gaza

This week for the first time, the federal government formally declared what we have long known: gun violence is a public health crisis.

As Iranian writer Dina Nayeri said, “It is the obligation of every person born in a safer room to open the door when someone in danger knocks.”

This week, President Joe Biden took bold action to provide protections and opportunities for many of our undocumented neighbors.

As the sun set on Sunday, April 7, the Triad Muslims Center in High Point, North Carolina was packed. FCNL Diaspora Organizers Ghaisha Yahaya-Mohamed and her daughter, Zainab Adamou-Mohamed, worked with the Triad Muslim Center’s Aalia Shahzadi to host over 60 members of the local community. They gathered not just to share an iftar meal during the month of Ramadan, but to take action for Palestinians in Gaza undergoing a forced famine.

This week, Congress took an important step toward addressing the painful legacy of Indian boarding schools.

On Thursday, the House Committee on Education and the Workforce passed the Truth and Healing Commission on Indian Boarding School Policies Act (H.R. 7227) with overwhelming bipartisan support.

We hope Congress will move swiftly to bring this bill to the floor and pass it so that we can begin the long overdue work of truth, justice, and healing for Native communities.

Thank you for writing to your members of Congress to urge them to publicly support a ceasefire and expanded humanitarian aid in Gaza.

You can level up your advocacy by sharing with your community why you wrote your members of Congress.

One good way to do that is by sharing a video on social media explaining why a ceasefire in Gaza matters to you, and tagging your members of Congress and FCNL (@quakerlobby on Instagram and TikTok, @FCNL on Twitter/X).

As violence escalates and reverberates in the Middle East, Friends feel a call to act. For many, that action includes working in their own community to distill their grief, fear, confusion, and concern into a collective and corporate statement of belief and action. Friends call these statements “minutes.” 

“In the way of peace, we urge all people, including those who hold political power, to set aside violence and aggression and to seek humane and compassionate ways of resolving conflict.”

FCNL lamented the final passage of the massive $95 billion in further war funding for Israel, Ukraine, Taiwan, and others.

As the war in Gaza continues into its sixth month, the consequences for civilians have been devastating. More than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed, and the United Nations is warning of imminent famine in Gaza if urgent action is not taken to surge aid deliveries.

FCNL joined more than 100 national organizations in signing a letter to President Biden urging him to block $735 million in weapons to Israel.

Please join us in reading and discussing the book Light In Gaza! The anthology imagines what the future of Gaza could be, while reaffirming the critical role of Gaza in Palestinian identity, history, and struggle for liberation.