Girl Scouts were told to stop bracelet-making fundraiser for kids in Gaza. Now they can’t keep up

Missouri Girl Scout leaders threatened legal action against a troop that made bracelets to raise funds for starving children in Gaza, provoking outrage and ridicule from the girls’ supporters and advocates for people trapped in the Palestinian territory by the latest humanitarian crisis.

Girl Scouts of the USA said its eastern Missouri chapter had only been following fundraising rules, but that it was “disappointed and disheartened by the tone” of the communication with the troop in St. Louis.

“We felt like we were targeted, unfairly belittled and unheard,” said Nawal Abuhamdeh, a first generation Palestinian Muslim American and the leader of Troop 149 in St. Louis, which has since disbanded from the Girl Scouts.

Tasneem Manjra, a troop leader in California, said it looks like the Girl Scouts are backtracking because they were called out.

“I think that’s a load of Thin Mints,” said Manjra. “They were way too heavy-handed in their response to Nawal and her troop.”

Abuhamdeh said the fundraising effort began because the girls in her troop were uncomfortable selling Girl Scout Cookies while people are starving in Gaza. During one meeting, the girls — who are of Pakistani, Indian, Somali, Syrian, Palestinian and Jordanian heritage — cried and said they felt hopeless.

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