A group of seven major unions, including some of the largest unions in the U.S., are calling on President Joe Biden to immediately stop sending military support to Israel amid Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the U.S. this week.
In a letter sent to Biden on Tuesday, the unions said that ending weapons shipments is the only way to secure the ceasefire deal that U.S. negotiators have supposedly been working on for months. It is one of the strongest statements yet from organized labor in the U.S. against the genocide.
“We write to publicly call upon your Administration to immediately halt all military aid to Israel as part of the work to secure an immediate and permanent ceasefire in the war in Gaza,” the unions wrote. A copy of the letter was posted online by HuffPost labor reporter Dave Jamieson.
The letter was signed by the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), American Postal Workers Union (APWU), International Union of Painters (IUPAT), National Education Association (NEA), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United Auto Workers (UAW), and United Electrical Workers (UE). NEA and SEIU are, respectively, the two largest unions in the U.S. by membership.
The unions pointed out that Israeli officials have repeatedly publicly rejected the ceasefire proposal even though the Biden administration claimed it was an Israeli proposal. They said it is time for the U.S. to use its leverage as Israel’s main weapons supplier, raising concerns that U.S. weapons are being used by Israeli forces to commit serious war crimes against Palestinians that warrant review under U.S. laws.
“Recent reports only underscore the urgency of our demands. Large numbers of Palestinian civilians, many of them children, continue to be killed, reportedly often with U.S. manufactured bombs,” the letter says. “Rising tensions in the region threaten to ensnare even more innocent civilians in a wider war. And the humanitarian crisis deepens by the day, with famine, mass displacement, and destruction of basic infrastructure including schools and hospitals.”
The letter was sent as Netanyahu arrived in the U.S. for a visit with U.S. officials — including President Joe Biden and vice president and favorite for the Democratic presidential nomination Kamala Harris — and an address to Congress, slated to happen on Wednesday.
The official death toll of Israel’s genocide in Gaza topped 39,000 this week, though the actual death toll is likely far higher due to extreme limitations to counting the true number of Palestinians killed so far.
Many Democrats and progressives are expected to boycott Netanyahu’s address over concerns about Israel’s genocidal assault of Gaza, with 200 congressional staffers from over 120 offices recently writing a letter calling for more members to boycott the address. Harris has reportedly declined to preside over the speech, with one of her aides citing a prior commitment.
Oxfam and Amnesty International similarly called on lawmakers to end the weapons shipments in strongly worded statements on Tuesday.
“It is wildly inappropriate for Congress to have extended an invitation for Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak. The invitation lends legitimacy to his deadly siege and bombardment,” said Oxfam America President and CEO Abby Maxman. “Instead of granting Prime Minister Netanyahu the platform to advance his government’s deadly policies before Congress, U.S. leaders must cut off the supply of bombs that are being used to kill civilians, destroy infrastructure, and undermine any hope for peace.”
“The U.S. government has been presented with ample evidence from experts around the world that U.S.-origin arms have been used in war crimes and unlawful killings by the Israeli government,” said Amnesty International USA Executive Director Paul O’Brien. “Continued weapons transfers will make the U.S. complicit in violations of international law committed with these arms.”
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