Invest in the movement in Palestine

This Tuesday, January 17th, in collaboration with Sabeel, the Good Shepherd Collective’s Bana Abu Zuluf and Youth of Sumud’s Sami Huraini will discuss the impending ethnic cleansing of some 1,500 Palestinians living in a collection of small villages across Masafer Yatta. We’ll be discussing the grassroots resistance on the ground and the need for international solidarity to disrupt the flow of charitable donations to the settler organizations enacting this program of indigenous erasure. Make sure to join us by following this link.

We will also be having another webinar January 27 with Just Peace Advocates and Canadian Foreign Policy Institute (CFPI) to discuss the work that is being done in Canada within the framework of the Defund Racism campaign. Make sure to follow our social media accounts for promotional material and the webinar link.

Israel killed 45-year-old Palestinian man Ahmad Kahla just outside of Ramallah today. Omar Lutfi Khumour just died of wounds sustained earlier today by Israeli gunfire in Dheisheh refugee camp, in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. He marks the 14th Palestinian executed on the streets in the first 16 days of 2023, including 3 children.

With an embolden right-wing government formation taking full rein in the new Israeli government, nearly every metric of violence with the intent to displace and erase Palestinians is on the rise, including Palestinian home demolitions which are projected to reach the highest yearly total ever.

Couple this with social media outlets routinely silencing or completely shutting down voices calling for Palestinian liberation, and we are at a crossroads: either we begin to invest in winnable, strategic campaigns of structural change and support in Palestinian resistance and political aspirations outside of the rigid, NGO ecosystem – or we have to stop lamenting Israeli domination.

[Read Menza Qato and Kareem Rabie’s piece on this here]

The Good Shepherd Collective advocates for a two-prong approach: (1) adopting the Defund Racism campaign, an initiative that takes aim at the structures and personalities underwriting the settler enterprise, and (2) helping to develop local communication and advocacy capacities of local grassroots formations. The Good Shepherd Collective is working on developing the capacities and building out the tools for our local partners, with new websites, email systems, and streamlining social media activities. But we can’t do this without you.

You help by doing two things. First, sign and share the Defund Racism campaign and ask your networks to do the same. Second, we need your investment to ensure we have the resources to develop the communication structures that these local groups need. We need your financial support. You can make a tangible contribution through our website at goodshepherdcollective.org/give.

Until liberation and return,
Lara