Dear community:
Yesterday on Indigenous People’s Day, we put out a call for the protection of life and the end of U.S. complicity of genocide in occupied Palestine. Unconditionally arming Israel has resulted in unfathomable harm to the Palestinian people, the Lebanese people, and the Israeli people. The over $23 billion of weapons sent to Israel over the last year have not made anyone safer.
Thank you to all of you who signed our letter to Bernie Sanders a few weeks ago. As you probably know by now, we were successful! On September 25, Senator Sanders introduced six Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs) to block over $20 billion in weapon sales to Israel approved by the Biden Administration in August. Senators Merkeley, Schatz and Welch co-sponsored some of the resolutions.
This historic move would not have been possible without your 1200 individual and 130 organizational signatures on the letter, the hundreds of calls to Bernie’s office, and the dozens of visits Senator Sanders’ office received by community members and DC-based, as well as national, organizations. Thank you!
Senator Sanders has committed to calling a vote on the JRDs in early-to-mid November. This is our moment! If we are able to get 51 senators to vote in favor, the resolutions will move to the House and then the President’s desk. Even if we don’t succeed in the Republican-led House, we are sending a message to PM Netanyahu that U.S. government support for his genocidal policies is waning.
Please take these 3 steps today:
- If you live in California, read our letter to Senators Butler and Padilla and sign on either as an individual or an organization. If you do not live in California, feel free to use our letter as a template and launch your own sign-on campaign.
- Use this JVP action tool to make calls to your Senators. We are aiming to make 1000 calls per day between now and mid-November. This Code Pink Toolkit is another way to make calls and provides helpful background.
- Share the attached flyer widely, and forward this email to your networks.
These JRDs are currently our best pathway to the bigger goal of an arms embargo. Join us, and pls share widely: bit.ly/CA-JRD-individual-sign
bit.ly/CA-JRD-org-letter. Here is a social media post to share!
Sincerely,
Noura, Yoana and team
P.s. For important regional updates and further analysis listen to this podcast w/Nour on the @codepinkalert youtube and @raniakhalek (at around 34 mins) they talk about the JRD! Check it out: https://www.youtube.com/live/8yoViyUhxGk?si=TAtfCNyU-LL8EKUf
