Yvette Clarke, stop arming genocide in Gaza: co-sponsor the Block the Bombs Act and stand up to AIPAC!

Yvette Clarke

Since the start of Israel's genocide in Gaza, Congresswoman Yvette Clarke has been a consistent vote to send U.S. taxpayer-funded weapons to Israel and block U.S. funding to UNRWA, the most crucial source of aid for Palestinians clinging to life in Gaza. In late July, as public sentiment has shifted against Israel and stories spread about their forced starvation campaign against Palestinian civilians, Clarke finally released a statement suggesting that she might be ready to change course, calling the situation a "moral catastrophe that America cannot and must not abide by."

Since then, even though Israel has only escalated its atrocities, Yvette Clarke has taken no action to hold this rogue apartheid state accountable. We, her constituents, think this is unacceptable. The immediate steps we are demanding are for her to (1) co-sponsor H.R. 3565, the Block the Bombs Act, and pledge to consistently oppose U.S. military aid to Israel and (2) to join a growing number of her colleagues in Congress in publicly rejecting funding from AIPAC and other pro-Israel lobbying groups from now on.

Enough is enough. It's time for Yvette Clarke to end her lockstep complicity in Israel's genocide.

To: Yvette Clarke
From: [Your Name]

To Congresswoman Yvette Clarke:

In late July, over 19 months after the start of Israel's US-backed genocide in Gaza, you finally released a statement acknowledging that the forced starvation of Palestinians there a "moral catastrophe." You said you were "not interested in excuses as to why starved children cannot have the food or medicine required to save their lives."

Since you made this statement, Israel has only intensified its assault on Palestinians, and is currently in the process of razing Gaza City, one of the last refuges for Gaza's civilian population, to the ground. More than three in four Democrats now recognize that what is happening in Gaza is a genocide. But in spite of Israel’s continued refusal to show basic respect for human rights or human life, in spite of the growing outrage in your party at Israel’s mass murder, and in spite of your own strong words in July, you have not taken any actions to hold Israel accountable.

As your constituents in New York’s 9th congressional district, we demand that you:

1. Sponsor the Block the Bombs Act (H.R.3565) and pledge to be a consistent vote against arming Israel from now on.
2. Publicly refuse to accept funding from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) or other pro-Israel lobbying groups going forward.

First, co-sponsoring Block the Bombs would be an important way to signal that you are no longer willing to use your position to enable the unspeakable violence being perpetrated by Israel against Palestinians. To give just one example among many: in Spring 2024, after tens of thousands of civilians already lay dead in Gaza, and after charges of genocide had been raised against Israel in the International Court of Justice, you voted for H.R.8034, a House bill that sent billions of dollars in weapons to Israel and banned all U.S. funding to UNRWA, the primary international aid agency distributing food and medicine in Gaza. We have been horrified to see our representative in Congress vote this way, and we want to see that you are changing course. Block the Bombs would be a starting point in showing you understand that we should never be using taxpayer dollars to send American weapons to a genocidal state.

Second, in formally refusing to accept money from AIPAC going forward, you would join a growing list of House Democrats including Deborah Ross, Morgan McGarvey, and Valerie Foushee, who are rejecting funding from a PAC that is not only bolstering support for a merciless apartheid regime abroad, but pouring money into MAGA Republican candidates who are plunging our nation into fascism. As the leader of the Congressional Black Caucus, your public refusal of AIPAC funds would make it harder for AIPAC to single out and primary CBC members like Valerie Foushee who are resisting their strong-arm tactics, just as they did with Cori Bush and Jamaal Bowman in the last election cycle.

Congresswoman Clarke, you have said that you are “not interested in excuses,” for why aid cannot reach children in Gaza. We are similarly impatient with your ongoing unwillingness to take a single concrete step against a genocide being funded with our tax dollars.

Co-sponsor the Block the Bombs Act. Reject AIPAC money. It is long past time to stand up and be counted.