AJP Action Calls for Blinken To Stop Wasting Time and Implement an Immediate Ceasefire [WASHINGTON D.C., October 24, 2024] – Americans for Justice in Palestine Action (AJP Action) urgently calls on Secretary Blinken to stop wasting time with failed diplomatic visits and to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Lebanon. Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s 11th visit to the Middle East since the start of Israel’s genocide in Gaza is not an accolade underscoring his commitment to peace. Instead, it is a demonstration of his failure to secure an end to the Israeli violence destabilizing the entire region. This is because, despite the gestures towards peace, Secretary Blinken is recreating his year-long ploy of providing Israel with unlimited military, diplomatic, and financial support while begging it to accept a ceasefire. Blinken, along with the rest of the Biden Administration, must show that he will abide by U.S. and international laws to embargo aid to Israel so long as it continues to commit human rights violations. Instead of doing that over the last year, both Blinken and Biden have continuously kowtowed to Israel at every turn while giving them 10’s of billions of dollars to continue their genocidal military campaigns and expand their colonial and apartheid regime. Such a strategy will not bring an end to Israel’s genocide. Ending military aid will.  The administration cannot wait any longer. The humanitarian crisis in Gaza is intensifying daily, with entire neighborhoods in ruins from the U.S.-supplied bombs. In northern Gaza, over 400,000 people are trapped under relentless Israeli shelling and airstrikes, with more than 800 killed in just two weeks. Families fleeing the Jabalia refugee camp face death even as they attempt to escape. Aid has been completely cut off, and UN officials warn that civilians are "just waiting to die" amid accusations of ethnic cleansing. Israel’s actions, supported by U.S. military aid, are driving this humanitarian catastrophe. “The current U.S. policy of arming and funding Israel while requesting a ceasefire is both hypocritical and ineffective,” said Osama Abuarshaid, Executive Director of AJP Action. “Blinken’s diplomatic theater is enabling Netanyahu’s war crimes. The United States must immediately end military aid to Israel and demand a ceasefire before this administration’s legacy becomes one of complicity in genocide.” The Biden administration has expanded military support to Israel, recently deploying 100 U.S. troops to operate advanced anti-ballistic missile systems in Israel, risking American lives. Meanwhile, Israeli forces continue to bomb civilian areas in Lebanon, with strikes killing civilians even in proximity to Beirut’s main hospital and the ancient city of Tyre. This all while Israeli leaders openly threaten war with Iran, raising the specter of a wider regional conflict that could drag the U.S. into another devastating war. It is overdue for the Biden administration to align U.S. policy with international law. The Israeli government’s systematic targeting of civilians, destruction of homes, and collective punishment of Palestinians amounts to war crimes under the Geneva Conventions. AJP Action calls on Secretary Blinken and the broader Biden Administration to end military aid to Israel and use the administration’s leverage to bring an end to the killing. The Biden administration must stop enabling Israel’s actions and take decisive steps to protect Palestinian lives. Biden and Blinken have chosen a legacy of enabling genocide; this is their last opportunity to leave office, having done some good by using their power to join the rest of the world in holding Israel accountable. Signed,
Americans for Justice in Palestine Action | 
