Todays' suggested actions to support Israel in your local community:

• Sign our action alert asking your elected officials to support increased funding to the Nonprofit Security Grant Program to keep Jewish and other community institutions safe, and to fully fund critical security assistance for Israel in its fight to destroy Hamas.
• Share these social media posts on Instagram about Hamas’s use of human shields and indiscriminate harm to Palestinian civilians.
• Host an Empty Shabbat Table event to raise awareness for the remaining hostages being held by Hamas terrorists. Click here for a toolkit for support in your community’s efforts.
• Raise your voice in solidarity with the remaining hostages on social media using the #BlueRibbonsforIsrael toolkit.
• Read and share the story of 28-year-old Eden Zach-Zacharia, who was abducted by Hamas terrorists from the Supernova music festival. Her mother shared that Eden would write down what she is grateful for in life – her work, her parents, her friends – and that she went to the festival with her boyfriend in order to feel a sense of freedom. IDF soldiers recovered her body from Gaza during a special operation, and her death was confirmed earlier today.

Issue:
Every civilian loss of life in war is a tragedy. The IDF continues to emphasize that this war is against Hamas - which embeds itself within civilian infrastructure - and not the people of Gaza, and goes to great lengths to minimize civilian casualties. According to military and urban warfare experts, Israel is complying with international law. Israel has invested significant effort since the beginning of the war to evacuate civilians from combat zones, and this week it opened a second crossing to enable more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

Background:

• Since the outbreak of the war, the IDF has repeatedly worked to warn civilians ahead of military strikes. In addition to the designation of safe passageways and pauses in fighting, these measures include dropping 4 million leaflets, issuing 42,000 phone calls and 12 million recorded messages and sending 15 million text messages, which have enabled over 1 million people to evacuate from northern Gaza and 400,000 from the south, saving many lives.
• The IDF relies heavily on advanced technological means to map the civilian population. A senior IDF official explained that, “The IDF puts a lot of effort in…to make sure that civilians won’t be on the battlefield. Unfortunately, we are facing an enemy whose core strategy is to do exactly the opposite.”
• In a recently published article by The Lieber Institute for Law & Warfare at West Point, Professor Michael N. Schmitt wrote, “The IDF has provided unprecedented warnings throughout the conflict,” which have “exceeded what the law required.”
• As reported last week, NSC Spokesman John Kirby recognized Israel’s efforts “to minimize civilian casualties” and Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged Israel’s efforts in the face of Hamas that “intentionally embeds itself with civilians.”
• It is estimated that over 5,000 terrorists and 10,000 civilians have been killed as a result of IDF operations, a ratio of 2:1. According to humanitarian organizations, 90% of casualties in modern wars in highly dense areas are noncombatants, or a ratio of 9:1. In the Battle of Mosul, where coalition forces faced conditions of urban warfare similar to the IDF, estimates are that 10,000 civilians were killed. According to urban warfare expert John Spencer who served two tours in Iraq, casualty numbers were difficult to assess, with estimates of ISIS fighters “killed in the thousands.”
• COGAT, the Israeli body responsible for coordinating Israel’s humanitarian response in Gaza, announced that effective today, a second point of entry into Gaza has been opened which will double the amount of humanitarian aid, despite evidence that Hamas is working to hamper the humanitarian efforts and steal supplies for terror purposes. According to COGAT, the United Nations has not made possible the necessary logistics for aid to flow in, causing a bottleneck at the Rafah crossing and a delay in the delivery of supplies.
• On numerous occasions in recent years, Israel has stopped short of ridding Gaza of the Hamas regime. Each time, Hamas has attacked again. Even following the October 7th attacks, Hamas continues to vow that its plans include “additional October 7s” until Israel is annihilated. This leaves the Jewish state little choice but to ensure that Hamas is removed from power.
• The scope and brutality of the Oct 7th massacres required a substantial response, something any nation would do if its borders were breached and its people brutalized and murdered so horrifically.

Community Spotlight

Our network community of Burlington, VT led a successful mobilization effort in defiance of a divisive city council resolution with inflammatory language and that failed to condemn Hamas for the October 7th attacks. Community members were urged to contact Councilors expressing their opposition to the resolution and to attend and speak up at last night’s meeting. The resolution failed to pass.


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 canceled Chanukah lightings in your community over the war in Israel.

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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