Thursday, July 10, 2014

Quick things you can do to help Israel

From Dr. Mike, at San Francisco Voice for Israel

Dear Friend of Israel:
As Israelis cope with yet another day of Hamas rocket fire, there are some quick actions you can take RIGHT NOW to help support them.

1. Local impact: for the past several days, the San Francisco Chronicle has chosen to illustrate its stories about the conflict with photos showing only suffering in Gaza. Yesterday, it was a picture of Palestinian girl crying. Today, house rubble.   In their editorial decisions, Israeli citizens do not exist, nor do Hamas and Islamic Jihad operatives launching rockets. 6.5 million Israelis are now in rocket range.
Please send the Chronicle a note (200 word limit) via their web page http://www.sfgate.com/submissions/. Be polite, but point out the power of images to shape opinion, and that Hamas itself is responsible for putting the lives of Palestinians at risk by its decision to escalate rocket fire against Israeli civilians. Suggest that using photos of Israeli children in shelters, or of Hamas terror operatives launching rockets, would be very appropriate!

2. National impact:
---Contact the White House comment line at 202-456-1111 and online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/submit-questions-and-comments.
---Contact Senator Barbara Boxer at http://www.boxer.senate.gov/en/contact/policycomments.cfm and 202-224-3553.
---Contact Senator Dianne Feinstein at https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/e-mail-me and 202-224-3841.
---Contact your local member of Congress (if you don't know who that is, go to http://www.house.gov and enter your zip code at "Find My Representative".)
 Point out that no country should tolerate even one rocket aimed at its citizens, yet Hamas is raining dozens of rockets a day and most of Israel's population is now within their range.
Israel's civil defense system and Iron Dome are designed to protect Israelis, and Israel will do all in its power to spare innocent Palestinian civilians.  But once again we can expect Hamas to endanger its people by using them as human shields.  It already happened on July 8th.  We can also expect to see Hamas pumping out horrifying pictures and other propaganda to demonize Israel. It’s already happened, but this time the BBC reported that the pictures Hamas claimed were from Operation Protective Edge were actually from 2009 or from atrocities in Iraq and Syria. 
We want the US government to stand behind Israel as it seeks to eliminate this threat to its population. Israel's response is entirely proportionate and justified under international law. 

3. Economic impact: Go to the store TODAY and buy something from Israel-- a bottle of wine, a Sodastream refill, or a few boxes of couscous or frozen spices at Trader Joe's.

4. Social media impact: Post the attached graphic, courtesy of our friends at ADL, to your Facebook page and Twitter account. If you don't see the attachment go to http://t.co/KQgQIlhvlW
Thanks for standing with our brothers and sisters in Israel at this critical moment.

No comments: