Freshman Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib bravely announced that she will be skipping the trip to Israel for freshman Congress members organized by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Tlaib, the first Palestinian-American woman in Congress, will instead be leading her own delegation to the West Bank to focus on the issues of poverty, Israeli military detention of Palestinian children, unequal access to clean water, and possibly a visit to Tlaib’s grandmother’s village. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez also announced she would be skipping the AIPAC-sponsored propaganda trip.
Republicans in Congress are freaking out and stopping at nothing to prevent Rep. Tlaib from leading her historic delegation to the West Bank. We applaud Rep. Tlaib for taking the first important step in elevating the experiences of Palestinians in the West Bank which have been silenced by the AIPAC trip for so long. U.S.-Israel relations MUST change. The purpose of AIPAC-sponsored trips is to whitewash Israel’s human rights violations and continue unchecked U.S. financial and diplomatic support for Israel — all at the expense of Palestinian rights.
Tell freshmen members of Congress to follow the lead of Tlaib and Ocasio Cortez and to #SkipTheTrip to apartheid Israel and tell all members of Congress to join Tlaib’s delegation to the West Bank.
If you live in the U.S. contact your Reps directly by using this form below (if not scroll down the page further to sign):
Petition
Dear 2019 Congress members,
Please refuse AIPAC’s junket trip to Israel and join Rashida Tlaib's delegation to the West Bank.
Israel denies Palestinians their basic human rights. They imprison children in a military court system, demolish Palestinian homes, subject Palestinians to checkpoints, have created a humanitarian crisis in Gaza, and ban millions of refugees from returning to their homes and lands. Anyone who travels with AIPAC to Israel will not see the reality of Israel’s military occupation and system of apartheid but instead. Instead, they will see only and exactly what Israel wants them to see. The purpose of AIPAC-sponsored trips is to whitewash Israel’s human rights violations and continue unchecked U.S. financial and diplomatic support for Israel- all at the expense of Palestinians.
Two members of Congress, Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have already announced they will be skipping the AIPAC trip. Please do the right thing and join them. Stand up for justice and against apartheid. Skip AIPAC’s trip to Israel and travel to the West Bank with Rep Tlaib.
Sincerely,
