On December 1, a subcommittee of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC) sent confusing messages to the world.

First they issued a report reviewing Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) use of private prisons. The report concluded that even though the management and oversight of private detention facilities is worse than public facilities, ICE would continue to use private prisons.

By Aniqa Raihan and Raed Jarrar

Two months ago, AFSC and 14 other organizations sent a letter to President Obama urging him to investigate the apparent extrajudicial killing of Palestinian-American teenager Mahmoud Shaalan by Israeli soldiers. The U.S. State Department wrote back last month expressing concern about the possible use of excessive force, but has not taken any action against Israel or the Israeli Defense Forces unit responsible for Mahmoud’s killing.

Just four days before Thanksgiving—a holiday that for many symbolizes the genocide of Native people in the U.S.—law enforcement in North Dakota launched a brutal assault on the Standing Rock Sioux and their allies. Hundreds of people who had peacefully assembled to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline were blasted with water cannons, hit with concussion grenades and rubber bullets, and doused with tear gas. This week, What We’re Reading takes a look at the protests in Standing Rock in the context of 500 years of indigenous resistance to colonization and genocide.

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb is on the Rabbinic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace and is co-founder of The Muslim Jewish Peacewalk, Mural Arts in Palestine and Young Pacifist and Proud with The Fellowship of Reconciliation. A performing artist, author, and peace activist, Lynn's newest book, "Trail Guide to the Torah of Nonviolence," will be out in April. She is co-author of "Peace Primer II: Quotes from Jewish, Christian and Islamic Scripture and Tradition." 

As Thanksgiving approaches and Native people and allies face being assaulted by water cannons and rubber bullets for trying to clear a road on their own land, Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb prepares to travel to the region and offers this reflection on the situation. An AFSC delegation traveled to Standing Rock in September and produced this report reflecting on the situation and on what those who wish to support can do.