To U.S. President Joe Biden and U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken:
We are deeply concerned about the recent Israeli government decision to label key Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations as “terrorist organizations.” As you know, this terrorist designation can have dangerous ramifications for these organizations.
The targeted organizations are among the most respected Palestinian human rights organizations. Many governments, faith communities, and human rights organizations around the world rely on them for information and have have long established relationships with them.
All of these organizations have worked closely with the United Nations, international NGO partners, as well as European and U.S. government officials. They also provide vital information about and services to Palestinians whose human rights have been violated.
The Israeli government and groups supported by the Israeli government have targeted these organizations for decades because of their human rights activism, by making similar accusations to their donors, arresting and detaining staff, and raiding organizations’ offices.
Similar past politicized accusations against these groups have been thoroughly investigated and rejected by UN, EU, and U.S. officials. This new attack on the work of key Palestinian civil society groups must be viewed in the context of decades of failed attempts to delegitimize and stop the work of these groups.
This is a dangerous escalation of Israel’s ongoing attacks on civil society and human rights defenders. An attack on these organizations is an attack on those Palestinians who are most dedicated to realizing a just and lasting peace.
It is vital for the U.S. government to make clear that it does not support Israel's action against these human rights defenders, an action that vividly runs counter to President Biden’s stated prioritization of human rights in the conduct of U.S. foreign policy.
Therefore, we call on you to publicly oppose this action by Israel and also to intervene with Israeli government leaders, pressing them for a reversal of this action.
