{"id":55279,"date":"2024-05-07T10:04:49","date_gmt":"2024-05-07T15:04:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/?p=55279"},"modified":"2024-05-08T08:28:01","modified_gmt":"2024-05-08T13:28:01","slug":"3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"3rd Thursday Alert: Urge the U.S. Senate to reject initiatives to curb free speech and advocacy for Palestinians rights"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Over the past few weeks, students and faculty across the country have come out in large numbers to oppose U.S. military aid to Israel, approved by Congress in a supplemental bill that passed in late April.  The bill, which authorized new military aid<\/a> to Israel ($14.1B), Ukraine ($60.8B), and Taiwan ($2B), is the latest U.S. allocation to support Israel\u2019s continuing onslaught of Palestinians in Gaza, including sales<\/a> and financial assistance.  It also included provisions for humanitarian aid, but excluded the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) from U.S. support until March 2025.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

UNRWA remains the leading humanitarian organization serving Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.  It serves 5.9 million registered Palestinian refugees displaced in the Nakba<\/em>, or \u201ccatastrophe,\u201d in which 750,000 Palestinians were forcibly uprooted from their homes and communities in 1947-1949.  May 15 is Nakba<\/em> Day, on which Palestinians commemorate their historic losses.  More than two-thirds of the Palestinians in Gaza today are refugees from three-quarters of a century ago and their descendants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date<\/a> in Gaza, nearly 35,000 Palestinians have been killed; 78,000 have been injured; at least 10,000 are considered missing under rubble<\/a>; and most of Gaza\u2019s Palestinians have been displaced and are facing starvation.  These casualty numbers will certainly increase significantly as Israel has launched its campaign against Palestinians living and sheltering in the Rafah area.  Students and faculty in the U.S. have called for an end to such U.S. support, divestment by their colleges and universities from corporations that profit from Israeli violations of Palestinian rights and international law, and greater transparency about their schools\u2019 funding sources and uses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reaction in Congress to the university protests has been swift.  The House of Representatives has passed two bills in the past month attempting to stifle First Amendment rights of free speech and to constrain support for Palestinian rights.  On May 1, the House passed the \u201cAntisemitism Awareness Act\u201d (HR 6090<\/a>) calling upon the Department of Education to use the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism and its supporting examples, effectively categorizing criticism of Israeli policies as antisemitism.  On April 15, the House passed HR 6408<\/a>, \u201cto amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to terminate the tax-exempt status of terrorist supporting organizations.\u201d  The terms of the bill have been applied subjectively and indiscriminately to attempt to remove the tax-exempt status of organizations that have advocated for Palestinian rights.  Both bills have been forwarded to the U.S. Senate as S 4127 and S 4136, respectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Write to your Senators<\/a> urging them to oppose <\/strong>S 4127<\/strong><\/a> and <\/strong>S <\/strong><\/a>4136<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The U.S. should not take lessons from Israel, which already has targeted Palestinian organizations that have advocated for Palestinian rights, including shutting down six Palestinian human rights organizations<\/a> in 2021.  Such denial of voice is part of the \u201congoing Nakba<\/em>\u201d that Palestinians have experienced for decades.  Stifling free speech and advocacy for human and civil rights are not principles of a liberal democracy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israel\u2019s war on Gaza must cease immediately, hostages and prisoners must be released, necessary and sufficient humanitarian aid must be provided immediately, and core issues must be resolved based on international law to ensure a just and durable peace in the Middle East. As Palestinians mark Nakba<\/em> Day this May 15, Americans must retain their rights to speak out, dissent, and advocate with non-violence for justice and peace.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the past few weeks, students and faculty across the country have come out in large numbers to oppose U.S. military aid to Israel, approved by Congress in a supplemental bill that passed in late April.  The bill, which authorized … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20176,"featured_media":38276,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[],"topic":[20450,20278,20417],"region":[20025,20022],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n3rd Thursday Alert: Urge the U.S. Senate to reject initiatives to curb free speech and advocacy for Palestinians rights - Global Ministries<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"3rd Thursday Alert: Urge the U.S. Senate to reject initiatives to curb free speech and advocacy for Palestinians rights - Global Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Over the past few weeks, students and faculty across the country have come out in large numbers to oppose U.S. military aid to Israel, approved by Congress in a supplemental bill that passed in late April.  The bill, which authorized … Read more\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Global Ministries\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-07T15:04:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-08T13:28:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/3rd-Thursday-logo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"257\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"117\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Middle East and Europe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@MidEastEuropeGM\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Middle East and Europe\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights\/\",\"name\":\"3rd Thursday Alert: Urge the U.S. Senate to reject initiatives to curb free speech and advocacy for Palestinians rights - Global Ministries\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-07T15:04:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-05-08T13:28:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/#\/schema\/person\/4b18b6cf8489c64f6ea75a366861d9ac\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"3rd Thursday Alert: Urge the U.S. Senate to reject initiatives to curb free speech and advocacy for Palestinians rights\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/\",\"name\":\"Global Ministries\",\"description\":\"Global Ministries is a common missional witness of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ. Global Ministries works with approximately 290 faith-based international partners in close to 90 countries. Our Vision: That all of God\u2019s people and creation share in God\u2019s abundant life. Our Mission: To receive and share the Good News of Jesus Christ by joining with global and local partners to work for justice, reconciliation, and peace.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/#\/schema\/person\/4b18b6cf8489c64f6ea75a366861d9ac\",\"name\":\"Middle East and Europe\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/84cb7ef34bb9e42641643b8ae527523e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/84cb7ef34bb9e42641643b8ae527523e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Middle East and Europe\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MidEastEuropeGM\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/author\/pemakari\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"3rd Thursday Alert: Urge the U.S. Senate to reject initiatives to curb free speech and advocacy for Palestinians rights - Global Ministries","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"3rd Thursday Alert: Urge the U.S. Senate to reject initiatives to curb free speech and advocacy for Palestinians rights - Global Ministries","og_description":"Over the past few weeks, students and faculty across the country have come out in large numbers to oppose U.S. military aid to Israel, approved by Congress in a supplemental bill that passed in late April.  The bill, which authorized … Read more","og_url":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights\/","og_site_name":"Global Ministries","article_published_time":"2024-05-07T15:04:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-05-08T13:28:01+00:00","og_image":[{"width":257,"height":117,"url":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/3rd-Thursday-logo.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Middle East and Europe","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@MidEastEuropeGM","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Middle East and Europe","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights\/","url":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights\/","name":"3rd Thursday Alert: Urge the U.S. Senate to reject initiatives to curb free speech and advocacy for Palestinians rights - Global Ministries","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2024-05-07T15:04:49+00:00","dateModified":"2024-05-08T13:28:01+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/#\/schema\/person\/4b18b6cf8489c64f6ea75a366861d9ac"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/3rd-thursday-alert-urge-the-u-s-senate-to-reject-initiatives-to-curb-free-speech-and-advocacy-for-palestinians-rights\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"3rd Thursday Alert: Urge the U.S. Senate to reject initiatives to curb free speech and advocacy for Palestinians rights"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/","name":"Global Ministries","description":"Global Ministries is a common missional witness of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ. Global Ministries works with approximately 290 faith-based international partners in close to 90 countries. Our Vision: That all of God\u2019s people and creation share in God\u2019s abundant life. Our Mission: To receive and share the Good News of Jesus Christ by joining with global and local partners to work for justice, reconciliation, and peace.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/#\/schema\/person\/4b18b6cf8489c64f6ea75a366861d9ac","name":"Middle East and Europe","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/84cb7ef34bb9e42641643b8ae527523e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/84cb7ef34bb9e42641643b8ae527523e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Middle East and Europe"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/MidEastEuropeGM"],"url":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/author\/pemakari\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55279"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55279"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55344,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55279\/revisions\/55344"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38276"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55279"},{"taxonomy":"topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/topic?post=55279"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.globalministries.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=55279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}