Bending the Arc

As we marked the Oct. 7th anniversary of Hamas’ attack on Israeli citizens and subsequent genocide being carried out by the Israeli government in Gaza (and into the West Bank and the region) the mounting death toll and images of shrouds of children and starving infants have broken all our hearts. Especially painful is that the U.S. has continued to provide political cover for Israel and offensive military weapons—without conditions—to Israel to enable the killing.  

While many of us have been consistently lifting up the need for a permanent ceasefire, a suspension of US weapons transfers to Israel, and diplomacy to address the occupation at the roots of the conflict, there are now two specific Resolutions in Congress—that are extremely important. 

1. The Senate “Joint Resolutions of Disapproval,” (JRD) introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, Jeff Merkley and Peter Welch, is a set of 6 resolutions that are categorized by weapons systems, calling for each category of weapons to be suspended, given their offensive nature, and given documentation that the Israeli military has used U.S. weapons in its strikes that have killed thousands of civilians. (JRD bill numbers and text: S.J.Res. 111, S.J.Res. 112, S.J.Res. 113, S.J.Res. 114, S.J.Res 115, S.J.Res. 116). This is a historic resolution and there will be a vote in early or mid-November (after the election) in the Senate.  The challenge is to get as many senators as possible to add their name as a co-sponsor before the vote.  Some steps you can take: 
2. ACTION: Mercy Sisters Action Alert; feel free to take their name out of the message body and put yours in, edit as you see fit, etc. CSA appreciates, and joins, the efforts of the Mercy Sisters. Here’s another template from FCNL Quakers lobby.  
3. If you have members in states with these senators, know they are considered key to convincing to sign on as a co-sponsor (most likely): Van Hollen, Murphy, Reed, King, Shaheen, Smith, Klobuchar, Warnock, Ossoff, Luján, Duckworth, Durbin, Warren, Carper, Whitehouse, Baldwin, Heinrich, Hirono, Sherrod Brown, Markey, Butler, Kaine. 
4. In the House of Representatives, a resolution was introduced in late September: H.R. 9649, the UNRWA Funding Emergency Restoration Act of 2024. The bill calls to repeal the suspension that was placed on U.S. funds destined for UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East), which is the primary distributor of aid in Gaza.  For more information on the bill, see Mercy’s action alert; and again feel free to use/adapt/put your name on it—and encourage your members to take action.  There may be a Senate companion bill coming in the near future, but for now, it’s just in the House.  You can check if your representative is among the 68 who have signed on as well here.

Additional resources:

• Mercy Sisters Leadership Team statement for the anniversary of Oct. 7.
• Resource, perhaps for prayer, FB video of the names of those killed in Gaza, w/music. Names are listed by age, and it is long 59 minutes, the first minute and a half—with children under age 1.