Support Justice and Peace in Palestine and Israel

People in Gaza are experiencing utter destruction, loss of lives, and inhumane conditions without access to basic necessities for life. Famine is imminent. Children are particularly impacted. Our faith and our humanity calls us to act now to ensure an end to the conflict.

It will take all of our efforts to get the Government of Canada to do everything in its power to help bring an end to the conflict and to not be complicit in genocide and famine.

Please join us in action: advocate, join a pilgrimage, pray, and donate.

Helping those in urgent need

The United Church of Canada's Mission and Service partners are responding to those impacted by the conflict in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They will rapidly expand their activity into Gaza and provide aid when a safe humanitarian corridor opens.

The United Church is working with Mission and Service partners ACT Alliance and Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees (DSPR). As a member of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank, we are also working with Foodgrains Bank partners on the ground to offer lifesaving support to Palestinians in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and Gaza.

Take Action

Pray

Pray for peace with justice for the people of Palestine and Israel. As people of faith, we bring the grief, compassion and concerns of a hurting world to God. Additional prayers can be found here and at Canadian Council of Churches.

Links to traditional Palestinian music can be found with materials for World Day of Prayer 2024 Palestine. 

Donate

Online via our secure donation page.

Phone toll-free 1-800-465-3771 and use your Visa or MasterCard.

Send a cheque or money order to:

The United Church of Canada
Philanthropy Unit - Emergency Response
3250 Bloor Street West, Suite 200
Toronto, ON M8X 2Y4

Please be sure to note "Emergency Response—Middle East" on the face of your cheque.

Note: As part of the United Church’s Emergency Response Fund, 100% of your donation goes directly to emergency relief, with 85% of your donation responding to this designated emergency and 15% responding to future emergencies that do not receive intense media coverage. Donations to Mission and Service enable the United Church to cover all of the costs of emergency response work without deducting any fees from your donation.

Advocate

The United Church of Canada urges the Government of Canada to do everything in its power to bring an end to the conflict and to not be complicit in genocide and famine. We need Canada to act on three fronts:

1. First, a permanent ceasefire is essential to allow for safe delivery of critical humanitarian relief into Gaza—food, medicine, potable water—and also to create conditions for a just and lasting peace and basic human dignity in the region.

   So, we call on Canada to use all diplomatic channels and leverage points to secure an immediate and permanent ceasefire, and for Canada to implement a comprehensive and binding arms embargo.*

2. Second, humanitarian aid—including from The United Church of Canada Mission and Service partners—needs to reach those in need, urgently and abundantly.

   So, we call on Canada to use all diplomatic, political and economic channels and leverage points to urge Israel to ensure safe passage of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Canada should also increase its aid envelope and help support refugees.

3. Third, we must support building the conditions for a just and lasting peace—where safety, respect for rights, justice, and human dignity is safeguarded for all.

   So, we call on Canada to support international efforts to hold all parties accountable for violations of international law to make sure this situation never repeats itself, and to commit to long-term engagement in the region.

Canada has a legal and moral duty to do everything in its power to prevent acts of genocide and avoid complicity in any such acts, because it is a signatory to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

* For more on this, see UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s findings of genocide and state obligation to impose an arms embargo (testimony to UNHRC; written report) and Project Ploughshares 2023 report noting “substantial risk” that Canadian military goods could contribute to abuses in Gaza.

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