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John,
A new United Nations report found that 70% of the Palestinians killed in Gaza are women and children, with children making up 44% of those killed. Heartbreakingly, Israel’s government has killed more 5-9 year olds than any other age group in Gaza, followed by 10-14 year olds and 0-4 year olds. These are babies, burned alive, bombed to pieces, starved, or shot with hundreds of bullets like Hind Rajab.
Our government is making us complicit in these sickening horrors. President Biden’s administration sent over $22 billion to Israel’s military in the past year, meaning U.S. taxpayers have funded 70% of Israel’s attacks—which have killed and injured at least 170,000 people in Palestine and Lebanon so far.1
We cannot stand by while our tax dollars fuel this carnage. The majority of Americans agree: We must stop the flow of weapons to Israel.
But Biden recently approved another $20 billion weapons deal to Israel, including specific bombs and equipment that have been used to kill children and other civilians such as healthcare workers and journalists.
To block Biden’s latest weapons shipments to Israel, Senator Bernie Sanders has introduced Joint Resolutions of Disapproval. Starting next week, Sanders will be able to force a floor vote on these resolutions in the Senate. This is the first-ever vote in Congress to directly block weapons to Israel and an important step toward an arms embargo.
Sign now to tell Senators: Vote yes on Bernie Sanders' Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to block $20 billion in U.S. weapons to Israel.
As poll after poll shows, most U.S. voters want to stop U.S. arms sales to Israel, including a majority of Jewish Americans. For over a year, we have been rising up and demanding an end to this escalated ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
While our efforts have not ended Israel’s devastating atrocities, our demands are now more mainstream among the American people and Democratic U.S. policymakers. Meanwhile, other countries have stopped arming Israel and an overwhelming majority of countries in the United Nations have voted for sanctions on Israel.
Not only is our government violating international laws by continuing to back Israel’s war crimes, it’s also violating U.S. laws that restrict weapons transfers to countries blocking U.S. humanitarian aid or committing other human rights abuses.
Biden’s administration knows the Israeli government is blocking humanitarian aid, which is starving Palestinians in Gaza and depriving them of lifesaving medical supplies. Over 30 days ago, Biden’s Secretary of State gave Israel 30 days to increase aid into Gaza and stop undermining the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA)—or risk facing consequences like restrictions on U.S. weapons transfers.
We’ve passed their deadline and aid organizations including Save the Children and Oxfam have confirmed that Israel’s government has failed to meet the demanded criteria in the past month, and instead “took actions that dramatically worsened the situation on the ground.”2 The Israeli government also just passed legislation banning UNRWA entirely.
However, Biden’s administration confirmed this week that there will be no consequences for Israel’s growing atrocities. In response, demonstrators gathered outside the White House demanding an arms embargo, including former members of the administration who have resigned in protest. Some were arrested for exercising their First Amendment rights.
Joe Biden is still president and he can still save millions of lives, but it’s clear he must be pushed by Congress. We only have until the end of the year to push Senator Sanders’ Joint Resolutions of Disapproval through Congress and cut off the flow of some weapons to Israel.
Will you add your name now to demand Senators vote to block $20 billion in illegal weapons sales to Israel?
Thank you. Together, we will keep pushing to save lives at home and abroad, no matter people’s faith or ethnicity and no matter who is president. Our struggle continues.
In solidarity,
Rashida
1 Report on U.S. spending on Israel’s military operations
2 Scorecard: Israel Fails to Comply with U.S. Humanitarian Access Demands in Gaza
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