Dear John,
On Monday, the news came in from Canada: wine from grapes grown in illegal settlements — or any settlement products — will no longer be able to carry the label “made in Israel.” This is exciting news and follows a massive shift in the U.S. Congress away from unconditional support for Israel. In a matter of days — early August — AIPAC will be leading its bi-annual delegation of freshmen Congress members, the goal of which is to maintain unquestioning support for Israel in Congress. But thanks to you, freshmen Congressional offices have been flooded with calls and emails as part of our Skip the Trip campaign, 21 Representatives are forgoing the all-expenses-paid-trip, previously a Congressional right of passage
The most recent Representatives to announce they won’t be participating in the junket trip to Israel after the Skip the Trip mobilization include Progressive Caucus members Deb Haaland (NM) and Katie Hill (CA) who originally had said they would be participating in the trip. Send a Thank you message to Representatives Haaland and Hill and the others who are skipping the trip and make a final appeal to those traveling with AIPAC that it is not too late to cancel or to extend their trip to build in time to see the occupation and meet with Palestinian and Israeli human rights defenders <[link removed]>.
Some members — Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — are skipping the trip as part of their criticism strong criticism of the occupation. Some reps. like Pressley, Levin, Van Drew, and Kirkpatrick cited scheduling conflicts. Click here to see a spreadsheet of who is going and who is not and their reasons. In 2015, only 3 freshman Democrats skipped the trip with AIPAC. This year, 21 Democratic Congress members won’t be going: 3 because of principled opposition to AIPAC’s racist agenda, one isn’t going because they object to PAC money and trips funded by private organizations, and 17 more cited such things as scheduling conflicts and family obligations as the reasons they would not be participating — regardless of the reason, the move from three to 21, shows progressive political power is on the rise in Congress.
AIPAC makes no effort to hide its agenda: shielding Israel from accountability for its war crimes against the Palestinian people such as the destruction of 100 Palestinian homes last week in Wadi al-Hummus to make way for illegal Jewish-only settlements. We must continue to push Congress members to show political courage and challenge the status quo that maintains unconditional U.S. support for the occupation and the daily violence it entails. Send a message now to Congressmembers to let them know what you think about their summer plans - thank the members that decided to skip the trip and urge those who are going to learn about the occupation <[link removed]>.
Towards justice for Palestine,
Ann, Ariel, Caroline, Carley, Clara, Jodie, Lily, Maya, Mark, Medea, Megan, Nancy, Paki, Ryan, Sarah, Teri, Tighe, Umama, Ursula, and Zena
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