A message from National:
No "Supplemental" war funds for Israel CALL CONGRESS TODAY Congressional switchboard: 202-224-3121 (Scroll down for what to say)
This week is big for Gaza and Congress. Congress is debating more weapons for Israel’s war crimes in Gaza.
The “security supplemental” bills are coming up. As if the now $1 Trillion annual security budget needs to be “supplemented”[1]. As always, defense contractors laugh all the way to the bank.
But there is something even more sinister going on. These bills include well over $10 billion for Israel’s war in Gaza. Giving Israel billions more for the war, while they are killing thousands, starving hundreds of thousands and displacing millions in Gaza is unconscionable.
In another example of a dysfunctional Congress, the House and Senate are voting on different versions. The House version is $17.6 billion in military aid to Israel “as well as important funding for U.S. forces in the region". The Senate version is $118 billion, for Israel as well as for border security, the "submarine industrial base", weapons for the Indo-Pacific (to “contain China”) and weapons related to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Please call your members of Congress today! Here’s what to do: 1. Call the Congressional switchboard at 1-202-224-3121. 2. Ask to be connected to your representative or senator’s offices. 3. Once connected, say:
For your House Rep: Hello, my name is (your name) and I am a voting constituent from (your city). I am calling to urge Representative (Rep’s name) to oppose the “security supplemental package” for Israel this week. U.S. weapons, paid for by you and I, are already being used indiscriminately by Israel in attacks that are killing thousands of Palestinians. The last thing the U.S. should be doing right now is giving Israel billions in taxpayer money to allow for more human rights abuses. At the same I urge the Representative to vote YES for any amendments that would push Israel to stop violating human rights or that would condition aid to Israel on ending the right violations.
For your Senators: Hello, my name is (your name) and I am a voting constituent from (your city). I am calling to urge the senator to oppose the so-called “security supplemental package” this week. U.S. weapons, paid for by you and I, are already being used indiscriminately by Israel in attacks that are killing thousands of Palestinians. The last thing the U.S. should be doing right now is lavishing $14.1 billion in taxpayer money on weapons for Israel while it refuses to end its rights abuses. I also urge the senator to vote for Senator Sanders’ amendment to cut off all offensive weapons to Israel and end U.S. complicty in this war. They should also support any other amendments to put human rights restrictions on military aid. 4. Call the Congressional switchboard at 1-202-224-3121 two more times until you reach all three offices.
International agencies, as with the International Court of Justice decision recently, are clamoring over a growing a body of evidence of war crimes, ethnic cleansing and even genocide. Passing this bill would make the United States more complicit than it already is in those crimes.
I know many of our members have been going all out to bring Israel’s war crimes in Gaza to an end. But this week is one of our big chances to debate and impact U.S. policy. We need to force Israel's biggest backer - our country - to end its complicity in this catastrophe.
The more Congressional opposition to the current policy we generate this week, the more pressure there is on the Biden administration to change U.S. policy – and end the killing. This week is a chance to shine a light on U.S. complicity in these horrific war crimes and put everyone in the U.S. Congress on record and to push them to do the right thing.
Can you make these calls today to build that critical momentum in the halls of Congress? Thanks so much for all that you do, For peace, Jon Rainwater Executive Director Peace Action [1] President Biden’s Proposed Budget for National Security Is Wild. When you add up all his asks, it’s more than $1 trillion—an all-time high. Fred Kaplan, Slate, March 14, 2023 | 
