{"id":3473,"date":"2023-10-20T10:47:21","date_gmt":"2023-10-20T07:47:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/?p=3473"},"modified":"2023-10-20T10:47:38","modified_gmt":"2023-10-20T07:47:38","slug":"more-than-400-capitol-hill-staffers-call-for-cease-fire-in-gaza-by-rowaida-abdelaziz","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/?p=3473","title":{"rendered":"More Than 400 Capitol Hill Staffers Call For Cease-Fire In Gaza By\u00a0Rowaida Abdelaziz"},"content":{"rendered":"

More Than 400 Capitol Hill Staffers Call For Cease-Fire In Gaza<\/strong><\/p>\n

The staffers signed a letter as bloodshed escalates \u2015 and as elected members of Congress are largely in lockstep behind the Biden administration\u2019s approach to the conflict<\/strong><\/p>\n

By\u00a0Rowaida Abdelaziz<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Muslim and Jewish congressional staffers signed a\u00a0letter\u00a0Thursday urging Congress to back a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in light of \u201cantisemitism, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian sentiment on the rise nationwide.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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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\u2019s approach to the conflict.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Outside of Washington, Arab and Muslim groups are\u00a0afraid\u00a0for their safety after the murder of a 6-year-old in an\u00a0anti-Muslim hate crime\u00a0in Illinois. On college campuses across the country, both Jewish and Muslim groups said they felt\u00a0unsupported\u00a0and unsafe.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cNationwide 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,\u201d they wrote in the letter.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The staffers spoke to HuffPost anonymously out of concern for their safety and job security.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI 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,\u201d said one staffer. \u201cThe 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.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cAs the child of the Palestinian diaspora, I sign this letter because it places peace first and doesn\u2019t enable and encourage genocide and human rights violations. If we are not seeking peace then what are we seeking?\u201d wrote another staffer.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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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\u2019s approach to Israel-Palestine. He\u00a0told HuffPost\u00a0he felt he had to do so because he knew he could not push for a more humane policy.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cIt often feels like the conversations on Capitol Hill are completely divorced from the conversations people are having amongst their friends, family and coworkers,\u201d said another staffer.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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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,\u00a0previously told HuffPost\u00a0they feared retaliation for speaking out against Biden\u2019s policies towards the most recent conflict.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI understood all the potential dangers, both in terms of my personal safety and career\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

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, when I embarked on this endeavor with my colleagues,\u201d said another staffer. \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cDespite the profound solidarity we\u2019ve 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,\u201d a staffer added.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

An Open Letter From Congressional Staff:
\nWe are Jewish and Muslim staffers and allied staff across the Hill. Each day, we come to the United States
\nCapitol to serve the American public. Our families, histories, and faith traditions are deeply rooted in
\nJerusalem, Israel, and Palestine. As the children of survivors of slavery, the Holocaust, colonialism, war,
\nand oppression, we feel compelled to raise our voices in this moment.
\nToday, we write to implore our bosses, Members of the United States Congress, to join calls for an
\nimmediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Millions of lives hang in the balance, including the 2.3
\nmillion civilians \u2014 half of whom are children \u2014 in Gaza, civilians in Israel, and Jews and Muslims
\naround the world. This is especially urgent with antisemitism, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian sentiment
\non the rise nationwide, which instigated the brutal murder of a six-year-old Palestinian-American child,
\nWadea Al-Fayoume.
\nWe appreciate the Members\u2019 condemnations of the atrocities committed by Hamas against Israeli
\ncivilians. We join in mourning the loss of 1,300 Israelis murdered by these acts of terrorism and in prayer
\nfor those injured and the around 200 hostages in Gaza, including our fellow Americans, whose safe return
\nis a priority for us all. We join Members of Congress and the international community\u2019s denunciation of
\nthe horrific war crimes Hamas has committed.
\nAt the same time, we mourn for the Palestinian civilians who are enduring catastrophic suffering at the
\nhands of the Israeli government. As of this writing, more than 6,000 bombs have been dropped on the
\nGaza Strip. More than 4,000 Palestinian civilians, including entire families, have been slain, and about
\n12,500 are injured.
\nPalestinians in Gaza are facing critical shortages of medicine, food, drinking water, fuel, and electricity
\nfollowing the Israeli government\u2019s brutal blockade. While President Biden and Secretary Blinken\u2019s
\ndiplomatic efforts to restore and provide humanitarian aid are crucial, this progress is fragile. As Muslims,
\nJews, and allies, we believe that denying these basic resources violates the tenets of our faiths, values, and
\nour humanity.
\nWe have appreciated seeing nearly every Member of Congress express quick and unequivocal solidarity
\nwith the Israeli people, but we are profoundly disturbed that such shows of humanity have barely been
\nextended to the Palestinian people. Only a fraction have called for a ceasefire or at least cessation of
\nhostilities. We believe that Palestinian civilians deserve to be remembered, mourned, and defended with
\nthe same rigor that Jewish Israelis deserve from the U.S. Congress.
\nNationwide and in Congress, the voices calling for de-escalation and peace have been drowned out by
\nthose beating the drums of war. As Muslims and Jews, we are tired of reliving generational fears of
\ngenocide and ethnic cleansing. We are tired of leaders pushing us to blame each other, exploiting our pain
\nand our histories to rationalize political agendas and justify violence. We all are calling on our elected
\nofficials to find a new way forward together, through unbreakable solidarity motivated by our humanity.
\nWe sign this letter anonymously out of concern for our personal safety, risk of violence, and the impact on
\nour professional credibility on Capitol Hill. We are worried that we could lose our jobs \u2014 ones we fulfill
\nwith unwavering commitment and profound patriotism \u2014 for publicly signing on to a plea for a ceasefire
\nin a conflict that has taken more than 5,000 innocent Palestinian and Israeli lives.
\nThe voices of Members of Congress hold immense power \u2014 we have seen it firsthand. We now ask them
\nto use that power to protect civilians in imminent danger. We ask them to demand a ceasefire between
\nIsrael and Hamas and an immediate cessation of hostilities, the safe return of nearly 200 Israeli hostages,
\nand the passage of essential humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip. Only once this immediate hemorrhage
\nends can we turn our efforts to end the status quo of occupation, violence, and find pathways for lasting,
\nsustainable peace for both Israelis and Palestinians.
\nSincerely,
\n[TOTAL NUMBER] Staff of the United States Congress
\nContact: hillstaffopenletter@gmail.com<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

More Than 400 Capitol Hill Staffers Call For Cease-Fire In Gaza The staffers signed a letter as bloodshed escalates \u2015 and as elected members of Congress are largely in lockstep behind the Biden administration\u2019s approach to the conflict By\u00a0Rowaida Abdelaziz Muslim and Jewish congressional staffers signed a\u00a0letter\u00a0Thursday urging Congress to back a cease-fire between Israel …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3474,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sawtoroba.com\/Eng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}