Feargus O’Connor writes:

“The current war in the Middle East has devastated lives across the region. Among those countries most directly affected are Iran, the Gulf States and Israel but in the wider region, millions of vulnerable individuals have fled their homes in search of safety. Unitarians and all people of faith are called to respond when human dignity is under threat. If you wish to honour our 2026 General Assembly Peace Resolution advocating an urgent humanitarian response to the suffering of victims of the war in the Middle East, please consider giving a donation to the Red Cross or Save the Children as follows:

• Save the Children UK – information about how to donate online, by phone or post can be found here: Donate Today
• British Red Cross – donation information here: Donate Today

Thanks to everyone who donated to this on Sunday 26th April, we received £40 which has been split between Save the Children and the Red Cross Middle East Appeal. Acknowledgement letters are below, and here is a thank you from Rev. O’Connor:

Here is the extracted text from the image (best-effort transcription; a few lines are faint/blurry in the photo):

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Letters to the editor

Acting in noble spirit

Rev. Feargus O’Connor

“I have been asked by Save the Children and the British Red Cross to thank all generous Unitarian donors to these charities’ emergency appeals for the victims of the current devastating war in the Middle East in response to our 2026 Annual Meetings emergency resolution on the war in the Middle East and calling on Unitarians to act to save lives.

In addition to the millions whose lives have been disrupted in Iran, the Gulf states and Israel, millions of other vulnerable people in neighbouring countries have fled their homes in search of safety. Huge numbers of people across Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria are in urgent need of food, shelter and medical care. In Gaza itself the scale of humanitarian need remains overwhelming.

Unitarians and all people of faith are called to respond when human dignity is under threat. The suffering in the war-torn Middle East surely impels us to live our values, believing as we do in the interconnected web uniting all living beings, with steadfast courage, empathy and compassion.

Our twin Unitarian and Unitarian Universalist traditions teach us that every person, and indeed every fellow sentient being, has inherent worth and that love must be made real through acts of mercy and justice. The Dalai Lama has reminded the world that “compassion is not a luxury: it is a necessity” and he has endorsed the passionate peace pleas by Pope Leo, Religions for Peace, and the World Parliament of Religions and their calls for urgent humanitarian aid for all those caught up in the war. Let us hope that Unitarians, like Quakers, will act in that noble spirit.”

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