BCAN Ceasefire Statement

When our organization was founded in July 2022, we all agreed on a set of principles that would guide our work and how we operated as a group. These values include caring about both our environment and the humans who inhabit it. We agree that we must seek systemic change to build a better world that is free of violence, exploitation, and division, and instead lay the groundwork for all people to be free, safe, cared for, and able to flourish.

Our membership includes Jews and Muslims, and we know and love Palestinian and Israeli members of our wider community, so these values have been critical to us in the past few weeks as we have collectively sought to process the horrors of the violence in Israel and in Palestine. At a recent BCAN meeting, we reflected on how war and the climate crisis are intertwined. Solving the climate crisis requires us all to cooperate to ensure a livable and equitable planet for ourselves and future generations. That becomes impossible if we allow ourselves to be divided by fighting over land and resources. We want our government to invest in creating a more abundant and just future for all people.

Instead, our elected representatives to both our state and national governments have chosen to further the climate crisis by actively supporting the continuation of human and ecological devastation. Our President and Congress are gearing up to send billions of dollars in military aid, earmarking our tax dollars for further destruction of life rather than investing in systems that sustain life.

We have a duty to speak up for peace and justice. That is why we affirm the following:

We support the urgent need for a ceasefire, and the reuniting of all families in Israel and Palestine with their loved ones.

We condemn the genocide that Israel is perpetrating against the people of Palestine and the targeting of civilians by Hamas. We affirm all indigenous peoples’ right to self government and reject colonial movements that aim to displace people from their communities. Governments should not murder people. It is never just. Therefore, we call on our government to stop providing financial support for the murder of civilians abroad.

We wholeheartedly denounce antisemitism and Islamophobia. These hateful beliefs and actions keep us divided from each others’ humanity and do not belong in peace or justice movements of any kind.

We actively stand against the people promoting violence and disorder. We stand wholeheartedly with the brave people of all faiths and backgrounds struggling for peace. We ourselves don’t know all the answers of how to get there—just that we need to get there. A ceasefire and reunification of families is the first step to that process.

Solving the problems that affect everyone around the world, like the climate crisis, requires solidarity between all peoples. War, violence, and retribution make people unsafe, and move us further away from the culture required to build a world in which everyone can thrive.