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Act to Free Mahmoud Khalil

On March 8, Mahmoud Khalil, who recently earned his graduate degree at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs, was returning to his New York apartment after Iftar. As Khalil and his 8-months-pregnant wife entered their home, they were intercepted by plainclothes Department of Homeland Security agents who then abducted Mahmoud.

Last year, Khalil and other Columbia students set up an encampment on the school’s main lawn to protest Israel’s brutal war on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has now led to the death of nearly 50,000 Palestinians, mostly innocent civilians.

Khalil is a permanent resident of the United States. Yet, he could now face imminent deportation for exercising free speech simply because of his criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war. Mahmoud was targeted because he spoke out for Palestinian freedom and protested for an end to the U.S.-backed, Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.

DHS, acting on an Executive Order signed by Donald Trump, is actively pushing our country into new levels of authoritarianism.

Mahmoud is being targeted because he stood up for Palestinian justice. He was one of the lead student negotiators for the Gaza solidarity encampment last year, which called for an end to university funding of Israeli genocide and apartheid. Frighteningly, his arrest could just be the first of more chilling action to come. President Trump warned Monday that this weekend’s arrest of Mahmoud Khalil by federal immigration authorities is the first “of many to come” amid his administration's crackdown on students and alleged “agitators” protesting Israel’s war with Hamas in Gaza.

DHS agents reportedly arrested Khalil from his home, even after being shown his Green Card. When his wife – a U.S. citizen – protested, they threatened that unless she stayed away, she too would be taken. She and his lawyer were told he was taken to a detention center in New Jersey, but he was then moved again to a center in Louisiana.

Make no mistake: this is an attempt to crush the free speech of any who oppose Trump’s authoritarian agenda. The people who represent us need to reminded of their job to preserve that and all of our freedoms.

Both Rep. Kevin Mullin and Sam Liccardo signed a House letter from Reps. Jayapal, Raskin and Scanlon to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, demanding Khalil's release.

Action: Contact Rep. Mullin or Liccardo to thank them for taking action on the sign-on letter, and ask them to continue speaking out for this draconian situation to be corrected. Also contact both Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, and demand they do everything in their power to secure Mahmoud Khalil’s release from ICE custody. Tell them the Trump administration is again making unconstitutional and authoritarian moves, and we need them to fight back in order to protect the free and protected speech of students, activists, and immigrants.

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.

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.

Senate hearings on Huckabee's nomination are currently inn process. 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. Padilla and 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.

The SAVE Act Won't Save voting

This alert, while not directly a "peace" issue, is definitely a "justice" issue. It is derived from a piece by Emily Burns, who is a Communications Associate at the Campaign Legal Center.

Our democracy works best when everybody can participate. But a bill in Congress, the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act (HR 22), could silence millions of voters by creating new barriers to voter registration that make it harder for Americans to make their voices heard.

Here are some of the many ways the SAVE Act could prevent Americans from participating in the democratic process:

Documentation Barriers

When registering to vote, Americans are already required to verify their eligibility. The SAVE Act imposes unnecessary barriers to the registration process, requiring voters to provide documentation that many don’t have.

More than 21 million Americans are unable to access the additional documents that would be required to register to vote under the SAVE Act. People of color, married people who have changed their names, as well as young and elderly people are more likely to have difficulty in accessing these documents. For example, married people who have changed their name do not necessarily have a birth certificate with their current legal name on it.

Under the SAVE Act, most voters wouldn’t be able to register to vote with their driver's license alone. Instead, they would need an “Enhanced Driver’s License”, which are only available in five states, or another less common form of documentation, like a U.S. passport or birth certificate.

These additional requirements would force voters to jump unnecessary hurdles to exercise a fundamental freedom in our democracy.

Eliminating Mail Registration and Disrupting Online Registration

In 2022, more than seven million Americans registered to vote by mail, and almost 11 million Americans registered to vote online.

The SAVE Act would severely threaten mail registration and require online registration systems to be overhauled to fit the bill’s requirements. Millions of Americans rely on these options to make their voices heard.

Promoting Voter Purges

The SAVE Act would mandate that states conduct frequent voter purges, a practice that removes registered voters from the rolls based on faulty data. Voter purges ultimately take away Americans’ freedom to vote.

We already have laws in place to ensure only citizens are voting, which include strict penalties such as deportation.

Enforcing the SAVE Act would inevitably remove American citizens from the voter rolls, just as voter purges across the country have done in the past. Campaign Legal Center (CLC) has been at the forefront of fighting back against these unfair voter purges.

Imprisoning Election Workers

Election officials are everyday Americans who work hard to ensure a functioning democracy. However, under the SAVE Act, election workers could go to prison for up to five years if they help to register somebody without the correct documents, even if the registered voter is a citizen.

Election officials are vital to our democracy. They shouldn’t have to fear criminal penalties just for doing their jobs.

Protecting the freedom to vote

We should be working to make our elections more inclusive and accessible, and the SAVE Act does the opposite. It tries to silence the voices of Americans by imposing unnecessary barriers, forcing voters to jump through hoops.

We already have strict laws in place to protect the security of our elections. The right to vote is a basic American freedom, and our elected officials should be working to protect that right, not restrict it.

Action: Contact Rep. Mullin or Liccardo, or your Rep otherwise, and tell them to vote against (and vehemently oppose) HR 22, the SAVE Act. Also contact Sen. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, and urge not only their opposition to any Senate version, but also their filibuster should it get that far.

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.

In 2024, 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.

The UNRWA Emergency Restoration Act will soon be re-introduced (watch this space for the bill number) by Rep. Andre Carson, with a number of co-sponsors. Unfortunately, they do not include Rep. Kevin Mullin or Sam Liccardo. 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.

On March 6, the Senate version of this bill, S.898, was re-introduced by Sen. Peter Welch. Neither Sen. Alex Padilla nor Adam Schiff are among the 6 co-sponsors.

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, S. 898. Suggest this is an effective and overdue bill toward beginning to alleviate the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza.

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.

Support Diplomacy to Halt the Arms Race

We begin this alert with words from the Arms Control Association: “Even as Trump undercuts our European allies, he has also spoken twice on (Jan. 23 and Feb. 13) about excessive nuclear weapons costs and his desire for ‘denuclearization’ talks with Russia and China; earlier this week, Putin opined about the need for the U.S. and Russia to talk about what happens after New START expires.

“So, it appears that it is very likely that at some point, perhaps relatively soon, they will also be negotiating about nuclear weapons matters.

“Given what is at stake and given our mission here at ACA, we believe we all need to do our best to steer their conversation on nuclear weapons in a productive direction…and to try to build bipartisan support (in Congress and elsewhere, through the media, through direct lobbying, through grassroots mobilization, etc.) for new nuclear arms control restraints that can halt and reverse the nuclear arms race.”

We take the following also largely from ACA:

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START), the last major remaining bilateral nuclear arms control agreement, will expire in less than a year. After Feb. 5, 2026, the U.S. and Russia will no longer be capped at 1,550 deployed strategic warheads, meaning both sides will be tempted to adopt worst-case assumptions of the other's nuclear plans. Meanwhile, China is increasing the quantity and capabilities of its nuclear arsenal.

Alarmingly, some members of Congress and the nuclear weapons establishment want to abandon arms control diplomacy and increase the size of the U.S. nuclear arsenal for the first time in more than 35 years. But there is also support for sensible nuclear arms control and disarmament measures.

Res. 100 introduced by Rep. Bill Foster and more than a dozen others, and S. Res. 61, which has been advanced by Sens. Ed Markey and Jack Reed, calls on the Trump administration to “...actively pursue a dialogue with the Russian Federation on a new nuclear arms control framework and avoid an unrestrained nuclear arms race.” The resolution also calls upon the U.S. and Russia to continue to respect the limits established by New START until such time as a new nuclear arms control framework is established.

We can help to head off unconstrained global nuclear competition by urging our members of Congress to get behind these identical measures.

Action: Contact Rep. Kevin Mullin or Sam Liccardo, or whomever represents you – as well as Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, and tell them to co-sponsor this bicameral resolution calling for strong, U.S.-led leadership for nuclear arms control vis-a-vis Russia and with China; and that condemns nuclear threats from Russia or any other state. Remind them that a world without effective nuclear arms control diplomacy is a more dangerous world, we need to follow up every opportunity to pursue that diplomacy.

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

Rein in Nuclear Weapons

On January 28, the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists moved their iconic Doomsday Clock ahead to 89 seconds before midnight, the closest it’s ever come to symbolic global apocalypse. 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 will soon re-introduce a measure, "(E)mbracing the goals and provisions of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.” (H. Res. 77 in the last Congress.) 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 was 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 H. Res. 77 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.