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Stephen
Soldz
(617)
935-4246
Dear
President-Elect Obama,
We are
writing to urge you not to
select John Brennan as Director of the CIA. We are psychologists and allies who
have long opposed the abuses of detainees under the Bush administration. We are just concluding a successful
several-year struggle to remove psychologists from their roles in aiding or
abetting these abuses. It has been a distressing fact that, while the Bush
administration resorted to abuse and torture of those in our custody, often
psychologists have been put in positions to use their psychological expertise to
guide these unconscionable practices.
We look
forward to your administration as an opportunity for genuine change - in this
case for our country to take a new direction in its treatment of
prisoners. We applaud your commitment to closing Guantanamo and are encouraged by your clear statement from
your 60
Minutes interview last
Sunday, "America doesn't torture, and I'm
gonna make sure that we don't torture." This fuels our hope for a decisive
repudiation of the "dark side" - the willingness to use or abet illegal and
unethical coercive interrogation tactics that sometimes amount to torture and
often constitute cruel, inhuman and degrading
treatment.
We are
concerned, however, by reports that you may appoint John Brennan as Director of
the CIA. Mr. Brennan served as a
high official in George Tenet's CIA and supported Tenet's policies, including
"enhanced interrogations" as well as "renditions" to torturing countries.
According to his own statements, Mr. Brennan was a supporter of the "dark side"
policies, wishing only to have some legal justification supplied in order to
protect CIA operatives. In describing Director Tenet's views he stated during a
March 8,
2006 Frontline
interview:
I think
George [Tenet] had two concerns. One is to make sure that there was that legal
justification, as well as protection for CIA officers who are going to be
engaged in some of these things, so that they would not be then prosecuted or
held liable for actions that were being directed by the administration. So we
want to make sure the findings and other things were done probably with the
appropriate Department of Justice review.
We know, of
course, that "the appropriate Department of Justice review" means that torture
was authorized and conducted by our government.
The use of
these tactics goes against the moral fiber of our country and is never
justified. This is true whether these "enhanced interrogation" techniques are
used directly by U.S. forces, as in the CIA's "black sites," or by other
countries acting as our surrogates, as in the "renditions" program where
individuals are taken to countries practicing torture, resulting in suffering
inflicted by that country's forces.
We are well
aware that these techniques are ineffective as well as immoral. There is
extensive evidence that abused detainees are likely to say anything, true or
false, to make the pain stop, leading to faulty intelligence. Furthermore, use
of torture and other coercive techniques alienates our allies, strengthens the
commitment of our enemies, and puts our own captured soldiers at risk.
Earlier
this year Mr. Brennan argued in a National Journal interview that a new
administration will have great continuity with the Bush-Cheney administration in
its intelligence policies:
Even though
people may criticize what has happened during the two Bush administrations,
there has been a fair amount of continuity. A new administration, be it
Republican or Democrat -- you're going to have a fairly significant change of
people involved at the senior-most levels. And I would argue for continuity in
those early stages. You don't want to whipsaw the [intelligence] community. You
don't want to presume knowledge about how things fit together and why things are
being done the way they are being done. And you have to understand the
implication, then, of making any major changes or redirecting things. I'm hoping
there will be a number of professionals coming in who have an understanding of
the evolution of the capabilities in the community over the past six years,
because there is a method to how things have changed and
adapted.
In order to
restore American credibility and the rule of law, our country needs a clear and
decisive repudiation of the "dark side" at this crucial turning point in our
history. We need officials to clearly and without ambivalence assert the rule of
law. Mr. Brennan is not an appropriate choice to lead us in this direction. The
country cannot afford to have him as director of our most important intelligence
agencies.
As
psychologists and other concerned Americans, we ask you to reject Mr. Brennan as
Director of the CIA. His appointment would dishearten and alienate those who
opposed torture under the Bush administration. We ask you to appoint a Director
who will truly represent "the change we need."
We eagerly
await your administration and the new spirit it represents.
Best wishes
for a successful administration,
Sincerely,
* Affiliations for identification purposes
only
*
Stephen
Soldz, Ph.D., Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis & Coalition
for an Ethical Psychology
Lorri
Greene, Ph.D., Psychologist, San
Diego, CA
Frank
Summers, Ph.D., ABPP, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences,
Northwestern University Medical School
Ruth
Fallenbaum, Ph.D., Berkeley,
CA
Neil
Altman, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis,
New York
University
Dan Aalbers
Martha
Davis, Ph.D., John
Jay College of Criminal Justice,
NYC
Robert
Parker, Ph.D., Member American Psychological Association since
1985
Member Washington State Psychological Association since
1991
Jancis
Long, Ph.D., President, Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Member, APA
Division 39 Section 9 Psychoanalysts for Social Responsibility, Berkeley, CA
Jean Maria
Arrigo, Ph.D., Project on Ethics and Art in
Testimony
Steven
Reisner, Ph.D., NYU Medical
School & Coalition for
an Ethical Psychology
Brad Olson,
Ph.D., Northwestern University, Evanston, IL
Ellen G.
Levine, Ph.D., M.P.H., San Francisco
State University, Hayward, CA
David
Sloan-Rossiter, Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Psychoanalysis & Boston
Institute of Psychotherapy
David
Ramirez, Ph.D., Swarthmore College
John M.
Stewart, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor of Psychology, Northland College, Washburn, WI
Susan
Herman, Ph.D., ABPP, New
York University Postdoctoral Program, Little
Falls, NJ
Susan
Phipps-Yonas, Ph.D., L.P., Minneapolis, MN
Coalition
for an Ethical Psychology
Muriel Dimen, Ph.D., NYU Postdoctoral Program in
Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis
Joe
Gorin, Ph.D., Washington,
DC
Leigh
Messinides, Ph.D., Long
Beach, CA
Alice
Lowe Shaw, Ph.D., San
Francisco, CA
Laura
L. Doty, Ph.D., Santa Rosa,
CA
Susan
Rosbrow-Reich, Ph.D., Psychoanalyst and Psychologist, Faculty
Psychoanalytic Institute of
New England East, Mass Institute
for Psychoanalysis, Psychoanalytic Couple and Family Institute of New England, and Member, Coalition for an Ethical
Psychology
Judie
Alpert, Ph.D., Faculty and Supervisor, NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy
and Psychoanalysis, and Professor of Applied
Psychology
Department of Applied Psychology, New York University
Donnel B.
Stern, Ph.D., William Alanson White Institute
Johanna
Tiemann, Ph.D., NYU Postdoctoral Program
Julie
Gerhardt, Ph.D., Palo Alto,
CA
Ronna
Friend, M.A., Eugene,
OR
Susan
Reese, Ph.D., Arizona Center for Psychoanalytic Studies, Tucson, AZ
Larry
Welkowitz, Ph.D., Prof. of Psychology, Keene
State College, Keene,
NH
James
Hopper, Ph.D., Arlington,
MA
Philip V. Hull, Ph.D., Psychologist (HI, CA,
New Zealand), Faleola Pacific Island Mental Health Services, Otahuhu, Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand
Nancy
Hollander, Ph.D., Psychologist & Professor Emeritus of
Latin
American history at
California
State University
John P.
Neafsey, Psy.D., Chicago,
IL
Ronnie C.
Lesser, Ph.D., Dartmouth Medical
College, Hanover,
NH
Stephen
Sideroff, Ph.D.
Kathleen Malley-Morrison, Ed.D., Boston University, Boston, MA
Irwin Z.
Hoffman, Ph.D., Lecturer in Psychiatry, University of Illinois College of
Medicine, Chicago, IL
David G.
Byrom, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, Co-Director, Family Therapy Institute of
Suffolk, Smithtown, NY
Claudia
Luiz, M.Ed., Cert. Psya.
Milton
Strauss, Research Psychologist, Corrales, NM
David
DeBatto, Author/Speaker, U.S.
Army Counterintelligence Special Agent (ret.), Tampa, FL
Katie
Gentile, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Counseling and Gender Studies, Women's
Center Director, John Jay College of Criminal Justice, New York,
NY
Laurel Bass Wagner, Ph.D.,
Dallas, TX
Abram
Trosky, B.A., MALA., Ph.D. candidate, Boston University, Presidential Teaching Fellow,
Political Science Department, Boston, MA
Cynthia Colvin, Ph.D., Oakland, CA
Kathy
French, Ed.D., Professor, Behavior Science Department; Coordinator, UVU Martin
Luther King, Jr. Commemoration; Utah Valley
University
Stefan R.
Zicht, Psy.D., Co-Director, Manhattan Institute for Psychoanalysis and
President, NY State Psychological Assn Division of
Psychoanalysis
Thomas Rosbrow, Ph.D., A.B.P.P., San Francisco, CA
Norbert A. Wetzel, Th.D., Licensed Psychologist and
Marriage and Family Therapist, Director, Princeton Family Institute, and
Director of Training, Center for Family, Community, and Social Justice, Inc.,
Princeton, NJ
Rachael Peltz Ph.D., Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern
California, Berkeley, CA
Lawrence O. Brown, Ph.D.,
Fellow, Teaching Faculty and Supervisor of Psychotherapy, William Alanson White
Institute of Psychiatry, Psychoanalysis and Psychology, New York, NY
Drew
Tillotson, Psy.D., Clinical Psychologist, San Francisco, CA
Lynn
Perlman, Ph.D., Newton,
MA
Luisa
M. Saffiotti, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist, Chevy Chase, MD
Barbara Eisold, Ph.D., New York, NY
Sharon
Gadberry, Ph.D., San
Francisco, CA
Anne
M. Downes, Ph.D., Hampshire
College, Amherst, MA
Arthur J.
Eccleston, Psy.D., Chapel
Hill, NC
Mark S. Kane, Ph.D., Big Rapids,
MI
Cornelia St. John, M.A., MFT, Psychoanalytic
Institute of Northern California, Oakland, CA
Kristi Schermerhorn, Ph.D., Redmond, WA
Amal
Sedky Winter, Ph.D., American
University in Cairo
Sarah R.
Kamens, M.A., European Graduate
School, New York,
NY
Sonia
Orenstein, Ph.D., New York,
NY
Samantha Hoyt, Boston, MA
Melanie
Suchet, Ph.D., Executive Editor, Psychoanalytic
Dialogues
Dr.
Trudy Bond, Private Practice, Toledo, OH
Mary
Pelton-Cooper, Psy.D., Licensed Psychologist, Associate Professor, Northern Michigan
University
Peter Gumpert,
Ph.D., Brookline, MA
Michael O'Loughlin, Ph.D., Adelphi University, NY
Thomas S. Greenspon,
Ph.D., LP, LMFT, Minneapolis, MN
Rivkah
Lapidus, Ph.D., Somerville,
MA
Lynne
Layton, Ph.D., Harvard Medical School, Brookline, MA
Patricia Sherman, Ph.D., LCSW, Long Valley, NJ
Elizabeth
Hegeman, Ph.D., John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, and William Alanson
White Institute, New York, NY
Kathleen H.
Dockett, Ed.D., Psychologists for Social
Responsibility
Herb
Gingold, Ph.D., Psychologist, New
York, NY
Wes
Alwan, Somerville,
MA
Anthony J. Marsella, Ph.D., Past President (2007-2008),
Psychologists for Social Responsibility (Washington, DC),
Alpharetta, GA
Leila F.
Dane, Ph.D., Executive Director, Institute for Victims of Trauma,
McLean, VA
Elaine
Gould, Ph.D., Member, APA
Marc
Pilisuk, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus, The University of California and Professor,
Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center, Berkeley,
CA
Dori Smith,
Producer, Talk Nation Radio in CT
Ann
D'Ercole, Ph.D., ABPP, NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and
Psychoanalysis
Andrea
Cousins, Ph.D., Psy.D., Pioneer Valley Coalition Against Secrecy & Torture,
Western Massachusetts & Albany Association for Psychoanalytic Psychology
(Local Chapter, Division 39, APA)
Carolyn
Hicks, Ed.D.
Frank
Marotta, Ph.D.
Thomas
Greening, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Saybrook Graduate School and Clinical Professor, UCLA,
Private Practice
Barbara
Pearson, Ph.D., Westchester Center for the Study of Psychoanalysis and
Psychotherapy
Barbara C.
Greenspon, M.A., Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, Minneapolis, MN
Virginia S.
Elliott, Cert. PsyA, Brighton MA
Milton Schwebel, Ph.D., Rutgers University
David
Lotto, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist, Pittsfield, MA
Colleen
Cordes, Executive Director, Psychologists for Social
Responsibility
Martha A.
Nathan, M.D., Baystate Brightwood Medical Center, Springfield, MA
Nina K.
Thomas, Ph.D., ABPP, NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and
Psychoanalysis
Stuart A. Pizer, Ph.D., ABPP, Cambridge, MA
M.
Brinton Lykes, Ph.D., Professor of Psychology, Associate Director, Center for
Human Rights & International Justice, Boston College
Gemma
Marangoni Ainslie, Ph.D., ABPP, Austin, TX
Elaine Gifford, LICSW, Sudbury MA
Virginia
Goldner, Ph.D., Adjunct Clinical Professor, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, New York University, New York,
NY
Lisa
Sutton, Ph.D., Director of Clinical Training, Boston Institute for
Psychotherapy, Brookline,
MA
Polly
Scarvalone, Ph.D., New York,
NY
Jay
Frankel, Ph.D., Adjunct Clinical Associate Professor, New York University
Sue A Shapiro, Ph.D., NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis,
New York,
NY
Caryn
Gorden, Psy.D., New York, NY
Nancy
Atlas, Ph.D., New York,
NY
Helaine
Gold, Ph.D.
Bruce
Berman, Ph.D., New York,
NY
Andrea
Remez, Ph.D., New York,
NY
Steven Botticelli, Ph.D., New York, NY
Adrienne E Harris, Ph.D., New York, NY
Lisa Lyons,
Ph.D., Teaneck, NJ
Susan
Parlow, Ph.D., New York,
NY
Jill
Salberg, Ph.D., New York University
Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, New York, NY
Mary
Pike, B.A. Art Institute, ESL Resource Room Supervisor for Highland Park High
School, Highland
Park, IL
Zeese
Papanikolas, M.A., Retired Professor of
Humanities
Stephanie Noland, Ph.D., New York, NY
Helaine Gold, Ph.D., NYU Postdoctoral Program in
Psychotherapy & Psychoanalysis New York, NY
Steven
Cooper, Ph.D., Joint Chief Editor, Psychoanalytic Dialogues, Cambridge, MA
Laurel E.
Phoenix, Ph.D., Public and Environmental Affairs, UWGB, Green Bay, WI
Elizabeth Kandall, Ph.D., New York, NY
Anita
R. Herron, Ph.D., New York University
Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, New York, NY
Lynne
Kwalwasser, Ph.D., Supervisor, NYU Postdoctoral Program, New York, NY
Lynn
Leibowitz, Ph.D., New York,
NY
Latika Mangrulkar, MSW, ACSW, Steering Committee,
Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Santa Rosa, CA
Mary
Libbey, Ph.D., New York,
NY
Andrew
Tatarsky, Ph.D., Founding Executive board member, Division on Addiction and
Co-directer, Harm Reduction Psychotherapy and Training Associates
Roanne Barnett, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, New York, NY
Margaret
White, Ph.D., Upper
Montclair, NJ
Candy
Siegel, Ph.D., Tucson,
AZ
Zeborah Schachtel, Ph.D., NYU Postdoctoral Program in
Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy, New
York, NY
Elizabeth Wolfe, Psy.D., Clinical Psychologist,
Westport, CT
Judith
Merbaum, Ph.D., Great Neck, NY
Amy
Schwartz, Ph.D., NYU Postdoctoral Program in Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy,
New York, NY
Cathy
S Nelson, MSW, LISW, Ames,
IA
Martin
Devine, Psy.D., New York
University
Amy Schaffer, Ph.D., New York, NY
Nancy Caro
Hollander, Ph.D., Los Angeles Institute and Society for Psychoanalytic
Studies
Michele
Bartnett
Kate
Dunn, Psy. D., Brooklyn,
NY
Nancy
Freeman-Carroll, Psy.D., Clinical Psychologist-Psychoanalyst, William Alanson
White Institute, NYSPA, APA, New
York, NY
A. Raja
Hornstein, Psy.D., Clinical Psychologist, San Rafael, CA
Catherine M. Rossiter, LMT, Sayre, PA
Meg
Sandow, Psy.D., CA
David
Lichtenstein, Ph.D., New
York, NY
Richard
Reichbart, Ph.D., Institute for Psychoanalytic Training and Research
(IPTAR)
Ann Marie
Truppi, Ph.D.
Evelyn Pye,
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute for Psychoanalysis, American Psychological
Association
Carol
Wachs, Psy.D., New York, NY
Katharine
G. Baker, Ph.D., Northampton, MA
Judith G. Pott, Ph.D., New York, NY
Glenys Lobban, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, New York, NY
Lisa
Fliegel, ATR-BC, LMHC, Boston Institute for Psychotherapy School-based
program
Helen
Brackett, Ph.D., Clinical Psychologist, New York, NY
Dara Lyn
Petersen, Psychology Student, The George Washington University, Washington, DC
Christine Girard, Ph.D., New York, NY
Andrew Phelps, Ph.D. (mathematics), San Jose City College
Jane
Brodwyn, Psy.D., Northampton, MA
Jeanne
Wolff Bernstein, Ph.D., PINC
Stephen Benson, Ph.D., Blue Hill, ME
Kirsten Lentz, Ph.D., Candidate, NYU Postdoctoral Program
in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis, New York, NY
Francia
White, Doctoral Candidate, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, and Center for
Modern Psychoanalytic Studies
Neville D. Frankel, Newton, MA
Arthur J. Lebow, Ph.D., St. Paul, MN
Luise
Eichenbaum, LCSW, The Women's Therapy Centre
Institute
William Auerbach, Ph.D.,
Psychologist
Ken
Corbett, Ph.D., Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology, The New York University Program in Psychotherapy and
Psychoanalysis
Carol
Smaldino, LCSW, Port
Washington, NY
Angelo Smaldino, LCSW, Senior Member of National
Psychological Association for Psychoanalysis, Port Washington, NY
Susan
Gutwill, MS, LCSW
Brigitte
Ladisch, Ph.D.
Connie Evert, Ph.D., Philadelphia, PA
Diane
Perlman, Ph.D., Co-Chair, Psychologists for Social Responsibility Initiative on
Global Violence, Terrorism and Nuclear Disarmament, Transcend and Abolition,
2000
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Frontline. (March 8, 2006). The Dark Side. Downloaded
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https://news.nationaljournal.com/articles/080307nj1.htm
One attorney in the case called the ruling "a powerful rebuke to the government's attempt to hurry people away to a gulag-type prison in El Salvador."
For the second time in less than a month, the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday ruled against the Trump administration's dubious use of an 18th century law to deport immigrants including at least one person with protected status without due process.
In a 7-2 ruling—with far-right Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel A. Alito dissenting—the high court found that President Donald Trump violated Venezuelan migrants' right to due process as a class by trying to fast-track their deportation to the notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison in El Salvador by invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act during peacetime.
The ruling is not a repudiation of Alien Enemies Act deportations and focuses solely on migrants' due process rights.
"Notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster."
"The detainees' interests at stake are accordingly particularly weighty," the court's opinion states. "Under these circumstances, notice roughly 24 hours before removal, devoid of information about how to exercise due process rights to contest that removal, surely does not pass muster."
"But it is not optimal for this court, far removed from the circumstances on the ground, to determine in the first instance the precise process necessary to satisfy the Constitution in this case," the court continued and, referring to the federal appellate court that "erred in dismissing the detainees' appeal for lack of jurisdiction," said that "we remand the case to the 5th Circuit for that purpose."
Lee Gelernt, deputy director of the ACLU's Immigrants' Rights Project and lead counsel in the case, said Friday that "the court's decision to stay removals is a powerful rebuke to the government's attempt to hurry people away to a gulag-type prison in El Salvador."
"The use of a wartime authority during peacetime, without even affording due process, raises issues of profound importance," Gelernt added.
The Supreme Court opinion noted the case of Kilmar Abrego García, a Maryland man with protected status who was wrongfully deported to CECOT in March. Last month, the high court unanimously ruled that Trump must facilitate Abrego García's return to the United States. The Trump administration has resisted the order, despite the president proclaiming that "if the Supreme Court said, 'Bring somebody back,' I would do that."
Steve Vadeck, a professor at Georgetown Law Center, toldCNN Friday that "because lower courts have blocked use of the [Alien Enemies Act] in every other district in which the president has sought to invoke it, that means it's effectively pausing all removals under the act until the 5th Circuit—and, presumably, the Supreme Court itself—conclusively resolves whether they're legal and how much process is due if so."
On Tuesday, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Haines—who was appointed by Trump—issued the first court ruling supporting Alien Enemies Act deportations.
"Please speak up forcefully and demand an end to this madness before there is no one left to save," said one advocacy group.
Human rights defenders implored U.S. lawmakers to speak out against the far-right government of fugitive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as it ramps up its 588-day assault and siege on the Gaza Strip, where at least 115 Palestinians were killed by Israel Defense Forces strikes on Friday amid worsening mass starvation.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the largest U.S. Muslim advocacy group, on Friday sent an open letter authored by its director of government affairs, Robert S. McCaw, urging every member of Congress to "please vocally speak out against the start of the Israeli government's plan to 'occupy and flatten' Gaza while herding any surviving Palestinians into camps before eventually expelling them from their land."
Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in recent days as Israeli forces pressed ahead with Operation Gideon's Chariots, a plan to conquer and indefinitely occupy all of Gaza and ethnically cleanse much of its population, possibly to make way for Jewish recolonization of the strip as advocated by numerous Israeli government officials.
Local and international media reported that at least 115 Palestinians including children were killed by Israeli attacks since dawn Friday, with air, artillery, and tank strikes concentrated in Beit Lahia and the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.
"Netanyahu has declared that there is 'no way' Israel will stop the war, even if all hostages are released, and he has vowed to completely reoccupy Gaza and force remaining Palestinians off their land," McCaw wrote. "His Cabinet has formally approved a full-scale ground invasion and permanent military occupation of the Gaza Strip. One senior Israeli minister openly stated that Gaza will be 'completely destroyed.'"
"This is it. Now or never. We implore you to condemn Netanyahu's plan, demand a permanent end to this genocidal war, and pledge to oppose further weapons sales to the Israeli government unless its human rights abuses stop," the letter continues. "As long as the Israeli government believes it will continue to receive unlimited American financial, military, and diplomatic support, Netanyahu has no reason to risk his grip on power by changing course."
Israeli and international critics accuse Netanyahu of risking the lives of 23 living hostages still being held by Hamas by prolonging the war in a bid to forestall a reckoning in his
criminal corruption trial.
"Netanyahu has made clear what he plans to do: destroy Gaza and ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people, even if it means starving and slaughtering the Israeli hostages along with them," CAIR said. "There is no more time left to sit on the sidelines, make symbolic statements, or hope something better will happen."
"Netanyahu has made clear what he plans to do: destroy Gaza and ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people."
"Children are being blown to pieces every single hour with American weapons," the group noted. "Babies are starving to death while food rots at the Gaza border. Mothers and fathers are dying with them, and the Israeli captives held in Gaza are at risk of starving to death or being killed by the Israeli government's indiscriminate bombing campaign."
"Please speak up forcefully and demand an end to this madness before there is no one left to save," the letter implores.
Earlier this week, Ben Cohen, co-founder of the Ben & Jerry's ice cream company, was arrested after disrupting a Senate hearing, shouting, "Congress kills poor kids in Gaza by buying bombs and pays for it by kicking kids off Medicaid in the U.S." as he was hauled off by police.
"Congress and the senators need to ease the siege," Cohen added. "They need to let food into Gaza. They need to let food to starving kids!"
The latest Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) report, published Monday, states that 244,000 people in Gaza are now in Phase 5, defined as such "an extreme deprivation of food" that "starvation, death, destitution, and extremely critical levels of acute malnutrition are or will likely be evident."
At least scores of Palestinians—including a minimum of 57 children and 14 elders—have died of severe malnutrition combined with lack of medical care throughout Gaza, United Nations experts and human rights groups said in recent days.
Already suffering under an Israeli blockade imposed in 2007 after Hamas took power in the coastal enclave, Gazans have been ravaged by hunger and illness due to the "complete siege" imposed by Israel immediately after the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack. The siege was tightened on March 2, when Israel stopped all lifesaving supplies—including food, medicine, fuel, and cooking gas—from entering the strip.
Israel's blockade, use of starvation as a weapon of war, killing or wounding of more than 187,000 Palestinians—including thousands missing and feared dead and buried beneath rubble—mass forced displacement of more than 2 million Gazans, and eliminationist statements by Israeli leaders and others are all being reviewed in The Hague as part of the South Africa-led genocide case against Israel currently before the International Court of Justice.
Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are also wanted by the International Criminal Court, also in The Hague, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity including extermination and forced starvation.
Also on Friday, CAIR welcomed a resolution signed by 27 Democratic and two Independent U.S. senators calling on the administration of President Donald Trump to "use all available diplomatic tools" to secure an end to Israel's assault on Gaza, the hostages' release, and a lifting of the siege in order to allow "urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to address the needs of civilians."
While many Israelis and their supporters around the world deny that there is mass starvation in Gaza, both Trump and Mike Huckabee, his ambassador to Israel, have acknowledged that Palestinians are starving. On the final day of his Mideast tour Friday, Trump said in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates that "a lot of people are starving" in Gaza, and "we're going to get that taken care of."
However, Huckabee recently admitted that a U.S.-Israeli plan to deliver limited humanitarian aid to parts of Gaza would initially only feed around 60% of the population. The United Nations and humanitarian groups operating in Gaza have rejected the plan.
A working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research found that Medicaid expansion saved over 27,000 lives since 2010.
Critics who say extensive cuts to Medicaid being pushed by the Trump administration and House Republicans will result in the deaths of people were bolstered Friday by new reporting on a recent study detailing how the key health program for the nation's poor saves live.
As Republicans in Congress pressed ahead this week with a plan that would cause at least 8 million Americans to lose Medicaid as part of a sweeping tax and spending bill desired by U.S. President Donald Trump, a recently published working paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research, first reported on by The New York Times, shows that Medicaid expansion saved over 27,000 lives since 2010.
A provision in the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which went into effect in 2014, allowed states to expand eligibility for Medicaid to all low-income adults regardless of disability or parenthood status. The change is part of the reason that enrollment in the program rose roughly 50% between 2010 and 2021, according to the authors of the study.
The study, which used a dataset of 37 million low-income American adults, found that expansions increased Medicaid enrollment by 12 percentage points. The study estimates that people who enrolled in Medicaid were 21% less likely to die compared to those not enrolled.
"These expansions appear to be cost-effective, with direct budgetary costs of $5.4 million per life saved and $179,000 per life-year," according to a summary of the working paper.
The researchers told the Times that the timing of the release of the working paper was not connected to Congress' current conversation around Medicaid, though they told the outlet that the debate made their findings especially relevant.
The Times described the research as "the most definitive study yet" on Medicaid's health effects and health economists not involved with the research described it as the most persuasive proof so far that Medicaid and other types of health insurance save lives.
Meanwhile, on Friday, efforts to pass the GOP megabill hit a stumbling block when a handful of Republican co-called "fiscal hawks" voted with Democrats on the U.S. House Budget Committee to block the reconciliation package from advancing through a key committee vote. The Republican hardliners voted no because they want more cuts to Medicaid.
After the vote, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), a panel member, vowed that Democrats would "keep fighting to protect Medicaid and the American people."
In response to the House Budget Committee vote, Alex Lawson, executive director of the advocacy group Social Security Works said on Friday: "Make no mistake, Republicans still plan to bring it to the House floor next week."
Lawson blasted the proposed Medicaid cuts, writing that "their plan will kill people."
"The ripple effect of these cuts will hit every single person in this country," he added. "Unless you are a billionaire, your standard of living and your health care will get worse if this despicable plan becomes law."