Please Help Rawan, Yemna, And Their Family! They Are Still Far From Their Goal Of Kr319,315 SEK (~$30,000)

Please help Rawan, Yemna, and their family! They are still far from their goal of kr319,315 SEK (~$30,000) to evacuate from Gaza; they have currently raised kr97,184 SEK / kr319,315. However, with your help we can change that - every dollar counts no matter how little!!! Together, we can all help the Abudaya family!!

🌟 This campaign has been verified by a Palestinian-led collective - follow them @/palestineasdiqa on IG!!

Please donate and share widely!!!

gofundme.com

Donate to Helping two student sisters from Gaza Strip., organized by Ayman Zahir

In search of safety and education, help save us from the war of extermi… Ayman Zahir needs your support for Helping two student sister

This campaign is also a fundraiser where your donations can get you some free art from the talented group at Artists 4 Gaza!! Check out artaction4gaza.carrd.co for more info!

[template for the secondary graphic made by the amazing @starelegy_ ]

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Scammer pretending to be Palestinian v4

The purpose of this post is to compile a quick list of accounts confirmed to be stealing their information off of legitimate fundraisers or otherwise are shown to be taking their posts off Facebook and using it themselves. This list is intended to be a quick access point so if searched someone will see info explaining why the blog they shared from is a scam. Before asking if a blog is a scam, please refer to this post for better details regarding these particular scams:

Please keep in mind this post isn’t to say all Palestinian blogs needing aid are scammers; Rather, the purpose of this post is just to keep track of the accounts that scammers are using. As it goes on for months on end, this post may update accordingly with new urls so please make sure you’re checking the original post if viewing a reblog. You can see a few sources here for commonly used content stolen by scammers. You can find the third version of this list here. For a list of other fundraisers to support, refer to this post.

As of 5/17/2024, here is the list of current scam accounts:

coolbreadchaos | magnifiicenteaglebaraka | speedycheesecakething | greatkittenpatrol | joyfuldreamdetectives | innercreationmagazine | shyloverpeace | universallypeanutpoetry

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Names below are associated with these scammers, and may appear across multiple accounts. This is an entirely new list as the other one may have names that no longer are used. These names often are from real people being impersonated. They are not linked,related to, or associated to the person they may claim to be.

Rawan Abu'M (this name is impersonating a real person from a legitimate GoFundMe.) | maryline Otieno | Nicholas Ochieng | Jeff Owino | Grahy Marwa | Taheera Abdallah | Gloria Naomi | Amisi Twaleh | Salima Abdallah | Aisha Mahmood | Remmy Cheptau | Newton ombogo | Godwin Okoth | AHMED SHIMBIR | Wafula Valentine | Rahwan AbdiMahady (same reason as the above; Impersonating a name from a legitimate GoFundMe.) | Nada'r Ab hussein | DIANA MUTENYO | Hakim Malfadho | Leila Rajab | Elizabeth Omasete | George Ochieng | Cecil Wangila

Laura mae Noro (Name associated with a scam account) | Maureen jane Aloot (Name associated with a scam account)

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To report scam accounts: Report -> Something Else -> Illegal uses or Content -> Phishing (If possible)

What else to do: Alert anyone sharing the scam posts and show them it’s a scam by linking to any post that explains how.

Areas bombed in Gaza by the Israeli occupation government

Oct 2023

Jan 2024

July 2024

There is no safe zone in Gaza

Israel’s military dropped 75,000 tonnes of explosives by April 2024. Since the invasion of Rafah in May, Palestinians have said the bombings have gotten considerably worse, most recently the strike against Al Tabin school where over 100 were killed during morning prayers

Al Jazeera

Israeli strike on Gaza school kills more than 100 people

Authorities in Gaza said Israeli bombs hit the school-turned-shelter as people were praying and triggered a fire.

Very Important

Vetted

gofundme.com

Donate to Desperate plea: Help my family evacuate Gaza war!, organized by Abdulkareem Madhoun

Hi, my name is Abdulkarim Al-madhoun “Karam” , I am 19 years old… Abdulkareem Madhoun needs your support for Desperate plea: Help my family

@karamalmadhoun0

gofundme.com

Donate to Rebuilding Hope: A Gaza Family in Need of Your Help, organized by Majed gaza

We Need Your Help to Build a New Life After Escaping the War in Gaza. … Majed gaza needs your support for Rebuilding Hope: A Gaza Family in

@majedgaza1

gofundme.com

Donate to Help save my family to survive the genocide in Gaza, organized by Mahmoud AlBalawi

Hi world , it’s Mahmoud Please read this as if you were in my… Mahmoud AlBalawi needs your support for Help save my family to survive th

@elbalawi

gofundme.com

Donate to Helping the Helles family achieve a better future, organized by Ahmed Hells

Hello dears I hope you are all well please help me!!! I am Ahmed Halas … Ahmed Hells needs your support for Helping the Helles family achie

@ahmedhelllis

gofundme.com

Donate to Save Our Children: Emergency Relief for a Family in Gaza, organised by Ahmed Mohammed


Urgent Help Needed: Support Sahar Zaqout and Her 5 Children i… Ahmed Mohammed needs your support for Save Our Children: Emergency Relief fo

@a-ss-123 - im not completely sure though

gofundme.com

Donate to Please help save my family, organized by Abdelmutei Alhabil

I am the citizen Abdel Muti Al-Habil, a resident of Gaza. I am 26 years old. My wife i… Abdelmutei Alhabil needs your support for Please h

@abdelmutei

gofundme.com

Donate to Help Youssef Provide Medicine and Shelter, organized by Vann Dukas

I am Youssef, an 18-year-old young man, and my dreams and hopes vanished in an in… Vann Dukas needs your support for Help Youssef Provide Me

@yousefjehad3

gofundme.com

Donate to Help Mohammed Almadhoun and his Family evacuat from Gaza, organized by Loria Rahime

**Help the Almadhoun Family Escape from Gaza** You tube v… Loria Rahime needs your support for Help Mohammed Almadhoun and his Family

@savepalestineinfamily19

gofundme.com

Donate to Help Palestine and Family Survive the Gaza Crisis, organized by Jacob Thompson

Hello all, I am Palestine, Jad Al-Haq, I am 36 years old, married, a… Jacob Thompson needs your support for Help Palestine and Family Survi

@falestine-yousef

gofundme.com

Donate to Help Oday And Family Evacuate Gaza , Rebuild Lives, organized by adiy alanqer

We raised funds for Oday and his family who have been displaced severa… adiy alanqer needs your support for Help Oday And Family Evacuate Ga

@odayalanqar-2002

Do you have any advice for talking to people who aren't well-informed about what is going on in Gaza? One of my really close friends for over 10 years now has really conservative parents and she just :// she just kind of believes a lot of the conservative stuff they say and she hears others around her say. After the attacks of Oct. 7th, I think I remember her saying that the Bible says we should always stand with Israel which is just so :((

I want to inform her but I'm unsure of how to, and if it would even work. I'm scared of her response because I really love her and we've been so close for so long but I don't feel comfortable with her being so uninformed and I'm scared of her response. Do you have any advice and even pray for me to be given wisdom on how to handle this with care and love? Thank you ^^

Hey there! Thank you for your courage in even wanting to start a hard conversation with a friend about this vital topic. I'm going to offer some ideas, but ultimately you know this friend better than I could, so if something I say doesn't seem like it'll work with your situation, adapt or discard it.

I also invite others to add on ideas or encouragement. If you know of resources that are helpful for talking about Palestine with folks who are steeped in pro-Israel propaganda, please share!

___

Before delving into this topic with her, start by asking yourself what you're hoping she'll unlearn and relearn. What's a reasonable goal to move her towards?

Chances are, she's not going to move from unquestioning support of Israel to "Decolonize Palestine" in a day!

Moving her towards a simple agreement that at least some of the things Israel does cannot be supported is a good first step, and even that may take time and patience.

Prepare yourself to be happy about even the smallest baby steps in opening her perspective. "Ceasefire now!" may be the bare minimum in what is ultimately needed for true justice for Palestine, but it is an important step. If you can make progress towards her agreeing with a simple ceasefire, that's worth celebrating.

You'll also want to think in advance about where you're hoping her changed perspective will take her. Do you see her on the front lines of protests and marches? Or will you be satisfied if she makes some changes in where she spends her money (boycotting Starbucks, McDonalds, etc.), doesn't shut down pro-Palestine comments, etc.?

Again, being realistic and celebrating even small changes is helpful to keep from frustrating yourself or her!

So...how do you start a conversation that leads to that?

Wait for a time when you both are fairly relaxed, and have enough time that conversation won't be rushed.

Prepare yourself to hear some resistance and possibly even some really crappy things regurgitated when you first broach the subject. Do your best to remain calm, and not to jump straight into correcting every little thing she says — I know how hard that can be, but if you have hope that she'll be open to changing perspective, you want to establish yourself as a space where she feels safe enough to unpack the bullshit without being shut down at every turn.

For instance, in the scenario where she said "the Bible says we should always stand with Israel," responding immediately with "no it doesn't!!" would shut down conversation.

Instead, you might start with open-ended questions the two of you can explore together: "I wonder what the Bible means when it talks about Israel. Would the biblical authors recognize today's Israel as being the Israel they were talking about? / Is the Israel of today the same as the Israel of the Bible?" "What does it mean to you to 'stand with Israel'?" "Does that have to require sending them extreme military weapons?"

As you ask questions together, focus on finding common ground with her:

Does your friend agree that innocent people should be kept as safe as possible in military conflicts?

Does she agree that people of different faiths and cultures should be able to coexist?

I appreciate this post's advice on utilizing instead of challenging someone's deeply held values to guide them out from their rightwing radicalized views.

If your friend seems unwilling to talk about this...

It's okay to table the conversation if things start to get heated or she's shutting down. Let he know this topic is deeply meaningful to you and that's why you want to talk about it with her, as a friend who means a lot to you as well.

If there have been times in the past where she's realized what her family says about a topic has been anywhere from somewhat misinformed to utter bullshit, you might be able to remind her of that past time.

Do your best to make it clear that you are not judging her for what she currently believes — we can't help what we're raised in! You're just hopeful that, like in those past situations with other topics, the two of you can talk things out.

Did realizing that she didn't have all the information on a topic help in the past? Maybe remind her of that too, and invite her to team up together in finding the missing information on this topic as well — which leads me to...

Come with resources.

For exploring those open-ending questions I brought up before, it'll help for you to be pretty well informed in advance both about current events and recent history, and about how Christian theology's been used to advance Israel's agenda.

...Or, if you think your friend would prefer to learn along the way with you, it'll be good for you to at least know of resources the two of you can look at together!

You don't have to have all the answers; you can tell her, "I don't know enough either yet. I'd love to learn together with you." Framing it as something mutual, rather than you lecturing her or assigning her homework or judging her current ignorance, might cultivate that space for mutual growth that will benefit you both!

So here are some resources I recommend:

For questions about theology, including disconnecting biblical Israel from modern Israel, I highly recommend Decolonizing Palestine: The Land, the People, the Bible (2023) by Christian Palestinian theologian Mitri Raheb. If you don't have time for a whole book, I summarized the thing in an article that takes about 30 minutes to read. .

Another, less academic / more storytelling-formatted book that pulls in perspectives from Jews and Muslims, Palestinians and non-Palestinians, queer folk and more, that I find super valuable in summing up a lot of the fraught history and unpacking propaganda around Israel that so many of us have been taught to take as given, is A Land with a People: Palestinians and Jews Confront Zionism. .

Then there's keeping up with news using media outlets that don't sugarcoat Israel's violence. My personal favorite to listen to daily is Democracy Now!, which you can read/watch online or listen to as a podcast. A whole hour of news every day may be more than your friend can keep up with, however, so... .

...a briefer news option is @ So.informed on Instagram. Their posts sum up the big sweeping picture of what's going on, and help put it in context with accessible language. If your friend has Instagram, this could be a great source for her to start getting another perspective on what's going on. .

Similarly, @ letstalkpalestine is another Instagram account that explores history and current events in a succinct, accessible way.

One last thought: be ready to offer comfort.

It's hard to realize you've been misinformed about something important — especially when it's people close to you who've taught you what you thought was right. It takes a ton of courage and humility to realize where you need to change.

Your friend might become emotional about all this; that might look like grief, or rage, or even dissociating, feeling numb. Be ready to offer comfort, to remind her that what she thought was not her fault — that we're all steeped in things we have to work to unlearn, and you're proud of her for being open to learning.

And again I'll mention that if things start getting intense, it's okay to take a break! You don't want either of you burning out halfway through. You can take this process one small step per day, or even per week.

This struggle for liberation and justice is a long one — it's been decades unfolding, and it'll take a long while more. It's urgent, yes, but at the same time, rushing your friend won't aid the effort. Patience is much more likely to bear fruit that lasts.

___

I hope this helps somewhat! I'll be holding you and your friend in my prayers.

May the Spirit of Justice guide your words and actions; may She guard you from frustration; may she open your friend to hearing you out and entering into conversation with you. <3