Extend

Now that Awdah has been buried, the community of Umm al-Khair is accepting donations to support them. bit.ly/UAKfundraiser (link in bio) From @cjnvgram : Without pause, the settlers and state have continued their harassment and encroach on the community. The settler construction project on the edges of the community has continued without pause, 20 of the men from the village were arrested after the incident and only released after several days in torturous prison conditions, and just two days before Awdah’s funeral settlers destroyed half the community’s main water source leaving twenty families without access to water. This fundraiser is to continue Awdah’s legacy and also to support his community right now. The fundraiser is hosted by the Center for Jewish Nonviolence. All funds raised will be distributed in the community in coordination with his family and the village council. Photo: @emilyglickphoto

TAKE ACTION NOW: the people of Umm Al Khair are calling on the world to support them, and Awdah’s memory, in two ways. 1) Amplify their hunger strike and their demands for the IDF to return Awdah’s body 2) Host a solidarity encampment or mourning tent in your community

We are devastated beyond words to have lost Awdah. Awdah Hathaleen was a brilliant beloved organizer, friend, and partner who welcomed Extend participants — and countless others — into his home in Umm al-Khair. We're sharing this video, filmed and edited by @emilyglickphoto in 2022, so you can hear the story of Umm al-Khair from Awdah himself. Awdah's mission, and great talent, was sharing the story of his community and compelling us all to act and to resist. الله يرحمه May his memory be for a blessing.

BREAKING: This morning at 11:30am, for the second time in just over a month, the Israeli police raided the Educational Bookshop @educationalbookshop on Salahaddin Street in East Jerusalem. After an hour and a half of searching through the books, once again using Google translate to discern the titles, they confiscated dozens of books, arrested the owner Imad Muna, 61 years old, and took him to the Israeli police station on Salahaddin Street. They closed the shop door and took the keys to the Bookshop, without issuing a closure order. They refused to explain what law had been violated or the reason for Imad Muna’s arrest. No arrest warrant or search warrant was provided. (Statement from Ahmad Muna, photos by Nir Hasson) Imad is the father of Ahmad Muna, the bookshop’s co-owner who was arrested and jailed for two nights on February 9th on bogus charges. Ahmad spoke to the Extend community about his harrowing arrest just two days ago. The Israeli police are making it clear the bookshop is a target — Palestinian culture and history is a threat to the state’s attempts to ethnically cleansed Palestinians from the land. We will post action items as soon as we know.

EDIT: the timing is actually 5:30pm Jerusalem, 12:30pm ET, 9:30am ET. Apologies for the Daylight Savings Time-induced error! NEXT SUNDAY: we’re honored to host our friend Ahmad Muna for a conversation, and we hope you’ll join us. Normally when we talk to Ahmad, it’s over tea in the literary salon at @educationalbookshop , and he’s sharing the story of his life, the bookshop, and the particularities of segregation and apartheid in East Jerusalem with visitors we have brought from overseas. This time will be a little different: Ahmad will share the story of his recent imprisonment alongside his uncle Mahmoud — a harrowing episode that made headlines all over the world. He’ll tell us about the broader crackdown on Palestinian civil society and resistance through culture and art. And because we can’t gather in the bookshop, he’ll tell us how to support it. Register at the link in our bio or bit.ly/AhmadMuna, and if you can’t make it, please donate to the @educationalbookshop ’s emergency GoFundMe. Photo credit to Olivier Fitoussi and Ammar Awad

Our programs have largely been on pause since October 7th, but we were recently able to take a group of rabbinical students to visit occupied Hebron with our friends at @breakingthesilenceisrael . As anyone who has visited Hebron can attest, it’s one of the places where apartheid and segregation are at their clearest and most shocking. Here, “sterilized” streets allow only Jews and not Palestinians, Palestinians who live on those streets must climb through windows on the other side to enter and exit. A settlement sits inside a major Palestinian city. And a grave inside that settlement is the resting place of Baruch Goldstein, a Kahanist who walked into a Hebron mosque in 1994 and massacred praying Palestinians (as we saw when we visited, settlers leave stones on his grave in his honor). It’s a horrifying place, made more horrifying by the nearby destruction of Palestinian villages in the South Hebron Hills and the ongoing genocide not many kilometers away in Gaza. But we have a responsibility to keep witnessing — and to keep peeling back layers of obfuscation and darkness that prevent our Jewish community from knowing what is done in our name.

This post comes from one of our amazing alumni, Emily @emmygeee123 , who joined us on a trip to the West Bank ten years ago (!) this week. For Emily, who is the granddaughter of Holocaust survivors, unquestioning support for Israel was foundational to her upbringing. Now, as bombs fall on Gaza and many Extend alumni across the world are engaging with their communities to join the call for ceasefire, Emily documents her journey of unlearning and learning in a 4-part story on her account. We’re sharing one of those parts along with her photos. “In January 2014, I toured the West Bank (WB) with Extend, a trip targeted to young Jews, and was shocked to learn that the situation was even worse than I realized. We visited Al Khalil/Hebron, where it’s illegal for Palestinians to walk down Shuhada St, which was once a main street bustling with shops. Residents had to find alternate ways to get into and out of their homes, even via their roofs. I saw Palestinian homes that had been burned by settlers in an attempt to evict residents; some attempts were successful. We toured villages known for nonviolent protests — which were met with tear gas and rubber bullets. Spray painted ✡️ branded Palestinian buildings. A symbol I’d worn around my neck and drawn in my notebook countless times — now used as a symbol of violent supremacy. I felt deep shame on behalf of my people.” Story continued in comments. #palestine #gaza #ceasefirenow

Over the past month, former soldier and anti-occupation activist @benzionsanders has been sharing his analysis and his call for ceasefire, peace, and justice with the world — on @cnn , @msnbc , @channel4news , and @nytimes . During the last major war on Gaza in 2014, Benzi was sent — from his usual post in the West Bank — to the north of the Gaza Strip with his unit. What he saw there was the strongest possible argument against the militarism and subjugation of Palestinians that Israel has so long relied on. It’s also what led him to join @breakingthesilenceisrael and eventually Extend. At Extend, Benzi takes hundreds of U.S. and other diaspora Jews to the West Bank and East Jerusalem to meet Palestinian and Israeli activists fighting for a just peace. That work is even more important than ever — the Jewish movement for ceasefire has been powerfully fueled by Jewish leaders who have witnessed occupation and apartheid on the ground (including many Extend alums). And yet, the movement for human rights in Israel and Palestine has never been more precarious. It’s Giving Tuesday, and we’d like to ask you to consider giving to Extend at fundrazr.com/givetoextend (link in our stories and bio). Share this video, and Benzi’s perspective widely to all those who need to hear it.

Our own @benzionsanders appeared on @msnbc today with a powerful message from a former soldier: #CeasefireNow. No military solution, no response that does not secure freedom for Palestinians and the end of exclusionary rule over the land, will lead to a just peace. “We need an about face in our approach to Palestinians.”

🔴CALL TO ACTION🔴 from our friends at @cjnvgram and in Masafer Yatta. With the world’s eyes (understandably) on Gaza, settlers in the West Bank have ramped up their violent incursions on Palestinian villages in the West Bank. Residents of Masafer Yatta, a collection of villages in the South Hebron Hills who already face ceaseless demolitions of their homes by the Israeli military, have reported targeted attacks and land seizures by settlers in recent days. Settlers near Susiya in particular have demanded that Palestinian residents leave their land or face more violence. This is an emergency. Follow the action items on the first slide and follow @cjnvgram for updates. [Slides 1-3 are from CJNV, slides 4-6 are photos by @emilyglickphoto of residents of Masafer Yatta, and slide 7 is an Extend group in MY with our friend @awdah.hathaleen ]

Our programs director, @benzionsanders , has an op-ed in the New York Times this morning. It draws on his years in the IDF, and especially his participation in the 2014 ground invasion of Gaza. Benzi writes powerfully that an Israeli strategy of brute force, which does not end occupation, materially improve Palestinian lives, or result in Palestinian freedom, will never work. Please share this piece, especially with those who are skeptical of a ceasefire and may be more likely to listen to someone of Benzi’s experience. Link in our stories. Shabbat shalom.

Our statement on the current war: We write in horror and heartbreak at what has happened in Israel and Gaza in the last two days. Innocent Israelis murdered in their homes by Hamas militants. Grandmothers, sons, sisters, and fathers kidnapped as hostages and taken into the Gaza Strip, where they are being held at this moment. A bombing campaign in Gaza that is killing innocent Palestinian civilians. “Whoever kills a person,” it is written in the Talmud, “destroys an entire world.” Every Israeli life lost is the loss of an entire world. Every Palestinian life lost is the loss of an entire world. Even as our hearts break, we cannot ignore the political decisions that led to this moment. For too long, the Israeli government has believed it can achieve security for Israelis by denying security to Palestinians. In Gaza, this has meant a crippling 16-year military siege that has condemned Palestinians to live without sufficient water, food, electricity, and medical care. Israeli bombing campaigns in Gaza have killed thousands of Palestinian civilians. It has been morally wrong to subject Palestinians to such suffering. Now we have seen, in the most tragic and stark terms, that it has also been a grave political miscalculation to believe that violence inflicted on Palestinians would never be returned against innocent Israeli civilians. Today, Israeli and Palestinian society are each trembling with the suffering brought by the misguided belief of the Israeli government that freedom can be achieved by subjugating another people. Please join us in saying loudly and clearly: Israeli security cannot be achieved by denying security to Palestinians. Palestinian freedom cannot be won by murdering Israeli civilians. In this moment of horrific violence, our hearts and our hope are with Extend’s partners across Israel and Palestine. Together, we must hold out hope that the future belongs not to those willing to kill civilians or subject another people to siege and occupation, but rather to the many courageous Israelis and Palestinians working to build just and democratic institutions that promise a future of mutual freedom.