About UK Friends of Standing Together
Standing Together (עומדים ביחד نقف معًا) is an Israeli grassroots movement mobilising Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel against the occupation and for peace, equality, and social justice. In the months since 7 October, they have become Israel’s leading anti-war campaigning group.
Their work since 7 October includes forming anti-racist Solidarity Guards in mixed cities, to resist racist incitement by the far right; forming a Humanitarian Guard which successfully defeated settler attacks on aid to Gaza; organising anti-war protests, and anti-war/anti-occupation blocs in the mass anti-government protests; organising defence campaigns for victimised Palestinian workers; and organising an aid convoy to Gaza made up of donations from Palestinian citizens of Israel.
At a time when we are witnessing so much death, destruction, racism and division in Israel-Palestine, it has never been more important to support people inside Israel working for change.
Even before 7 October the situation in Israel was bleak. The most right-wing government Israel has ever seen was taking steps to weaken the judiciary, entrench an increasing violent occupation, and stoke fear and hatred of Palestinians. Settler violence was at an all-time high. Social and economic inequality was widening and women, Mizrahi Jews, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community and others were increasingly marginalised — socially, economically, and politically. None of these trends has abated.
There has never been a greater need for a grassroots movement mobilising Jewish and Palestinian citizens of Israel in pursuit of real peace and democracy: full equality for all, including an equal right to self-determination. Many have described Standing Together as one of the few points of light in these horrific times.
Standing Together understands that to create meaningful change in Israeli society it is essential to stand together as a united front: Jewish and Palestinian, secular and religious, Mizrahi and Ashkenazi, rural and urban, and people of all genders and sexual orientations. At the same time, they refuse to ignore issues – like the occupation – which are controversial in Israeli society.
UK Friends of Standing Together was established to increase support for Standing Together in the UK. We:
- Promote the power of joint struggle with Jews and Palestinians working together;
- Campaigning in the UK for peace, justice, and equality for Israelis and Palestinians in line with Standing Together’s vision, including an equal right to self-determination and full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel.
- Raise money to support the work of Standing Together in Israel.
We encourage everyone who supports Standing Together’s mission to join Friends of Standing Together by making a regular monthly donation of any size to Standing Together. Anyone based in the UK who signs up to be a Friends of Standing Together is automatically a member of UKFoST.
To learn more about UKFoST, look at our FAQs, sign up to our mailing list via the box on the front page, and follow us on Twitter or Instagram.
You can view UKFoST’s democratic structure here. We currently have local branches in Nottinghamshire, Bristol, Sheffield, Leeds, Brighton, Oxford, Cambridge, and London (including a borough-based chapter in Barnet), with a regional branch-in-development in the North East. If you live in any of these areas, and are not currently in contact with your local UKFoST branch, please let us know.
The current Steering Group of UKFoST is Eliaou Balouka, Anas Dayeh, Tyrone Falls, Hannah Gaventa, Holly Kal-Weiss, Bernice Keshet, Jon Lansman, Gabriel Morris, Pete Radcliff, Daniel Randall, and Anna Roiser. Our founding Parliamentary supporters were Alex Sobel MP and Nadia Whittome MP.
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