1. United States
2. Letter

The Democratic Party's relative silence on the ongoing genocide in Gaza at the recent Democratic National Convention was profoundly concerning. While there were fleeting mentions of calls for a ceasefire, there was no substantive commitment to take meaningful action to stop enabling and funding Israel's military assault on Palestinians in Gaza. This silence persists despite the grave human toll, with accounts from doctors describing horrific injuries to children and the first cases of childhood polio emerging due to the dire conditions caused by the bombings and blockade. An immediate and complete arms embargo on Israel is a moral imperative. The $20 billion weapons sale to Israel recently approved by the Biden administration, without any conditions attached, has directly enabled the slaughter and displacement of Palestinian civilians. Continuing to provide arms and military support makes the United States complicit in these war crimes against the people of Gaza. Progressives and the Democratic leadership cannot justifiably ignore or sideline this crisis under the pretense of party unity. The Palestinian-led movement calling for an arms embargo is not a single-issue cause, but part of a broader struggle against racism, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid. Protecting reproductive rights at home while turning a blind eye to pregnant women being killed and denied medical care in Gaza is an untenable moral and political stance. The Democratic Party must demonstrate its professed values by taking decisive action to stop arming and enabling Israel's genocidal assault on Gaza through a comprehensive embargo on military aid and weapons transfers. Silence and empty rhetoric in the face of such grave injustice is unacceptable complicity. An arms embargo is the bare minimum ethical response.