|
We are American taxpayers and
concerned citizens.
We are disturbed that our tax dollars are used to violate both American and international laws, and to support very un-American values. Our Arms Export Control Act of 1976 limits use of American weapons to "legitimate self-defense." In Israel's 12 wars they initiated all but one, each of which also violated the UN and Nuremberg charters prohibiting aggressive war. In addition, US military equipment has been used relentlessly to steal and destroy Palestinian property, kill Palestinian civilians and both Palestinian and international human rights activists resisting the occupation, all masquerading under a transparent charade of "self-defense" to evade our law that should never be permitted.
Under our Foreign Assistance Act of 1961, "No assistance may be provided...to the government of any country which engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights." Review of our pages on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Fourth Geneva Convention show that Israel clearly fits this description.
Our Declaration of Independence asserts that all people are entitled to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. This means not being killed by Israeli F-16s, helicopter gunships, remote-controlled aerial drones, and IDF snipers. It means not being illegally occupied (in defiance of international law and multiple UN resolutions mandating withdrawal) by a foreign power. It means not having vital infrastructures (schools, hospitals, public buildings, places of worship, waste water facilities, power supplies) destroyed and access to external resources blocked by an external aggressor.
The US has not only continued to fund these illegal and criminal actions by Israel in violation of American laws but has provided diplomatic protection from legal consequences for these violations by 43 UN Security Council vetoes that might have subjected Israel to international sanctions. As American citizens we have no right to ignore or approve these actions by our state and these uses of our tax dollars.
Our authority? American citizens who can read. We are not historians, but read historians such as Israeli professors Ilan Pappe, Avi Shlaim and Shlomo Sand. We are not international attorneys, but read international legal authorities such as Francis Boyle and Richard Falk.
|
We advocate freedom, justice and equality in the Holy Land.
Consequently, we lack support from AIPAC, the U.S. Department of Defense, the imperial corporatocracy, or other profiteers from the organized lethal violence called war and occupation.
We have assembled a comprehensive photo gallery, original signage and a comprehensive library of written information which we exhibit in a prominent public location each Saturday from April through October. We show educational films and sponsor educational events featuring important speakers such as Dr. Jeff Halper of ICAHD, an Israeli NGO actively resisting Palestinian dispossession, Palestinian author Mazin Qumsiyah, attorney Tom Nelson of the National Lawyers Guild which has investigated Israeli war crimes in Gaza, and journalist Alison Weir of If Americans Knew who has documented the severe pro-Israel bias in US news reporting. We engage in public debates. We write op-eds and letters to the editor in several papers, challenging and deconstructing the Zionist story-lines. We support awareness-raising programs in other communities. We have established this website and contribute to national online dialogues through Veterans for Peace, US campaign to end the Israeli occupation, and other groups and coalitions of groups.
|