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No to Mike Huckabee

On February 4, Donald Trump made the radical and outrageous announcement that the U.S. would take over the Gaza Strip and push out 2 million war-ravaged Palestinians from their homeland. Over the weekend he repeated his intention to do this. Such forced displacement of Palestinians flies in the face of international law and is a blatant attempt to ethnically cleanse the war-torn territory.

Trump’s pick for U.S. ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has been silent on the proposal so far…but he would surely fall right in line. After all, the “Christian Zionist” ideology Huckabee represents is premised on the removal of Palestinians from the biblically defined land of Israel to facilitate Christ’s return – which helps to explain one particular “dog whistle” within Trump’s remarks.[1]

Thus Trump tapped right-wing evangelical Huckabee, who has questioned Palestinians’ right to self-determination, to become the ambassador to Israel. For the sake of peace – for Gazans, for all other Palestinians, Israelis, and the greater Middle East – this should not happen.

Tell your Senators today to reject Mike Huckabee’s nomination for Ambassador to Israel.

Mike Huckabee’s confirmation is sure to embolden Trump’s nefarious aims in Gaza and will dangerously worsen divisions in the Middle East at a time when real diplomacy is desperately needed.

Huckabee has a long, sordid history of demeaning Palestinians and Muslims alike.

During a failed campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, he stated “there’s really no such thing as a Palestinian…that’s been a political tool to try and force land away from Israel.” Years later, he continued to double down, claiming “There is no such thing as a West Bank… there is no such thing as a settlement… There is no such thing as an occupation.”

International law states otherwise. In July of 2024, the International Criminal Court of Justice issued a statement that “Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories and settlements are illegal and should be withdrawn as soon as possible.

Huckabee’s Islamophobic rhetoric against all Muslims is equally, if not more, dangerous.

Huckabee has vilified Islam as a whole, calling it “a religion that promotes the most murderous mayhem on the planet.” In a 2013 Fox News interview, he went on to suggest that Muslims were “uncorked animals” incited to violence by the religion itself. This is not the voice we want representing our nation in the ongoing effort to bring a lasting peace between Palestinians and Israel.

Action: Contact Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff (through the link above or by calling or emailing yourself), and tell them to oppose the nomination of Mike Huckabee for U.S. Ambassador to Israel. Remind them the Middle East is currently a tinderbox on the brink, and we need someone in this position who will uphold human rights, respect international law and seek a true path to peace – including support for a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians, which Huckabee rejects. Add that they need to continue to employ the slowdown tactics in the Senate of blocking unanimous consent, calling for a quorum and insisting on the full 30 hours of debate for every cabinet and ambassador nominee.

[1] Mike Huckabee’s old-school Christian Zionism is bad news for anyone who wants Middle East peace, Tristan Sturm, Forward, Nov. 15, 2024

Padilla and the Huge Military Budget

What is he thinking?

On February 12, the Senate put forth its version of the reconciliation funding bill, which included an increase of $150 billion over the next four years for Pentagon spending. This increase in additional military bloat continues to fly in the face of funding needs for health care, education and the rest of the myriad of human needs – which are already being questioned in the face of tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, as well as for the military.

Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced an amendment to eliminate the $150 billion military increase. That the amendment didn’t pass is rather less surprising to us than Padilla’s (and three other Democrats’) vote against it. We thought Padilla would see the disconnect between higher military spending and attacks on human needs-related programs that benefit his (and every) state’s citizens.

One guess is the pitch that the “defense” industry creates jobs for Californians, but there are studies – such as one from the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs at Brown University – that show many more jobs are created from civilian-based industries. And the goal of civilian industries largely doesn’t involve war and killing.

Action: Contact Sen. Padilla and tell him how you feel about allowing an extra $150 billion added to our military spending. Suggest that our country is in need of better priorities, and his votes need to reflect that.

Resist the Global Aid Freeze

“This is lunacy.”

That’s what Jeremy Konyndyk, President of Refugees International and a former USAID official, said about Trump’s order to put a global freeze on lifesaving and essential U.S. foreign aid. Konyndyk goes on to say “This will kill people, I mean, if implemented as written in that cable…a lot of people will die.”[1]

This is a huge story that is getting too little attention in the mainstream media. It's also another manifestation of the fascism that marks the new administration. And it’s another time to ring the alarm bell and tell our Representatives and Senators that their constituents are upset about it, and demand they take action.

As one of the world’s wealthiest nations, U.S. funds make many critical global programs possible. While the freeze exempts food shipment programs, many other critical humanitarian programs will go without resources. Layoffs of aid workers are already beginning around the world.

For example, while some actual food will get through to starving Sudan, the other services needed to deal with that famine – clean water programs, cholera treatment, critical health services – will lose funding. The slogan “the cruelty is the point” comes to mind at moments like this. Underlining that notion, the Trump White House put roughly 60 career foreign service workers on leave for trying to soften the blows of this decision.[2]

But that’s just one example. Other victims of Trump’s freeze include critical global HIV/AIDS programs, pandemic prevention programs as we face a global bird flu threat, and programs for the refugees and displaced victims of current wars. For Peace Action, programs like these are peace embodied. Peace is not just the absence of conflict but a form of global cooperation that reaches out to serve and protect those in need. Ultimately, peace is global justice and true human security. Trump is attacking the initiatives that point humanity in that direction.

One cynical aspect of this decision is that Trump is throwing red meat to his base. He’s promoting the false “America First” trope that U.S. taxpayers are spending a large portion of their taxes on foreign aid. It’s the foreign policy version of Reagan’s “welfare queens” lie, a form of which right-wing media outlets have been trumpeting for years. Polls show that Americans think the U.S. spends 25% of our budget on foreign aid. The reality is that a mere 1-2% of the budget is spent on such aid. The disinformation that Americans are being fed is another page from the fascist playbook.

But the worst, most cynical part is that Trump spared a significant portion of “foreign aid” by exempting Israel and Egypt's military financing from the order. Israel, a well-off country, is the largest historic cumulative recipient of U.S. aid dollars. Almost all of that is money for weapons. Egypt, another chronic violator of human rights, will also continue to receive military assistance. It seems warfare is sacrosanct; healthcare, not so much. The machinery of death is placed above human lives. Only Congress can stop Trump, and we need to tell them so.

Action: Contact Reps. Kevin Mullin or Sam Liccardo, or whomever represents you – as well as both Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff – and urge them to oppose the madness of a foreign aid cutoff. Tell them to use all their powers to press the administration to reverse this draconian decision that will cost many lives around the world.

[1] ”US issues broad freeze on foreign aid after Trump orders review”, Humeyra Pamuk, Reuters, Jan. 24, 2025

[2] Trump administration targets dozens of senior USAID staff after aid freeze, Daphne Tsaladakis, Reuters, Jan 27, 2025

Restore UNRWA Funding

Between the genocidal violence, crumbling medical infrastructure (1) and Israeli government officials openly justifying the starvation of millions of Palestinians, (2), we still face the fact of Palestinians in Gaza dealing with unimaginable suffering every day. But U.S. funding for the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) remains paused.

Since 1949, this has been the main organization carrying out aid delivery and other relief activities for Palestinians, and its work seemingly has never been more necessary now – given the human rights catastrophe that we are witnessing.

Earlier in the year, 12 UNRWA employees were implicated in the Hamas October 7, 2023 attack on Israelis that included the taking of 250 hostages. In April, a UN independent panel found no evidence of such collusion. But by then, the damage was done, as the U.S. had joined a number of other countries in cutting off aid to UNRWA and crippling its ability to help Palestinian civilians through this most devastating period.

On September 19, HR9469, the UNRWA Emergency Restoration Act, was introduced by Reps. Andre Carson, Pramila Jayapal and Jan Schakowsky, with 65 original co-sponsors; there are now 71. Unfortunately, that does not include Rep. Kevin Mullin, though Rep. Anna Eshoo became a co-sponsor on November 13. Mullin has expressed concern for the plight of Palestinian civilians, and he is now in a position to act on that concern by signing on to this important bill.

And on November 21, the Senate version of this bill, S.5388, was introduced by Sen. Peter Welch, along with Sens. Bernie Sanders, Chris Van Hollen, Amy Klobuchar and Mazie Hirono. Both versions of the bill are likely to be re-introduced early in the new Congress.

The UNRWA Emergency Restoration Act would:

Repeal the funding prohibitions included in the FY24 Appropriations bill and the Israel Security Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2024;
Express a sense of Congress that supports appropriating critical funds to UNRWA for Fiscal Year 2025;
Require the Secretary of State to report to Congress on a quarterly basis on the steps UNRWA is taking to implement recommendations from the UN Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) to further ensure the neutrality of its workforce; and
Urge the Secretary of State, as soon as possible, to rescind the temporary pause in funding for and resume funding to UNRWA.

The work of UNRWA is essential, as is funding for it. If this bill is enacted, the U.S. would be the last nation to restore its contribution. We are known for setting an example, but this time we need to follow an example.

Action: Contact Rep. Kevin Mullin or Sam Liccardo, or whomever represents you, to urge their co-sponsorship of the UNRWA Emergency Restoration Act. Likewise contact Sens. Padilla and Schiff, to urge their support for the Senate version. Suggest this is an effective and overdue bill toward beginning to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.

Block Arms, Save Lives

There are two complementary strategies to restrain U.S. support for the war on Gaza.

First, we are still pushing for a ceasefire (see below), and more members of Congress are coming on board. Late last week and over the weekend, more moderate Democrats, including key Jewish congressional leaders, joined in supporting a ceasefire. They included Jamie Raskin, Sara Jacobs and Becca Balint.

Second, we aim to use the most powerful lever Congress has to impact the behavior of the Israeli government: U.S. arms transfers. The U.S. builds and finances much of Israel’s arsenal.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar introduced a measure to block a $320 million arms sale to Israel. [1] The bill, which is called a Joint Resolution of Disapproval, would revoke the export license of a type of guided bomb kit that is used in the airstrikes killing so many civilians.

The State Department notified Congress of this particular weapons transfer on October 31 – the same day Israel struck the Jabaliya refugee camp in an airstrike that killed about 50 Palestinians. The bombs that were dropped on the camp are usually outfitted with “precision” guidance systems of the type being transferred in this batch.[2] These are the type of “sophisticated” weapons that are killing civilians and destroying civilian targets.

U.S. law is supposed to prohibit the transfer of U.S. weapons to countries who use such weapons to commit human rights violations. The Biden administration actually tightened the rules on arms transfers to say that weapons shouldn’t be transferred if they are “more likely than not” to be used in atrocities.[3] Clearly, in Gaza, the killing of thousands of civilians and the destruction of schools, apartment blocks, hospitals, refugee camps etc. violates this standard. Congress can use its powers to enforce this policy.

Action: Contact Rep. Mullin or Liccardo, or whomever represents you, and tell them to work to block a pending arms shipment to Israel. Mention that the weapons in question could be used in human rights violations...which is in turn a violation of U.S. law.

1. Omar unveils resolution to block weapons sale to Israel, The Hill, NICK ROBERTSON, November 16, 2023

2. Israel Used 2,000-Pound Bombs in Strike on Jabaliya, Analysis Shows, Christopher Coetti, New York Times, November 3, 2023

3. Unpacking Biden’s Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, John Chappell, Ari Tolany, Lawfare, March 1, 2023.

Rein in Nuclear Weapons

A year ago, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved their iconic Doomsday Clock ahead to 90 seconds before midnight, the closest it’s ever come to symbolic global apocalypse. This month the clock will be set again in an annual action. Vladimir Putin has threatened to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine. Tensions are rising with China. Last August, the UN Secretary-General said “humanity is just one misunderstanding, one miscalculation away from nuclear annihilation.”

In short, the threat of nuclear war is all too real and frightening, perhaps greater than it has been since the Cuban Missile Crisis over 60 years ago, and threatening all of humanity, all we hold dear.

In January 2021, 50-plus nations (all non-nuclear weapons states) signed and entered into force the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW). This past January 31, Reps. Jim McGovern (D-MA) and Earl Blumenauer (D-OR) re-introduced H. Res 77, “(E)mbracing the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.” The resolution urges the President and Congress to lead a global effort to prevent nuclear war by supporting common sense policies, including:

- Actively pursuing and concluding negotiations on a new, bilateral nuclear arms control and disarmament framework agreement with Russia before 2026, as well as negotiations with China and other nuclear-armed states on agreements for the verifiable, enforceable, and timebound elimination of global nuclear arsenals;

- Renouncing the option of using nuclear weapons first;

- Ending the President’s sole authority to launch a nuclear attack;

- Taking nuclear weapons off hair-trigger alert;

- Canceling plans to replace the U.S. nuclear arsenal with modernized, enhanced weapons.

Rep. Kevin Mullin is a co-sponsor of H Res 77, and we will be counting on him to sign on to any new version; we hope Rep. Liccardo also will.

Action: Folks in Rep. Kevin Mullin's district can contact him to express thanks for his support of the measure and urge him to co-sponsor a new version in the new Congress. Constituents of Rep Liccardo, or whomever is their Rep., can contact them and ask that they sign on. Suggest they need to show leadership and take this step toward preventing nuclear war and advancing policies that will make the world a safer place, before the unthinkable happens.

Palestinian Rights are Human Rights

Through our tax dollars, we unfortunately continue to lend support for the Israeli government’s violence and oppression of Palestinians. The unconditional support of Israel by the United States – which includes $3.8 billion per year – reinforces a militaristic policy that includes annexation, evictions, home demolitions, and the detention and torture of Palestinians…even young children.

We hopefully will have a chance to help change this. Congresswoman Betty McCollum (D-MN) and 16 other reps re-introduced the Palestinian Children and Families Act into the last Congress. The bill would have helped curtail any U.S. military funding to Israel that pays for the military detention of Palestinian children, the demolition of Palestinian homes, or the annexation of Palestinian land. The bill currently has 18 co-sponsors.

The Palestinian Children and Families Act creates sorely needed accountability around how U.S. tax dollars are used by Israel. It’s a modest but powerful step that boils down to one of the boldest pieces of U.S. legislation ever introduced on Palestinian human rights.

Rep. McCollum first introduced this bill in 2021, and thanks to lobbying efforts from peace and justice advocates, 32 additional members of Congress co-sponsored the bill over the course of two years. The previous version had 30 co-sponsors. Now we need to continue to grow support for a new version of this important bill.

As we’ve seen, Congress is hardly known for staking out bold positions on Palestinian rights. The fact that this bill was even introduced has pushed the needle forward politically. Given the strong support for the Israeli military in Congress, increasing support for this legislation can put real pressure on Israeli policy. At the same time, slowly but surely, we are building greater support for Palestinian rights in Congress. Hawkish, pro-occupation organizations like AIPAC are going to come hard at this bill and its co-sponsors, and it will be imperative that we stand up to their pressure – and encourage members of Congress to do the same.

Action: Contact Rep. Mullin, Liccardo or whomever represents you, and tell them to show their support for human rights by co-sponsoring the Palestinian Children and Families Act. Suggest that it’s time to take a stand against Israeli abuses to Palestinian rights.

An Actual Peace with North Korea?

This July will mark the 70th anniversary of the armistice that led to the stopping of the killing that took place during the Korean War. The agreement suggested an eventual end to the war, but we are still waiting for any diplomatic initiative in that direction. We have watched as such actions began to take shape, only to be scuttled by difficult demands by the U.S. on North Korea and new sanctions when the demands were not met. North Korea, for its part, has ramped up its nuclear weapons program to a dangerous level – made more so by the volatility and threats of the ruling Kim family.

The U.S. surely doesn’t want a nuclear confrontation – the “fire and fury” rhetoric of Donald Trump is for now just a memory – but our periodic military exercises with South Korea serve to keep tensions at an unreasonable level, and the volatility has similarly remained. A continued state of war with North Korea has resulted in a lack of real diplomatic relations and a continuation of a hostile relationship.

In the spirit of changing that, CA Rep. Brad Sherman has repeatedly introduced the Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act. This would direct the Secretary of State “pursue serious, urgent diplomatic engagement with North Korea and South Korea in pursuit of a binding peace agreement” to formally end the state of war. The hoped-for peace is of course meant to reduce the tensions in the region, including allowing North Korean citizens in the U.S. to visit family in their home country.

The ROK·US·International Call to Resolve the Threat of War on the Korean Peninsula and Suspend ROK-US Combined Military Exercises (signed by 99 U.S. and international civil society organizations including PASMC) puts it quite well: “We must end the Korean war that has afflicted all members of the Korean Peninsula for over 70 years, and redirect the cost of destructive weapons to solving inequality and the climate crisis. It is time to end hostility and confrontation and strive for a peaceful and sustainable world through reconciliation and cooperation.”

Action: Contact Rep. Mullin, Liccardo, or whomever represents you, to urge their co-sponsorship of any new version of the Peace on the Korean Peninsula Act. Suggest that pursuing diplomacy with North Korea is a pivotal first step to breaking through the stalemate in U.S.-North Korea relations, and reducing the heat that could lead to a nuclear confrontation.