JOHN,

Today, I will not be attending Israeli President Herzog’s address to Congress.

A joint address to Congress is a rare honor, which should not be granted while Israel’s government commits apartheid and enables brutal racist attacks on Palestinians. This regime has even murdered Americans in the last year with impunity.

We should not tolerate racism or oppression here in the United States, or anywhere else in the world. And just like I speak up against injustices here in America, I am speaking up against the Israeli government’s violence of ethnic cleansing and apartheid.

Please sign the petition to urge all Members of Congress who stand for human rights to join me in boycotting apartheid by boycotting President Herzog’s address to Congress and speaking up for Palestinians’ human rights.

To honor any member of this far-right Israeli government with a joint address to Congress is to deny, ignore, and normalize the racist oppression and violence of apartheid. It enables human rights abuses.

Members of Congress who care about human rights need to speak up about the human rights violations that the Israeli government is committing. Congress must also stop funding and arming apartheid.

Instead of criticizing human rights abuses, Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle have been attacking progressive women of color who dare to speak up about the racist laws in the government of Israel.

Yesterday the House of Representatives even passed a resolution reaffirming support for Israel’s apartheid government.

On the House floor, I spoke up as the only Palestinian American serving in Congress, with family members throughout the West Bank in what many people call the illegally occupied territories.

I directly quoted extreme Israeli politicians who have denied the humanity of people like my grandmother, so my colleagues in Congress could hear the racism in their own words.

I shared how a former defense minister said that Palestinians are “beasts” and “not human.” A former justice minister called Palestinians “snakes.” A senior official has called to “erase” Palestinian villages while denying Palestinian existence. The leaders in Israel’s government are outright racists, and they’re open about trying to make Palestinians’ lives “unbearable” and to “crush” Palestinians’ hopes for a sovereign state.

Please sign the petition now to ask Members of Congress to join me in boycotting apartheid by boycotting the Israeli President’s speech to Congress today.

I will continue to act in solidarity with the Palestinian people and all those who have been harmed by the Israeli apartheid government and their policies. Thank you for joining me in the fight for Palestinian freedom and against oppression everywhere.

In service,

Rashida