URGENT: Call your Senator for Continuing Cease-Fire!

Dear companions in the struggle for a just and peaceful world – probably, like me, feeling bedraggled these says –

We at The Shalom Center have sent you three different letters in the last three days. They/ we all came from different basic groundings, and we all came to the same conclusion: There must be a ceasefire in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank.

We were: a self-described “centrist” rabbi living in Israel; a US Senator who might well be called the most consequential Jewish politician in American history, with a mixture of deep political analysis and imagination combined with secular-democratic values that come ultimately from Torah; and me – a rabbi with values derived from a progressive reading of Torah mixed with being drenched in the warmth and chill of a Ph.D. in US and ancient European history.

And now, we are living in a ceasefire. It was brought about by pressure from many, many peoples, publics, and governments in the world.

How do we keep it “ceased” despite two ultra-right-wing governments that are perfectly willing to keep killing – massacring – each other’s citizens.

By calling the US Capitol (1-202-224-3121) – and asking for the offices of your two Senators, one at a time. (If you live in DC, which has still been denied the democratic right to elect Senators, ask for Senator Schumer and Senator McConnell – the Majority and Minority Leaders of the Senate.)

If you live in a State and know your Senators’ names, ask for them by name. If you don’t, name your State. The telephone operator will know.

When you reach each Senator’s office, ask to speak to the staffer who works on Middle East policy. If they say she/he/they is busy, ask to make an appointment with the staffer. If they refuse, ask to leave a message on the incoming Opinion line.

Then either explain to the staffer or on the recording who you are and where you live and, if you wish, your phone or address. Explain that you are disgusted by the slaughter that is likely to start again – unless the President says an absolutely firm No. Ask the Senator to call the White House and speak directly to the President to say the United States demands a cease-fire including immediate schedules for release of all hostages.

Then thank the staffer and the Senator and say goodbye. Call your second Senator, and repeat.

Is one life – maybe a child – worth your time? Or ten?

With blessings of shalom to all of us who take action for shalom, as each of our own consciences calls us,

— Arthur