JPANet Action Alert: Call for Human Rights Hearings on U.S. Aid to Israel

[The following action alert was originally posted by the United Church of Christ’s Justice and Peace Action Network.]

The United Church of Christ’s 30th General Synod passed a resolution strengthening our moral accountability as church members and U.S. citizens to end the decades-long military occupation that underlies the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. The resolution calls for a non-violent strategy that uses financial resources as economic leverage for peace, so that our investments as a church and nation do not sustain the occupation. One focus of this strategy is to press the U.S. government to hold Israel accountable to human rights standards that U.S. law requires of states receiving foreign aid.

The U.S. must ensure that its military aid is not used to commit human rights abuses or otherwise support a system under which conditions deteriorate and the prospects for peace are diminished. Urge Congress to hold hearings to examine and insist on Israel’s compliance as a requirement for receiving U.S. aid.

Israel should be subject to the same process of human rights compliance as other countries receiving U.S. military aid. To achieve peace between Israel and a future Palestinian state, the U.S. says Israel’s occupation of Palestinians and their land must end, yet the situation on the ground is worsening every day. With this resolution the UCC again seeks to hold the U.S. accountable in its efforts to seek peace.

U.S. financial assistance should not contribute to human rights violations committed by or under Israeli occupation. Urge Congress to hold hearings to examine and insist on Israel’s compliance as a requirement for receiving U.S. aid.