December 25, 2023
President Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Biden:
As members of Climate Jobs, a committee of Portland Oregon Jobs with Justice, we call on you to support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. We are witness to genocide unfolding through the bombardment of densely populated areas resulting in over 20,000 civilian deaths, the targeting of schools, the blockade of food, water and energy, the application of white phosphorus, and the racist reference to Palestinians as ‘animals’ by members of the Israeli government. This is all reason enough to end military aid to Israel, to impose sanctions, and to support the establishment of a war crimes tribunal. We further ask you to support a UN-organized political resolution to this conflict that acknowledges the right of both Palestinians and Israelis to live equally in this land. We decry all acts of violence visited upon citizens and non-citizens of Israel and the Occupied Territories and insist that vengeance is not the answer.
We make this demand for a ceasefire alongside members of the labor movement (for instance, the United Auto Workers). Israel has long prevented people in the Occupied Territories from the possibility of dignified livelihoods. This current military operation is resulting in death, injury, and disease affecting thousands. It has already destroyed at least 80 percent of Gaza’s infrastructure (e.g. homes, hospitals, groceries, schools), making Gaza’s entire economy inoperable. Israel’s actions are an affront to any who want all people to have material security.
We join many in the climate justice community (for example, Sunrise Movement) in calling for a ceasefire. A climate justice framework argues that vulnerability to climate change is created by the forces of violence that society tolerates, not by climate change alone. Racism, as the Movement for Black Lives has shown, creates vulnerability before the floodwaters rise and the heatwaves descend. Prior to this bombardment, Israel had long undermined the ability of Palestinians to survive climate change. The twisted landscape and poisoned soil US-funded weaponry have created will make their lives in a warming world even more difficult.
We see US support for Israel’s campaign as signaling that Palestinian lives do not matter. As President of Colombia Gustavo Petro observed, “[t]he life of humanity, and especially of the people of the South, depends on the way in which humanity chooses the path to overcome the climate crisis produced by the wealth of the North. Gaza is just the first experiment in considering us all disposable.” The statement the US makes to the world is that attacks against the marginalized in the name of ‘security’ are allowable. We urge you to reject genocide and instead participate in building a just and livable future in Palestine/Israel and the world.
Sincerely,
Climate Jobs
Portland, Oregon
President Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, DC 20500
Dear President Biden:
As members of Climate Jobs, a committee of Portland Oregon Jobs with Justice, we call on you to support an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. We are witness to genocide unfolding through the bombardment of densely populated areas resulting in over 20,000 civilian deaths, the targeting of schools, the blockade of food, water and energy, the application of white phosphorus, and the racist reference to Palestinians as ‘animals’ by members of the Israeli government. This is all reason enough to end military aid to Israel, to impose sanctions, and to support the establishment of a war crimes tribunal. We further ask you to support a UN-organized political resolution to this conflict that acknowledges the right of both Palestinians and Israelis to live equally in this land. We decry all acts of violence visited upon citizens and non-citizens of Israel and the Occupied Territories and insist that vengeance is not the answer.
We make this demand for a ceasefire alongside members of the labor movement (for instance, the United Auto Workers). Israel has long prevented people in the Occupied Territories from the possibility of dignified livelihoods. This current military operation is resulting in death, injury, and disease affecting thousands. It has already destroyed at least 80 percent of Gaza’s infrastructure (e.g. homes, hospitals, groceries, schools), making Gaza’s entire economy inoperable. Israel’s actions are an affront to any who want all people to have material security.
We join many in the climate justice community (for example, Sunrise Movement) in calling for a ceasefire. A climate justice framework argues that vulnerability to climate change is created by the forces of violence that society tolerates, not by climate change alone. Racism, as the Movement for Black Lives has shown, creates vulnerability before the floodwaters rise and the heatwaves descend. Prior to this bombardment, Israel had long undermined the ability of Palestinians to survive climate change. The twisted landscape and poisoned soil US-funded weaponry have created will make their lives in a warming world even more difficult.
We see US support for Israel’s campaign as signaling that Palestinian lives do not matter. As President of Colombia Gustavo Petro observed, “[t]he life of humanity, and especially of the people of the South, depends on the way in which humanity chooses the path to overcome the climate crisis produced by the wealth of the North. Gaza is just the first experiment in considering us all disposable.” The statement the US makes to the world is that attacks against the marginalized in the name of ‘security’ are allowable. We urge you to reject genocide and instead participate in building a just and livable future in Palestine/Israel and the world.
Sincerely,
Climate Jobs
Portland, Oregon