-- ORIGINAL EMAIL --

Friend,

You may have heard about the recent assassination of beloved Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh. Marked clearly as a journalist, she was covering an Israeli military raid on a refugee camp in the occupied West Bank when an Israeli sniper shot her in the head.

After a 25-year career reporting on what daily life was like under the Israeli occupation, Shireen Abu Akleh was murdered by a government that receives unconditional funding by our country with zero accountability.

Then, during her funeral procession, where thousands of Palestinians came to mourn, Israeli forces attacked the crowd with tear gas and used batons to severely beat the pallbearers, causing them to temporarily drop her casket.

I recently held a moment of silence for Shireen in Congress. I’ve also just introduced a resolution recognizing the Nakba (“catastrophe” in Arabic), when more than 750,000 Palestinians were forced from their family homes and their communities as part of the creation of Israel in 1948.

Survivors and their descendants have been living in exile for 74 years, denied the internationally-recognized legal right of return to their homes.

The Nakba continues through today, as Israel’s government continues to steal Palestinian land and displace thousands of Palestinians. We must recognize the ongoing injustice, human rights violations, and war crimes—and recognize the humanity of the Palestinian people.

Can you sign on as a grassroots co-sponsor of my resolution to recognize the Nakba and the human rights of Palestinians?

Israel has a long history of attacking or killing Palestinian journalists who exposed the truth. The Palestinian Journalism Syndicate reports that 50 Palestinian journalists have been killed by Israeli forces since 2001 and Reporters Without Borders has recorded at least 144 journalists injured while reporting in just the last four years.

Ethnic cleansing is still going in full force, in service of settler colonialism. For example, the Israeli military soon plans to forcibly displace over 1,300 Palestinian residents of Masafer Yatta from their ancestral homes. Israeli settlers, in coordination with the military, have already tried to push out the Palestinians in these villages by targeting them with violence, raids, arrests, burning their fields, and demolishing their homes.

Meanwhile, Israel just approved plans for nearly 4,500 more housing units for Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank—a violation of international law.

For generations, Palestinians have been living on and cultivating their land, only to have it continually and brutally stolen from them.

Understanding this history is important to understand and grow the movement for Palestinian rights. Educating lawmakers and the American people is an important step toward shifting our foreign policy. We must stop enabling and unconditionally funding Israel’s apartheid government.

Will you join me as a grassroots co-sponsor of my resolution to recognize the human rights of Palestinians and the history of the Nakba?

Thank you so much for being by my side and in solidarity with the Palestinian people.

- Rashida