Jewish Voice for Peace Action: “The tireless work of the movement for Palestinian freedom played a key role in bringing us to this moment”
Washington, D.C. — For nine and a half months, President Biden has funded and armed the brutal Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, making the U.S. government directly complicit in the killing of at least 39,000 people, including over 15,000 children. Americans have watched in horror and outrage as Biden sent the Israeli government the weapons it used to wipe out entire generations of Palestinian families, to destroy hospitals, bakeries, schools, mosques, churches, universities, refugee camps, homes, and Gaza’s entire health care system and electricity and water grids. Biden’s unwavering support for this genocide has been morally unacceptable, politically unpopular, and played a significant role in making him unelectable by breaking down the coalition of support that helped him defeat Donald Trump in 2020. The tireless work of the movement for Palestinian freedom that has organized from the streets to the ballot box to demand a ceasefire and an end to this genocide has played a key role in bringing us to this moment.
The Democratic nominee must immediately change course by calling for an arms embargo on the Israeli government and establishing a foreign policy centered in human rights. Meanwhile, for the next six months, Biden will continue as the sitting president and remains responsible for ongoing U.S. complicity in the Israeli government’s atrocities. He and Congress must immediately stop the supply of military funds and weapons that the Israeli military is using to slaughter and starve Palestinians now.
It is shameful that, instead, Biden plans to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu on Tuesday. The only way to reach the lasting ceasefire that the overwhelming majority of Americans are demanding is for the U.S. to finally exert pressure on Netanyahu’s regime by ending the flow of weapons to the Israeli government. It has never been more clear that the Democratic party must start listening to its own base. We continue in our demand on President Biden and Congress for an immediate arms embargo now to save lives.