Action Alert - Urge Congress to Prevent Genocide in Gaza!

Since the escalation of violence by Hamas on October 7th, which killed over a thousand Israelis, Israel's continuing assault on Gaza has killed more than 28,000 Palestinians and injured more than 70,000, with thousands still unaccounted for.  There are now areas of famine and hunger in the northern Gaza Strip where people are deemed to be on the brink of starvation.  In January, to uphold the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, South Africa argued in the International Court of Justice(ICJ) that measures must be taken to save lives. On January 26th, the ICJ ordered that the Israeli government must take measures to prevent genocide and that the provision of humanitarian aid and basic services is required, among other things. The US is a signatory to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, yet has enabled Israel’s continuing collective punishment of the Palestinians of Gaza diplomatically and through the provision of military aid.  President Biden has bypassed Congress more than once to fast-track aid to Israel. Despite the President's executive order in early February conditioning aid on human rights standards, the White House has said that suspension of aid is unlikely.  Congress is currently considering a massive disbursement of $14 billion in new military assistance to Israel - ignoring the massive loss of life and destruction of communities in Gaza as well as the Israeli, American, and international community’s obligations to prevent genocide affirmed by the ICJ.   At the same time, the US announced in late January that it was suspending its funding of UNRWA, along with fifteen other countries.   UNRWA was established to provide essential health, educational, and response services, as well as jobs in those areas, for Palestinian refugees, and has been operating continually since 1949. It currently employs over 30,000 Palestinians and is the only way to access healthcare, hospital services, medical clinics, and schools for many of the 5.9 million registered Palestinian refugees. The suspension of funding was due to allegations by Israel that 12 UNRWA staff participated in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israelis, despite scant evidence. The UN has fired several staffers over these allegations.

Urge Congress to Prevent Genocide in Gaza

In ratcheting up its already massive military funding for Israel while cutting off support for UNRWA, the US is only further implicated in acting contrary to its obligation to prevent the crime of genocide.  As the US provides military assistance and aid to Israel and denies necessary humanitarian and relief assistance through the longest-serving and most expansively capable agency positioned to provide it, the US continues to contribute directly to Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Gaza. The 2010 General Assembly called on the US government to adhere to its laws that prohibit assisting the government of any country that engages in a consistent pattern of human rights violations or that uses U.S. weapons against civilians and civilian infrastructure.  The assembly also called on the U.S. government to exercise its international influence, including the possible withholding of military aid as a means of bringing Israel to compliance with international law and peacemaking efforts.   Urge your Congressional representative and US Senators to uphold the US obligation to prevent genocide in Gaza by supporting continued financial contributions to UNRWA and rejecting further military aid and assistance to Israel until it complies with the ICJ ruling and adheres to international law.

Urge Congress to Prevent Genocide in Gaza