Friend,

A growing far-right movement in Israel, which just grew its representation in the Israeli government, recently led marches through occupied East Jerusalem shouting “Death to Arabs,” while Israeli forces detained and injured hundreds of Palestinians who were counter-protesting.[1]

Hundreds of Palestinians are on the verge of being kicked out of their homes by the Israeli government right now in the Sheikh Jarrah and Silwan neighborhoods of occupied East Jerusalem.[2]

Families who’ve lived there for generations are facing imminent displacement—including the family of 22-year-old activist Mohammed El-Kurd, who wrote: “Our lives are consumed by the anxiety of living on the brink of homelessness.”

Please sign the petition calling on U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to uphold international law and demand an end to Israel’s illegal evictions of Palestinians, demolitions of Palestinian homes, and theft of Palestinian land.

Earlier this week, activists joined residents facing eviction in a sit-in, but faced a brutal response by Israeli forces, who beat people with batons and dispersed the crowd on mounted horses.[3]

This forced displacement is part of a broader, ongoing project by the Israeli military and government: forcing Palestinians out of their homes and burning their lands, all to make way for more Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, which are illegal under international law.

I’ve seen personally what my Palestinian family goes through living under Israeli military occupation and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s violent and racist colonialist policies. It’s awful.

With the protection of the Israeli army, for example, Israeli residents of the West Bank settlement of Bracha are attacking homes and burning lands in a nearby Palestinian village named Burin.

Burin’s mayor, Nidal al-Najjar, explained:

“These are not just radical individuals, these are entire groups and organizations of settlers who are supported by right-wing Israeli lawmakers and the Israeli occupation forces. The role of the Israeli soldiers is to protect the settlers. Not only do they do nothing to protect us, but they protect the settlers while they are attacking us. When we try to defend ourselves the soldiers shoot at us, attack us, and arrest us. This is all part of a system.”[4]

The group Human Rights Watch recently recognized that this system is part of Israel’s apartheid, given its ongoing inhumane domination, oppression, and persecution of Palestinians.[5]

Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said that Israel is “denying millions of Palestinians their fundamental rights, without any legitimate security justification and solely because they are Palestinian and not Jewish.”

The international community cannot stand by and let this happen. Billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars support the Israeli government and its racist violence. Our country, in particular our Secretary of State, must condemn this swiftly.

Please sign now to push for the Palestinian people’s dignity and rights.

Thank you. And stay tuned for more: I’m cosponsoring Rep. Betty McCollum’s H.R.2590, to make sure that U.S. taxpayer funds are not used by the Israeli government to support violations of Palestinian human rights and violations of international law, including the military detention of Palestinian children, the unlawful seizure and demolition of Palestinian homes and communities, or more annexation of Palestinian land.

In solidarity,

Rashida