing by Israel includes forcible starvation measures, the poisoning of aquifers, and the blocking of medical aid. Renowned medical journal The Lancet conservatively estimates that these deaths will reach 186,000 or 7.9% of all people living in Gaza.

Furthermore, only naming Hamas as the sole attacker on October 7th comes across as a further dehumanization of Palestinians and Arabs. It paints the picture of Arabs as “mindless fanatical barbarians” who are reflections of a one dimensional intolerant society. In reality, the attack on October 7th was a joint-militant operation, led by Hamas, which saw a broad coalition of Muslim militants (from various Islamic branches), secular Marxists, democratic socialists, communist revolutionaries, Pan-Arabists, and many other factions with varying ideologies. And since Israel’s ground invasion, more militant factions from a diverse set of backgrounds have joined in the fighting. Insistence on only citing Hamas is not only misleading, but it denies that Palestinian society is a complex and dynamic system with a coherent conjoining view of liberation. Instead, we’d rather you use the term “Hamas-led” or “joint-militant attacks” to more accurately reflect the situation.

The statement then goes on to recount the story of Eden Yerushalmi, a student who was abducted on October 7th. Yerushalmi gets a far longer and more empathetic paragraph than Hamouda. It laments at her captivity, her death, her calling in life, and the trauma of her family. Hamouda is not given this same level of care. All we get from her is a quote: “‘The war destroyed all my ambitions and there was nothing left.’” Do you see the issue here? You illustrate the life of Yerushalmi in a way which allows us to empathize with her, and the relatable Westernized lifestyle she lives. The same care and consideration is not given to Hamouda. The trauma of Hamouda’s family is not mentioned, her calling in life is not mentioned, the death of her family members are not mentioned, or the blatant fact that there is a high likelihood she will die by the military machine of Israel. We are genuinely baffled by this apparent imbalance within the statement.

By the 4th paragraph, Lebanon is mentioned, yet no details are given. It does not mention Israel’s detonating of thousands of pagers which in an instant maimed thousands and killed dozens. A terrorist attack which was intentionally conducted on the anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila Massacre, to further traumatize the Lebanese people. The people of Lebanon are terrified to touch their devices, afraid that their phones, laptops, and tablets will explode in their face. None of this is mentioned, instead Israeli society is once again lifted up and centered. You say, “Israeli citizens take to the streets to demand the return of the hostages” then equate it to the global student protests. These protests are extremely different. The global student protests are calling for an end to genocide, whereas protests in Israel are not. In truth, the vast majority of Israelis are in support of the genocide in Gaza. The protests in Israel are demanding a release of hostages and regime change. They are protesting to preserve the state of Israel, because they believe continuous wars will result in an abolition of the Israeli colonial experiment. While these protests nationwide are massive, they are nowhere near comprehensive. The protests are in some ways a continuation of the protests which were taking place before October 7th. The entire SWANA region was watching Israel closely, and many concluded, including Israel academics, that Israel was on the verge of civil war. Divide between secular Zionism and ultra-orthodox Zionism has been growing for decades. Before October 7th, it was culminating into a situation in which far-right leaders were on the precipice of galvanizing an Israeli settler army to take control of Israel and secure a Jewish-only-state through the ethnic cleansing of all Palestinians. This, unfortunately, is the only logical end result of a society which teaches its children hate and conditions them to be occupational soldiers right after high school.

Additionally, the ceasefire negotiations and hostage negotiations are not a multifaceted issue. Hamas and international negotiators, over the past 11 months, have repeatedly put forward ceasefire proposals which would see a release of Israeli hostages. In each instance, Israel has denied any proposal put forward which would put an end to hostilities and see a release of hostages. By not mentioning this fact your statement acts as a further obfuscation of truth. You perpetuate the “bothsideism” myth of equal contest. Israel is in control here. Israel has always been in control. Gaza has been an open-air-prison for almost two decades. Israel has used Gazan labor to grow its produce, work in its factories, build its roads, homes, and overall treat Gazans similar to how the U.S. treats undocumented immigrants. Equivocating the two societies, as if they are equals, is not acceptable.

This statement combined with the unaddressed harm at the last General Session of the General Assembly, feels like a double blow to our community. We are specifically referring to the AIW: Solidarity with Palestinians, and several of our members being targeted in the Whova chat, plus the amount of lies and misinformation that was allowed to be spewed without a fact check. The amount of emotional labor we put into that GA, just for our voices to be heard, took a physical toll on many of our members. We worked countless hours trying to get our UU community to recognize the inherent worth and dignity of the Palestinian people. For our community it weighs heavily upon us. We would like to point you to the SWANA DRUUMM Caucus statement for more information regarding our perspective.

We hope that this letter proves useful to you in recognizing what mistakes were made. Next time you put a statement like this out you should reach out to the SWANA DRUUMM Caucus. We’d be happy to review any statements or help formulate a statement which reflects our humanity. As individuals from SWANA we have unique insights which have been cultivated throughout our lifetime. We are more knowledgeable than those just now learning about the plight of the Palestinians or just now learning about the lived experiences of SWANA. Please, use our knowledge, perspectives, stories, and our dynamic cultural lens. As the SWANA DRUUMM Caucus we politely request that you take this statement down or revise it heavily. You are welcome to formulate the new statement off of this letter or reach out to us for assistance.

Sincerely,

SWANA DRUUMM Caucus

UUs for Justice in the Middle East is pleased to announce that the Rev. DL Helfer is now a member of the UUJME board.

DL was the main proposer of the Action of Immediate Witness: Solidarity with Palestinians that we worked in coalition to pass at the UUA General Assembly in June 2024. They have also been an integral part of the wonderful UU Vigils for Gaza that are produced by Diverse Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM). You can view the recorded vigils at DRUUMM - BIPOC Unitarian Universalist Ministries - YouTube.

Rev. DL Helfer is non-binary, and in general avoids boxes which trap them into "this" or "that." Instead, they search for possibility, for deeper truths, and share those glimmers of possibility with others. DL is also a licensed social worker working with transgender and gender diverse children and youth. Rev. DL hails from Southern California but now calls Providence, RI home. They share that home with their beloved partner and two overzealous cats.

DL's entry into Palestinian Solidarity has roots in their late mother's social activism but was fostered by their partner's longtime Palestinian Solidarity activism with Jewish Voice for Peace. As a Jewish UU, DL hopes, believes, and is driven by a belief in collective liberation. DL identifies as a Community Minister.