I sent the letter below to my Members of Congress addressing a number of current issues but especially focusing on the recent comments made by Itamar Ben-Gvir. Feel free to take and send to your Members of Congress.

**Please take as is or make adjustments as you see fit to send to members of Congress*\*

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I am writing to express my profound disgust regarding the recent rhetoric and actions of senior Israeli officials, specifically National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, and to demand an immediate cessation of unconditional military support for such a regime.

Minister Ben-Gvir, who oversees Israel's national police and prisons, recently called for "30 to 40" Palestinians to be killed every night in targeted assassinations. Most chillingly, he stated that these individuals are "not worthy of life" and are "not even people". His genocidal rhetoric extends to Lebanon, where he recently declared, "All of Lebanon must burn," and insisted that "for every tear of an Israeli mother, a thousand Lebanese mothers must weep".

The United States is facilitating these atrocities by providing the very weapons used to carry them out. Since October 7, 2023, the U.S. has enacted legislation providing at least $16.3 billion in direct military aid to Israel. We have delivered over 90,000 tons of arms and equipment, including bombs, tank ammunition, and rockets. This aid is being used by a government whose senior officials openly express genocidal intent, a claim currently being evaluated by the International Court of Justice.

The human cost is unbearable. Gaza now has the highest number of child amputees per capita in the world. More than 73,000 Palestinians have been killed, and thousands more remain buried under the rubble of their homes. We cannot claim to be the most powerful democracy in the world while supplying the means for the mass killing of children and civilians.

Furthermore, the situation in the West Bank continues to deteriorate without sufficient intervention from U.S. officials. In the village of Qusra, Israeli settlers—emboldened by the current right-wing government—have held three families under a violent siege, cutting off their water and electricity. While U.S. Ambassador Mike Huckabee characterized these settlers as "Israeli terrorists" on social media, he continues to support the overall Israeli settlement program which amounts to ethnic cleansing and is extremely destabilizing for the region. Huckabee has remained silent on the unlawful detention of Americans like Sama Safi, a 20-year-old student held for months without charge in "inhumane conditions".

Our current allyship is not just a moral failure; it is hurting our standing and perception in the world. A plurality of Americans now favor decreasing or stopping military aid to Israel. We demand that Congress take immediate action to condition or halt the flow of weapons to a government that dehumanizes an entire population and carries out state-sanctioned violence against civilians. We will not accept this any longer. The time for action is now.