Today’s suggested actions to support Israel in your local community:

• Learn to combat disinformation about the legality of Israel’s operations in Gaza on a webinar at 1 pm ET on January 24 with Major John Spencer and expert in law of armed conflict Lieutenant Colonel Geoffrey S. Corn, who have nearly five decades of combined military experience.
• Invite your civic leaders and community influencers to tune into the webinar to educate themselves on the myths around the legality of the IDF’s tactics.
• Read this article by international law professor Nicholas Rostow on Hamas’s genocidal intents and Israel’s legal military response and tactics.
• Share these social media posts on Facebook and Instagram about Israel’s humanitarian aid apparatus to support civilians in Gaza.
• Watch and Share the story of 79-year-old Avraham Munder, who has been separated from his family for 103 days as he remains in Hamas captivity. A husband, father and grandfather, Avraham is described by loved ones as a modest man with a lovely voice. He works as a warehouse supervisor on Kibbutz Nir Oz and sings in a choir. His son Roi was murdered by terrorists on October 7th, and his wife Ruti, daughter Keren, and grandson Ohad were taken captive and later released in a hostage deal.

Issue:
The ongoing war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah along Israel’s northern border positions the Jewish State against these terrorist groups that are committed to destroying Israel and attacking Jewish and American interests around the globe. Senior officials of the two groups are very clear about their motives. Words do matter.

Background:

• Hamas senior official Yahya Sinwar, who is the mastermind behind the October 7 massacres, spoke openly about his plans to attack Israel at a rally in Gaza in December of 2022. He said, "We will come to you, God willing, in a roaring flood. We will come to you with endless rockets, we will come to you in a limitless flood of soldiers, we will come to you with millions of our people, like the repeating tide.”
• Saleh al-Arouri, the most senior Hamas official eliminated in the war to date, spoke to Lebanese TV in August of 2023 saying, “A total war has become inevitable. We all consider it necessary…We are meeting with all the parties that [will take part] in this total war, and we are discussing together the different scenarios and possibilities.”
• In an interview on a Lebanese broadcast just a few weeks after the massacres, Hamas senior official Ghazi Hamad called the existence of Israel “illogical” and vowed that Hamas would repeat the attacks until the annihilation of Israel. “The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third and a fourth,” he said.
• In May 2021, senior Hamas official Fathi Hammad said, “The Jews are a treacherous people. There can be no peace with the Jews. There can be no peace with the Zionists. The only thing we have for the Zionists is the sword.”
• Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah has a decades-old history of supporting and advocating for terrorist attacks against Jewish and western targets. In 2002 he said ,” If they (Jews) all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide.” For over two decades he has long advocated for attacks against America. In 2002 he said, “Our hostility to the Great Satan [America] is absolute… Regardless of how the world has changed after 11 September, Death to America will remain our reverberating and powerful slogan: Death to America.”
• Last month, Hezbollah official Nawaf Moussawi said, “I have a desire for ground combat that we’ll fight with the Zionist enemy… We have some weapons and can have whatever we want sent to us.”

Community Spotlight

In response to a proposed city council resolution that wrongfully accused Israel of committing war crimes in Gaza and that demanded an immediate ceasefire, the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston sprang into action by mobilizing the local community to email the council and/or speak in person at the hearing to oppose the resolution. An action alert detailed objections to the resolution, including the inappropriateness of the city council to weigh in on foreign policy issues, and the resolution’s failure to unequivocally condemn Hamas for the atrocities of October 7 and to condemn Hamas as a terrorist organization. On the day of the hearing, after more than three hours of public comment, the resolution was defeated.

Submit a community initiative here that you would like to highlight for our system.

Additional Resources

Click here to access Jewish Federations’ toolkit on the War in Israel, which links to the Community Mobilization Resource Hub to help you speak up for Israel.

Click here for guidance on responding to anti-Israel resolutions proposed by city councils.  

The Community Mobilization Center is monitoring major developments in Israel and North America related to Israel’s war against Hamas. The Community Mobilization Center will rapidly disseminate resources to help mobilize and support our local communities as they build and sustain civic and political support for Israel in this conflict. The work of the Community Mobilization Center will continue as long as it takes Israel to eradicate the terrorist threat and restore security to the country.

The Community Mobilization Center is at your service. Click here to send us an email.

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