“We call on you to immediately halt the sale, transfer, and shipment of all further weapons to the Israeli government. This is the first step towards building a future in which all people living on the land can live in safety, equality, freedom, and justice.“
Washington, D.C. — Days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a racist, divisive, and warmongering speech to a joint session of Congress, over 75 organizations have released a statement calling on President Joe Biden and Congress to enact an immediate arms embargo on the Israeli government.
July 26, 2024
Dear President Joseph R. Biden and Members of Congress:
We the undersigned human rights, civil rights, and social justice organizations call on you to implement an immediate arms embargo on the Israeli government in order to save lives.
This week, U.S. Congress welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu, even as he and his government face international investigations for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. This joint address was a direct affront to the values of human rights, freedom, and democracy.
Netanyahu’s government has utilized U.S. support and weapons to kill nearly 40,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including 15,000 children, wiping out entire generations of Palestinian families in Gaza. To not only destroy hospitals, bakeries, schools, churches, mosques, universities, refugee camps, and homes, but Gaza’s entire health care system and entire residential neighborhoods. The Israeli government’s siege is starving Palestinian children and has brought Gaza to the brink of a full-blown famine. To save lives, we must stop sending bombs and warplanes to the Israeli military.
The Israeli government has shown clearly that it does not respond to warnings or stern words. Our government must exert tangible and material pressure on Israel now. The United Nations and legacy human rights groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International are all calling for countries to enact an arms embargo to stop these atrocities. An arms embargo is essential to uphold not only international law, but our own U.S. law, and to send a clear message that the United States will not support the Israeli government’s policies of collective punishment against the Palestinian people.
Furthermore, as the cost of living rises and inflation squeezes American families, we need to prioritize funding for housing, healthcare, childcare, schools, and jobs—not weapons and bombs for Netanyahu’s war crimes. Pouring billions in weapons funding for a government committing human rights abuses is a betrayal of our own communities’ needs. It’s time to redirect our resources towards building a better future at home, instead of supporting violence abroad.
The only way to reach a desperately needed lasting ceasefire – including the release of all Israeli and Palestinian hostages – is for the U.S. to exert pressure on Netanyahu’s regime by ending the flow of weapons to the Israeli government. We cannot claim to be working towards peace while simultaneously sending the weapons that enable atrocities. Therefore, we call on you to immediately halt the sale, transfer, and shipment of all further weapons to the Israeli government. This is the first step towards building a future in which all people living on the land can live in safety, equality, freedom, and justice.
Signed:
About Face: Veterans Against the War
Action Corps
Adalah Justice Project
Alliance of Baptists
American Baptist Churches USA
American Federation of Ramallah Palestine
American Friends Service Committee
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
Americans for Justice in Palestine Action (AJP Action)
Arab American Civic Council
Brooklyn For Peace
Campaign Against Arms Trade
Catalyst Project
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Jewish Nonviolence
Coulee Region Coalition for Palestinian Rights (CRCPR)
DAWN
Defense for Children International – Palestine
Doctors against Genocide
Ekō
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
Fellowship of Reconciliation
Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA)
Historians for Peace and Democracy
IfNotNow Bay Area
IfNotNow Chicago
IfNotNow Los Angeles
IfNotNow Movement
Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti
Institute for Policy Studies – National Priorities Project
Institute for Policy Studies – New Internationalism Project
Jewish Voice for Peace Action
Justice Democrats
MADRE
Mennonite Action
Middle East Children’s Alliance
Migrant Roots Media
Movement for Black Lives
MPower Change Action Fund
Muslim Justice League
Muslim Peace Fellowship
Muslims for Just Futures
Palestine Legal
Palestinian Centre for Human Rights
PARCEO
Pax Christi USA
Peace Action
Peace, Justice, Sustainability, NOW!
People’s Action
Philadelphia Young Communist League
Progressive Democrats of America (PDA)
Progressive Jews of St. Louis (ProJoSTL)
Project South
Project48
Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft
Rabbis for Ceasefire
Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace and Justice
RerootD Futures Initiative
ReThinking Foreign Policy
Rising Majority
RootsAction.org
Security Policy Reform Institute (SPRI)
St. Louis Palestine Solidarity Committee
Sunrise Movement
SURJ Action
Tech Justice Law Project
The Episcopal Church
The Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA) Bay Area
The Oakland Institute
U.S. Palestinian Community Network (USPCN)
United Church of Christ Palestine Israel Network
US Council of Muslim Organizations
WESPAC Foundation, Inc.
Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press
Working Families Party
World BEYOND War