Messages of support.

The “End military aid to Israel” campaign is a welcome and important addition to the growing call for America to put its money and weapons where its mouth is. The U.S. can no longer afford to pay lip service to Israel’s flagrant violations of international law, not to mention U.S. law. If we are serious about realizing a lasting peace in the Middle East, we cannot continue to arm to the teeth one side of the conflict.

Sam Bahour
Palestinian-American activist and businessperson
Ramallah, Palestine

CJPIP’s much anticipated “End Military Aid to Israel” campaign is one of the most educational and inspiring contributions to the movement for justice in Palestine that I have ever seen. As Israel intensifies its US-sponsored colonization of Palestine and denial of Palestinians’ fundamental rights—actions that preclude the desperately needed lasting and just peace in the area—there has never been a more important time to challenge US military aid to Israel. This campaign offers an extraordinary model for doing so that should be replicated across the country.

Anna Baltzer
author and human rights activist (www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com)

CJPIP’s inventive “End Military Aid to Israel” media campaign makes a bold and important statement about the damage caused by the U.S.’s blank check for Israel’s aggression against the Palestinian people. Our government cannot be a fair and honest broker for peace between the Israelis and Palestinians while we continue to subsidize Israel’s military and allow it to act with complete impunity. CJPIP’s campaign comes at the most crucial of times—with our economy in tatters due to runaway war funding. I thank them for starting a dialogue on this critical issue while our media and leaders willfully ignore it.

Medea Benjamin
Co-founder, Code Pink and Co-founder, Global Exchange

As a Jewish clergyman and former Israeli soldier I wholeheartedly support your campaign. The images of the Palestinian and Israeli fathers seeking a peaceful future for their daughters is an urgent call to U.S. citizens. Thank you for calling on us to help Israelis and Palestinians find a way of living together in peace. “Let nation not lift up sword against nation and let them study war no more.” (Isaiah 2:4)

Cantor Michael Davis

By supporting Chicago’s campaign to End Military Aid to Israel, people who oppose the illegal occupation of Palestine can demand that the United States follow its own laws and hold Israel accountable for its massive violation of Palestinian human rights. We have an ethical and legal obligation as American citizens not to be complicit with our own government’s illegal behavior. This campaign gives us another chance to be on the right side of justice.

Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb
Cofounder, Shomer Shalom Network for Jewish Nonviolence

“The Church is called to seek justice when there is injustice, to struggle to free people from oppression, and to counter violence with strong messages to reconcile and heal.” These are words from a resolution that passed with overwhelming support at the 2010 General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, calling for the allocation of U.S.military aid funds to Israel to be contingent on compliance with U.S. government policy. Our network heartily supports this resolution and holding Israel to the same standards as other countries receiving U.S. military aid. We commend you for your efforts to bring about this end and stand with you on the side of peace and justice.

Carol Hylkema
Moderator
Israel/Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church (USA)

This innovative advertising campaign renders an important service to Chicagoans by informing them of the moral and financial costs of providing military aid to Israel at a time when the United States is trying to pursue Israeli-Palestinian peace. Can increased levels of U.S. weapons to Israel promote peace when they are being misused to commit human rights abuses of Palestinians living under Israel’s illegal military occupation? CJPIP convincingly answers this question “no.” This local campaign is a perfect complement to our national campaign to end military aid to Israel, more details of which can be found at: http://www.aidtoisrael.org.

Josh Ruebner
National Advocacy Director, US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation
Washington, DC