ACTION ALERT: Send Food Not Bombs;
Enforce US Humanitarian Law
Kevin Martin / Peace Action
(March 19, 2024) — What is going on in Gaza is infuriating and heart-rending to watch. According to Cindy McCain, Executive Director of the UN World Food Program, “People in Gaza risk dying of hunger just miles from trucks filled with food.” Last week Israel struck one of the last food distribution centers in Gaza, killing a staff member of the UN relief agency UNRWA, and injuring another 22 people. Now, the Israeli military is poised to invade the city of Rafah in Southern Gaza, where over a million people are trapped.
This is intolerable. But there is a concrete lever the US can use, and you and I can get Congress to make sure it’s used.
President Biden has stated that an invasion of Rafah would be a “red line,” but Prime Minister Netanyahu rebuffed his patron. President Biden said that the US would “consider” conditioning military aid if Israel invades Rafah. [1]
For Biden, this is tough language. But it’s not enough. It would be shameful for the US to wait until after a disastrous invasion has the chance to kill thousands more. The US needs to exert its leverage now.
We, alongside our allies, are pressing the administration to simply enforce a provision of US law that requires the US to stop sending arms to any government that interferes with US humanitarian aid from reaching people. [2]
Several Senators, led by Senator Bernie Sanders, are demanding that the Biden administration enforce those laws and stop supplying the Israeli government with weapons. You and I can grow this pressure.
President Biden’s recent statements, and Vice President Harris’s earlier speech, calling for “at least six weeks” of a ceasefire, while tardy and insufficient, are clear signs that our pressure is being felt.
Months of our calling, protesting, emailing, lobbying, and voting for a ceasefire and justice are making a difference. Thank you for all that you are doing! It’s not happening as quickly as we would like, or as quickly as the people of Gaza and the remaining Israeli hostages need. But there is movement, and we need to seize the initiative. Again, your efforts can and do make a difference. We can’t let up now.
Sign on! Ask your representative to take a stand. Ask them to call on the Biden administration to stop US weapons transfers to Israel while Israel blocks the needed hundreds of trucks, with their life saving aid, from entering Gaza.
The people of Gaza, the Israeli hostages, and people all over the region need a ceasefire now. All eyes are on Rafah. It’s estimated that more than 1.5 million Palestinians forced to evacuate their homes by Israel are now taking refuge in and around the southern city of Rafah. An invasion of Rafah would be tantamount to putting out a raging conflagration with gasoline, napalm, and flame-throwers. It must be stopped.
The US needs to use all the leverage it can now, before an invasion of Rafah makes things much worse. We need blocked off aid trucks to be allowed entry now, instead of spending weeks building a pier to bypass Israel’s blockade.
ACTION: Please sign today and ask your representative to take a stand for peace and justice.
Related News
While we need you to make the calls now, you might also want to consider participating in the April 9-19 CeaseFire Now Congressional Advocacy Days, a grassroots coalition effort of over twenty organizations Peace Action is leading. If interested, email info@peaceaction.org and we can send you more information.
Footnotes
[1] If Israel invades Rafah, Biden will consider conditioning military aid to Israel, Politico, March 11,2024
[2] Israel’s Limits On Aid For Gaza Make US Military Support Illegal, Activists Argue, Akbar Shahid Ahmed, Huffington Post, March 13, 2024
Israel and the US sign massive arms agreement on September 2016.
End US Funding For Netanyahu’s Illegal War
Our Revolution
Bernie continues to hit the airwaves to say unequivocally: the US government must stop supporting Netanyahu’s horrific war in Gaza that has killed over 30,000 people and is blocking the food, water, and medical aid that Palestinians desperately need. This time, Bernie was on All in with Chris Hayes on MSNBC:
OxFam just reported that Israel is still blocking food and water into Gaza and that the situation is dire for millions of people. All while Israel threatens even more aggressive and deadly military action. President Biden and Congress must stop sending military aid to Netanyahu now and assure humanitarian aid reaches the people of Gaza.
ACTION: Support Bernie’s efforts to end US support for the atrocities of the Netanyahu government.
Last week, Bernie wrote a letter to President Biden stating firmly and decisively that Israel is breaking US law and that continued US aid to Israel would violate the Foreign Assistance Act. That law bars military support from going to any nation that restricts the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Bernie said on MSNBC that no matter what propaganda is coming from Netanyahu’s government, it is crystal clear that Israel is blocking aid to Gaza.
Children are starving and people are dying because of American made weapons. And because the US government is not doing everything in its power to make sure food and water get to the Palestinian people.
President Biden and Congress must listen to Bernie. No more American weapons and taxpayer dollars for the war on Gaza.
When we organize, we win.
