In July, 2024, a group of people in Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Luis Obispo counties met to call attention to the voting record of Member of Congress Jimmy Panetta, which has supported the tragic policy of the Israeli government towards the people of Gaza. We organized a petition calling on Panetta to boycott Netanyahu’s speech to Congress. State Senate Majority Leader Emeritus, Bill Monning, published his letter to Panetta echoing the call to boycott Netanyahu’s speech.
On October 7, 2024 we organized a return trip to Panetta’s office, and a candlelight vigil in downtown Santa Cruz to grieve the losses suffered by Israeli’s, Palestinians, Lebanese and Yemeni. We asked Panetta to respond to the questions below.
1. Mr. Panetta, do you accept the evidence for what is happening in Gaza?
Do you accept the veracity of the evidence gathered by Human Rights Watch and Oxfam,that “the Israeli authorities have carried out indiscriminate and disproportionate attacks in violation of international humanitarian law”? https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/03/19/israeli-forces-conduct-gaza
If you accept the evidence from these organizations, will you revoke your signature on a House resolution to sanction the ICC staff? The resolution called the court’s charges “illegitimate and baseless”?
2. Mr. Panetta, would you support a US arms embargo on Israel?
On June 24, 2024, the UN Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner released a statement saying, “The transfer of weapons and ammunition to Israel may constitute serious violations of human rights and international humanitarian laws and risk State complicity in international crimes, possibly including genocide.”
According to a YouGov poll in March 2024, 62% of Biden voters agreed “The US should stop weapons shipments to Israel until Israel discontinues its attacks on the people of Gaza,” while just 14 percent disagreed.
State Senator Emeritus Bill Monning sent you a letter on 7/4/24 in which he wrote, “There exists an inherent contradiction in our government’s foreign policy that continues to supply the weapons of war to Israel, which are being used to slaughter innocent civilians while at the same time mobilizing humanitarian aid to the surviving victims of those weapons.”
On April 5, 2024, Nancy Pelosi and other House Democrats signed a letter to President Biden saying, “We strongly urge you to reconsider your recent decision to authorize the transfer of a new arms package to Israel”. The letter continued, “We also urge you to withhold these transfers if Israel fails to sufficiently mitigate harm to innocent civilians in Gaza, including aid workers, and if it fails to facilitate – or arbitrarily denies or restricts – the transport and delivery of humanitarian aid into Gaza.”
3. Mr. Panetta, would you vote to condition future aid to Israel on:
a) Israel conforming with international humanitarian law and international human rights law
b) Cessation of new settlements in occupied territories and effective prevention of settler violence towards Palestinians, as determined by a credible 3rd party, e.g. the UN
c) Progress by Israel towards Palestinian self-determination, as determined by the UN
d) How do you envision the US supporting the establishment of Palestinian self determination?
5. Mr. Panetta, would you restore US aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA)?
The US stopped its contribution to USWRA in February 2024. UN Secretary General Antonio Gutterez said on July 12, 2024 “There is a profound funding gap…Just when we thought it couldn’t get any worse in Gaza — somehow, appallingly, civilians are being pushed into ever deeper circles of hell…Let me be clear: there is no alternative to UNRWA.”
The UN investigation of allegations that aid workers were involved in the Hamas attack of October 7 has concluded that 9 workers (out of 13,000 in Gaza) “may have been involved” in the Hamas attack. Of the 16 countries that stopped aid to UNRWA based on allegations of employee involvement in Hamas, 15 have resumed funding, including the UK.
6. Mr. Panetta, would you decline campaign contributions from manufacturers of military weapons since these companies share responsibility for the killing and maiming of the population?
Would you forward the campaign contributions you have already received fromthese entities to the UNRWA?
The UN Human Rights Office called on arms manufacturers to cease transfer of arms to Israel. “These companies, by sending weapons, parts, components, and ammunition to Israeli forces, risk being complicit in serious violations of international human rights and international humanitarian laws.” The UN statement named several companies supplying weapons to Israel, including several that have contributed to your campaigns since 2016: Northrop Grumman; Boeing; Lockheed Martin; and General Dynamics.
Boeing manufactured the GBU-39, a so-called “high precision bomb” that CNN identified at the site of the school and mosque where 93 Palestinian men, women and children were killed on August 11th. In President Eisenhower’s farewell speech he said, “In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.” We believe that campaign cash from military contractors exemplifies what Eisenhower was warning about. We profoundly object to your use of contributions from those who profit from war to influence voters in our community.
Last Christmas, Pope Francis said, “To say ’no’ to war means saying ’no’ to weaponry…How can we even speak of peace, when arms production, sales and trade are on the rise?” Pope Francis said we need to “bring to light the interests and the profits that move the puppet strings of war.”
7. Mr. Panetta, Would you decline campaign contributions from the pro-Israel lobby, American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)?
Would you forward the campaign contributions you have already received from AIPAC to the UNRWA?
We call your attention to a letter from prominent Jewish Americans who write, “Given that Israel is so isolated internationally that it could not continue its inhumane treatment of the Palestinians without US political and military support, AIPAC is an essential link in the chain that holds in place the unbearable tragedy of Israel/Palestine.”
8. Would you meet with representatives of peace organizations and human rights organizations such as Combatants for Peace and Standing Together, Veterans for Peace, Breaking the Silence?
9. Mr. Panetta, would you participate in a community meeting or town hall forum on these questions?