More Than 400 Capitol Hill Staffers Call For Cease-Fire In Gaza By Rowaida Abdelaziz
By Rowaida Abdelaziz
More Than 400 Capitol Hill Staffers Call For Cease-Fire In Gaza
The staffers signed a letter as bloodshed escalates ― and as elected members of Congress are largely in lockstep behind the Biden administration’s approach to the conflict
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Muslim and Jewish congressional staffers signed a letter Thursday urging Congress to back a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in light of “antisemitism, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian sentiment on the rise nationwide.”
The letter, which HuffPost has learned has been signed by 411 staffers, comes as a small handful of members speak out against the Biden administration’s approach to the conflict.
Outside of Washington, Arab and Muslim groups are afraid for their safety after the murder of a 6-year-old in an anti-Muslim hate crime in Illinois. On college campuses across the country, both Jewish and Muslim groups said they felt unsupported and unsafe.
“Nationwide and in Congress, the voices calling for de-escalation and peace have been drowned out by those beating the drums of war. As Muslims and Jews, we are tired of reliving generational fears of genocide and ethnic cleansing,” they wrote in the letter.
The staffers spoke to HuffPost anonymously out of concern for their safety and job security.
“I grew up in a Jewish family carrying the story of my grandparents, Holocaust survivors who escaped genocide only because of the solidarity of complete strangers in foreign lands,” said one staffer. “The horrifying genocide in Palestine helped me say yes to my courageous Muslim colleague who felt a profound call to speak out when too many of our bosses have yet to call for peace.”
“As the child of the Palestinian diaspora, I sign this letter because it places peace first and doesn’t enable and encourage genocide and human rights violations. If we are not seeking peace then what are we seeking?” wrote another staffer.
Many of them recounted their family stories while others voiced concerns about the internal splits and divisions among staffers. Those divisions are far-reaching. Earlier this week, veteran State Department official Josh Paul resigned from the agency over President Joe Biden’s approach to Israel-Palestine. He told HuffPost he felt he had to do so because he knew he could not push for a more humane policy.
“It often feels like the conversations on Capitol Hill are completely divorced from the conversations people are having amongst their friends, family and coworkers,” said another staffer.
Other staffers mentioned their apprehensions about speaking out. Those concerns are not unfounded. Several staffers across multiple agencies, most of whom work on national security issues, previously told HuffPost they feared retaliation for speaking out against Biden’s policies towards the most recent conflict.
“I understood all the potential dangers, both in terms of my personal safety and career
, when I embarked on this endeavor with my colleagues,” said another staffer. “We were scared. We had witnessed how unforgiving the world has been to those who shared our beliefs, but we thought that someone has to have courage, and while the stakes were high, our shared belief that we are on the right side of history was higher.”
“Despite the profound solidarity we’ve discovered among ourselves through this letter, our voices, and the grief and pain we feel, remain repressed and silent till this moment. For my colleagues, who have felt helpless, lost, and alone, we grieve and mourn with you, and hope this letter gave you the safe place you have been looking for,” a staffer added.
An Open Letter From Congressional Staff:
We are Jewish and Muslim staffers and allied staff across the Hill. Each day, we come to the United States
Capitol to serve the American public. Our families, histories, and faith traditions are deeply rooted in
Jerusalem, Israel, and Palestine. As the children of survivors of slavery, the Holocaust, colonialism, war,
and oppression, we feel compelled to raise our voices in this moment.
Today, we write to implore our bosses, Members of the United States Congress, to join calls for an
immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Millions of lives hang in the balance, including the 2.3
million civilians — half of whom are children — in Gaza, civilians in Israel, and Jews and Muslims
around the world. This is especially urgent with antisemitism, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian sentiment
on the rise nationwide, which instigated the brutal murder of a six-year-old Palestinian-American child,
Wadea Al-Fayoume.
We appreciate the Members’ condemnations of the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli
civilians. We join in mourning the loss of 1,300 Israelis murdered by these acts of terrorism and in prayer
for those injured and the around 200 hostages in Gaza, including our fellow Americans, whose safe return
is a priority for us all. We join Members of Congress and the international community’s denunciation of
the horrific war crimes Hamas has committed.
At the same time, we mourn for the Palestinian civilians who are enduring catastrophic suffering at the
hands of the Israeli government. As of this writing, more than 6,000 bombs have been dropped on the
Gaza Strip. More than 4,000 Palestinian civilians, including entire families, have been slain, and about
12,500 are injured.
Palestinians in Gaza are facing critical shortages of medicine, food, drinking water, fuel, and electricity
following the Israeli government’s brutal blockade. While President Biden and Secretary Blinken’s
diplomatic efforts to restore and provide humanitarian aid are crucial, this progress is fragile. As Muslims,
Jews, and allies, we believe that denying these basic resources violates the tenets of our faiths, values, and
our humanity.
We have appreciated seeing nearly every Member of Congress express quick and unequivocal solidarity
with the Israeli people, but we are profoundly disturbed that such shows of humanity have barely been
extended to the Palestinian people. Only a fraction have called for a ceasefire or at least cessation of
hostilities. We believe that Palestinian civilians deserve to be remembered, mourned, and defended with
the same rigor that Jewish Israelis deserve from the U.S. Congress.
Nationwide and in Congress, the voices calling for de-escalation and peace have been drowned out by
those beating the drums of war. As Muslims and Jews, we are tired of reliving generational fears of
genocide and ethnic cleansing. We are tired of leaders pushing us to blame each other, exploiting our pain
and our histories to rationalize political agendas and justify violence. We all are calling on our elected
officials to find a new way forward together, through unbreakable solidarity motivated by our humanity.
We sign this letter anonymously out of concern for our personal safety, risk of violence, and the impact on
our professional credibility on Capitol Hill. We are worried that we could lose our jobs — ones we fulfill
with unwavering commitment and profound patriotism — for publicly signing on to a plea for a ceasefire
in a conflict that has taken more than 5,000 innocent Palestinian and Israeli lives.
The voices of Members of Congress hold immense power — we have seen it firsthand. We now ask them
to use that power to protect civilians in imminent danger. We ask them to demand a ceasefire between
Israel and Hamas and an immediate cessation of hostilities, the safe return of nearly 200 Israeli hostages,
and the passage of essential humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Only once this immediate hemorrhage
ends can we turn our efforts to end the status quo of occupation, violence, and find pathways for lasting,
sustainable peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.
Sincerely,
[TOTAL NUMBER] Staff of the United States Congress
Contact: [email protected]
