Thank you for writing this story! I could Wade in in agreement and clarification on many points, but I'll limit my comment right now to urging clear-eyed caution about financial contributions. I personally know two people who are serving long terms in federal prison right now because they contributed money to charity groups in southern Lebanon — for the purpose of feeding the hungry and providing medical care to civilian victims of military violence.

Federal marshalls came knocking on their doors several years ago serving warrants on charges of aiding and abetting terrorism, on the grounds that the organizations my friends donated to were fronts for Hezbollah, which the United States has declared to be a terrorist organization, making any contributions to them a federal felony.

My friends had clear and convincing evidence that they were contributing for genuine charitable reasons to groups that genuinely provide food and medical care.

That didn't matter. They were convicted and sentenced to many years in prison.

I'm not saying this to discourage people from contributing, but we should all be aware that if we do contribute, we could find ourselves in an intense legal spotlight in a system that is designed to presume malicious intent, in a federal prosecutorial system that is highly politically charged and unmoved by humanitarian concerns.