1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

Every day, the pain inflicted on the innocent by the senseless horrors of war is splattered across our screens. It is perhaps easy to ignore when it is distant, an abstract canvas of pain. Today, I write with the fervor of a man consumed by this shared anguish, pleading for the American government to halt all funding to Israel meant to fuel their aggressive actions against innocent Palestinian civilians. The ceaseless bombing, the destruction of homes, the loss of loved ones - these are not abstracts, they are the dark reality lived by countless children, women, and men. In bearing witness to these atrocities, we must also acknowledge that our silence, our inaction, makes us complicit in these crimes against humanity. As an American and a human being, the unbearable guilt of this shared culpability pricks my conscience. To ignore their plight is to renounce our shared humanity. The provision of arms, dollars that finance devastation, must stop. We must demand an immediate ceasefire. Our influence, our voice on the global stage, should not be wielded as a sword to cut life short, but as a balm to soothe the wounds of a world already too familiar with pain. These are not military targets that our funding decimates, but homes, schools, families. We have the power, and so the responsibility, to not only halt these horrific acts but to also advocate for peace, for justice, for the primacy of human life in all corners of the world. We have the capability to demand accountability from Israel and to redirect our aid towards rebuilding and creating a sustainable peace. We must be seized by this urgent call to action, these relentless cries for help. Allow us to leverage our influence in the name of humanity, and not for its senseless destruction.