Dear brothers and sisters, Benjamin Netanyahu is in Washington, D.C. today and he will be in the United States for the next three days.
Not all of us can be there for the protests due to a plethora of reasons, be it health concerns, responsibility for the care of a child or grandchild, time constraints, work responsibilities, the list could go on and on.
But we still believe very deeply and strongly in the Most Noble Cause and we want to help, we want our voices heard and we so very much want to make a difference!
We may ask ourselves over and over, "What can I do to help this situation, I feel so powerless, I feel shame over what my government is doing to these suffering people indirectly, how can I help?"
And indeed, as more and more of the videos showing the endless ruthlessness of the Israeli forces come pouring in, we are physically sickened and may even turn off the computer completely for a bit. "I have to take a break from all this misery." That is understandable and totally human. We, as peace and human rights advocates and activists all go through this. You are not alone.
But the good news is that there are two things we can do right now, today!
Today, we in America can do these two things:
We can call the White House and express our outrage and concern! Jewish Voice for Peace has endeavored to make this as easy as possible for all of us.
Here's how it works: YOU JUST PUT IN THE INFO AND JVP will call you back and patch you through directly to the White House, it's that simple.
Here is the link:
https://org.salsalabs.com/o/301/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=8274&okay=true
Before you initiate the call, pause a moment and reflect on what you are going to say. It may be helpful to make a list of what exactly you want the President to be told. After you fill in your phone number and send they will call you right back and a new screen will pop up giving you suggestions as what to say.
I just did it and it took me all of five minutes. Easy and pain free!
Please tell the President THAT YOU SUPPORT SENDING a UNITED NATIONS PROTECTION FORCE TO ISRAEL.
But PLEASE do it, we need to make our voices heard.
****************************************************************************
The other thing we can do is to sign and share petitions that are being offered on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and other sites.
Currently there are two petitions regarding Palestine and the Protection of its Citizens being actively campaigned on Facebook and Twitter. The campaigns are being backed by Facebook's own CWN Media group. CWN was instrumental in defeating AIPAC with their "ShutdownAIPAC2015" campaign recently to get the Iran Nuclear deal approved.
So petitions, online efforts and social media efforts do sometimes succeed. Not always granted, but if you can save one life, one child, if there is even the remotest chance that it could be successful, I know that you would make that effort, I know I would.
Links to the petitions calling for the UN to send a Protection Force to the Palestinian Territories currently being occupied by Israel for the protection of civilians (almost 50 percent are children) are found here:
https://www.4palkids.org/petition-un-force-now-to-protect-occupied-palestinians/
So brothers and sisters, these are TWO THINGS we can do right now as peace and human rights activists! They won't cost you a dime and they will save lives.
Stephen
Not all of us can be there for the protests due to a plethora of reasons, be it health concerns, responsibility for the care of a child or grandchild, time constraints, work responsibilities, the list could go on and on.
But we still believe very deeply and strongly in the Most Noble Cause and we want to help, we want our voices heard and we so very much want to make a difference!
We may ask ourselves over and over, "What can I do to help this situation, I feel so powerless, I feel shame over what my government is doing to these suffering people indirectly, how can I help?"
And indeed, as more and more of the videos showing the endless ruthlessness of the Israeli forces come pouring in, we are physically sickened and may even turn off the computer completely for a bit. "I have to take a break from all this misery." That is understandable and totally human. We, as peace and human rights advocates and activists all go through this. You are not alone.
But the good news is that there are two things we can do right now, today!
Today, we in America can do these two things:
We can call the White House and express our outrage and concern! Jewish Voice for Peace has endeavored to make this as easy as possible for all of us.
Here's how it works: YOU JUST PUT IN THE INFO AND JVP will call you back and patch you through directly to the White House, it's that simple.
Here is the link:
https://org.salsalabs.com/o/301/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=8274&okay=true
Before you initiate the call, pause a moment and reflect on what you are going to say. It may be helpful to make a list of what exactly you want the President to be told. After you fill in your phone number and send they will call you right back and a new screen will pop up giving you suggestions as what to say.
I just did it and it took me all of five minutes. Easy and pain free!
Please tell the President THAT YOU SUPPORT SENDING a UNITED NATIONS PROTECTION FORCE TO ISRAEL.
But PLEASE do it, we need to make our voices heard.
****************************************************************************
The other thing we can do is to sign and share petitions that are being offered on social media, such as Facebook, Twitter and other sites.
Currently there are two petitions regarding Palestine and the Protection of its Citizens being actively campaigned on Facebook and Twitter. The campaigns are being backed by Facebook's own CWN Media group. CWN was instrumental in defeating AIPAC with their "ShutdownAIPAC2015" campaign recently to get the Iran Nuclear deal approved.
So petitions, online efforts and social media efforts do sometimes succeed. Not always granted, but if you can save one life, one child, if there is even the remotest chance that it could be successful, I know that you would make that effort, I know I would.
Links to the petitions calling for the UN to send a Protection Force to the Palestinian Territories currently being occupied by Israel for the protection of civilians (almost 50 percent are children) are found here:
https://www.4palkids.org/petition-un-force-now-to-protect-occupied-palestinians/
So brothers and sisters, these are TWO THINGS we can do right now as peace and human rights activists! They won't cost you a dime and they will save lives.
Stephen
