What steps can we take to help the Palestinians?

[Finallyloggedin]

I appreciate that there is little we can do on a personal level and we really need our government to step up but with the situation so dire, I thought it might be useful to have a thread to share ideas on steps we can take to offer support in as many ways as possible.

My ideas so far are:

• attend local demonstrations
• if possible, donate to UNWRA or other aid agencies working in Gaza.
• Write to David Cameron and your local MP via the PSC template https://palestinecampaign.eaction.online/rafah then circulate as widely as possible
• close any Barclays Bank accounts.
• Take part in the global financial strike on Friday. I read about this online and I need to find the details again. I think the idea is to spend no money at all on Friday, in order to send a shockwave through the global markets. I appreciate that realistically not enough people will probably take part in this for it to have an impact, but I’m just thinking I will try to do it as it’s an action I can take. I will add a link to the information when I can find it.
• Boycott - BDS https://bdsmovement.net/Act-Now-Against-These-Companies-Profiting-From-Genocide
• boycott Eurovision

If anyone can add actions we can take, please do. I am feeling so horrified and powerless, I just thought it would be good to know of every single way to help,

I would have no objections to you or that poster having a hamas march if you want. I don't think many people would. My problem is that all of the posters who want one to happen don't actually want to do it themselves, they want others to do it for them.

@LargeAmericano is this another "all people who want Israel to stop killing civilians are actually Hamas supporters" thing? If so, it's been done a lot and it's hardly going to help answer the OP's question to have another cycle of false allegations about people.

Many of my Muslim friends (they are of different heritage backgrounds but English by birth) are doing lots of different things:

A doctor friend is lecturing med students over there online
Organising local demonstrations
Going to London to demonstrate
Sharing on social media

etc

Im finding my English friends of English heritage are not doing anything. Sorry but it’s true.

Well students camping in tents they demand are bought for them on their causes and stopping Jewish students from attending lectures in America won't help.

Are any of your Muslim friends that are organising and going to demonstrations, demonstrating against Hamas or just against Israel?

All the marches I have seen are calling for a ceasefire which only works if both parties agree....

It is obvious to me and others posting here that the op was looking for more practical ways to help starving, displaced, traumatised people such as donating to charities working in the area, but you know that you're just trying to be goady. Hope it makes you feel big and clever.

I really hoped that the posters who are in denial about the situation and just want to say “but Hamas” would decide to just pass this thread by.

If you just want to make silly comments please could you do it elsewhere?

There are plenty of other threads for you to:

a) deny the genocide
b) pretend Israel are going after Hamas only, rather than killing anyone who moves
c) argue that the brave students protesting the genocide are somehow a threat to Jewish students when so many of them are Jewish themselves
d) completely ignore the fact that Israel just turned down the peace agreement brokered by the US, which would have seen all the hostages returned

Again, please take silly immature comments elsewhere.

Edited to add thank you to everyone else for the genuine helpful comments and suggestions. I’ll try to turn them into another list when I get the chance.

So you want this thread to be an echo chamber and those people who have alternative opinions are deemed to be making "silly comments"?

100%

Another thread derailed by “this would all stop if they gave back the hostages”. For goodness sake Netanyahu is on a blood thirsty power trip he isn’t about stop even if he found everyone alive.

OP have you had a look at the work of the watermelon project on instagram. They seem to make and provide “fun” food for children in the camps in Egypt.

I have felt very deep despair over the situation in Palestine. The death of so many children is hard to bear.

Apart from donating money to charities who operate in Gaza, which I do, I honestly don’t think there’s much else of use we can do from the West. Even with protests, it creates a storm of negative press.

I’m volunteering to help refugees locally, living in the UK. Just because that’s something I can tangibly do to make a difference to someone. Like, if you can’t directly help as much as you’d like across the world, try and offer a bit of practical help in your own city, to others in need or from a similar background of plight. I don’t know.

If I could fly to Gaza and look after those orphaned children myself then I would, but obviously that’s not possible or needed.

I have the biggest respect for MSF/Doctors Without Borders, the selfless individuals who do go into war zones and give their medical help, sometimes sadly at the cost of their own life. MSF are a good charity to donate too.

There's a lot of people on these boards wishing for marches to proceed in a way they could organise if they want to see it exist so much. If you believe the greatest threat to the Palestinian people is coming from Hamas right now, why don't you organise a protest against Hamas in support of the Free Palestine movement? Because you care about the Palestinian people and that's why you decided to come onto a thread about helping them to post about people organising marches I'm sure. Not just to distract from the topic, right? It sounds like there's enough posters on this board for you all to organise together and do that if you wanted to instead of just criticism the activism of other people.

MPs will be debating a Palestinian Family Visa Scheme on Monday May 13th,
https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/326/petitions-committee/news/201354/visa-scheme-for-palestinians-to-be-debated-by-mps/ based on this petition https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/648577

You can use Write to Them to contact your MP to express support for offering refuge during a time of war. Please note, the suggestion is for a scheme to reunite Palestinians with their family in the UK so before anyone starts with the if they leave they won't be allowed to return schtick, nobody knows if that would truly be the case and this is not the place for a debate about it. The OP asked what could be done to help and although I recognise it's not a solution, I believe this is a respite and a right that should be made available to Palestinians should they wish to leave and reunite with their families in the UK.

@25milesfromhome that's excellent thank you for sharing

I hope this can work but I know the Irish government were months trying to get an Irish citizen out of Gaza it is not easy to get anyone out.

Hear hear.

Some of these comments are appalling.

Make it clear to our politicians and any companies they work with that we do not consent for our tax money to go towards killing tens of thousands of Palestinians. There is such a thing as proportionate force and Israel hasn’t used that. it’s gone way overboard as per usual.

The US/Uk always find money for warmongering while claiming they can’t feed poor kids or fix housing crises. Sickening. No more!

Thanks for all of these useful ideas.

In my opinion any action no matter how small, is better than no action at all.

And for anyone who tells you that whatever action you decide to take is pointless, pity them for having such little faith in themselves to make an impact on the world around them, and be wary of their motives.

Change takes time, and even if the change you hope to see never arrives in your life time, you will at least know that you tried and stood up for what you believed in.

I dont know if this has been mentioned but you can download the 'No Thanks' app. You can use it to scan the barcodes of products you are going to buy and it will tell you if the manufacturer is connected to Israel. You can also search company names. Helpful if you don't want to support companies complicit in mass murder.

https://www.wfp.org/support-us/stories/Ethiopia?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=21098697579&utm_content=165607609888&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjw6PGxBhCVARIsAIumnWalM3aSRcT5eW-gNlMeekuYH-F_xx05q4gtJ-9pBiihXliAXwSRLOAaAoqNEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

there are a number of severe humanitarian crises ongoing at present, most of which are not getting any publicity at all. the WFP is probably one of the best organisations to support in this respect.

And I’m curious as to HOW that would help the Palestinian people?

While I appreciate your desire to share the plight of the Ethiopians perhaps create a new thread for them or share it on stop the pro Palestinian marches thread?

If you actually read the page I linked to, you’ll see the Palestine crisis is one on a distressingly long list of humanitarian crises the WFP needs funds to help deal with.
if you are genuinely motivated by compassion for suffering, I’m sure you will have no problem with me highlighting over situations of desperate need.

‘’You can't expect Israel to sit idly by and meekly accept Hamas to continue attacking them.’’

I am so so tired of this hypocrisy.

So Israel has a right to ‘self-defence’ but the Palestinians who are collecting the body parts of their children in plastic bags should ‘’sit idly by and meekly accept Israel to continue attacking them?’

To be totally honest- I think a lot of Muslims in this country knew that all this talk about human rights and equality and democracy for all was just a smokescreen. The actions of Israel and the reactions of those who are ready to justify such actions has finally proven that human rights and the like only exist for certain groups- some people are more equal than others after all!

https://www.amnestyshop.org.uk/products/zaytoun/?utm_content=148473&utm_campaign=MSHO258_MAY_IOPT&utm_medium=email&utm_source=amnestyuk