This week, our friends at the American Friends Service Committee sued the Trump administration over its efforts to punish and intimidate human rights defenders seeking justice for Palestinians.
The lawsuit was filed along with Human Rights Watch, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and the Open Society Institute. The groups are challenging President Trump’s executive order that authorizes sanctions against officials from the International Criminal Court (ICC) and others supporting its work to hold Israeli officials accountable for the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
“This executive order seeks to intimidate human rights defenders and deter people of conscience from advocating for the rights and dignity of others,” said AFSC General Secretary Joyce Ajlouny.
“We are joining this lawsuit because we refuse to stay silent when the pursuit of justice is criminalized.”
We applaud AFSC and all these groups for courageously challenging these unjust, immoral, and deeply harmful sanctions against the ICC.
This lawsuit comes as the ongoing genocide in Gaza continues to inflict suffering and violence on Palestinians.
Israel has continued to carry out airstrikes in Gaza, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejecting a Trump-proposed deal with Hamas.
Doctors Without Borders issued a dire report this week warning that Israel’s continued aid restrictions are leaving hospitals without basic supplies – amounting to “a deliberate effort to make existence itself impossible.”
At the same time, U.N. experts are warning that extremist settler violence against Palestinians has brought the occupied West Bank to the “breaking point.”
“Children in the West Bank have the same rights as children everywhere,” a UNICEF official said. “To live, to learn, to be protected, and to imagine a future beyond violence and fear.”
In the face of these continued, grave assaults against the rights, dignity, and lives of Palestinians, our government should use its leverage to hold Israel accountable – not punish others for seeking justice.
Elsewhere
U.S. cluster munitions transfer from Türkiye to Ukraine
This past week, the State Department told Congress that it intends to transfer U.S. cluster munitions from Türkiye to Ukraine. These are indiscriminate weapons which harm civilians at disproportionate rates and can pose deadly hazards in former war zones for generations.
As the U.S. Cluster Munitions Coalition calls for, Congress should exercise oversight and reject this transfer. Civilians in Ukraine have already been harmed by indiscriminate cluster bombs, many coming from invading Russian forces, and more of these weapons will not bring peace.
CIA involvement in Galápagos boat strikes
Recent reporting exposed CIA involvement in bombings of fishing boats outside the Galápagos islands this past year. The boats were bombed by drones and then the survivors were kidnapped and taken to El Salvador before being released in Ecuador.
We are approaching the one-year anniversary of the U.S. military beginning to murder people in strikes on boats that they claim are trafficking narcotics. This clandestine operation seems to be part of the same anti-drug mission but much more mysterious.
All of these operations are wildly illegal and immoral, and do not work to slow the drug trade.
One Year of National Guard in DC
Washington, D.C., marked one year of National Guard deployment this past week. This unwanted, unnecessary abuse of executive authority is mirrored in other cities across the country. Experts see it as a test run for further authoritarian moves from the Trump administration.
As Amnesty International warned, these militarized operations under the guise of law enforcement pose “grave threats” to human rights, particularly for Black and Brown communities.
Bearing Witness 25 Years after 9/11
On September 12, 2001, FCNL asserted that “war is not the answer.” As our nation approaches the 25th anniversary of the tragic 9/11 attacks, we continue to object to the reactionary forces which have locked our world into a cycle of vengeance. Instead, we want to uplift reflections and stories from those who refused to accept the march to war. Join us to reflect and look forward on Tuesday, September 15 at 4:00 p.m. ET/1:00 p.m. PT.
