1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

You co-sponsored resolutions condemning sexual violence as a weapon of war. You signed letters demanding independent investigations into rape allegations. Now at least 15 activists report being sexually assaulted — including rape — during Israel's interception of the Global Sumud Flotilla on May 19-20, and you have said nothing. That silence is a choice, and it tells us exactly what those resolutions were worth. Reuters reported these allegations on May 22. Italy, France, Spain, Canada, the UK, and the EU have all responded. Israel's own Prime Minister rebuked a minister filmed taunting bound detainees. The U.S. government's contribution was Ambassador Huckabee calling it a "Fraud-tilla" and Treasury sanctioning flotilla organizers while Israeli forces were actively boarding civilian vessels. Not one word from the White House, State Department, or Congress about the rape allegations. Acknowledge the sexual assault allegations publicly and by name. Call for an independent investigation — the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has already petitioned the ICC. And stop sanctioning the victims' colleagues. If you only condemn sexual violence when it's politically convenient, you never actually condemned it at all.