Tell Congress and the White House to Demand an End to Israel’s Attack on Gaza

Take Action: Click here to send a letter to Congress and President Obama!

Israel has now launched a ground incursion in Gaza in the early morning on Sunday, following the deadliest attack of night bombing yet. Israel has launched an assault on Gaza over the past week that has resulted in the deaths of 166 Palestinian civilians and counting, including 30 children, and the injury of hundreds more.

The death toll in this asymmetric warfare continues to escalate. In addition to the more than 1,200 Israeli air strikes on Gaza since the outset of Israel’s campaign of violence on Monday.

Al Jazeera reported that 52 Palestinians were killed over Saturday night, including eighteen people from the same extended family. Israel also attacked a center for the mentally and physically disabled in Beit Zahiya, killing three patients and a nurse. Meanwhile, attacks on Israel have yet to result in any Israeli casualties due to the US funded Iron Dome system that shields them from rockets, thus giving them little incentive to stop the relentless attacks on Gaza.

The United Nations Security Council has called for a cessation of hostilities and a comprehensive peace agreement. The UN reported that 77% of the people who were killed in Gaza were civilians. Top diplomats from the US, the UK, France, and Germany will meet later today to discuss a ceasefire.

Israel’s current assault on Gaza began after the murder of Mohammad Abukhdeir, a Palestinian teen who was burned alive by an Israeli mob after the bodies of the three kidnapped Israelis were found.

While the Obama Administration and Congress have condemned the continuing rocket fire into Israel from Hamas and the “deliberate targeting of civilians,” it has said Israel has a right to defend itself, justifying the bombing campaign in Gaza and laying the blame on Hamas, while underplaying Israel’s role in creating and escalating this crisis – including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s “revenge” directive.

Israel’s excessive use of force in Gaza is collective punishment that harms innocent Palestinian civilians and children. The Israeli government must be held responsible for these unjust attacks, which violate international law.

Tell the White House and your congressional representatives to condemn Israel’s indiscriminate collective punishment, support an immediate ceasefire, and a resolution of all outstanding issues driving the conflict.

Click here to send a letter to Congress and the President now!

Talking Points:

• The U.S. should demand an immediate ceasefire from both Hamas and Israel

• Israel should not be given a free pass for its role in creating and escalating this crisis, and its bombing of civilian areas should be condemned by the U.S. just as strongly as it condemned Hamas’s firing of rockets

• Israel’s indiscriminate and unjust collective punishment measures, which violate international law, should be strongly condemned

• The underlying causes driving the conflict must be resolved: The Gaza blockade and limitations on freedom of travel of Gazans should be lifted, and Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories should be ended