As the Israel-Hamas war continues, the associated humanitarian crisis is deepening in Israel and in Gaza.

In response, President Biden made a much needed supplemental funding request that includes $14.3 billion in security assistance to Israel as well as $9.15 billion for humanitarian needs across Gaza, Israel, and Ukraine. If passed, this humanitarian assistance would be a lifeline to millions of people.

Unfortunately, instead of supporting this proposal, House Republicans are playing politics by proposing a bill that cynically offers military assistance to Israel but excludes the desperately needed global humanitarian aid, while also requiring the assistance to be offset by hyper-partisan cuts to IRS funding.

Israel’s protest movement needs our support. 

While Prime Minister Netanyahu has delayed the so-called “judicial reform” until the Knesset reconvenes in May, the fight to save Israel’s democracy is far from over. If enacted, this overhaul would destroy Israel’s independent judiciary and change the very nature of Israel’s government, away from a liberal democracy and toward a dictatorship of the corrupt.

Like you, we watched the footage of Huwara burning in complete horror. The disturbing images of this pogrom are reminiscent of some of the darkest moments of Jewish history. In the ashes of what remains of Huwara, no decent human being would look at the carnage and think: “let’s finish the job.”

Virginia has become ground zero in the state by state effort to penalize those who wish to exercise their constitutionally-protected freedom of speech by boycotting, or even just maintaining their right to boycott, the state of Israel. Any day now, the State House is expected to consider two more dangerous bills that would infringe on the right to free speech and academic freedom: HB1606 and HB1898. 

HB1606 – “IHRA Anti-Semitism; definition when term used in reference to discrimination”, is the latest in a series of cynical attempts across the country to co-opt the fight against antisemitism and use it instead as a weapon against free speech and to quash legitimate criticism of policies and actions of the Israeli government. Adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism is a prime example of how well-meaning attempts to fight antisemitism can be misappropriated. IHRA and its examples, while on the surface seemingly benign, have been used time and again to codify language that would allow for such weaponization.

State by state, across the country there has been a concerted effort to penalize those who wish to exercise their constitutionally-protected freedom of speech by boycotting, or even just maintaining their right to boycott, the state of Israel. Tomorrow, Virginia becomes ground zero in this fight when the state senate will vote on SB 1375, the Virginia Public Procurement Act.