Tell Lawmakers to Investigate Israel's Killings in Gaza
(WASHINGTON, D.C. 4/6/2018)—One week ago, in commemoration of Land Day, 30,000 Palestinians living in the besieged Gaza Strip launched a six-week peaceful demonstration, the #GreatMarchofReturn, in their own land which was met with brutal force. Once again, Israel proved itself a violent aggressor that murders with impunity.
As Palestinians exercised their right to protest, more than 100 Israeli snipers shot at demonstrators, killing 18 people and injuring more than 1,400 others. The Israeli military used drones to drop tear gas over the encampments of the demonstrators, where entire families were gathered, and prevented medics from evacuating the injured. Despite recent claims, the Israeli military, in fact, premeditated its violent response and later bragged about it on Twitter.
In the second week of protests, Israel today killed two more young men, bringing the total number killed by Israeli fire to 24, with 150 hospitalized on Friday.
This week, Human Rights Watch declared the killings unlawful, saying, “Israeli soldiers were not merely using excessive force, but were apparently acting on orders that all but ensured a bloody military response to the Palestinian demonstrations.”
Rep. Barbara Lee also tweeted her concern about the killing of peaceful Palestinian protesters in Gaza, and expressed the need to improve conditions for the people there.
More than 70 percent of Gaza's two million inhabitants are refugees and descendants of refugees expelled from their homes inside Israel. Over one million are dependent on UNRWA assistance. The population lives with just 4 hours of electricity a day, 98% polluted water, and a 60% unemployment rate. Nearly half of the two million people are children under the age of 16.
Palestinians in Gaza will continue to protest until May 15, marking the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, or catastrophe, when over 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their lands. This tragic day is also when the U.S. plans to open its embassy in Jerusalem.
As the wounded continue to fall victim to their injuries, we ask you to take immediate action against this gross violation of human rights and international law by contacting your lawmaker immediately.
TAKE ACTION NOW:
It is time to demand accountability for Israeli aggression. Email your Member of Congress NOW to demand the U.S. opens an investigation into Israel's unlawful killings of 24 demonstrators in Gaza.
MORE ACTIONS:
We cannot allow these atrocities against peaceful demonstrators in Palestine to continue. Here are several things you can do:
1. Call your members of Congress and the State Department. Find their phone numbers at www.govtrack.us. Ask them to call Jose-Manuel Dobarco, the Department of State’s vetter on Leahy Law violations for the Near Eastern Affairs desk. Dobarco’s contact number: 202-632-2040.
TALKING POINTS
Israel’s Violence Against Unarmed Civilians Violates the Leahy Law
The Leahy Law prohibits the United States from providing funding to foreign military units if there is “credible information” those units were involved in human rights violations. The law also requires the State Department to compile a database of those military individuals and units who commit human rights violations.
Israel does not comply with this law. Ask legislators to pressure the State Department to enforce the Leahy Law on Israel by requiring an accounting of how US aid is spent and to investigate specific military units when credible information of human rights abuses arise.
The United States has provided more cumulative bilateral assistance to Israel than to any other country since World War II, totaling more than $121 billion. Almost all U.S. aid to Israel is granted in the form of military assistance.
For decades, international human rights organizations have been documenting examples of Israeli human rights violations committed against Palestinians living under its effective control and have recently argued that U.S. military aid to Israel should be subject to the rigors of the Leahy Law.
And finally, the U.S. must pressure Israel to end the modern world’s longest-lasting military occupation and allow Palestinians their liberty, self-determination and right to return to their homeland.
2. Give a khutbah (or sermon) about the situation in Gaza. Organize an educational event at your mosque, church, synagogue, school or community group (please reach out to AMP for any help).
3. Organize a demonstration locally in solidarity with the “March of Return” particularly on the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, and in protest of the reckless decision by the Trump administration to relocate the U.S. embassy on that day.
4. Write an op-ed using the talking points. AMP staff is here to help you write and place your op-ed.