Tuesday Night
We’re turning in early tonight after a long day of sand, sun, and exploring. It’s our first vacation in a year, and we were clearly overdue.
I’ll be back tomorrow, but for tonight, a little extra time with family and some sleep.
We’re in this together,
Joyce
Enjoy!
JV has earned a respite.
We take up the mantle
PLEASE phone your Congressional delegation.
1. STOP shipments of offensive weapons to IDF units in Gaza and the West Bank. ENFORCE the Leahy Laws. These units are credibly implicated in the commission of gross violations of human rights.
2. STOP funding the ad-hoc Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. They were told their 'plan' would result in chaos. They are herding starving people into a few hard to reach small areas - where the starving are being shot like fish in a barrel. Since late May, more than 766 Palestinians were killed while heading to sites run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. BRING BACK UN AND NGO GROUPS with demonstrated expertise in distributing humanitarian aid. Israeli, Trump administration, AIPAC and CUFI assertions that Hamas is blocking distribution have proven to be false. This humanitarian crisis is a compounding of Israel's years long blockade with months of Israel effectively preventing food and medical supplies into Gaza.
"An examination of Israel’s policy in the Gaza Strip and its horrific outcomes, together with statements by senior Israeli politicians and military commanders about the goals of the attack, leads to the unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip. In other words: Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip."
- B'Tselem, The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
.https://www.btselem.org/publications/202507_our_genocide.
"Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) joined more than 200 NGOs on July 1 to call for immediate action to end the deadly Israeli distribution scheme (including the so-called Gaza Humanitarian Foundation) in Gaza. This system has forced more than 2 million Palestinians in Gaza to access aid from just four military-controlled distribution sites, where they face daily gunfire and mass casualties while trying to obtain food and are denied other life-saving supplies."
.https://reliefweb.int/report/occupied-palestinian-territory/gaza-starvation-or-gunfire-not-humanitarian-response-0.
"I am through supporting the actions of the current Israeli government and will advocate—and vote—for an end to any United States support whatsoever until there is a demonstrable change in the direction of Israeli policy. My litmus test will be simple: no aid of any kind as long as there are starving children in Gaza due to the action or inaction of the Israeli government."
- Sen. Angus King, Maine
.https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/king-releases-statement-amid-growing-nutrition-crisis-in-gaza.
"It is not possible that this GHF system with only four militarized distribution sites could replace the UN-led aid network that had more than 400 aid distribution points during the temporary ceasefire. Moreover, by requiring Palestinians to travel long distances to access food, GHF’s model risks contributing to the forced displacement of Palestinian civilians, raising serious concerns about its role in a broader effort to depopulate parts of Gaza."
- Letter to Sec.of State Marco Rubio from Sen. Chris VanHollen, Maryland and 19 other Democratic Senators
.https://www.vanhollen.senate.gov/news/press-releases/van-hollen-welch-19-senators-call-for-answers-on-gaza-humanitarian-foundation-press-administration-to-cease-funding-ghf.