Updates-A Story of Realistic Hope

Activists discuss global nonviolent movement for Palestinians April 8th

Don't miss this important event!

Join us on our youtube live channel, Youtube/nonviolence to watch this discussion of activist leaders on global solidarity and resistance for justice in Palestine.

 


 

(Please see this page for background information, resources, and action steps on Palestine / Israel)


NVI fiscally sponsors groups that work to help Gazans. Please support them.

If you want to hear news and views directly from Gaza, please check the website and social media sites of  We Are Not Numbers.

US Boats to Gaza is a member of the global Freedom Flotilla Coalition. They seek to bring humanitarian aid by sea to Gaza and break the siege. Learn more about their important work below. 

Here are some photos from the big recent Washington, DC event for Palestinian humanity that was part of much larger global effort.


In this time of enormous unnecessary suffering, it is vitally important that people of good will everywhere raise up the humanity of Palestinian people.

NVI is grateful to the co-founder of our wonderful fiscally sponsored partner, We Are Not Numbers, Ahmed Alnaouq, who brought this short moving video clip to our attention.

Don’t miss US Representative Rashida Tlaib saying the name and last words of WANN writer, Yousef Dawas.

Then take a moment to watch her powerful video here.


We Are Not Numbers is featured in this moving piece in "In These Times."

“I yearn for our voices to echo across the globe with the truth, reaching out to those who seek it.”

SHERELL BARBEE FEBRUARY 7, 2024

https://inthesetimes.com/article/letters-from-gaza-genocide-palestine-culture-


 

We are thrilled that Ahmed's powerful voice was included in the Washington Post.

Here is his excerpt and a link (behind a paywall) to the full article, which includes other perspectives - several not rooted in personal experience or basic human compassion for the suffering of others. When militarists are welcomed into the mainstream press, the media doesn't feel a need to provide "balance." But, for some reason, the few times that Palestinian voices are heard, they present another perspective that often negates Palestinian humanity. 

The slaughter must end

Ahmed Alnaouq: Last week, Israel bombed my family home in Gaza, killing my father, as well as two brothers, three sisters and all of their children, in an instant. One friend described their bodies as “bags of meat” — an arm here, a leg there.

I write to you in mourning. Even now, we Palestinians are not granted the luxury to grieve. Instead, we are burdened with the responsibility to talk, to communicate the extent of our suffering and the injustice wielded against us.

So, first, I must say this: We demand an immediate cease-fire. We demand a lifting of the Israeli siege of Gaza and the restoration of electricity, fuel, water and food. And we demand unimpeded humanitarian access in line with international law.

Today, the word “genocide” is being widely used. I can’t think of another word that captures the magnitude of what Israel, a nuclear-armed military power, continues to unleash on a captive population of children and refugees. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the quiet part out loud: “Gaza won’t return to what it was before,” he said. “We will eliminate everything.”

But we Palestinians already knew what Gallant had in mind. Corralled in Gaza for the past 17 years, burdened with mass unemployment and poverty — even before white phosphorus filled the skies, or before we lay crushed beneath the rubble — we could not breathe. We were held captive like prisoners who had never committed a crime or shot down when we attempted to peacefully protest our incarceration.

Our 1 million children have never traveled outside Israel’s militarized cage and know nothing but the buzz of drones in the sky tracking their every move.

In the past week, I have lost everything. But I do not seek revenge. There is no “military solution” here, only a collective responsibility to finally grant Palestinians what they have demanded for decades, what they are owed: justice, freedom and their very basic rights as human beings.

Ahmed Alnaouq is the head of We Are Not Numbers, which pairs Palestinian writers with mentors overseas.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/11/02/gaza-ceasefire-civilian-military-humanitarian/

Click here to donate to support NVI's fiscally sponsored partner WANN.


Ahmed was also featured in this recent New York Times piece

After the Israeli military killed his older brother in an airstrike in Gaza in 2014, Ahmed Alnaouq says, he almost lost his will to live. “I sank into a deep depression,” he told me in a recent phone call. But an American friend convinced him to write about his brother and channel his grief into something productive. Together, they founded We Are Not Numbers, a project that trains young writers in Gaza and publishes their personal essays in English.

The name is a nod to how numbing numbers can be. The higher the death toll, the less we are inclined to care, since the scale of human suffering can feel overwhelming. Statistics don’t trigger empathy and action. Personal stories do.

“This project changed my life because for the first time, I thought that some people can care about us,” Mr. Alnaouq said, describing the response it got outside Gaza.

We Are Not Numbers began as a way to memorialize the dead, but it quickly turned into a lifeline for the living. For young people in Gaza, stuck in a political system with few rights and a blockaded economy with few jobs, it provides a vital outlet for self-expression...

“After losing my family, I did not stop believing in what I believe in,” he told me. “I don’t want other people to feel what I am feeling. Not the Israelis, not the Palestinians.”


These very painful, honest, meaningful videos feature WANN's co-founder.

Trigger / harsh reality warning. 


Mubarak Awad speaks on KKFI radio about Palestine

Moussa Elbayoumy, Yara Salamed, and NVI President Mubarak Awad discuss calls for a ceasefire in the current Israel-Hamas war. Moussa is an MD and chair of the board of the Kansas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Kansas). Yara is studying Law at UMKC and is President of Students for Justice in Palestine there. Mubarak is a Palestinian born in Jerusalem in 1943, influenced by Mennonite and Quaker missionaries. He received bachelors, masters and PhD degrees from universities in the US. He became a US citizen in 1978 and returned to Jerusalem in 1983 to found the Palestinian Centre for the Study of Nonviolence. He was expelled from Palestine in 1988 during the First Intifada for organizing nonviolent protests against mistreatment of Palestinians by Israeli military and settlers. Back in the US, he founded Nonviolence International. Moussa, Yara and Mubarak are calling for a ceasefire in the current Israel-Gaza war.      KKFI.ORG


Sadly, this short NVI video clip from two years ago is still relevant. 


Refaat Alareer, WANN's co-founder, killing featured in major media outlets. 

CNN

Al Jazeera

Time


In this episode of Mondoweiss’s podcast Culture Editor Mohammed El-Kurd

speaks with journalist and co-founder of We Are Not Numbers Ahmad Alnaouq.


Michael Beer quoted in LA Times article on effective activism. 


Please see these articles: 

Writing while expecting to die “Can you kindly publish the attached stories if I die?” This is what we have been hearing from the young writers we work with from Gaza in the We Are Not Numbers project.

7 steps to end the cycle of violence in Israel and Palestine:
The path to peace requires nonviolent action not just from Israelis and Palestinians, but also Americans, the media, aid organizations and others.
By NVI Founder, Mubarak Awad.  We are pleased to announce this piece was selected as Waging Nonviolence's top story of the year!  https://wagingnonviolence.org/2023/12/waging-nonviolence-top-stories-2023/

When will we learn that violence doesn’t lead to security?
To support Israelis and Palestinians is to insist on their right to equally live in peace and freedom — not help structures of state violence and cultures of militarization.
By NVI Board member, Mohammed Abu-Nimer

Solidarity with Palestinians and Jews Sign on Statement. 

By Jonathan Kuttab, NVI co-founder. Cat Zavis, Jewish Civil/Women's Rights Lawyer, Mediator, and Rabbi: Beyt Tikkun. Michael Lerner, Rabbi and Editor of Tikkun magazine.
Esther Azar, Arab Jewish Trauma Activist, and Rabbi: Trauma Informed Rabbinics.


Recent attacks by Israel on Gaza and Hamas fighters on Israel are tragic and will not resolve bring peace and justice to all.

NVI believes that nonviolence is the only way to end the savagery, brutality and cycle of violence between Palestinians and Israelis.

NVI urges all parties to cease all military attacks and prevent further escalation of violence that will only harm innocent civilians on both sides.

Call for an immediate ceasefire and end to all violence, including an immediate halt to attacks towards Israel and Israeli military attacks on Gaza.

Urgent humanitarian action is needed, including the establishment of a humanitarian corridor inside and out of Gaza, for the safe movement of people and the delivery of essential supplies. This includes opening Erez and Kerem Shalom / Abu Salem crossings to allow for the movement of people and goods and remove the ban on access to the sea. 

End violations of international law and impunity, including settlement expansions, forcible transfer, demolitions, settler violence, all part of ongoing and illegal de facto annexation of West Bank territory. Immediately lift all movement restrictions on Palestinian communities in the West Bank to allow the movements of goods and services. 

Take action at the UN Security Council to reaffirm UN Security Council resolutions calling for a nonviolent resolution of disputes, the reversal of the annexation of Greater East Jerusalem and the preservation of the status quo at holy sites.           

NVI supports nonviolent political resolution of the conflict by ending the systemic policies of oppression and discrimination of Palestinians, including the 16-year siege on Gaza and 56-year military occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including. East Jerusalem.

We hope you will find this helpful and will share it with others.


US Boats to Gaza is a fiscally sponsored partner of NVI and a member of the global Freedom Flotilla Coalition. They seek to bring humanitarian aid by sea to Gaza and break the siege. Learn more below. 

In this video, Ann Wright, a leader of US Boats to Gaza, Veterans for Peace, and Code Pink interrupts the US Secretary of State to call for a Cease Fire Now. Timestamp 1:45


Check out this powerful video (from before the latest crisis), learn more about their important work, and please consider supporting this creative constructive nonviolent movement


 

Mennonite Action Day of Action March 29, 2024

Send Aid Not Bombs, March 25-29, 2024

See a map of actions around the USA

 

For more information check out their website: https://www.mennoniteaction.org/

Donate here. 


 

 

Mennonite Action Prayer Service For Ceasefire in Gaza in the US Congress on January 16, 2024

Don't miss this prominent and positive coverage in the Washington Post. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/01/16/gaza-protest-cannon-building-mennonite-action/


We are people of God’s peace.

Mennonite Action is a movement of Mennonites bonded by a common belief that we must be public about our peace values. We believe that Mennonites have a responsibility to use our voices as powerfully as possible for the cause of peace and justice. We are taking public action as Mennonites. We are mobilizing Mennonites across the US and Canada to demand a ceasefire, end the US and western funded occupation of Palestine, and build for lasting peace.


 “To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic.  It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness...What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something.  If we remember those times and places—and there are so many—where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction...And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future.  The future is an infinite succession of presents and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."  -- Howard Zinn

NVI is proud to be the fiscal sponsor for the this important project. Please consider donating here

NVI Supports Philadelphia Interfaith Network for Peace in Gaza

(Please see this page for background information, resources, and action steps on Palestine / Israel)

NVI has helped support the formation of the Philadelphia interfaith group for peace in Gaza named Prayers for Peace Alliance. Check out their new website!

NVI President Mubarak Awad spoke on March 28, 2024, at an interfaith Iftar organized by Prayers for Peace Alliance in Philadelphia.

Please enjoy this inspirational 35 minute speech!

Palestinians and Jews are joining together to invite churches and synagogues to stop the violence in Gaza and work for peace with justice in Palestine/Israel.

 

Prayers for Peace Alliance co-Coordinater, Sam Kuttab, helping lead the walk by Friends of Combatants for Peace in Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia. USA 25-2-2024


November 19, 2023: Don't miss this powerful article from Daoud Kuttab.

https://milhilard.org/palestinian-and-jewish-americans-call-on-philadelphia-worshipers-to-pray-for-gaza/


On Sunday Nov. 12, 2023, Palestinian-Americans with support from a Friends of Sabeel North America, If Not Now (Philadelphia Chapter), the Alhidaya Islamic Center, and Nonviolence International handed out leaflets at the Elon Tabernacle Church in Philadelphia asking parishioners to pray for people of Gaza and to call on the US government to support a cease-fire.

Palestinian activists displayed signs which said “I’m a Palestinian American Living in the Community. Every 10 minutes a Child is Killed. Pray for Gaza. Stop the Genocide.” Activists from the Alhidaya Islamic Center and If Not Now along with Activiststood in solidarity. The parishioners universally took the leaflets offered and read them. After 30 minutes, the visitors were invited inside in front of the pulpit where the Reverend Waller, warmly welcomed the Palestinian, Jewish and Islamic visitors and proceeded to pray for them, their families, and the people of Gaza for 10 minutes. He concluded by calling for an immediate ceasefire saying that his congregation does not takes sides, just the sides of peace for the Palestinian and Israeli people.

Given the warm response, NVI and these activist groups will continue to reach out to Philadelphia church-goers to pray for Gaza and support a cease-fire.  If you want to get more information, reach out to us at [email protected]

Philadelphians will continue to reach out to other churches on Sunday November 19, 2023. Here is the media release.

 

Two Palestinian-Americans standing outside of the Elon Tabernacle Church

IMG_0642.jpg

Delegation members invited inside to Rev Waller's pulpit

Muslims, Christians and Jews standing outside of the Elon Tabernacle Church


NVI fiscally sponsors groups that work to help Gazans. Please support them.

If you want to hear news and views directly from Gaza, please check the website and social media sites of  We Are Not Numbers.

US Boats to Gaza is a member of the global Freedom Flotilla Coalition. They seek to bring humanitarian aid by sea to Gaza and break the siege. Learn more about their important work below. 

Here are some photos from the big recent Washington, DC event for Palestinian humanity that was part of much larger global effort.


 

 Isaiah Project calls for continued nonviolent resistance nuclear weapons
With the Oscars being announced this weekend and the film Oppenheimer nominated for 13 awards, Hollywood stars including Oppenheimer cast members are clamoring for nuclear abolition. Learn more at: https://www.makenukeshistory.org/open-letter

(Photo from The Day @thedayct - see full article here.) 

The Coverage reports 5 individuals arrested and correctly notes this as a follow up to a similar action last November when 9 were arrested during a morning rush hour blockade of the plant, including Isaiah Project coordinator Paul Magno. 

The Electric Boat engineering facility is working on design of the new Columbia class ballistic missile submarines to replace the current Ohio class ones. The Ohio class submarines carry 20 Trident II ballistic missiles per sub each deployed with 5 nuclear warheads. A single ballistic missile can travel 6000 miles to its Russian target and precipitate a like response, threatening the lives of millions around the globe and adding a new climate catastrophe, nuclear winter, to our current global climate threats.

The entire Trident weapon system is considered the most destructive weapon in human history and regarded as a patent violation of international treaty law to which the United States is a signatory. The Columbia successor will go into service by the end of the decade and lock humanity into that threat for the balance of the century.

Nonviolent resisters such as those arrested in Monday’s action are affiliated with a regional network in the US northeast, the Atlantic Life Community. Several of the historic Plowshares actions, including 2010’s Disarm Now Plowshares and 2018’s Kings Bay Plowshares disarmament actions have singled out Trident as an immoral and illegal first strike weapon system.

The Isaiah Project hosted the Kings Bay Plowshares support group for five years, sustaining the actors through their trial and subsequent prison sentences during the height of the covid pandemic. We have provided seed money to the No New Tridents grassroots resistance network which focuses on the advent of the Columbia class submarines at Electric Boat in New London & Groton CT and at Newport News Shipbuilding in Virgina, as well as Beyond Trident in southeast Georgia, site of Kings Bay Naval Base Atlantic port for Trident.

The call for continuing nonviolent resistance to such nuclear weapons is clear through such actions.


Besides anti-nuclear protests that are direct action (such as Plowshare actions), there are also social media & public protests that have value.

A new initiative is to try promote the policy of no first-use of a nuclear weapon. NVI Director Michael Beer, along with Alyn Ware of the Parliamentarians for Nuclear Disarmament, went to the 7 nuclear weapons embassies in Washington plus the White House to communicate our strong desire these state commit to a no first-use policy.  Enclosed here is the letter we sent to the Embassies and the White House. Included here is a Declaration of Public Conscience: Nuclear Taboo-From Norm To Law with the no-first use pledge with prominent signatories.



Here is a previous social media protest by Isaiah Project during the Covid Crisis. Thanks to all who participated.

In this time of crisis, we celebrate the vision, commitment, and bold creative activism of our newest partner The Isaiah Project. This project supports Plowshares actions including the Kings Bay 7 who entered a naval base in Georgia two years ago. 

Today, they remind us that our priorities are dangerously upside down. They rightly ask, "Why would we spend valuable resources towards building new bombs when we are completely unprepared to deal with the real threat to our security – pandemic disease?"

Enjoy the warm faces of these wonderful people and please take action with them to declare...

 We need ventilators not bombs. 


To take action in support of their vital work, please visit this page. 

To donate, please visit this page on the NVI site. 

NVI helps White House Fence Protests for the Climate

NVI Director, Michael Beer, pled guilty to Unlawful Entry for his climate protest action in September of 2023.  He faces a 4 month stay away sentence from the White House area. Here is his sentencing statement that he shared with the court.

Dear Judge, prosecutor and those who supported my climate protest.

I have pled guilty to unlawful entry for protesting the weak response from President Biden and his administration to the crisis of climate chaos. It was not my intention to get arrested. And spending about 28 hours in lock-up was not fun.

I chose not to pursue a jury trial. Although I believe my arrest was unwarranted and designed to stop a legitimate protest that was not causing any security or safety concerns to the public, I decided that my chances of persuading a Jury of my innocence was possible but not likely.  I also came to the conclusion that given the strain that the current judicial system has in processing many more serious crimes, that it was almost self-indulgent for me to afford myself this opportunity. I am a fervent supporter of the jury system and I am grateful that in this country, these trials are available to people like me, even on misdemeanor charges.

My purpose in protesting, with other citizens, was to call on President Biden to declare a climate emergency. Although a declaration has risks, we need to face the crisis of carbon pollution with urgent action including building a massive electric grid here and around the world, stopping fossil fuel exports, and producing renewable energy for the globe.  We are by far the world’s biggest historical polluter, and we have much to do in the form of global reparations. We of course need strong congressional action and I look forward to encouraging support for a Green New Deal..

Many of us live an extravagant lifestyle made possible by fossil fuels, and our next generations are likely to experience the damaging results.  This very building is near the flood plain and could face serious flooding.  But beyond the infrastructure, it is the tremendous famines, floods, heat waves, and severe weather that will cause havoc particularly among the less privileged and fortunate.

I try to limit my carbon footprint, by bicycling most places, eating a mostly vegetarian diet, and refraining from flying often. Yet I know I can do better to limit the damage that my life is having on this earth.

My life’s work as Director of Nonviolence International is to support nonviolent social mobilization and action around the world to engage mass engagement to the existential threats of our lifetimes such as nuclear war and climate chaos,. While keeping our eyes on the existential threats we need to support social justice and support human rights around the world. We need to build greater support for the rule of law as a foundation of civilization and deeper reverence  for it is needed particularly for international law and governance which  is vital for human survival.

Future generations will ask, what did you do to stop this profligate burning of fossil fuels? I ask all of you here to regularly ask yourselves this question?

I thank you for listening to my words and I thank you for your service to our communities. I ask that you not impose further punishment, penalties or consequences other than the stay away order to which we have agreed.

NVI Director, Michael Beer, spent the night of September 7th in the notorious DC Central Cellblock. He was arrested at the White House as part of an effort to use nonviolent direct action to urge US President Biden to declare a climate emergency. He was arrested with Kai Newkirk and Justin Blake.

Michael Beer, speaking to the crowd in front of the white house inviting them to speak up and demand a climate emergency declaration.

Protests Continue for a Climate Emergency Declaration

September 12th, inspired by our action, new activists from around the country again put a climate emergency sign on the fence and were arrested.

September 13th, another set of activists protested at the White House Fence!

September 14th, yet another wave of activists protested at the White House.

September 19th, more citizens put the sign up on the fence and were arrested again.

 

September 20th, four more citizens arrested including Dr. Paul Dietz, Rev. Redeem Robinson both of whom were kept overnight at the appalling DC Central Cell Block.

Here is a LINK to video of their protest!

September 22nd, more protests led by Native Americans at White House Fence

September 23rd Media Release LINK

September 28th, Kai Newkirk interrupted President Joe Biden's speech in Arizona.

Various outlets covered Kai's disruption:

Democracy Now: Activist Disrupts Biden Speech, Urges Him to Declare Climate Emergency

MarketWatch: Biden interrupted by climate activist during speech, promises to meet

The Hill: Biden heckled by climate activist in Arizona during speech honoring McCain

The Independent: Biden faces down climate activist hecklers during Arizona speech

October 1st, Mehdi Hasan covered Kai's disruption and put it into conversation with the narrative in climate scientist, Michael Mann's recent book.


The climate crisis is obvious and not some far off future we must fear, but instead a current reality we must face. This effort at the White House is led by our fiscally sponsored partner For All. Together we are urging the US President to take action to end all new fossil fuel infrastructure. We also call on every country to declare a climate emergency.

You can play a key role in this work wherever you are in the world. Connect with local groups especially those led by frontline communities and young leaders who will inherit the mess we have created. 

For those in the US, please join our actions and civil disobedience protests at the White House over the coming weeks. You can learn more about that here.

There is a huge end fossil fuels march in New York City at the UN on September 17, 2023. Large civil disobedience street protests will happen on September 18. Please come to New York and participate in these historic actions. There are over 400 protests around the world this week. Please join one.

To learn more about Nonviolent Tactics, please see Michael Beer’s book and NVI’s database. 

NVI has been active on this issue. For those wanting to learn more or be inspired by creative youth-led action, please see:

Solidarity with Sunrise

Spotlight on NV - Jamie Margolin

Beyond Changing Light Bulbs: 21 Ways You Can Stop the Climate Crisis



Organizational Letter on Gun Violence and Israel

NVI signed this letter to US Secretary of State 

Dear Secretary Blinken,

Twenty-five faith-based, human rights, and gun violence prevention organizations are writing you to voice our concern about the massive numbers of small arms that the U.S. is exporting to Israel, the lack of end use controls on these exports, and the violence and human rights violations that have occurred and will continue as a result. Please see attached our full letter explaining these concerns, including background on the issue, data on U.S. arms exports to Israel, and an explanation of how, in light of war crimes and other violence occurring in the West Bank and Gaza, such arms transfers violate U.S. policy.

We encourage the Department of State and Department of Commerce to suspend all licenses and shipments of firearm exports to Israel until criteria are met that will prevent further war crimes and ensure end use monitoring of transferred munitions. We advocate that an overall policy of restraint is adopted for the export of firearms, and that arms export policy exceptions for Israel are removed.

Lastly, we encourage your departments to establish criteria for the exclusion of end users where there is a meaningful risk that such users are involved in human rights abuses or other crimes, and to require U.S. firearms manufacturers to submit license applications and end user certificates for all proposed exports. Complete details of these policy asks can be found in the full letter.

Please do not hesitate to reach out with any questions or concerns. We would be happy to begin a dialogue with you to discuss enacting these crucial changes.


See the full text of the letter here. 

US Holocaust Memorial Museum Supporters Project “Stop the Genocide In Gaza” on Exterior

US Holocaust Memorial Museum Supporters Project “Stop the Genocide In Gaza” on Exterior

Check out this two minute video!


 

(Jonathan Kuttab in front of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum) 


(Michael Beer calling for a ceasefire now)


(Marianne Ehrlich Ross, Holocaust survivor and Museum Supporter)


Michael Beer talked about this event on this podcast. 

Timestamp 13:10


Nonviolence International Media Release

Date: January 4, 2024
Spokesperson: Michael Beer, 202 244 0951, [email protected]

US Holocaust Museum Supporters Show “Stop the Genocide In Gaza” on Exterior

Washington DC: Wednesday evening, supporters of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum projected photographs and slides on the exterior walls calling on the world to “Never Again” tolerate genocide for anyone. The photographs showed scenes of atrocities in Gaza with words saying “Stop the Genocide in Gaza” “Ceasefire Now” and “Silence=Death.”

“We are here to help fulfill the mission of the Holocaust Museum which is to ensure that ethnic cleansing and genocide never happens again for all people not just Jews” said organizer, Michael Beer, Director of Nonviolence International, himself a descendent of Holocaust victims. “As a an institution created by Congress”, he said, “the Museum has a special responsibility to speak up against genocide in Gaza, in part, because US weapons and support are involved.”

The projection on two western walls of the Museum follows a tradition of anti-genocide images on the Museum with regards to Darfur and internal exhibits regarding the Rohingya.

Helping with the projection was Marianne Ehrlich Ross, a Holocaust survivor, and long time supporter of the Museum, who spoke about her experience being expelled from Vienna, then Prague, and then being stranded in England during the war. She is shocked that Israel, with US support, is engaging in ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, and asked the Museum to not be silent on the present war on the Palestinian people - or anyone else.

Explaining the pictures of destruction and suffering in Gaza, Jonathan Kuttab, Director of Friends of Sabeel North America, spoke about his experience of Palestinians suffering from expulsion, occupation and murder on a vast scale. He spoke to the horrors of the Holocaust in Europe and said that “it is tragic that the Jewish state is perpetrating ethnic cleansing, war crimes and genocide.” Kuttab, a renowned International human rights lawyer, said “the Genocide Convention is clearly being openly violated by Israel and the US. I call on the Museum to live up to its stated mission which is to prevent and oppose genocide across the whole world.”

Scott Weinstein, a health care provider, spoke in French and English as a Canadian Jew, saying that the Israeli government’s genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians is causing more anti-Semitism. “The October 7th attacks against Israel came about partially as a response to generations of Israeli abuse and that this should be a wake up call for the need for justice for Palestinians, not revenge.”

In 1993, Beer and Starhawk organized a large alternative opening ceremony for the Museum urging the inclusion of the persecution and extermination of homosexual and bisexual men which the Museum promptly did. Beer and Starhawk sent an open letter in November, 2023 calling on the Museum replicate its 1993 inclusive response and to again fulfill its mission to end genocide against all people. Beer said “we stated on this Museum plaza then and today, “Silence=Death”.

This action was endorsed by Nonviolence International, Jewish Voice for Peace-DC Metro, and Friends of Sabeel North America. A video of the event can be found here.

###


November 10, 2023

Letter to the US Holocaust Memorial Museum: Silence = Death

Dear US Holocaust Memorial Council Chair, Stuart E. Eizenstat,

The huge pogrom attack on Jewish communities near Gaza, and revenge attack on 2.2 million Palestinian Gazan residents raises the painful question – What can and should the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) do now? The Holocaust Museum has shown years of leadership as it seeks to inspire “citizens and leaders worldwide to confront hatred, prevent genocide, and promote human dignity.”  The Museum also memorializes the experience of Jews and the cancer of anti-Semitism and humanizes other victim communities of the Holocaust. 

The Museum has come a long way.  We organized an alternative opening ceremony of the Holocaust Museum in 1993 because the official ceremony explicitly excluded Gay/Bi/Lesbian people (homosexuals). Within the year, the Museum embraced the pink triangle Holocaust story and doubled down on its inclusion of other victim groups such as the Roma, people with disabilities, Slavs and others. To ensure that the Museum maintains its contemporary relevance, it created the Simon-Skjodt Center for the Prevention of Genocide whose purpose is genocide prevention, crisis response, justice and accountability. Recently, the Museum’s exhibition on the genocide of the Rohingya was a strong political statement and superbly presented. 

Last month, the museum (on the Press Room webpage) condemned the horrific attacks on Israel and Jews by Hamas on October 7th and then released a statement in defense of the State of Israel. Yet, when it comes to genocidal threats and the attack on 2.2 million Palestinian people, (not to mention scores of Jewish pogroms on many communities in the West Bank), the Holocaust Museum website appears to be silent. Setting the bombing (and 10,000 deaths) aside, halting water, food, medicine and fuel to an entire population is barbaric and genocidal. The fact that this is being done by a Jewish state is doubly tragic and ironic.

Attacks on Palestinian civilians and the death of thousands of children will not make Israel safe; it will only foster more anger and resentment.  Only a just resolution of the conflict can assure true peace for Israel and Palestine alike. 

At the alternative opening ceremony in 1993, we laid a pink triangle flower arrangement on the Museum Plaza with a black and white sign that read “Silence = Death.” This referenced the silence of the Museum toward Gay & Bisexual men as well as the silence of policy makers and society towards a generation of Gay & Bisexual men who died unnecessarily from AIDS. 

Will the Museum speak up for a Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire and humanitarian assistance for all? Will it help decision-makers, the military, and the public work to prevent genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians now and in the longer term? 

The mission of the Holocaust Museum should be universal, not one primarily based in the exceptionalism of Jews.  There is an urgent and dramatic opportunity for the Holocaust Museum to elevate its mission of Never Again. Silence in this case means death for countless Palestinian people.


Shalom,

Michael Beer

Starhawk


Michael Beer serves as the Director of Nonviolence International and author of Civil Resistance Tactics of the 21st Century.

Starhawk is an author, activist, permaculture designer and teacher, and a prominent voice in modern earth-based spirituality and ecofeminism. 

 

The letter contents are the personal views of the Director of NVI and co-author Starhawk, and not necessarily the views of the Organization.

 

Downloadable PDF Version

Merchandise to support NVI!

Karim Awad, Mubarak's son, has started a fundraiser for NVI.

(Mubarak modeling our new merch)

To learn more or to make a purchase, please visit: https://karimawad.com/collections/palestine


When we first saw this image, we immediately thought of the story of Sadako and The Thousand Cranes.

Karim's art links this symbol of peace to Palestine. The Arabic word written below the Crane spells JUSTICE.


 

 

DC Joined the Global Movement for Gaza

In a time of growing global crisis, supporters of Palestinian humanity came to Washington, DC.

This sign sums it all up - "What if it were your children?" 

May we find a way to value all precious humans equally in both words and deeds. 


Sign reads, "Violence is the language of the inarticulate. Free Palestine." 


 Sign reads, "We don't agree with our government funding genocide." 


One sign reads, "When you need to have hundreds of protests just to tell the world bombing children is not ok, that is when you know you know that Humanity has Failed. 


Sign held by staff members of the US Congress and Presidential Administration reads,

"Biden and Congress Your Staff Demand a Cease Fire." 


Large Banner reads, "Stop the attack on Gaza. Free Palestine. Stop Killing Kids in Palestine." 


Signs read, "One holocaust does not justify another" and "Free Palestine" 


Concise, clear, and a touch of humor.


I brought a two-sided sign to the event. This side reads,

"This Jew believes the radical notion that Palestinians are human! Never Again must mean Never Again for All People! 


 

I brought a two-sided sign to the event. This side reads,

"Cease Fire NOW! Occupation is NOT my Judaism. Solidarity and Co-Resistance are needed now more than ever." 


Please see updates on Gaza here.

Please learn more and take ACTION here

Please support NVI’s wonderful fiscally sponsored partners:

We Are Not Numbers continues to humanize Gazan Palestinians with its youth-led media training program. 

Holy Land Trust mobilizes Palestinians, Israelis and foreigners to work together for a future based on equality. They re-build homes, engage in dialogue, and challenge the fear of the other.  

The US Advisory Committee for the Hebron International Resource Network rebuilds wells, playgrounds, schools, homes in areas threatened by land confiscation. 

The Center for Jewish Nonviolence engages in direct action and co-resistance in support of Palestinians struggling for dignity and equal rights.

The US Boat To Gaza supports the global flotilla to challenge the blockade of Gaza this summer. 

SOUL, a project of HIRN uses the power of music to promote change in difficult circumstances. 

Support HIRN this Giving Tuesday!

Click here to donate to HIRN

Hebron International Resource Network is a fiscally sponsored partner of Nonviolence International. Learn more at our Partner Page.

We are committed to supporting Palestinians to stay where they are–in their homes and on their lands–despite pressure from soldiers and local settlers to drive them out. This has involved building schools, improving housing and infrastructure, providing tuition for college students, and helping with needed supplies in communities.

Since October 7, 2023, life has grown much more difficult for Palestinians.The war in Gaza has resulted in the death of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza. And with the eyes of the world on Gaza, according to OCHA, violence has accelerated in the West Bank, with over 150 dead, thousands injured and many more arrested and detained..

For the Hebron International Resource Network (HIRN), this means we’ve shifted our support of South Hebron Hills communities significantly–from aiding in infrastructure and education programs, to immediate medical and nutritional aid.

The biggest need we’ve encountered is with emergency medical care. With road blockades becoming a fact of life in the West Bank, it’s getting more difficult for communities to get their injured to hospitals. Add to that an increase in settler violence, and Palestinians are facing the possibility that a settler attack plus lack of access to medical care could mean death for beloved community members.

The village of Umm Al Khair reached out to HIRN and requested that we supply a 24/7 medical clinic in the South Hebron Hills, so people in this remote area have a chance of survival in a medical emergency. We are working on meeting this need, and it is expensive–over thirty thousand dollars. Your support on this Giving Tuesday means we can make this urgently needed medical clinic a reality.

Click here to donate to HIRN

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