National — AF³IRM, a transnational feminist, anti-imperialist organization, denounces and condemns the continued escalation of U.S. support for the “Israel” entity in its war against Palestinians. As women, as descendants of families who have survived Israel and U.S.-backed dictatorships and interventions, we stand with the women and the people of Palestine. 

We condemn the U.S.-funded ongoing, escalating genocide project inflicted on Palestinian people.  

We denounce the hoary excuse of “preparations for a ground assault” to prolong the tsunami of bombs on Gaza.

We demand an immediate halt to U.S. military support to Israel. The United States has sent more aid to Israel than any other country since World War II, the principal of which is military aid. An estimated sixteen percent of the Israeli defense budget comes from U.S. taxpayers. And still, the White House seeks to exponentially increase financial support to the occupying state by the billions upon billions. 

Today, U.S. President Biden renewed his commitment to the genocidal occupation in a statement and a meeting with Benjamin Netanyahu. By President Biden’s fiat, the U.S. Department of Defense mobilizes warships and sends thousands of troops to deter any succor for the Palestinians. Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress tries to collect itself from disarray so that it may function, at least long enough, to subsidize the siege of Gaza, ignoring their mandate to prioritize home-based problems and issues. People in the United States remain unhoused and without healthcare at massive rates, and our women are dying due to violence daily. 

The cavalier actions of the U.S. government demonstrate its disregard for the hundreds of thousands of people marching in our streets, demanding an end to the genocide of Palestinians.

Since the 7th of October, we have watched the desolate fate of Palestinians in Gaza bombed by the Israeli military morning, noon, and night; as the Occupying State cut off the supply of food, water, and electricity. In just the last 11 days, at least 3,300 Palestinians have been killed, including over 724 children. We have watched an already terrorized people living under proto-fascist conditions—in the world’s largest open-air prison that is Gaza—try to survive bombs and rockets, euphemistically called “air strikes.” The Occupier is the second highest military spender per capita in the world, and yet it demands more money to ensure that it can continue to landgrab and kill.  

We have watched the women of Gaza wrestle a modicum of normal life despite the abominable conditions of proto-fascism inflicted upon them by the Occupying State. Despite the daily quest for basic necessities, they have managed to maintain their families, pass on their culture and traditions, and eke out a manner of survival, in spite of constant retraumatization. Now, the Occupier aims to eradicate the people of Gaza, referring to them as “human animals.”

Sixty percent of injuries in Gaza are suffered by women and children. Fifty thousand women in Gaza are pregnant, many of whom are expected to give birth in the next month. Yet, there is no drinkable water, no electricity for light to illuminate childbirth, and no food to ensure that mothers have sufficient lactation for babies. Israel has blockaded their access to the very basics of existence. No spot in Gaza can be considered safe. As their communities are leveled, mothers are being forced to search for and bury their children in makeshift graveyards. 

Meanwhile, Western war propaganda makes atrocious fake claims of gendered and disproportionate violence on women and children allegedly perpetrated by the oppressed, dispossessed, and exploited.  

As women, as descendants of those who have experienced firsthand the heinous impact of invasion, occupation, and dispossession; we oppose the assault on Gaza. From Palestine, to Turtle Island, to the illegally occupied Kingdom of Hawai‘i, to our homelands in the global south–our families have seen and survived the carnage of genocide, massacre, and state violence at the hands of the United States.

While we acknowledge that the violence and tragic deaths of civilians on both sides of the conflict in Gaza are worthy of our pain and mourning, we affirm that the Palestinian people have the unequivocal right to resist occupation, fight for their survival, and have the right to return.

We call on all to exert pressure on the U.S.—and its elected officials—to stop its aid to the Israel entity, to condemn the racist rhetoric hurled through corporate media, and to stand in support of the Palestinians’ struggle for their land and nation.

From the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free!