rich 1.0 Action Network https://actionnetwork.org <link href='https://actionnetwork.org/css/style-embed-v3.css' rel='stylesheet' type='text/css' /><script src='https://actionnetwork.org/widgets/v6/petition/florida-must-stand-with-the-palestinian-people?format=js&source=widget'></script><div id='can-petition-area-florida-must-stand-with-the-palestinian-people' style='width: 100%'><!-- this div is the target for our HTML insertion --></div> Florida Palestine Network https://actionnetwork.org/groups/florida-palestine-network https://can2-prod.s3.amazonaws.com/petitions/photos/000/459/158/normal/1854f714-0fc7-405d-b177-ff0afa6af017.jpg Florida Palestine NetworkFlorida Palestine NetworkThis week’s events in Palestine demonstrate that despite Israel's best efforts to stifle Palestinian resistance, no cage goes unchallenged. As we witness Palestinians in Gaza break through the wall holding more than two million people captive for the past 16 years, and Israel’s subsequent indiscriminate bombing of the coastal enclave, it is critical that we acknowledge the true root cause of this week’s violence. It is Israel’s occupation, apartheid policies, and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people over 75 years that is the source of all violence. Rather than defend Palestinians’ human rights, the United States consistently supports and enables Israel’s genocidal regime. While Israel currently attacks Gaza with impunity, killing dozens of children and wiping out entire families across generations, it does so with the financial, military, and political backing of U.S. taxpayer dollars. Any analysis of the current events that does not acknowledge these facts is irresponsible, immoral, and dehumanizing. Israel’s 16 year blockade on Gaza and apartheid occupation of Palestine is the root of all violence. Complicity in Israel’s violent apartheid regime is not confined to politics in DC. Florida politicians’ uncritical support of Israel’s apartheid regime and labeling of legitimate Palestinian resistance as "unprovoked" is violence in action. Politicians who continue to demand "ironclad" U.S. backing for Israel's military are enabling further violence. So-called progressive elected officials’ failure to stand in solidarity with Palestinians rightfully seeking liberation allows repugnant politicians’ barbaric incitement of violence against Palestinian and pro-Palestinian demonstrators to go unchallenged. To these cowardly politicians we say: Your language ignores the violence of Israel’s occupation of Palestine, erases Palestinians’ suffering and right to resist, and enables the continued violence that Israel imposes on Palestinian lives. Your support of a settler colonial nation’s “right” to carry out war crimes against millions of people forcibly living under its control puts you on the wrong side of history. Oppressed people everywhere will inevitably seek and win their liberation. Just like all peoples, Palestinians deserve freedom, safety, and dignity. In order to achieve liberation, we must address the occupation and U.S. complicity as the root cause of all violence. We demand that the United States government immediately cease military aid to Israel and hold the Israeli government accountable for flagrant abuses of human rights and war crimes against Palestinians. We also call on the U.S. to put pressure on the Israeli government to end its brutal 16-year siege on Gaza. In Florida, we call on our elected officials to stand in solidarity with Palestinians, and protect the constitutional rights of Floridians by repealing legislation criminalizing Floridians’ rights to speak out against Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians. As Palestinians and allied communities in Florida, we commit to intensifying our boycott, divestment, and sanctions efforts in order to stop billions of taxpayer dollars from pouring into Israel's war machine. We call on all Floridians to join us in these efforts and stand by Palestinians as they assert their right to self-determination. There is no peace without liberation. Palestine will be free. It’s time to draw a line in the sand, Florida leaders are either with justice, freedom, and human rights or they are not. Governments and people across the world have denounced Israel for their actions. Residents across this nation clearly see Israel's violence, the apartheid state, and the settler colonial regime that Palestinians are experiencing. We call on Florida representatives to condemn the violence that Israeli forces are inflicting on Palestinians. We cannot stand by as Palestinians are expelled from their homes and subjected to war-crime, assault, and violation. We must stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people against Israel’s persecution and occupation. We, the co-signatories, call on our U.S. Representatives from Florida: Darren Soto, Maxwell Frost, Kathy Castor, Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, and Lois Frankel to: Oppose any increases in military aid to Israel by the United States government that will only exacerbate violence on the ground and fuel genocide against millions of civilians under siege in the Gaza Strip. Call on the Biden administration to put pressure on the Israeli government to end its brutal 16-year siege on Gaza, permit the passage of critical humanitarian aid into the enclave, and resume electricity, water, and internet supplies. Call for the equal application of international law in holding Israel accountable for its war crimes against the Palestinian people. Support a cessation of all U.S. military aid to Israel used to sustain the illegal occupation, settlements and further carry out human rights violations against the Palestinian people Protect U.S. citizens and residents’ constitutional rights to freedom of speech and boycott.. We, the co-signatories, call on our Florida State Legislators: Anna Eskamani, Geraldine Thompson, Kamia Brown, Randolph Bracy, Victor Torres, and Linda Stewart to: Address the harm of (HB 741) by endorsing Palestine Legal’s Title VI Complaint in support of Ahmad Daraldik. Protect the constitutional rights of Floridians by repealing legislation criminalizing Floridians’ rights to speak out against and protest Israel’s atrocities against Palestinians. Publicly condemn Israel’s state-sanctioned violence against the Palestinian people funded by Floridan taxpayers, including forced expulsions, home demolitions, and the siege and attacks on civilians and infrastructure in the Gaza Strip. A growing number of members of Congress outside of Florida are speaking out against Israel's use of U.S. funds to oppress and carry out grave human rights violations against Palestinians. We demand that Florida leadership do the same, and stand for justice, freedom and liberation for all people. Israel must be held accountable for its decades-long occupation fueling violence against and subjugation of the Palestinian people. Without consequences, Israel will continue to kill Palestinian families and children, steal Palestinian land and displace thousands of indigenous peoples, and irreparably harm the environment and physical infrastructure in Palestine, in violation of international law. Florida Palestine Network Unbought Power Healing Our Homeland Las Semillas Freedom Road Socialist Organization Orlando Palestinian Feminist Collective Orlando Revolutionary Education & Action League Orlando Dream Defenders Orlando for Gender Equality https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/florida-must-stand-with-the-palestinian-people