Pleading the Cause

It is incumbent upon us to aid those in need, to defend the helpless - the poor, oppressed, widows, orphans - and plead the cause of those who are powerless to do so themselves. Sometimes we must knock on the doors of the powerful, and then keep on knocking until we are heard. We have many examples of such in the Bible. Such was the case today of several hundred Israeli's (myself included) lead by the Hebrew University students from Jerusalem and Beersheva. I have learned that the Israeli students are not content to settle for the status quo, and have a deep concern for the peoples of all nations who suffer persecution and genocide. "Never again," once a resolve of the Jewish people after the Holocaust, has been enlarged to include all peoples who are targeted for a genocide.

Keren (pictured above), the Jerusalem student-in-charge addresses the international media, student body, and Israeli public by pleading the cause of the Sudanese refugees now in Israel. Several other students took turns with their own powerful plea on behalf of the who could not do so themselves. Then a refugee who came to Israel two years ago took the microphone to tell his story. It was horrifying to hear about the children stolen off the streets of Egypt or a family member who had to go to a hospital, only to have an organ removed and sold to an Egyptian patient. His personal testimony motivated those of us present to stand in solidarity for a people forgotten. The majority of those who have come to Israel are Christians from south Sudan. How appropriate that my husband and I would represent the Christian community in the crowd of Jewish Israelis.

On the ground were hundreds of letters written to the Prime Minister of Israel, pleading with the government to not return the refugees back to Egypt, knowing full well what their fate will be. Then, upon direction of the students, we each grabbed letters and marched together - refugees, students, mothers with strollers, children, the elderly - to the entrance of the Knesset across from the Prime Minister's office, where we held up all the letters! The students waited by the fence and gates, with no small noise, and they were certainly heard!

View recent film of the refugees: