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UMKR emails bring you news about current justice work, action alerts, and great resources for learning and action. Usually 1 newsletter and 1 action alert per month.
Sign the Petition
For UMC clergy and employees:you are the stakeholders in the services provided by the UM General Board of Pension and Health Benefits. Let them know you want occupation-free investments.
Sign the petition to GBPHB
Settlements Boycott
The UMC has called for a global ban on products from Israeli settlements. See many familiar products & how you can support the boycott. Learn more
Kairos Palestine
Palestinian Christians have called on us to help end the Israeli occupation. Discover the document that is mobilizing Christians around the world! Read it
News & Views
Time to Break the Silence on Palestine - Michelle Alexander, The NY Times, 20 Jan 2019
Author of the "The New Jim Crow" compares Martin Luther King's controversial opposition to the Vietnam War to the current issues surrounding support for Palestinian rights, especially when African Americans take a stand. Describing the changes and challenges in the U.S. public debate - with a mention of the United Methodist Church's divestment from Israeli banks – Alexander identifies Palestinian rights as a cause she cannot ignore in 2019. See the editorial
See also the UMKR editorial:African Americans Show How Palestinian Solidarity Is Done
Changing U.S. Policy
It is time for a change in U.S. policies regarding Israel/Palestine. Find out how UMKR and allies are making an impact in Washington & get involved. Learn more
Is It Apartheid?
Find out what an international team of legal scholars - commissioned by the South African government - said about the Israeli occupation. See the answer
Responsible Tourism
Be more than a tourist in the Holy Land. See remarkable tours that will show you biblical history and introduce you to the people of the land. Learn more
Discovery
2019
African Americans Show How Palestinian Solidarity Is Done
M. Theresa Basile
January 2019 – Reviewing Michelle Alexander's NY Times Op-Ed "Time to Break the Silence on Palestine in the contexts of Black-Palestinian solidarity in recent years and of the praise and denunciations it has received. Read the article
Time to Break the Silence on Palestine
Michelle Alexander, The NY Times
January 2019 – Author of the "The New Jim Crow" compares Martin Luther King's controversial opposition to the Vietnam War to the current issues surrounding support for Palestinian rights, especially when African Americans take a stand. Describing the changes and challenges in the U.S. public debate - with a mention of the United Methodist Church's divestment from Israeli banks – Alexander identifies Palestinian rights as a cause she cannot ignore in 2019. See the editorial
Unite to Protect Americans' Right to Boycott
January 2019 – Fifteen faith organizations have issued a statement condemning the current bill in the Senate that would support state legislation penalizing those who support a boycott targeting Israeli human rights abuses. They call on all Americans to contact legislators and urge them to oppose such legislation. See the statement
2018 Year in Review: Part 1 - UMKR & Partners News
January 2019 – Our annual "mega edition" of The Response includes a full review of UMKR activities in the previous year, a selection of the biggest news from faith communities and other partners, and our top picks of 2018 resources.
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Download a pdf file of this newsletter (15 MB)
2018
Ecumenical Statement from 16 Christian Leaders:
Current U.S. Policy, Israel/Palestine, and the Churches
Nov 2018 – This statement was sent to all members of the U.S. Congress, as well as to the White House. It addresses the disturbing shifts in U.S. policy regarding Israel/Palestine during the Trump Administration. See the statement
UMKR & LYNC: We Are Stronger Together
October 2018 – UMKR has taken an important step in the vital work of intersectional justice by joining the Love Your Neighbor Coalition (LYNC) in the United Methodist Church. Read more about this action
Seminal Conference of 2018 Makes Clear: The Future of Justice Activism Is Intersectional
October 2018 –The September USCPR national conference, Together We Rise, brought together the most diverse lineup of presenters yet seen in the movement for Palestinian rights, put remarkable women in the limelight, and unmistakably set the intersectional path for the movement's future.
October 2018 – See the report
FOSNA Conference Empowers Faith-Based Organizing
October 2018 – FOSNA’s gathering in St Paul MN just before the national USCPR conference brought together over 100 leaders and activists from across the United States who, along with a racially diverse lineup of presenters, came together to explore how to strengthen local and national organizing for Palestine, with an appropriate and strong focus on church activism. See the report
Reaching Evangelical Christians in the Bible Belt
Oct 2018 – UMKR provided multi-faceted support for the first-ever Christ at the Checkpoint conference in the United States, which featured an impressive lineup of speakers from Palestine and across the U.S. and, like similar conferences in Bethlehem, focused on reaching evangelical Christians and refuting the theology of Christian Zionism. See the report
LYNC Convo Includes Call to Palestinian Solidarity
The national gathering of the Love Your Neighbor Coalition focused strongly on the upcoming 2019 Special General Conference, with diverse views of the proposed plans for the future of the UMC. Two dozen workshops in that weekend included "Why We Should Be in Solidarity with Palestinian Christians" presented by Giselle Lawn, former RMN board member and Rev. John Wagner, Co-chair of UMKR.
August 2018 – Read the report
2018 Resolutions Focus on Palestinian Children
July 2018 – Among the eleven Palestine-related resolutions adopted in annual conference this year, eight addressed the human rights of Palestinian children and their abuse in Israeli military detention.
July 2018 – See the report
UMKR Condemns Israel’s Apartheid Law
UMKR joins numerous partners in condeming the recent adoption by the Israeli legislature of the Nation State Law. This bill now enshrines in Israel's Basic Law, the Israeli equivalent to a national constitution, the denial of equal rights for Palestinian Israeli citizens who comprise 20% or more of Israel's population.
July 2018 –See the press release
Palestinian Missionary writes open letter to UMC Leaders
Rev. Alex Awad, a retired UMC missionary and member of the UMKR Steering Committee challenges UMC leaders to do more for the people of the Holy Land, with several concrete suggestions for action.
May 2018 – See the letter
8000 UM Women and UMKR is there
May 2018 – The largest gathering in the United Methodist Church isn't our General Conference, it is the United Methodist Women Assembly. UMKR had a successful display table at the UMW Assembly 2018. As a result of our special focus on education and action for the catastrophic conditions in Gaza, hundreds of personal solar lights for individuals to use were sent to families in Gaza.
See the report
UMKR Condemns Israel's Response to the Great March of Return 2018
UMKR condemns without reservation Israel’s deliberate killing of over 100 protesting Gazans and the maiming of thousands since protests began on 30 March 2018, Palestinian Land Day, and through the following weeks.
See the statement here
BDS movement nominated for Nobel Peace Prize
Read more and take action to support the nomination
Action
Selective Divestment
Throughout the church, the call is growing for the UMC to cut its financial ties to the Israeli occupation that it has long opposed Learn more
Events
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Worship & Devotional Resources
Enrich your spiritual connection to the cause of justice in the Holy Land, with diverse materials for congregations & personal devotions. See the resources
Find the following events on our Events Page
The 2019 North America
Nakba Tour
71 Years without a Country:
Stateless Palestinians from Lebanon
March 3 - early May, 2019
Numerous locations in the U.S.
ADC's 39th Annual
National Convention:
Reclaiming Our Narrative
An American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee
(ADC) Convention
March 1-2, 2019
Washington, D.C.
5th Annual Palestine
Advocacy Day & Training, 2019
Building Power,
Bringing Change
April 5-8, 2019
Washington, DC
Ecumenical Advocacy Days (EAD) 2019
Troubling the Waters for the Healing of the World #GoodTrouble
April 5-8, 2019 • Washingon DC
Persistent Hope: 35 Years of CMEP
A Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP) Advocacy Summit
June 23-25, 2019 • Washington, D.C.
For details, see our Events Page
MAIL
General Inquiries:
United Methodist Kairos Response
c/o Rev. John Wagner
120 South Broad Street
Middletown, OH 45044
Donations/Financial Correspondence:
United Methodists for Kairos Response
c/o William P. Aldrich
42 Gaspee Point Drive • Warwick, RI 02888
Make donations payable to our fiscal agent:
Open Table of Christ UMC
Write on the memo line: UMKR
Israel/Palestine 101
Prepare for peacemaking by learning the basics: the history of this conflict and the real situation today. We have some easy ways to get started. Learn more
Palestinian Missionary to
UMC Leaders: "You need to
do more for justice in the
Holy Land" See the letter
UMKR 2018 Resolutions &
Resources: children's rights, the right to boycott, new UMC invest-ment funds, & more Use them
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Answering the urgent call from Palestinian Christians
~ in Kairos Palestine: A Moment of Truth ~ for effective action to end the Israeli occupation and achieve a just peace in the Holy Land.
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