We are relieved that a ceasefire has been agreed to in Israel/Palestine and recognize that it is insufficient in transforming the material conditions of Palestinians and challenging the systems that uphold occupation and apartheid. We are grieving the lives lost in past weeks, and remain clear that our community, and young people with wealth, have a role to play in supporting international movements for justice and freedom. We call on our community to continue challenging the many forces and institutions that enable this systemic violence to continue and put the lives of Palestinians and Jews at risk, such as the US government’s unconditional support for the Israeli military, Christian Zionism, the conflation of Jews and the Israeli state, and therefore anti-Zionism with antisemitism and philanthropic funding for land theft and settler violence.
Lastly, we recommend reading our friends at Grassroots International recent post “Mobilizing People and Moving Money for Palestinian Rights” that speaks to the power of redistribution as a tool for Palestine solidarity.
In solidarity,
Nadav David (New England Regional Organizer, RG Jews Lead, co-writer of RG’s recent statement, see below) and the RG team
The following statement was originally sent our email list on Thursday, May 20, 2021:
As an organization and community committed to justice, Resource Generation is firmly in solidarity with Palestinian resistance to occupation and apartheid. We call for an end to Israeli war on Gaza, and commit to collectively mobilizing and leveraging our resources in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
As a community predominantly of young people with access to wealth and class privilege in the US we are called to recognize the ways wealth in the US is built off US imperialism and militarism, including in Palestine and across the globe. We must face and address the ways the US government is invested and profiting off state violence, land theft, and apartheid on the ground in Palestine and Israel, providing $3.8 billion a year to the Israeli military – and recently an additional $735M sent to the Israeli military by the Biden administration. We choose to show up in solidarity with international movements fighting for life and liberation and mourn the hundreds of lives, the vast majority of whom are Palestinian, taken in the last two weeks.
At RG, we are committed to sharpening our analysis and deepening our organizing to support anti-imperialist and anti-colonial international movements. We encourage you to revisit the webinar RG recently hosted on “Zionism and Philanthropy”, where brilliant panelists shared about the context and structural conditions which enabled the escalated violence, land theft and killings we are witnessing in Sheikh Jarrah (East Jerusalem), Gaza, the West Bank, and across Israel and Palestine.
Since we are still early in our journey of strengthening our work around internationalism, we look to our partners who are leaders in the field. Over the last several years, RG members have participated in Grassroots International’s Palestine Solidarity Donor Circle. Grassroots International is a long-time RG partner and social justice fund that addresses the root causes of injustice and oppression through funding movements globally.
Take Action
- Let’s give big to Grassroot International’s Palestine Solidarity Emergency Fund during this time and make longer-term commitments. Wealth redistribution is one tool of solidarity and accountability. 100% of the funds raised will go to organizations on the ground who are both responding to the immediate crises and building toward a long-term vision of freedom, just peace, and self-determination.
- Let’s contact the US Congress to call on our government to end the complicity, unconditional aid ($3.8 Billion) and investment in Israeli state violence and abuses of Palestinians (per our partners at the Movement for Black Lives).
We offer our love and care to all of our members and wider community during this time and especially those who are directly connected to family, friends, and organizers on the ground. To Palestinian, Arab and/or Muslim RG members and community: we commit to listening to your voices and stories that are so often ignored, and centering Palestinian-led movement demands for justice.
To Jewish RG members and community, especially Mizrahim, Jews of Color, poor and working class, Israeli Jews and others particularly affected by western imperialism and the Israeli state’s racial hierarchy, we affirm and commit to challenging antisemitism as a form of systemic oppression rooted in White Supremacy and Christian Hegemony. We also believe it is evident that state-sanctioned violence will not ultimately protect Jewish people from antisemitism or create more safety. We must be rigorous and clear about the differences between antisemitism and anti-Zionism. RG Jews are organizing conversations about Jewish safety beyond the Israeli state, policing, and wealth accumulation. If you are interested in being part of these conversations, contact Nadav at [email protected].
We know many RG members across race, class, and religious backgrounds are involved in active resistance to Israeli apartheid and militarism. We encourage white Christian and raised Christian RG members to learn more about Christian Hegemony and Christian Zionism, and the ways you and your family have benefitted from Christian privilege, to learn about the role of the US military industrial complex in Palestinian oppression, and to organize your communities in support of Palestinian-led movements, and against anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish violence.
Please join us in taking action and supporting movements this week and beyond. As Grassroots International shared, let’s do our part to end U.S. complicity in Israeli apartheid and heed the Palestinian people’s call for justice.
With love and solidarity,
Iimay H. (Executive Director), Nadav D. (New England Regional Organizer & RG Jews Lead), Aidan O. (RG member NYC), Jessica R. (RG member Twin Cities), Iris B. (RG member and Former Staff Member) and the RG community and staff team
