Secretary Rubio must reverse this dangerous and inhumane decision immediately

The U.S. State Department just cut another lifeline to people in danger.

The U.S. government just cut another lifeline to people in danger, Pamela.

It's an unconscionable reversal of a long-standing policy that allowed a small number of people, many of them children, to access life-saving medical care in the United States. This weekend, the State Department stopped issuing temporary medical-humanitarian visas to people in Gaza.

This change isn't about protecting people, or making anyone safer. It's about weaponizing our government to punish. Punish people already starving under U.S.-backed, Israeli government restrictions on aid. Punish people the Israeli military has bombed with U.S.-made weapons for months.

But Pamela, Secretary Rubio has said the pause may be temporary, and that gives us a crucial chance to make the political costs of this choice too hard to bear. Let's take advantage of every second and ensure everyone at State hears overwhelming support to reinstate this policy and help people access the life-saving medical care they need.

We're not risking this horrible policy becoming permanent because Secretary Rubio thinks people like us aren't paying attention or, worse, that we don't care. Sign now and urge him to allow people from Gaza to seek care and treatment in the United States.

ACT NOW

There are no more safe spaces in Gaza, but medical-humanitarian visas allowed a handful of injured and critically ill people — who are required to undergo vetting, pay their own way, and cannot remain in the United States permanently — to get treatment.

Like one-year-old Saedra, who was born with congenital defects in both legs and who the Ohio-based humanitarian group HEAL Palestine helped evacuate, along with her mother, to Chicago for care.[1] Or the 11 other critically injured children, ages 6 to 15, that HEAL helped bring, along with their siblings and caregivers, to cities including Boston, Atlanta, and Dallas just days ago. Many had lost limbs in the war. Once their care is completed, they will go to Egypt.

Andrew Miller, a former senior State Department official on Israeli-Palestinian affairs in the Biden administration, told The New York Times that Gazans can only get medical-humanitarian visas by appearing at an embassy in Jerusalem, Cairo, or Amman and undergoing security checks that include clearance from the U.S. government and the Israeli military.[2]

These visas offered these children and hundreds of others a chance at a future, until the State Department slammed the door shut on them this weekend.

Why? Because Laura Loomer, a far-right influencer and self-described "proud Islamophobe" with cozy ties to the Trump administration, took to X with baseless, racist claims.[2]

We can make the truth louder than Loomer's lies, Pamela. We may not have the ear of Trump's MAGA cabinet members, but we can make enough noise to get attention. When a whole movement of people fed up with this violence-first status quo keeps speaking out, decision-makers understand that it's time to choose a different path.

Our job, now and always, is to defend communities facing violence and injustice. Laura Loomer doesn't get to shape U.S. foreign policy on our watch. Join us to urge Sec. Rubio to issue medical-humanitarian visas to people from Gaza.

"War is stupid. I want it to end." That's what Abdullah Jabr, a then eight-year-old Palestinian living in the Bureij refugee camp, told Al Jazeera almost two years ago.[3]

He was right then, and he's still right. People in Israel, Palestine, and around the world deserve a lasting, sustainable, peace.

We don't know where Jabr is today, but we know we're not done fighting for him. The way we'll turn the tide on a status quo that allows for wars like the one we've witnessed for too many months? By centering human rights, justice, accountability, and healing — and doing it together.

Thank you for working for peace,
The Win Without War team

 

1. CBS News, "State Department pauses visitor visas for Gaza residents in need of medical care in U.S."
2. The New York Times, "U.S. Pauses Visitor Visas for Gazans After Right-Wing Outcry"
3. Al Jazeera, "'War is stupid and I want it to end': Injured Palestinian children speak"

 

 

 

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