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Folks,
A few days ago, while 123 million people watched a football game, during which the government of Israel aired a $7 million dollar propaganda video – Israel started bombing Rafah.
Rafah was supposed to be the last safe refuge in Gaza. But like everything else Israel has promised throughout this genocide, it was a lie.
Their assault on Rafah is one of the most violent and certainly the most heartless to date. Israel’s bombing was so intense it shattered homes and left us with unforgivable scenes like the gruesome death of 7 year old Sidra Hassouna – flung from her house and left hanging on a wall in the debris. |
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What’s happening in Gaza is so stark and undeniable that more and more members of Congress are waking up to the cold reality of what our government is funding.
This week Senator Chris Van Hollen took to the floor to express his shock in learning that Israel was deliberately withholding food from children in Gaza, and that many are now dying of starvation as a result.
He called it what it is. A textbook war crime. |
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But the story doesn’t end there.
Moments after making this speech, the Senator cast his vote for a $95 billion dollar military aid package that included an additional $14.1 BILLION for the people he just (correctly) called war criminals.
Democrats can spare me their crocodile tears and their pleas for how much their hearts are breaking for Gaza as long as they continue to shovel billions of dollars at the genociders to help them continue murdering Palestinians.
If your heart is truly breaking for Gaza, as mine is, there is something you can do. Join me in making an urgent contribution to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which has had their federal funding frozen after Israel spread now-broadly-debunked claims of a handful of UNRWA-affiliated people participating in the October 7th Hamas assault.
The same bill that Sen. Van Hollen voted for to keep funding the genocide also formally defunds the UNRWA going forward.
Luckily the House is too dysfunctional to pass their version of this bill, but regardless of the outcome, Van Hollen’s cries ring hollow.
Until we can change things in Congress, the rest of us need to step in. Please make a contribution to UNRWA today. |
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Two weeks ago I told you that the Biden administration’s decision to freeze UNRWA’s funding based on nothing but the word of a genocidal apartheid state would make sure children in Gaza starve to death.
Now here we are.
I continue to be sickened and outraged by our government’s active, material support for Netanyahu’s war crimes. One of the biggest reasons I’m running for Congress is to stand up against decisions like these and call it out from the heart of the federal government.
But if you can only give once today, I would rather that you give what you can to UNRWA. Their work is the last lifeline remaining for many people in Gaza, and we must keep them going. |
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That photo of Sidra reminded me so much of my daughter at that age. I can hear the screams of the children of Gaza as if they were my own. How could I not? |
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"The Scream of Gaza" by Omar Esstar |
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Our eyes are now on Rafah. We cannot look away.
#CeaseFireNow #FreePalestine
In solidarity,
Jason |
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