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(Left) In Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, UMKR Steering Committee chair, Lisa Bender and her husband Wayne Bender join a demonstration at the offices
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(Left) UMKR Steering Committee member Paula Roderick speaks to a crowd at the headquarters of Boeing, for the Gaza is Palestine campaign, protesting the weapons manufacturer's contributions to the genocidal assault on Gaza.
(Above) While attending the Reconciling Ministries Convocation in Charlotte, North Caroline, about a dozen United Methodists join a nearby protest on October 15, 2023.
(Above) United Methodists from Capitol Hill United Methodist Church, from left to right: Onik Tahtakran, Grace Kang, Arlene Renshaw, and Paul Renshaw.
Their message of Methodist support for Palestinians was remarked by others at the March.
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Bob Horner is a political advocacy organizer in Florida and a member of the UMKR political committee.
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SOLIDARITY: United Methodists in action; coming soon - Global Solidarity
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ACTION: Political advocacy, street and direct action events, action gatherings online, humanitarian aid, BDS action, and more Go there
RESOURCES: History of this war, learning about Gaza, perspectives on Hamas, understanding root causes, mainstream media discernment, and more Go there
STATEMENTS: Palestinians Christians, churches, justice partners Go there
PRAYERS, SONGS, POEMS & MORE: See them
SOLIDARITY: United Methodists in action Go there
UMKR's Statement: "A Call to Our Church
in a Time of Moral Reckoning" See it
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(Left) In Anderson, South Carolina, Judith Polson, UMKR activist and member of the Political Committee, plays anti-war songs for activist friends standing nearby and the passersby on foot and on the road, with signs that reinforce her message.
for our work to continue.
(Left) In Iowa City, Iowa, UMKR Steering Committee member and Political Committee chair Pat Minor speaks to protesters calling to stop the genocide in Gaza, in early November 2023.
March on Washington - November 4, 2023
United Methodists are responding to Kairos Palestine: A Moment of Truth ,a statement of faith and urgent call to action from Christians in Palestine. UMKR seeks, through nonviolent means and in partnership with Palestinian Christians, freedom, justice and equality for all Palestinians and Israelis.
War in Palestine/Israel, 2023
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(Above) United Methodists getting ready to join the crowd on November 4th; left to right: Doris, Chris, Ken, Paula, Cheryl, Qamar, Mary Ann
(Below) Jonathan Brenneman, a Mennonite colleague in the Palestinian liberation movement, and UMKR Steering Committee member Paula Roderick at the March on Washington, November 4, 2023.
Scroll down the page for United Methodists' Letters to the Editor
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Solidarity across the US and around the world
LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Watching in horror at the loss of lives in Israel and Gaza we should all ask ourselves why? We must understand that the West Bank has been under a brutal military occupation since 1967 and Gaza has been a sealed off prison by the Israeli government for 16 years.
Former Ambassador Charles W. Freeman, Jr. said something we should consider: “The Hamas attack on Israel was part jailbreak (from Gaza, the world’s largest prison since the destruction of the Warsaw Ghetto) but more than that it was a revolt of the hopeless by the hopeless for the hopeless. Sometimes suffering becomes so unbearable that anything goes.”
President Biden also said, “To be silent is to be complicit.” The United States, including Biden, has been both silent and complicit when it comes to the plight of the Palestinians for decades!
Part of the failure is our US foreign policy. We have done nothing for decades to ensure a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict except pour billions of dollars into weapons for Israel, falsely thinking it would ensure security and peace. The US government’s only answer to world conflicts is more aircraft, bombs, tanks, more killings, and now the world’s largest aircraft carrier.
Hamas and Israel must learn that violence doesn’t lead to a just peace. Decades of Israeli violence, acts of humiliation, and oppression of the Palestinian people has not led to Israel’s security. A ceasefire, humanitarian aid, and diplomacy - nonviolence - is the only way.
Lisa Bender,
Chair, United Methodists for Kairos Response (UMKR), kairosresponse.org,
Harrisburg, Pa.
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