This week Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Nicholas Kristof published in the New York Times horrifying reports of rape, sexual violence, torture, and abuse against Palestinian men, women and children held by Israeli security forces. He interviewed dozens of hostages/prisoners who detailed how they had been sexually humiliated, sodomized, and raped -- by humans and dogs. These allegations we corroborated by organizations including B’Tselem, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor, and the United Nations.

Sexual violence and torture against civilians and detainees must never be ignored, justified, or normalized.

The United States provides billions of dollars in military and logistical support to the Israeli government using American taxpayer funds. Connecticut’s elected officials have publicly condemned similar allegations when Israelis were victims. The same human rights standards must apply to Palestinians. Through this campaign, we are urging Connecticut representatives to publicly condemn these abuses, support independent investigations, demand accountability under international law.

They need to ensure that American taxpayer dollars are not used to support ongoing human rights violations.