“I blew the whistle on the Gaza ‘Humanitarian’ Foundation because it was—by design—a handmaiden to Israel’s genocide of the Palestinians. The aid sites were death traps. Rev. Johnnie Moore should be facing, and must face, charges for war crimes, not hired by a Christian university that purports to “prepare leaders of purpose who will impact our world for good.”

—Anthony Aguilar, retired US Army Green Beret 

It has been 19 days since an official “ceasefire” was brokered between Hamas, the U.S., and Israel. Yet Israel Israel is bombing Gaza. Again. Just this Monday, the IOF’s chief of staff told commanders: “The war is not yet over. We must complete our sacred mission.” A day later, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered immediate "powerful strikes" on Gaza. 

There is a striking gap between ordinary people and those in the halls of power. Here in the U.S., our institutions — political, cultural, academic, economic — continue to platform and embrace genocidal war criminals.  One such institution is Pepperdine University, which recently appointed Reverend Johnnie Moore, the director of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, vice chancellor of its DC campus. It was Moore who was behind the creation of the GHF’s so-called “aid distribution sites,” which in reality turned out to be killing fields, where soldiers opened fire on crowds of starving Palestinians waiting in line for food.

Tell Pepperdine University to dump Johnnie Moore!

It’s frankly outrageous that Pepperdine University hired someone affiliated with these sham "aid sites." Moore used his faith as a conduit to help create these deadly aid sites under the guise of humanitarianism. When faced with pressure by the UN over the GHF’s role in the genocide, Moore responded: “Lies, all lies... We have seen no indication that the IDF is failing to comply with international law or its obligations.” In reality, however, there has been plenty of indication; reports have surfaced from a range of international organizations that the IOF is indeed breaking international law.

Johnnie Moore is an unacceptable choice for vice chancellor at Pepperdine University; sign the petition to demand his position be rescinded!

Moore has also been named the managing director of the Master of Middle East Policy Studies program at Pepperdine’s School of Public Policy. This is the same pattern we see with Bari Weiss being appointed as Editor in Chief at CBS*: Zionist voices in influential spaces that are trying to make the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians seem acceptable. What are the odds that someone like Johnnie Moore would provide meaningful and accurate information on Middle Eastern policy? Absolutely zero. He would be actively working against truth and justice. 

In an official statement, Pepperdine provost Jay Brewster lauded Moore’s “extraordinary experience at the intersection of faith and policy.” Quite high praise for someone who once said: “Israel has impacted me far, far more than almost anything else. I almost can't think of my life as inseparable from Israel in some ways."

Moore’s appointment is larger than Pepperdine: it speaks to the complicity of U.S. institutions and their refusal to hold war criminals accountable and exposes the Zionist nature of the ruling class, which dehumanizes Palestinians and wages war on the truth. 

Collectively, we need to keep hammering the principle of holding Israel accountable for its crimes. If the people won’t do it, our institutions definitely will not. Pepperdine is a representation of the work we all need to uphold, because if we don’t, the past two years of destruction and insurmountable grief would have been for nothing.

I recently read a quote from Ghassan Kanafani that I think perfectly captures this moment, “Today isn’t my birthday, but if you asked me how I feel I would not hesitate to say I feel happy, not because I consider the alternative, but because I know we are traveling on a path for which there is no alternative.” We must continue to raise our voices and build our power to combat Zionism —  for there is no other alternative. 

Sign the petition to demand Pepperdine University rescind its offers to Moore and uphold the principle of no war criminals on their campus!

 👉 Here are more ways to engage:

• Tell the Nobel Committee: The Peace Prize belongs to Gaza’s journalists!
• Boycott Israeli Sports!
• Register for our Palestine Working Group!
  

Until Liberation,
Jenin and the entire CODEPINK team

P.S. Check out our fresh new arrivals at our CODEPINK Store!

*Watch this video to learn more about what’s going on at CBS and Paramount.