1. United States
2. Colo.
3. Letter

Congress must act immediately against Israel’s illegal military aggression in Lebanon, its continued occupation of Lebanese territory, and its open threats to intensify the Dahiya doctrine—the deliberate destruction of civilian neighborhoods and infrastructure as a method of collective punishment. Israel’s military ordered the evacuation of the entire area south of the Litani River, a region that Human Rights Watch says is home to hundreds of thousands of people, and the U.N. human rights office has warned that Israel’s blanket displacement orders and ground incursions are bringing “more misery and suffering” to civilians across Lebanon. This is not defense. It is escalation, forced displacement, collective punishment, and a direct attack on Lebanese sovereignty. Congress must publicly condemn Israel’s assault on Lebanon, demand an immediate halt to the bombings and displacement orders, and insist on a full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanese territory. Israel’s threats against Beirut and southern Lebanon, combined with the widening U.S.-Israeli military posture in the region, are pushing the world toward a catastrophic wider war. Reuters reports that this escalation is already drawing Lebanon deeper into the broader Middle East conflict, while mass displacement has surged into the hundreds of thousands. The United States must stop enabling this. End all U.S. military aid, weapons transfers, and diplomatic cover for Israel now. Bring U.S. troops home. Stop using American service members as tripwires for another devastating regional war. Begin shutting down the sprawling network of U.S. military bases that fuels permanent war and instability across the region. Congress must reject the failed doctrine that endless militarization brings peace. It does not. It brings devastation, displacement, and the constant risk of a much larger war. And Congress must sever itself from the corrupting influence of AIPAC and allied PAC money. AIPAC’s own PAC says it gave more than $53 million in direct support to 361 candidates in 2024. Lawmakers cannot claim independence while taking money from a lobby that helps sustain impunity for war crimes, occupation, apartheid, and regional escalation. Do not offer empty concern while accepting AIPAC or aligned PAC donations. Abandon that money. End aid to Israel. Demand a full withdrawal from Lebanon. Bring U.S. troops home. Close the bases that make these disasters possible. The people of Lebanon, Palestine, Iran, and the wider region should not pay with their lives for Congress’s cowardice and complicity.