Ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s planned address to Congress this week, Oxfam America President and CEO, Abby Maxman, released the following statement:
“It is wildly inappropriate for Congress to have extended an invitation for Prime Minister Netanyahu to speak. The invitation lends legitimacy to his deadly siege and bombardment – at a time when his governing coalition continues to bombard Gaza, international condemnation is growing, Israelis are demanding that hostages be brought home, and, under his leadership, the Israeli military is bombing aid workers, schools and hospitals. Instead of granting Prime Minister Netanyahu the platform to advance his government’s deadly policies before Congress, US leaders must cut off the supply of bombs that are being used to kill civilians, destroy infrastructure, and undermine any hope for peace.
“Our message to Prime Minister Netanyahu and the members of Congress who invited him to speak is simple: do everything in your power to end this conflict. We need a permanent ceasefire now and full access for humanitarian aid and for basic services to be restored. Israeli hostages and unlawfully detained Palestinians must be released, and lethal arms transfers to Israel must stop, to end U.S. complicity in the violence. We also call on the US government to take decisive action to differentiate between the occupied Palestinian territory and Israel in all affairs.
“Congress should not roll out the red carpet for Prime Minister Netanyahu to undermine progress towards a hostage and ceasefire deal or whitewash the atrocities his government is committing. We must not let him distract us from the suffering he is inflicting on the Palestinian people.”
As Prime Minister Netanyahu plans his address to Congress, Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank are facing unspeakable devastation:
- More than 39,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel and nearly 2 million have been displaced and are at risk of famine.
- New analysis from Oxfam shows that Prime Minister Netanyahu's government has systemically obliterated Gaza’s clean water supply and infrastructure. The report, Water War Crimes, finds that Israel’s cutting of external water supply, destruction of water facilities and deliberate aid obstruction have reduced the amount of water available in Gaza by 94% to 4.74 liters a day per person – just under a third of the recommended minimum in emergencies and less than a single toilet flush.
- A high risk of famine persists across the entire Gaza Strip as long as hostilities continue and humanitarian access is restricted. About 96 percent of the population in the Gaza Strip (2.15M people) face high levels of acute food insecurity.
- Nowhere in Gaza is safe: There have been repeated Israeli attacks in so-called “safe zones” - recent strikes killed over 60 Palestinians.
Aid agencies have issued an urgent warning that the number of Israeli settler attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank has escalated dramatically since October 7, surpassing 1,000 incidents, many of which the Israeli security forces have participated in or observed without intervention.
Ahead of and during Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address, Oxfam, American Friends of Combatants for Peace, Indivisible, Middle East Democracy Center (MEDC), MoveOn, the SEIU and Win Without War are launching a mobile billboard that will drive around the capitol, with the message: “No more bombs for Netanyahu.” The billboard will be on 3rd St NW between Jefferson Drive NW and Madison Drive NW from 11:00-11:30 ET on Tuesday, July 23rd and will circulate between Capitol Hill and the White House on July 23 and 24.