1. United States
2. R.I.
3. Letter

“I want to be clear: I went into this pretty open-minded. I don't have a side. I despise human suffering, and I hate that it exists. I was just hoping to be helpful. But I don't think we are. What we – these American companies and contract personnel – are doing is directly leading to more pain, suffering, and death for the Palestinians in Gaza.” - EXCLUSIVE: American Security Contractor Unloads On US-Israeli ‘Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’; Zeteo News As many Palestinians and experts in aid distribution have predicted, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) is failing to provide aid to the starving Palestinian population. Yesterday, Zeteo News released an expose featuring testimony from an American security contractor who was part of the initial security team sent to secure the distribution sites. Israel has continued targeting civilians indiscriminately - people who are starving to death, trying to reach humanitarian aid that is their right to access under international law. Part of the expose detailed an event where this security contractor watched what was most likely a bombing of civilians making their way to an aid site at night, something he postulated may have been deliberately set up by the Israeli military; if aid is delivered at night when a curfew is enacted, starving civilians are considered combatants. Israel has a long history of targeting the Palestinian civilian population with zero regard for whether or not they are actual combatants. As the contractor states in this expose, “It’s very clear the Israeli military will take any opportunity to open fire… Bombs and bullets fire all day long in one direction - towards Palestinians.” This expose also details the deplorable conditions the security teams had to endure, as well as their lack of preparedness. Multiple security contractors had no training for international deployments, appropriate weapons handling, or cultural sensitivity training. They were not given adequate time to prepare their own supplies, so they were eating aid meant for Palestinians. The aid itself was not appropriate: most of the items in the aid packages require water, which was not provided at the distribution sites and has been restricted by Israel from entering the besieged Gaza Strip. I urge you to inspect your moral code. We have been watching our tax dollars fund a genocide and the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people for almost two years. This is completely unacceptable. We will not be silent and we will not look away. Our national and international moral standing has been permanently marred by our leaderships’ inability to prioritize peace and human life over war profits. I urge you to support the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs) to block the sale of offensive weapons by the United States to Israel and reinstate UNWRA funding. UNWRA is the only organization that can appropriately and effectively provide the aid the Palestinian people are entitled to under international law.