Protecting Human Rights Defenders

CODE PINK is urging the US State Department to make a public statement upholding the rights of Palestinian human rights advocates.  The link, to add your name, is here:

From CODE PINK:

"On March 28th, Israeli Transportation and Intelligence Minister Yisrael Katz’s called for "targeted civil eliminations" of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) leaders, specifically mentioning Boycott National Committee founder and leader Omar Barghouti by name. This comes against a backdrop of numerous threats and attacks including:

• Ongoing attempts to shut down Breaking the Silence, an organization for Israeli veterans that publishes testimonies of Israeli soldiers who have witnessed war crimes.
• Ongoing death threats, unwarranted arrests for such things as “organizing illegal demonstrations”, and attempts to shut down the work of Hebron-based Palestinian nonviolent activist Issa Amro.
• Death threats against the Palestinian activist Emad abu-Shamsiyah,who filmed the March 2016 extrajudicial killing of a wounded Palestinian suspect Abed al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif in Hebron.

"Israeli government and right-wing settler incitement has been building for a while and unfortunately we know that these are not empty threats. In May 2015, ultra-nationalist extreme right-wing politician Ayelet Shaked, who in 2014 called for a war on the entire Palestinian population “including its elderly and women,” was appointed as Israel’s Justice Minister. In July 2015, settlers firebombed the two homes in the West Bank village of Duma killing 18-month old Ali Dawabsheh and both of his parents, leaving his 5-year old Amad Dawabsheh who survived the attack, an orphan. A few weeks ago, in March 2016, the house of a key witness in the Duma case was set ablaze in an arson attack.

You'll find the petition here. The safety of witnesses, whistleblowers and nonviolent activists must be protected.  Wherever they are.