Dear MoveOn member,
More than 41,689 Palestinian people and 1,000 Lebanese people have been killed by Netanyahu's escalating military campaign of airstrikes. These airstrikes (which are violations of international law) have been targeting and bombing civilians in refugee camps, hospitals, homes, mosques, churches, and schools since more than 1,200 Israelis were killed and more than 240 taken hostage in the Hamas attacks on October 7, 2023.1,2,3 A group of U.S. doctors and health care providers who have volunteered in Gaza in the last year estimate that the number of Palestinian people killed by the Israeli military is likely closer to 118,908.4
Khani, the truth is, our taxpayer dollars and U.S. weapons are being used to fund and carry out the relentless bombing of Palestinian and Lebanese civilians.5 It's heartbreaking and wrong, but we can do something about it.
Last week, Senator Bernie Sanders introduced a Joint Resolutions of Disapproval that will (for the first time in history) force a vote in Congress to block the weapons sale to the Israeli military.6,7 But we will succeed only if we have a massive showing of support from folks like you and me.
Will you please sign the petition to STOP the $20 BILLION weapon sale to the Israeli military NOW?
The reality is that the U.S. government is Netanyahu's largest supplier of weapons, and Congress has already passed legislation to send Israel $3.8 billion every year for the next five years.8 In the last year alone, Congress has voted to send more than $10 billion in American taxpayer dollars to the extremist Israeli government to buy more of the bombs and more of the weapons they are using to bomb and kill the Palestinian and Lebanese people.9
One in every 55 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 7, 2023.10 You read that right: One in every 55 Palestinians have been killed in the last year. Entire multigenerational Palestinian families have been killed and erased from the registry. Entire lineages have been wiped out.
And nearly half of Gaza's residents are under the age of 16, and 65% are under the age of 25, effectively meaning that Palestinian children are bearing the brunt of the Israeli government's collective punishment. It must end now.
The United States must end its complicity in these atrocities. And we can start by stopping the $20 BILLION weapon sale to Israel NOW.
At least 128 Palestinian media workers have been confirmed killed in Gaza since October 7, with dozens more injured, missing, or detained.11 Journalists reporting in Gaza have experienced multiple assaults, threats, arrests, cyberattacks, censorship, and killings of family members.12,13
And it's not just media workers. Many hospitals have been targeted and bombed by Israeli military airstrikes, killing more than 1,000 health care workers.14 But despite the fact that the Israeli government has cut off most fuel, water, and electricity from people in Gaza, doctors and nurses are still doing the best they can to treat their patients. Unfortunately, though, 19 out of the 36 hospitals in Gaza have been forced to close, with the remaining 17 only partially operating, many of which have run out of necessary medical supplies such as anesthesia and painkillers.15
50,000 pregnant women and people remain at great risk in Gaza too, with miscarriages, premature births, and stillbirths tripling.16,17 One mother, Hind S., almost gave birth to her baby under the rubble in the aftermath of an Israeli military airstrike before she was dug out and rushed to a hospital, where her baby was born with a broken leg from the airstrike.18
Babies, children, and families in Gaza are also starving to death.19 Nearly 2.1 million people are food insecure, with 96% of children from 6 months to 2 years old not meeting the minimal nutrition requirements.20 It's egregious.
Netanyahu's military has completely violated international law and committed war crimes time and time again. And none of this would've been possible without United States weapons paid for by our very own U.S. taxpayer dollars. Enough is enough! Our members of Congress need to block the $20 billion offensive arms sale to the Israeli military NOW.
Thanks for all you do.
–Jensine, Nakia, Erica, Evelyn, and the rest of the team
Sources:
1. "Israel’s Year of Killing, Maiming, Starving, and Terrorizing the People of Gaza," The Intercept, October 7, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/198150?t=9&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
2. "Gaza reports more than 11,100 killed. That's one out of every 200 people." The Washington Post, November 13, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/185455?t=11&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
3. "Gaza: After two months of war, women last to eat and children first to die," Relief Web, December 7, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/185456?t=13&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
4. "US Doctors Tell Biden, Harris They 'Witnessed Crimes Beyond Comprehension' in Gaza," Common Dreams, October 2, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/198151?t=15&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
5. "Israel's War in Gaza, Subsidized by the USA," The Nation, November 10, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/185454?t=17&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
6. "News: Sanders and Colleagues Move to Block Arms Sales to Israel," Bernie Sanders, September 25, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/198152?t=19&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
7. Post on X by Bernie Sanders, September 21, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/198159?t=21&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
8. "Israel's War in Gaza, Subsidized by the USA," The Nation, November 10, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/185454?t=23&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
9. Ibid.
10. "One year of Israel's war on Gaza," Al Jazeera, October 8, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/198158?t=25&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
11. "Journalist casualties in the Israel-Gaza war," Committee to Protect Journalists, October 8, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/198155?t=27&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
12. Ibid.
13. "Israel's Gaza war leads to a massacre of journalists," The Washington Post, January 9, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/185834?t=29&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
14. "US Doctors Tell Biden, Harris They 'Witnessed Crimes Beyond Comprehension' in Gaza," Common Dreams, October 2, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/198151?t=31&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
15. "Israel's Year of Killing, Maiming, Starving, and Terrorizing the People of Gaza," The Intercept, October 7, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/198150?t=33&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
16. "What It's Like to Give Birth in Gaza," The Intercept, November 8, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/185468?t=35&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
17. "Doctors in Gaza hospital forced to remove premature babies from incubators as supplies run out," CNN, November 14, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/185469?t=37&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
18. "Giving birth as bombs fall in Gaza: 'My girl came to the world broken,'" MSNBC, November 14, 2023
https://act.moveon.org/go/185470?t=39&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
19. "Israel's Year of Killing, Maiming, Starving, and Terrorizing the People of Gaza," The Intercept, October 7, 2024
https://act.moveon.org/go/198150?t=41&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
20. Ibid.https://act.moveon.org/go/198156?t=43&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKohttps://act.moveon.org/go/198156?t=45&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKohttps://act.moveon.org/go/198159?t=47&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKohttps://act.moveon.org/go/198160?t=49&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKohttps://act.moveon.org/go/198161?t=51&akid=409499%2E3228597%2EolsaKo
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