Despite the fragile ceasefire in the Middle East, tensions and violence in the region are once again escalating.
On Thursday, the U.S. military carried out strikes on Iranian military facilities after U.S. Navy ships exchanged fire with Iranian vessels.
The United Arab Emirates was attacked by Iranian missiles, while Israel carried out renewed airstrikes in Lebanon, killing dozens including a paramedic and two children.
Today, the U.S. military also fired on two Iranian oil tankers that U.S. officials said were attempting to circumvent the Trump administration’s blockade on Iranian ports.
Though President Trump has sought to downplay these incidents, he issued another appalling threat of mass violence if Iranian leaders don’t agree to U.S. demands to end the war.
“Threatening to make Iran glow - with nuclear weapons or otherwise - is an almost unthinkable threat to commit a mass war crime against 92 million people,” the National Iranian American Council said. “It must never be normalized.”
More war is not the answer. Any further escalation will only compound the disastrous consequences that have been unleashed by this immoral war.
Further, continued U.S. strikes against Iran are now “triply illegal,” experts say, violating the Constitution, the U.N. Charter, and now the War Powers Resolution’s 60-day deadline to receive congressional authorization.
As we hold everyone impacted by this violence in the Light, FCNL and our network around the country are advocating tirelessly for peace.
FCNL was a lead organization sponsor of the No War Act introduced by Rep. Val Hoyle (OR-04), seeking to block any further funding for the war through the budget reconciliation process.
FCNL’s Advocacy Teams are also playing a crucial role. Three new teams in Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Indiana are joining hundreds of constituents across the country in strategic lobbying to stop the war.
As experts Tess Bridgeman and Brian Finucane wrote, “It is now, yet again, Congress’s responsibility to assert its constitutional prerogatives” to stop this war and “rein in a lawless executive.”
“And it is in turn the responsibility of the U.S. public to hold elected representatives accountable.”
Elsewhere
FCNL Joins Ecumenical Lobby Day for Palestine
We were proud to work with Churches for Middle East Peace to support their Joint Christian Advocacy Summit, coming together with 300 Christian leaders from across denominations urging Congress to halt arms to Israel and restore aid to Gaza. As FCNL’s Scoville Fellow Lydia El-Sayegh shared at vigil on Thursday, “Carrying the memory of tens of thousands of genocide victims, and hope for survivors, we are supporting essential legislation.”
Emergency Voting Rights Call Update
FCNL had planned to hold our quarterly network call next Tuesday, May 12, on how to engage candidates running for office.
Then the Supreme Court decided to gut the Voting Rights Act. Since then, we’ve seen state legislatures rushing to strip away representation from Black and brown communities. This is a betrayal of the Civil Rights Movement and a difficult setback for our democracy. So we are shifting focus to talk about what just happened and what Congress can do about it.
Join us May 12, at 8 p.m. ET to learn and strategize together.
Nuclear Nonproliferation and Climate are Intertwined
FCNL’s Paul Aversa wrote about how the risk of nuclear weapons and the stress of climate change interact, making the world a more dangerous place for all of us. As he put it, “Environmental stress increases the risk of conflict, while nuclear conflict would produce environmental consequences on a planetary scale.”
By connecting these two issues, both vital to the World We Seek, Paul argues that we can build a better case for future generations that we must address both of these existential threats to humanity.
Matching Challenge
Despite the generosity of our community this year, we have not yet raised the funds necessary to sustain FCNL’s critical work for peace and justice in the months ahead.
To help close this gap, a group of committed FCNL supporters has created a matching gift challenge— and that means that your donation made right now will be matched dollar-for-dollar, up to $267,467.
