Press Release
Feb. 12, 2024

Jill Stein condemns Israeli "genocide on steroids" and "tripwire to Mideast conflagration" in Rafah, Calls for end to military aid to Israel.

Jill Stein for President 2024 
jillstein2024.com

For immediate release:
Monday Feb. 12, 2024

Contact:
LeBeau Kpadenou, Press Liaison, 561-247-5164 (m), [email protected]

As Israel continues its bombing and assault on Rafah, Green Party candidate for President Jill Stein called today for the United States to use its power to prevent the expanding genocide in Gaza and looming conflagration in the Middle East.

“If Israel escalates its genocidal bloodbath by invading Rafah where a million and a half desperate people are clinging to life, it will ignite the entire Middle East. Now Egypt has threatened to withdraw from its peace treaty with Israel and has hardened its Sinai barriers, despite Netanyahu’s preposterous claims that the population will be moved to safety. The looming invasion of Rafah is a tripwire that could make the entire region explode.”

The horrifying images from Rafah, like the picture of a young girl with her legs cut off hanging from a wire by her shirt, are fueling outrage across the world. So too are the three-hour phone calls from a desperate 6-year-old girl, Hind Rajab, imprisoned in a car with her dead uncle and cousins, who was later killed by the IDF as well as the two ambulance drivers sent to rescue her after the Palestinian authorities had been told by Israeli officials they were clear to go to the site of the car.

“It is not just silence that makes the U.S. complicit in the Gaza genocide, but also our government’s refusal assert leverage over Israel by cutting off military support if Israel will not agree to a cease fire now,” said Dr. Stein. “Biden’s hollow statements that Israel has gone ‘over the top’ are mere political theater when the truth is that the United States could stop the massacre tomorrow. We could begin by withdrawing diplomatic cover and military aid to the extremists ruling Israel, who are now facing trial in the Hague for genocide, and demanding an immediate ceasefire.”

However, Stein pointed out that a ceasefire is not enough to save hundreds of thousands of Palestinians on death’s doorstep. “The U.S. must join together with the international community  to deliver life-saving aid to Gaza, as the ICJ ordered - aid which has been intentionally impeded by Israel allowing Israeli protesters to block food, water and fuel deliveries from the north and hampering aid trucks in the south as corroborated by two U.S. Senators who went to Rafah.”

“I urge everyone to contact your elected representatives to tell them to stop the invasion of Rafah, which is not only a looming massacre of innocents but also a dangerous tripwire for a Middle East conflagration. Then go to our website JillStein2024.com and sign the Pledge to Stop Genocide to affirm that you won’t vote for any candidate who supports genocide, and will instead support only candidates backing a ceasefire, life-saving aid, and long-term policies to secure peace, freedom, dignity, equality, and security for all people in Palestine and Israel.”

- END -