The catastrophic situation in Gaza continues to worsen by the day, with over 31,000 Palestinians killed in the past five months of Israel’s relentless genocide. Enabled by unconditional U.S. military aid, Israel’s assault has displaced 85% of Palestinians in Gaza, left 93% facing acute hunger, and destroyed homes and infrastructure on a massive scale. The UN has warned that Gaza is on the brink of complete collapse and total famine.
The Biden administration’s response to this unfolding humanitarian disaster has been to continue arming Israel to the tune of billions of dollars while paying lip service to Palestinian suffering. Recently, President Biden announced sanctions on a few extremist settlers and began dropping meager amounts of humanitarian aid—measures that will do nothing to alleviate Gaza’s misery as long as U.S. bombs keep raining down.
Enough is enough. The Biden administration has a moral and legal obligation to cut off ALL U.S. weapons transfers to Israel immediately. By any reasonable standard, Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of Palestinians in Gaza are obvious war crimes and crimes against humanity. Continued U.S. military assistance makes our country complicit in these atrocities under laws like the Foreign Assistance Act.
Pressure is mounting on the administration to take real action. On March 11, eight prominent senators, led by Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, sent a letter urging Biden to enforce Section 620i of the Foreign Assistance Act. This law prohibits U.S. aid to any country that restricts the delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance. The senators note that according to the administration’s statements, the Israeli government is blatantly violating Section 620i with its ongoing obstruction of aid to Gaza.
The letter demands that Biden issue an ultimatum to Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu: lift all restrictions on humanitarian access to Gaza or face an immediate cutoff of U.S. military aid as required by law. This would be a major step, as Israel currently receives over $3.8 billion annually in U.S. military financing.
The stakes could not be higher. The senators’ letter highlights just how dire the situation in Gaza has become, citing reports of “families eating leaves or animal feed, women giving birth to malnourished babies with little or no medical care, and children dying from malnutrition and dehydration.”
We are encouraged that key senators are calling on the administration to enforce these statutes. But this pressure from Capitol Hill will only matter if we back it up with a massive grassroots outcry.
Please, take two minutes to contact the White House TODAY. Urge everyone you know to do the same. True accountability, let alone justice, for Palestinians is impossible as long as U.S. weapons continue enabling Israel’s genocide in Gaza. We have to maintain our pressure.
