First UU Educates Itself on Becoming an Apartheid-Free Congregation

On August 17 th First UU hosted a well-attended panel focused on the denial of Palestinians’ human rights. The panel was organized in the context of the Apartheid Free pledge movement which First Church members will have the opportunity to vote to join at the annual meeting in June. 

The panel included two UU ministers from Jewish backgrounds, Reverend Sarah Gibb Millspaugh, and Reverend Ellie Kilpatrick. Both spoke passionately in support of human rights for all people, and for an end to the system of apartheid under which Palestinians live. They reminded participants of the 2024 UUA Solidarity with Palestinians Statement of Immediate Witness which condemned Hamas’s October 7 th attack on Israel while demanding an end to Israel apartheid and genocide, and asked congregations to take the Apartheid Free pledge. 

Rabbi Alexis Pearce spoke of growing up in the Los Angeles Jewish community and receiving a one-sided and unreliable narrative about Palestine/Israel. She described her support for Palestinian human rights as founded in her commitment to the Jewish values of justice, compassion, and the sanctity of life. 

Panelist Doris Bittar was born in Baghdad, Iraq of Lebanese and Palestinian parents. An artist and activist for the rights of Arab Americans, she spoke of the silencing of Palestinian voices and perspectives in media coverage about Gaza. She also spoke of the ongoing prejudice Arab Americans are systematically exposed to in many avenues of American life. 

All the speakers agreed that the treatment of Palestinians is a human rights crisis requiring immediate action. They saw the term “apartheid” as valid. That is confirmed by human rights groups including Amnesty International, B’Tselem (Israeli) Human Rights Watch, Physicians for Human Rights in Israel, Yesh Din (Israeli), the South African Human Sciences Research Council, and World Council of Churches. 

​The panel was organized by First UU’s Palestine/Israel Social Justice team. Contact Steve Gelb [email protected] to join the team, or for more information. 

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