In a four-month war, “Israel has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children. The United States is supporting this massive genocide. This must not be allowed to continue,” said a statement signed by Bishops Adam J. Richardson, head of the denomination; Stafford J.N. Wicker, president of the Council of Bishops; E. Anne Henning Byfield, president of social action; and Francine A. Brookins, co-chair of social action.

The initiative comes in a week of continued calls for a cease-fire and for the delivery of humanitarian aid for Gaza victims.

The President of the Progressive National Baptist Convention David Peoples, on the other hand, positioned his denomination in favor of a cease-fire in a press conference at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, place where Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated back in 1968.

The request by the Council of Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church came on the occasion of the denomination’s founder Richard Allen´s 264th birthday.

Allen (Philadelphia, February 14, 1760-Philadelphia, March 26, 1831) was son of formerly enslaved parents and his family was sold to a Delaware farmer.

In 1816, he organized a convention of Black leaders to establish the African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Allen worked to improve social status of the Black community, organizing Sabbath schools to teach literacy and promoting national organizations to develop political strategies.

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