Press release: USCPR Launches Visionary Campaign to End U.S. Military Funding to Israel
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
USCPR Launches Visionary Campaign to End U.S. Military Funding to Israel:
“Palestine Will Be Free: #StopArmingIsrael & Fund Our Communities”
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WASHINGTON, DC, April 14, 2023—As Tax Day approaches, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) is launching a visionary campaign to end U.S. military funding to Israel, beginning with a new interactive map and a nationwide action.
Every year, the U.S. government writes the Israeli apartheid state a blank check for at least $3.8 billion of our taxpayer dollars. The Israeli military uses those funds to attack Palestinian people, destroy their homes, and steal their native land, in violation of U.S. laws—including assaulting Palestinian worshippers inside Al Aqsa mosque and bombing Gaza last week.
Enough is enough. This new campaign, “Palestine Will Be Free: #StopArmingIsrael & Fund Our Communities,” envisions a better future: one in which we refuse to fund state violence, and instead fund the critical needs of our communities. A future in which Palestine is liberated at last, and all people are safe and free.
“A liberated future is worth fighting for, for the Palestinian people and for all across the world,” says USCPR Executive Director Ahmad Abuznaid. “When the U.S. stops arming Israel, taxpayers will see our dollars at work to uplift our communities, instead of shipped off as weapons of war.”
At the center of the campaign is the newly designed U.S. Military Funding to Israel Map. On it, users can look up their city or state to see how much residents pay in military funding to Israel through their federal tax dollars. Then, the map shows the resources that could be funded instead, like healthcare, housing, or student debt relief.
This Tax Day, on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, activists will be hitting the streets in 31 cities to raise awareness and demand that Congress #StopArmingIsrael. They’ll distribute over 8,000 satirical Tax Day flyers, which offer coupons for community resources instead of weapons to Israel.
This launch action is the first step of many in USCPR’s long-term campaign to end U.S. military funding to Israel, through grassroots movement building and Congressional advocacy. A better future is possible when the people demand it.
LEARN MORE: Visit USCPR’s new U.S. Military Funding to Israel Map at uscpr.org/militaryfunding to see how much of your community’s federal tax dollars fund Israel’s violence—and what the future could look like if your tax dollars were used for your community instead.
When you hover over the Take Action bar on the map, you can take three actions:
- Share the map on social media using a downloadable graphic.
- Contact your representatives in Congress.
- Donate to USCPR to offset the negative impact of your taxes and power the movement for Palestinian liberation.
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About the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights
The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) is a national network of activists and organizations who are committed to freedom, justice, and equality for the Palestinian people and who work to end U.S. complicity in their oppression. USCPR is a political home for all who believe that freedom for the Palestinian people is an integral part of achieving our collective liberation. USCPR provides resources and strategic support to the U.S.-based Palestine solidarity movement, channeling grassroots power into positive change in U.S. policy and public opinion. USCPR works with local organizers and activists, policymakers, movement leaders, media, and advocacy organizations to advance a rights-based, accountability and justice-oriented framework from the U.S. to Palestine.
