John,

It’s been a busy first two months of 2024 with a lot going on in the world. I know you’ve been getting a lot of emails (from us and others), but I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you.

Thank you for standing with Justice Democrats, our bloc of diverse, progressive, working-class candidates, and our fight for peace and progress ahead of the consequential elections quickly approaching this year.

Since the horrible events that took place on October 7th, 2023, Israel’s military, led by right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has continued its indiscriminate, all-out assault on Gaza. As of today, at least 30,000 Palestinians have been killed, including more than 12,000 children, by violence or starvation — and that number is expected to drastically increase as innocent civilians continue to face bombs, snipers, and a lack of access to food, clean water, and medical aid.

Just yesterday, more than 100 civilians were killed and hundreds more injured when Israeli military fired at a crowd of desperate, starving people clamoring for food for themselves and their families. This is a man-made famine, and it’s atrocious to see the Israeli military killing innocent civilians simply trying to survive.

Our incumbents in the Squad had the political courage and moral clarity to be the first to call for peace back in October, and they’ve been leading the movement for a permanent ceasefire and the release of all hostages since then. Though they were smeared by members of both parties and continue to face millions of dollars in attacks from anti-Palestinian, pro-war groups like AIPAC, it’s clearer every day that the Squad stood on the right side of history: the ceasefire movement is currently stronger than ever.

This week, we saw more than 100,000 voters in Michigan send an undeniable message to President Joe Biden when they voted “uncommitted” in the Democratic primary election. Grassroots organizers spearheaded this campaign in a matter of three weeks and successfully secured 10 times their goal of 10,000 uncommitted votes from Democrats of all backgrounds. It goes to show that the Democratic Party establishment should not take a single vote for granted, and we hope this is a wake-up call for the President to stop funding Israel's genocide—because his voters are demanding it.

New polling from Data for Progress also shows that not only do 2/3 of all likely voters across parties and 77% of Democrats support a permanent ceasefire, but an overwhelming majority of ALL voters support conditioning military funding to Israel to ensure Palestinian lives and statehood are protected. This isn’t a fringe issue: this is where the majority of the American people across party lines stand, and our elected officials should listen and act accordingly.

Our fight is far from over. And it’s not just about peace and human rights abroad, but about justice and progress here in our communities too. If we lose a single member of the Squad this year to AIPAC-funded primary challengers, we lose a champion for Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, student debt forgiveness, and so much more.

Let’s continue to build the pressure for peace through a permanent ceasefire, end the U.S. complicity in this genocide, and keep true representatives for the people fighting for us in Congress.

In solidarity,

Alexandra Rojas
Executive Director