Add your voice by signing this petition.

Dear Mr. President and Secretary Blinken,

We, people and organizations in Massachusetts, including Massachusetts chapters of national groups, are writing to you about the Israeli government's false and dangerous designation of six leading Palestinian human rights and civil society organizations as “terrorist” groups. These designations were purportedly justified in a secret dossier and distributed to several EU governments that subsequently said the dossier did not include any concrete evidence. https://theintercept.com/2021/11/04/secret-israel-dossier-palestinian-rights-terrorist/

Many of us have personal experience with these organizations and their staff. We rely upon them for information about what is happening in the occupied Palestinian territories (OPT). You and our members of Congress need them to record and report what our tax dollars and support for Israel are enabling. Palestinians rely on these groups to see and hear them and record and report crimes perpetrated against them. Israeli human rights organizations trust and respect them and rely upon them to document what their fellow citizens and soldiers are doing to people in the OPT. 

According to the eminent Israeli human rights lawyer Michael Sfard, these “six organizations are the backbone of Palestinian civil society and the Palestinian cry . . . for human rights”:

• Defense for Children International Palestine: advocates for Palestinian children subject to the Israeli military court system with a 99.7% conviction rate, and documents extrajudicial killings 
• Al Haq: the oldest Palestinian human rights organization, established in 1979 to protect and promote human rights and the rule of law in the OPT.
• Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association: defends Palestinian prisoners arrested in the West Bank, where about 1 in 5 people have been incarcerated in Israeli prisons, from torture and other forms of abuse 
• Union of Agricultural Work Committees: supports farmers resisting land grabs and other impacts of Israel's settler colonialism on agriculture & livelihoods 
•  Bisan Center for Research and Development: advocates for civil rights, human rights, and socio-economic rights 
• Union of Palestinian Women's Committees: a feminist, progressive grassroots Palestinian organization  

Twenty-five Israeli human rights organizations declare in their Joint Statement: Draconian measure against human rights, “We stand in solidarity with our Palestinian colleagues, and call on members of the Israeli government and the international community to oppose this decision unequivocally.”

In Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern's letter to Secretary Blinken, he advised, “Mr. Secretary, it is not enough to have expressed an initial leeriness regarding Israel's decision to designate these six organizations as terrorist groups. It is now time to firmly and unambiguously denounce the actions taken and urge the Israeli government to reverse its decisions.”

Finally, more than 100 global foundations and donors, most of them U.S. based, signed on to an open letter expressing solidarity with Palestinian civil society, “ . . .The targeted assault against six of the leading civil society organizations in Palestine is a blatant attempt to silence and criminalize dissent against the human rights violations of the Israeli government. . .”

Your administration has expressed a commitment to promote human rights worldwide and protect the role of civil society. It is past time to stop sending mixed messages – verbally expressing disappointment at Israeli crimes while continuing to enable and even reward them. We call on you to take the following actions:

1) issue a public statement that rejects, condemns, and rebukes the Israeli government's false accusations and authoritarian actions levied against the six organizations;

2) call on Israeli authorities to immediately reverse their decision and end all efforts aimed at delegitimizing and criminalizing Palestinian human rights defenders; and

3) ensure that charitable donations designated for these organizations reach them without interference by the U.S. or Israeli governments or by financial institutions.