Tell Congress: Support Landmark Human Rights Legislation

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Support historic legislation to defend the Palestinian human rights.
Urge your Representative to co-sponsor H.R. 2590 and your Senators to introduce and support a companion bill in the Senate.

In April 2021, Rep. Betty McCollum introduced new legislation designed to hold Israel accountable for continued abuse against children held in Israeli military detention as well as the destruction of Palestinian property and annexation of land.

The Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act (H.R.2590) would ensure that U.S. financial assistance provided to Israel is not used to support holding Palestinian children in Israeli military detention or prosecuting them in a military court. It also restricts aid use for the unlawful seizure, appropriation and destruction of Palestinian property and forcible transfer of civilians in the West Bank, as well as further Israeli annexation of Palestinian land.

This bill will prohibit U.S. aid being used for:

➨ The military detention, interrogation, or abuse of Palestinian children in violation of international humanitarian law, including torture, death threats, psychological abuse, solitary confinement, imprisonment without charge or trial, denial of access to parents or legal counsel during interrogations, coerced confessions and more.

➨ The seizure or destruction of Palestinian property and forcible transfer of civilians in the Israeli-controlled and occupied West Bank in violation of international humanitarian law.

➨ The deployment of personnel, training, services, lethal materials, equipment, etc. to the occupied West Bank to support further unilateral Israeli annexation in violation of international law.

This legislation would hold Israel accountable if and when they commit any of these human rights abuses.

There has been a tangible shift in the United States this year in how the American people perceive about what is happening to the Palestinian people, and our elected officials are noticing. That shift will make an impact in our government, if we speak up and keep doing it.

Now is the time: wherever you think your legislators stand on this issue, contact them now and urge them to support this landmark human rights bill.

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Subject: Human Rights of Palestinian Kids and Families

Message:

As your constituent, I am writing to you about a historic piece of legislation, H.R. 2590, “Defending the Human Rights of Palestinian Children and Families Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act.”

I urge support for this bill in the House and the introduction of a companion bill in the Senate.

Rep. Betty McCollum (MN-04) introduced this legislation in April of this year. It would ensure that no US tax dollars fund human rights violations carried out by the Israeli government against Palestinians. H.R. 2590 states that the U.S. will not fund the Israeli government's imprisonment and torture of Palestinian children, theft and destruction of Palestinian homes and property, or any further annexation of Palestinian land.

In Israeli-occupied West Bank, Palestinians live under a harsh military regime that has subjected over 10,000 children to their military detention system since the year 2000. Mental and physical abuse and torture, solitary confinement, the lack of a legal advocate, months or years in prison from a charge of “throwing stones:” Israel does these things to roughly 700 children per year, some as young as 12 years old, with the support of U.S. tax dollars and without any consequences.

Further, Israel routinely destroys Palestinian homes, an estimated 50,000 homes and structures since the Israeli occupation began in 1967. The pace of the demolitions have increased in recent years. In 2020, during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, Israel demolished or seized over 800 Palestinian structures, including the homes of hundreds of families.

Also in 2020, the Israeli government declared its intention to permanently annex to Israel large portions of the West Bank, in what would be its most flagrant violation of international law to date, in order to further colonize this Palestinian territory.

In response to all the above, H.R. 2590 would prohibit U.S. aid to Israel in very limited cases: the detention or abuse of Palestinian children; the confiscation of Palestinian land in the West Bank; or the deploying of equipment, training, or personnel into the West Bank in support of annexation.

Support for this bill in the U.S. Congress will signal a true commitment by the United States to universal human rights. U.S. opposition to human rights violations in word only is not sufficient. Indeed, when we do not require accountability from those who receive our aid, we enable and encourage further abuses.

THEREFORE I URGENTLY ASK my Representative to co-sponsor this important bill.
JUST AS URGENTLY, I ASK my Senators to introduce a companion bill or support such a bill when it is introduced.

H.R. 2590 and a companion bill in the Senate will provide badly needed government accountability for U.S. aid to Israel and will help create conditions for a just and lasting peace for all Israelis and Palestinians, the goal that we all seek.

Thank you for your consideration of this important human rights legislation.

Respectfully,

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