The following letter is intended for Mr. José Andrés, chef, restauranteur, and humanitarian. As explained in the letter, he has an opportunity to use his connections to pressure Capital One Bank to stop funding Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems-- the company whose drone murdered 7 of his staff at World Central Kitchen in Gaza. The letter has been delivered to Mr. Andrés, and we are awaiting a response. We are asking folks to send the letter along to his staff to keep this issue at the front of his mind.

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Dear Mr. Andrés,

It was a pleasure to meet you last week at your event in DC, and we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us and consider our demands. We are sending this letter to show you the support from the general public for this ask, and we hope to hear from you soon.

We are saddened and angered to hear of the results of the IDF investigation into the murder of 7 World Central Kitchen workers in Gaza, and the refusal to pursue a criminal probe. The lack of justice. The lack of even the decency of an excuse. The officer who ordered the killing openly admitting he isn’t sorry. It is all infuriating, and a deep disrespect to the lives and honorable work of those seven humanitarians, as well as the hundreds of thousands of Gazans killed, maimed, displaced in the ongoing genocide.

We know you asked for an independent investigation, but we want to suggest that you can do something you have direct control over as a direct response to the killings of both your workers and the people in Gaza.

You can ask Capital One (your business partner) to drop their funding to Israeli weapons manufacturer Elbit Systems- the same company whose Hermes 450 drone killed your staff members.

Capital One has a $75 million line of credit to Elbit Systems, on top of a $545 million loan with 5 other banks that matured in April 2026. Elbit Systems not only makes drones, bombs, tanks, and bullets that murder aid workers and Palestinians in Gaza--they also make surveillance towers that are used by Customs and Border Patrol at the US-Mexico border to capture and imprison refugees fleeing political violence and poverty. World Central Kitchen workers learned the realities of these refugees firsthand through your relief kitchens in Tijuana and Matamoros that operated 2018-2022.

Customs and Border Patrol, in collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, is also terrorizing immigrants all over the country. This includes your restaurant workers here in Washington, DC, where we have been living under military occupation since August 2025. Restaurant workers have reported kidnappings resulting in family separation, deportation, and life-threatening illness; managers who threaten to call ICE on workers who stand up for themselves; and an atmosphere of fear that has led workers to stay home and struggle to feed their children. Capital One is threatening the sustainability of the restaurant industry in DC through its funding of machinery that terrorizes the people who make restaurants thrive. Is that who you want to work with?

Unfortunately, when World Central Kitchen and yourself partner with Capital One, you provide them valuable positive press that bolsters their image as a progressive bank. But nothing is progressive about investing in weapons of war and incarceration. Capital One knows that Elbit's drones killed your workers, and yet they continue to lend them money without a second thought.

We know they're aware because we've told them over and over-- at protests on their McLean, VA campus, at their offices, banks, and cafes throughout the country, through phone calls to their customer service, and in their Instagram comments. At one protest, executives even came out to talk to the police, hearing our chants and taking photos of our signs proclaiming "Capital One funds genocide and deportation", before asking the police to press charges and ban us from their property.

So we come to you, as people with shared values of protecting and nurturing human life, asking you to join us in pressuring Capital One to end this funding to Elbit Systems. Your celebrity and platform, as well as your direct relationship with Capital One, could be the perfect lever to convince them. **If they don't listen, you can withdraw from partnership with them until they do. Is it so much to ask our banks and business partners to refuse to invest in international war crimes, mass starvation, and indiscriminate slaughter?**

We send our deepest condolences to you, the World Central Kitchen community, and the families of the seven slain workers. We hope this invitation can provide a clear way for you to take action for justice on their behalf.

In Solidarity,

Eject Elbit

Occupation Free DC

Palestinian Youth Movement DMV

DC for Palestine

Alexandria for Palestinian Human Rights

Arlington for Palestine

Asians 4 Palestine DMV

Deflock Fairfax

DMV Jewish Labor Bund

Free Them All Virginia

Friends of Friends Collective

Jewish Voice for Peace- DC Metro

Metro DC Democratic Socialists of America

Montgomery County Immigrant Rights Collective

Roots and Stars

Solidarity Supper Club

IN MEMORY OF THE SEVEN WORKERS KILLED FOR BRINGING AID DURING A GENOCIDE.

IN MEMORY OF EVERY PALESTINIAN IN GAZA KILLED MAIMED AND ORPHANED BY ELBIT SYSTEMS’ WEAPONS.

IN MEMORY OF THE IMMIGRANTS TRAPPED AND KILLED IN DETENTION CENTERS, TRACKED BY ELBIT’S WATCHTOWERS