On Thursday, Muslim and Jewish congressional staff members in the US signed a letter demanding that Congress call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. They termed the situation “especially urgent” in view of “antisemitism, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian sentiment on the rise nationwide.”
The letter has been reportedly signed by 411 staffers, opposing the Biden administration’s approach to the Israeli assault on Palestine.
Following the events of October 7, an Illinois man killed a 6-year-old Palestinian-American child in Chicago. Jewish and Muslims have expressed fear of increasing hate crimes.
As the letter condemned the Hamas attack on Israel, it then highlighted the “catastrophic suffering” of the Palestinians “at the hands of the Israeli government”.
It underlined the 6,000 bombs dropped on the Gaza strip, death of more than 4,000 Palesinians, shortage of food, medicine, water, electricity etc because of Israeli blockade.
“We have appreciated seeing nearly every Member of Congress express quick and unequivocal solidarity with the Israeli people, but we are profoundly disturbed that such shows of humanity have barely been extended to the Palestinian people. Only a fraction have called for a cease fire or at least cessation of hostilities. We believe that Palestinian civilians deserve to be remembered,mourned, and defended with the same rigor that Jewish Israelis deserve from the U.S. Congress.”the letter read.
“As Muslims and Jews, we are tired of reliving generational fears of genocide and ethnic cleansing. We are tired of leaders pushing us to blame each other, exploiting our pain and our histories to rationalize political agendas and justify violence.”
NEW: More than 400 (anonymous) congressional staffers signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and saying they are “profoundly disturbed” that their bosses’ “shows of humanity” for Israelis have barely been extended to the Palestinian people.” pic.twitter.com/CGSDZeAbGz
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) October 20, 2023
Previously, a US Department of State senior official had resigned after America’s assurance to provide increased military aid to Israel, saying the US-back Gaza war would consequently result in trouble for Israelis as well as Palestinians.
Josh Paul, a director in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, published a note on social media on Wednesday that the administration of President Joe Biden was repeating the same mistakes Washington has been making for decades.
“The response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people,” he wrote.
“I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we have made these past decades, and I decline to be a part of it for longer,” he said, adding that the Biden administration’s “blind support for one side” was leading to policy decisions that were “shortsighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values we publicly espouse”.
Read more: US government official resigns over ‘provision of lethal arms to Israel’
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