To the Staff and Workers at General Dynamics
Dear Friends,
We respect that you consider your work at General Dynamics, one of the major military weapons manufacturers in the U.S., to be both important and necessary, and a viable means of support for you and your family. However, we hope you will read our urgent letter, then ask whether your contribution to the arms industry truly encourages human flourishing, promotes the global common good, and protects our earth.
We are gravely concerned about the consequences of all wars, but address the current retaliatory war by the Israeli government on the people of Gaza, now marking more than 8 months of devastation. Israelis mourn those who were murdered and captured by Hamas on October 7, 2023, as Palestinians suffer the annihilation of at least 35,000 loved ones, and 10s of thousands others, wounded. Though talk of a ceasefire is in the air, no cessation of enmity, killing, and destruction, appears in sight. The parents of Maoz Inon, an Israeli peace activist, were both killed in Hamas’s October 7th massacre. Still, he insists, “the equation of death” must be replaced by “an equation of life.” “Life comes first.” “Do the deal. Get it done. Get everyone home, Palestinians and Israelis!”
But to this day, death stalks the land, reminding us that an “eye for an eye,” only produces more blindness. The United States, a determined ally of Israel, shores up the efforts of the Israeli government with billions of dollars in military support. Physicians tell of bullets and bombs, procured from arms manufacturers here, that send shards of shrapnel into bodies, including those of children. The atrocities make a mockery of human compassion and the belief that each of us is created in the image of God. Rev. Dr. Munther Isaac, Palestinian Christian pastor and theologian, outraged at the silence and complicity of American churches and the distortion of theology to “dehumanize, demonize and wipe away the indigenous people,” also laments that “the best of our human minds are being used to create machines to kill people.” Our partnership with Israel makes us facilitators in this carnage. We, too, are responsible for the despair of a population unmoored from shelter and stability, and the embrace of loved ones.
What is called “war” requires intense planning, designed to bring about the defeat of a country’s “enemies,” as well as the destruction of culture and infrastructure. It causes massive dislocation, starvation, and poisons the earth and its inhabitants. It is the source of psychological and spiritual harm to both perpetrators and victims. It is untenable, and beneath the call to the human community to care for one another.. But, it provides billions of dollars in revenue to arms-makers and to those whose portfolio investments grow fat with profit.
In all honesty, we who write also feel a mournful sense of responsibility and culpability. We recognize our collusion in the business of war each time we sign over our taxes to the IRS, knowing the money is being wasted on war while important needs of people go wanting. We are all part of this dilemma of heartbreak and conscience, and each of us must find our way to refuse cooperation with the merchants of death.
To you who are part of the weapons industry, we ask you, as we ask ourselves, what is it we are called to do for the sake of the one healthy global community to which we aspire? We are concerned that those who continue to produce weapons, and we who support death-dealing policies with our money and our silence, will diminish our humanity, while causing the death and suffering of others designated as enemies. Will moral considerations continue to be deferred by misplaced loyalty to company and country?
We must begin to discuss how we can lay down our arms, and instead work to construct a world that is safe and healthy for all people’s children. Each one of us has a personal decision to make: will we choose life over death? We ask that you discuss this important matter among yourselves. We also extend a permanent invitation to join in conversation with us as well. We need one another as we struggle for truth. Thank you for your thoughtful attention.
In Peace.