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Defending Rights & Dissent, Leading Civil Liberties Voice in the Nation’s Capital, Supports Resolutions Blocking Arms Sales to Israel [1]

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Date: 2024-11-11 16:04:27+00:00

Washington, DC – Defending Rights & Dissent, one of the leading voices for civil liberties in the nation’s capital, is calling on the Senate to vote yes on the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval to Block Arms Sales to Israel.

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“Our government is knowingly arming Israel as it openly uses those weapons to commit war crimes.This includes the deliberate assassination of Palestinian journalists, making our government complicit in the worst attack on free expression rights anywhere in the world today,” said DRAD policy director, Chip Gibbons. “As a domestic civil liberties group, we don’t take stances on international issues. But when our government provides weapons that are used to violate human rights, that implicates our core mission.”

Multiple US domestic laws limit the sale or transfer of weapons to known human rights abusers. Under the Supremacy Clause of the US Constitution, a treaty ratified by the US Senate (such as the Geneva Conventions and the Genocide Convention) is the law of the land. And US courts have held that customary international law is part of our federal common law.

“We applaud Senator Sanders for taking the lead on this initiative, and urge every member of Congress to support each JRD,” executive director, Sue Udry, said. “It’s well past time to hold our government accountable to our own laws.”

Defending Rights & Dissent has repeatedly been a leader in calling attention to the complicity of the US government in Israel’s killing of Palestinian journalists. In January, it organized a vigil with Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) honoring those Palestinian journalists killed by Israel. In August, it helped initiate a call from 100 journalists, including 4 Pulitzer Prize winners, calling for an arms embargo on Israel in light of its killing of Palestinian journalists.

Historically, Defending Rights & Dissent has opposed drone strikes, assassinations, CIA secret prisons, torture, rendition and covert action. These crimes may take place outside our borders, but they are crimes committed by our government. In supporting the resolutions, Defending Rights & Dissent carries on this decades long tradition.

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[1] Url: https://www.rightsanddissent.org/news/defending-rights-dissent-leading-civil-liberties-voice-in-the-nations-capital-supports-resolutions-blocking-arms-sales-to-israel/

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