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Statement on Human Rights Abuses in Palestine

Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity is a statewide California organization that connects clergy and people of faith to the work of social justice. We believe that all people are sacred across bars and borders. 

As faith communities with shared spiritual values, we believe we have the duty to prevent harm and uphold well-being. In pursuit of dignity for all people, we organize against root causes of harm in our world which are maintained by governmental systems of mass incarceration, military occupation, extractive capitalism, and state violence. 

We are deeply concerned that the US government remains silent in the face of the launch of a new, terrifying level of Israeli military and settler violence against Palestinians. The US sends Israel $3.8 billion dollars a year which enables the massive violation of Palestinian human rights which is currently escalating. Since March 2022, the Israeli military’s Operation Breakwater has killed hundreds of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank. Israeli soldiers have killed at least 30 Palestinians already in 2023, including four teenagers. Policies of home demolition, land theft, collective punishment, curtailing freedom of movement with hundreds of miles of separation walls has de facto created a system of apartheid that prevents Palestinians from enjoying the same rights and freedoms Jewish Israelis enjoy.   

We grieve the loss of all life, and we call on the US to stop the military aid to the Israeli government.  We believe in building a movement on behalf of a shared future of justice, equality, and freedom for all people.  

-Statement from the Interfaith Movement For Human Integrity Board of Directors, comprised of Buddhist, Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faith leaders.

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Accompaniment NEAT Stories

San Francisco Interfaith Council hosts Nueva Esperanza Accompaniment Team (NEAT) Program

Video – “How Congregations Can Support Newly Arrived Asylum Seekers in San Francisco” – by IM4HI NEAT

The San Francisco Interfaith Council (SFIC) 94th Online Briefing for Community and Faith Partners welcomed Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity’s Nueva Esperanza Accompaniment Team (NEAT) Program Manager Kelly Younger, who offered an overview of her organization’s important work, the danger of exploiting unknowing immigrants for political gain, and practical ways in which San Francisco congregations can support newly arrived asylum seekers.

Also participating were Zoom Briefing Moderator/SFIC Executive Director Michael Pappas, Congregation Sha’ar Zahav Rabbi Mychal Copeland, San Francisco Office of Civic Engagement and Immigrant Affairs (OCEIA) Deputy Director Richard Whipple and Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity (NEAT) Program Coordinator Nadia Tavera Medina.

Additional Resources:

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Accompaniment Interfaith Prayer Vigils

Video: the Sanctuary Huddle at St. John’s

Click to watch video “St. John’s Sanctuary Huddle”, 2:31 mins

The Sanctuary Huddle
St. John’s Presbyterian Church, San Francisco, CA
Rev. Dr. Theresa Cho (she/her), Pastor
stjohnssf.org
stjohnssf.org/sanctuary