2025 is a special year for FCNL’s Advocacy Teams as we celebrate our 10th anniversary. Over the past decade, FCNL has grown its Advocacy Teams network to 135 teams across 48 states and D.C. Each year, Advocacy Teams work on one foreign policy issue and, this year for the first time, a domestic issue as well. In 2025, Advocacy Teams will advocate under the theme, Aid, Not Arms: Opening the Way to Peace in the Middle East.
Since the horrific October 7, 2023 Hamas attacks on Israel, Gazans have endured over 15 months of relentless bombing, which has caused huge suffering, displacing 95% of the population and plunging nearly 2.2 million into acute food insecurity. The U.S. has responded with $22 billion of arms sales to Israel and cutting off humanitarian aid to Gaza provided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), the backbone of all aid delivery in the region.
Cutting off aid was a knee-jerk response to Israeli allegations that a dozen UNRWA employees were directly involved in Hamas’ horrific attacks on October 7. As the facts have rolled in, it’s become clear that this rush to judgment was unjustified. Fifteen of the sixteen countries that paused funding to UNRWA have since resumed funding, including major U.S. allies.
Advocacy Teams will urge members of Congress to co-sponsor the soon-to-be-reintroduced UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act so that desperately needed humanitarian aid can flow to those in need. Consistent with FCNL’s longstanding position that War is Not the Answer, we believe there is no military solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The way to a just peace will come through diplomacy that addresses the root causes of the conflict. We welcome the news of a ceasefire deal – now we need a permanent ceasefire and to flood Gaza with humanitarian aid to repair the harms of this war.
In addition to working on Middle East policy, Advocacy Teams will also advocate on climate policy, specifically urging Congress to protect the renewable energy tax provisions of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and roughly $700 million in international climate finance (ICF). As floods, wildfires, and extra strong hurricanes remind us of the dangers of climate change, Advocacy Teams will urge Congress to protect vital investments in solutions to this deepening crisis.
We are beginning a new Congress and presidential term with plenty of crises at home and abroad. Members of Congress need to hear your voice more than ever. Would you like to join an Advocacy Team? Learn more today!
