DelPHR has created resources for advocacy groups and constituents to tell their congressional representatives to do the right thing and stop funding genocide.
For Delawareans: Please read this action alert we sent to our listserv, watch clips from the Delaware Town Hall on April 26th, and call congress to tell them that you:
Support Palestinian human rights
Hope they support forthcoming JRDs
Want them to cosponsor H.R. 2411/S.898 to restore UNRWA funding
Dear DelPHR friends,
There were many of us who watched the Delaware Town Hall Meeting hosted by DE's congressional delegation, Governor Meyer, and AG Jennings. We would like to bring attention to the statements made by Senator Chris Coons, with the link to the corresponding clips from the town hall live stream, that are pertinent to our advocacy.
First clip starts at 1:09:40, and the quote below starts at 1:11:04
"First, every single week, I get a summary of what Delawareans reach me about: the calls and emails I get. And week after week I get phone calls asking me to sanction Israel or to cut off funds for Israel or to stop supporting arms for Israel, and every single week, I get more calls and letters asking me to support Israel and to oppose Hamas. There are deep and strong feelings about Israel, Hamas, and Gaza in our community, but frankly, screaming at me doesn't move me in a positive direction."
If Senator Coons wants more calls in support of Palestine, then let's give him what he wants. It's time to ramp up our efforts to call and write to his office every day. As always, you can find the information on our website, but we highly recommend joining Delaware Calls for Palestine's Whatsapp group. We urge you to join Delaware Calls for Palestine. This is the bare minimum we can do for Gaza and a rebuttal to Senator Coons' statement that there are more Delawareans who support Israel than ones who support Palestinians. Click the image below to join, or download the image and please share it widely.
The next clip starts at 1:43:12 with a profound question from a Delaware constituent on US Military aid to Israel, with Senator Coons' response at 1:45:44.
"I don't think that the only way that protests make change is when they are aggressive and personal and disruptive. I think it is possible to persuade people, and one of the things my colleague and friend, the congresswoman, said earlier is there are moments when persuasion is more important than the protest that may feel good...at the instant...and the importance to persuade [sic] a majority. The reason I reference the letters I get from Delawareans every week on the issue of Gaza, the Palestinians, Hamas, and Israel is week after week after week the overwhelming majority of Delawareans who've reached out to me have urged me to continue to support Israel, which I do. I support Israel's right to exist and defend itself, and frankly...President Trump has made the region more unstable, more unpredictable. One of the things President Biden did, that I supported and I was proud of, was he pulled together a coalition of countries to defend Israel when Iran attacked it directly. [DelPHR note: the question asker contextualized this by pointing out that Israel attacked Iran first.]"
The clip continues at 1:47:12.
"Hamas is a terrorist organization that has continued to use civilians, children, hospitals, churches as human shields. I suspect there's not a single one of us in this room that is happy or comfortable with the deep suffering of the Palestinian people, with the deprivation of their rights, with the way that Gaza has been flattened. I worked hard to sustain and restore funding for UNRWA. I have worked to persuade colleagues. I have visited every country in the region, and obviously I have failed to sustain funding for UNRWA. The majority in the Senate cut it off. [DelPHR note: On the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Coons advanced a bill that extended the UNRWA funding freeze.]" Senator Coons then explains what UNRWA does and finishes his response: "This has been a painful conflict, for which there is no good or easy end, but I continue to believe in the right of Palestinians to self-determination, in the possibility of a two-state solution, in the urgency of a ceasefire, and in the importance of insisting on Israel being able to defend itself in a dangerous and difficult region."
Since Senator Coons took office in 2011, DelPHR and other groups in Delaware have been trying to have a dialogue with his office on Palestinian human rights. There have been countless meetings with his staff, and for the past fourteen years, we get the same statements: that Senator Coons is working it behind the scenes. In fourteen years, he has only met with Delaware constituents to discuss Palestinian human rights once, at the beginning of his tenure. He can capitulate all he wants about fighting for Delawareans, but he has done nothing to make us believe that he'll fight for us: those who are opposed to the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians and opposed to having our tax dollars fund a war on Gaza.
Thank you for taking action and fighting the hypocrisy.
DelPHR