Stand With Shadi
Shadi Khoury, 16-year-old student at the Ramallah Friends School and grandson of Sabeel co-founder Samia Khoury, was kidnapped this morning from his home in Beit Hanina in East Jerusalem by Israeli Occupation forces. He is being interogated without the presence of his family or legal councel.
Stop the unlawful kidnapping of Palestinian Children. Break the cycle of trauma and perpetual insecurity. #StandWithShadi
Samia's message is below:
October 18, 2022
Dear Friends,
In the early hours of this morning the Israeli occupation forces, consisting of a troop of around 12 persons consisting of army and secret service, stormed my son’s house after breaking the gate at the entrance of the compound in which we all live, so as to arrest his younger son Shadi Khoury, a sixteen-year-old child, a student at the Quakers Friends School in Ramallah. They beat him until he was bleeding all over the room and along the path on the way out of the house dragging him barefoot and blindfolded not allowing the parents to see where the blood was coming from. Shadi was taken to the interrogation section in the police compound called “the Russian compound”
Shadi, a child, is being “interrogated” without the presence of his parents or a lawyer, a tactic used systematically to terrorize children into submission, and ultimately using their own words to incriminate them.
Shadi is a case among so many Palestinian children that are being harassed, tortured and imprisoned for no reason other than being a Palestinian seeking to live in dignity and freedom in their own country.
As an 89-year-old grandmother who has lived through the Nakba, the 1967 war, the first and second intifadas, I continue to ask you my friends: “Until when will this grave injustice go on?” Because you care for human rights, and the rights of children, I am asking you to take action now and contact your parliament or congress representative, to put an end to these grave injustices especially against our children as well as our whole population living under a brutal military occupation. Shadi should not be sleeping in a prison cell. He is a child and should be home with his family.
We have created an action link for you to email your Representatives and demand justice for 16 year old Shadi Khoury.
We are asking our Representatives to make 2 calls: one to the US State Department and one to the Israeli Embassy, demanding the immediate release of Shadi Khoury, alongside all children unlawfully kidnapped, interrogated, and violently detained by Israeli occupation forces.
Please email your Representatives with this link and #StandWithShadi!
Take Action!
Preach Palestine is back!
Friends of Sabeel North America is calling on Christian leaders across the U.S. to commit their congregations to Preach Palestine this Advent season.
Be it an entire service or a single prayer, we are asking you to once again Preach Palestine and lift up the Palestinian people such that they would come to experience the joy, justice, and peace of Christ's liberating reign, as a very real light in the present darkness.
Now Is the Time!
Can you commit your congregation to Preach Palestine this Advent season?
Visit the Holy Land With Us!
This Advent season, join FOSNA in the Holy Land to commemorate the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and bear witness to apartheid in action.
WATCH!
In case you missed them:
Click here to watch the symposium, "The Holy Land: What’s Next? A Conversation Among Faith Leaders Witnessing to Peace and Justice in Israel-Palestine."
FOSNA LA/OC's virtual conference, "Christian Support for the State of Israel: Is it Biblical?" is now available to watch on YouTube in a 4-part playlist! Click here to watch.
Get Involved!
We invite you to join us in the following events and activities:
Hosted and Facilitated by SABEEL-Hawai'i:
October 21: Honolulu
The Palestinian-Israeli Conflict from a Christian Palestinian Perspective
Afternoon workshop for Education Day–Peace & Reconciliation at Convention 54: the Annual Meeting of the Episcopal Diocese of Hawai'i
12:30 pm
'Iolani School, Honolulu Hawai'i
October 22: Northfield
NJP Oct 22 Festival of Palestinian Arts and Culture
Northfielders for Justice in Palestine/Israel will present “A Festival of Palestinian Arts and Culture,” 1-4 p.m., Oct. 22, 2022, at the United Methodist Church, 1401 S Maple St, Northfield, Minnesota. The event is free and open to the public.
In honor of NJP’s 15th anniversary, the first 50 households in attendance will receive a free olive wood magnet made in Bethlehem, West Bank, Palestine, that is inscribed with NJP’s logo.
In addition, attendees will be invited to sample Palestinian food and browse among Palestinian-made products like pottery, embroidery, a spice blend called za’atar and olive products such as oil, soap and wood carvings. Visitors will have the opportunity to listen to Palestinian music and watch video of “dabka,” a form of dancing in the region that some historians say is thousands of years old.
October 25: Virtual
The Covivencia Declaration: Justice, Peace and Reconciliation in Palestine – Christian Perspectives
Join Rev. Allan Boesak (South Africa), Jonny Clark (Northern Ireland), Rifat Kassis (Palestine), Mark Braverman (USA), Stephen Sizer (UK) as they share their analyses about Zionism, Apartheid and unity from a Christian perspective. Organized by Covivencia Alliance.
Hosted and Facilitated by NorCal Sabeel:
October 24: Santa Clara
Targeting the Lawyers & Journalists: Israel’s War on Palestinian Civil Society
Join Jonathan Kuttab at the Muslim Community Association in Santa Clara for this important conversation hosted by the Islamophobia Studies Center and Dr. Hatem Bazian.
Monday, October 24th | 7 PM
Muslim Community Association
3003 Scott Blvd
Santa Clara
October 25: Berkeley
Targeting the Lawyers & Journalists: Israel’s War on Civil Society
With Jonathan Kuttab, co-founder of Al-Haq and Nonviolence International and Executive Director of Friends of Sabeel North America
Join us at Berkeley Law School in Booth Auditorium, October 25th at 4:00pm or watch it live online.
Hosted by Dr. Hatem Bazian, sponsored by NorCal Sabeel, JVP-Bay Area, Palestine Studies Working Group, Ethnic Studies Department, IROP, ISC, Islamophobia Studies Journal, MENALSA, LSJP, Berkeley MLSA, AMPR.
October 26: Berkeley
Palestinian Liberation Theology: A Spiritual Call for Justice, Freedom and Equality
Jonathan Kuttab will be speaking on Palestinian Liberation Theology at the Pacific School of Religion on Wednesday, October 26th at 12 noon. Because of limited space, and provision of light refreshments for lunch, we would appreciate your RSVP to Hassan Fouda at SabeelTOL@gmail.com.
Graduate Theology Union
Bade Museum
Pacific School of Religion
1798 Scenic Ave, Berkeley, CA
12pm - 2pm
November 5: Dearborn
Palestine Israel: Past, Present, Future
On November 5, the Intercultural Community Center of Dearborn (ICCD), Michigan, will host an educational event titled "Palestine-Israel: Past, Present, and Future."
This will be both an in-person and Zoom event by registration. There will be a panel discussion, a documentary (in-person only), and a general discussion.
Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, Jerusalem:
Weekly
Sabeel Prayer Service. Join Sabeel every Thursday (6pm Jerusalem) for online Bible Study, discussion, and prayer. Examine scripture in light of the ongoing realities confronting the Palestinian Church and the pursuit of Palestinian liberation.
Wave of Prayer. Subscribe to receive Sabeel's Wave of Prayer, enabling friends of Sabeel around the world to pray over issues of critical concern to the Holy Land on a weekly basis.
Kumi Now! (Week 42) Profiting From Occupation. Every week, hundreds of companies and corporations are profiting off the occupation. Sadly, these profits are at the cost of the rights and livelihoods of the Palestinian people. On October 21, 2003 the United Nations condemned the Israeli Apartheid Wall, demanding “that Israel stop and reverse the construction of the wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.” Building of that wall continues, and it is just one way that outside corporations are directly profiting off the occupation, aiding in its construction and flocking to the industrial zones and settlements it enables. Here’s what you need to know about corporations profiting off the occupation and what you can do so that together we can rise up.