How to end this war
Dear Friend,
Shimri here. At the age of 18, I was imprisoned by the Israeli government for 21 months when I refused conscription into the Israeli army. We at RSN spent the last two weeks reaching out to groups mobilizing and supporting Israeli citizens campaigning against the war with Iran and Lebanon. We ask a simple question: how can we help you to end this war?
What we’re hearing from most groups is simple: to mobilize against the war they need resources. If you’re able, please consider making a donation to support war resistance.
Many of these groups are facing increasing repression—demonstrations broken up by police violence, activists detained, and communities intimidated for speaking out. Despite this, people are continuing to organize: holding protests, organizing online events, documenting abuses, and creating spaces where Israelis and Palestinians can work together against the violence.
As we speak with organizers, one message comes up again and again: resources are desperately needed. Many of these groups operate on almost no budget. Some need funds for support after arrests and violence, others for transportation to protests, meeting spaces, printing materials, or simply the basic organizational infrastructure that allows for ongoing anti-war organizing. Without financial support, even the most courageous organizing can stall.
If you can, please contribute here. Your support will go directly toward helping these grassroots groups continue mobilizing against the war and building the kind of future that so many people—Israelis, Iranians, Lebanese and Palestinians—are struggling to imagine and create.
This past week, hundreds have been protesting against the Israeli war on Iran, Lebanon and Palestine, calling attention to the thousands of ordinary people killed in the name of defense, at home and abroad. We are amplifying their message, updating our feeds with alternative reporting rarely covered in the press. We will also support them in any way we can, funding as much of the war resistance as we possibly can.
For me, it is personal. I got to RSN after I was imprisoned for refusing to serve in the Israeli military in opposition to the occupation of Palestine. RSN supported me when I was in prison, and I wanted to support others facing repression. In the same way that my parents did what they could to support my own voice when I was in prison, I feel a similar duty to the young people protesting on the streets of Haifa and Jerusalem despite police violence.
I know firsthand the price of endless war. I grew up in a low-income family, in a country that invests its tax in warfare and military technology rather than in everyday people. The same way, most impacted by the U.S.-Israeli onslaught are working class, ordinary people trying to go about their lives. Refugees from Lebanon’s south, hundreds of whom have already been killed by Israeli strikes, have no money for shelter as they are pushed North, many forced to sleep in their cars or on the streets under the threat of bombs. Beyond the infuriating stories of thousands of deaths are the stories of tens of millions who are forced out of their destroyed homes, seeking shelter as their livelihoods and worlds are totally upended, barely able to feed their families.
I work as Global Coordinator of RSN today because of this consciousness I developed as a child: supporting war resistance is not just about opposing violence, but about the shared fate of ordinary people the world over. Right now, we’re working to support war resistance to the onslaught on Iran and Lebanon, and to ongoing work to end the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Your support can help this war resistance.
In solidarity,
Shimri Zameret
Global Coordinator
Refuser Solidarity Network