Support the Movement for Justice and Peace in the Holy Land
Friends of Sabeel is a certified 501c3 non-profit organization
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Friends of Sabeel North America
PO Box 3192, Greenwood Village, CO 80155
DonateI Stand with Esther
From buses to tea, fossil fuels to grapes, boycotts are a time-honored and constitutionally protected form of speech! #IstandwithEsther and her right to boycott!
Did you see our ad in the Kansas City Star? Donate here to help us spread this message further.
Help us show Esther Koontz that we support her courageous stand.
Learn more about her case, here.
Whenever we choose to work for peace and justice in the Middle East, we know this choice can be costly.
In August, Ms. Esther Koontz, a trainer of math teachers in Wichita, Kansas, and a member of the Mennonite Church USA, learned that she would not be allowed to participate in a professional program for which she was qualified because she would be required to sign a statement affirming she is not presently engaged in a boycott of Israel. When Ms. Koontz refused to sign that statement, she was informed she would be ineligible to receive payment as a state-contracted teacher trainer.
In gross violation of her First Amendment right to free speech, Ms. Koontz was thus denied a professional opportunity based on her conscientious determination to preserve her right to boycott companies that profit from violent and repressive business endeavors.
This is what costly solidarity looks like. This is Christian faith and conviction applied in real time. This is moral authority speaking loudly not simply through words, but through action.
Indeed, the June 12, 2017, letter from the National Coalition of Christian Organizations in Palestine explicitly pleads for our “costly solidarity” including creative, nonviolent resistance to the military occupation of Palestinian land.
On July 6, 2017, the Mennonite Church USA resolved overwhelmingly to review its investment practices for the purpose of withdrawing investments from companies that profit from the military occupation of Palestine. The Mennonite Church USA urged all church members to review their investments in a similar way.
The Clergy and Seminary Action Council of Friends of Sabeel North America honors the Mennonite Church USA and especially Ms. Esther Koontz for their bold actions. We express our respect, our solidarity, and our Christian faith in affirming this costly witness. We are grateful for this expression of conviction which adds authority and power to the ongoing work of the church to end military occupation of Palestine—a military occupation now in its 50th year. We are pleased to know the American Civil Liberties Union will argue Ms. Koontz’s case on Constitutional grounds.
May God grant strength, relief, and many steadfast allies as this case plays out in the courts. We aim to be among those allies.
Friends of Sabeel North America Clergy and Seminary Action Council
Jerusalem Appeal 2018
“Jerusalem is like a dove. It belongs to no one.”
—Issa, age 10, Silwan, Jerusalem
All over the world people honor the sacred dove, symbol of peace, as a thing that should not be caged, sold, or violated. Jesus’ actions show us in prophetic action, that sacred things are never for sale, and that we must fight to protect them from the gears of militarism.
Will you join us in supporting the Palestinian struggle to protect the sacred? Your donation this Easter season will go directly to Sabeel Jerusalem, the heart of Palestinian Liberation Theology.
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