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chris van hollen
Progressive Senators Tell Rubio to Demand Israel Not Attack Sumud Flotilla, Which is Carrying Americans
The lawmakers told Rubio he has a "critical role to play in ensuring that US foreign policy protects our citizens and promotes international law and humanitarian relief."
Sep 25, 2025
A group of Democratic senators is urging Secretary of State Marco Rubio to pressure Israel not to attack the Gaza aid flotilla after the activists aboard warned they were facing an imminent threat.
The letter was sent on Wednesday by Democratic Sens. Ed Markey (Mass.), Jeff Merkley (Ore.), Chris Van Hollen (Md.), and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.).
The lawmakers stated that "the Global Sumud Flotilla is currently sailing across the Mediterranean Sea to bring vital humanitarian aid to Gaza, but has reportedly faced attacks by drones and other hostile actions."
On Tuesday night and into Wednesday morning, the flotilla, which is carrying more than 550 civilian activists in over 50 vessels, was swarmed by drones and hit by flash-bang grenades.
The flotilla's participants alleged that the attack came from Israel, which has portrayed the flotilla as a violent threat in recent days. Both Italy and Spain sent warships on Wednesday to assist and protect the convoy.
In a press release on Thursday, the activists aboard the flotilla said they'd received “credible intelligence” that “Israel is likely to escalate violent attacks on the flotilla within the next 48 hours.”
Also on Thursday, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), claimed without offering evidence that the flotilla was "planned and funded by Hamas, by Hamas representatives in Europe" and said the Navy was "ready to defend Israel’s borders at sea."
The Global Sumud Flotilla set sail at the start of September with 250 tons of critical food and medical aid for the people of Gaza, who are suffering from mass starvation as a result of Israel's near-total blockade of humanitarian aid entering the strip.
Last week, a commission of independent experts at the United Nations released an extensive report concluding that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza. This has included its blockade of aid, which has resulted in the deaths of more than 400 people, including at least 145 children, with many dying in recent months.
At least 65,419 Palestinians have also been killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 2023, and at least 167,160 have been wounded.
The lawmakers told Rubio that "US citizens, including residents of Maryland, Massachusetts, and Oregon" are aboard the flotilla's ships, adding that "under international humanitarian law and international human rights law, they warrant protection."
Participants in the flotilla include humanitarians, doctors, journalists, lawyers, and other activists from at least 44 countries worldwide. According to the antiwar activist group CodePink, 22 of the more than 550 people taking part in the flotilla are US citizens.
One of the vessels, Ohwayla, which took damage from a flash-bang grenade in Tuesday's drone attack, is primarily comprised of US veterans. Phil Tottenham, a member of Veterans for Peace and one of the passengers on Ohwayla, told Mondoweiss that despite the threats, "everyone with this flotilla is undeterred in our commitment."
"You have a critical role to play in ensuring that US foreign policy protects our citizens and promotes international law and humanitarian relief," the lawmakers told Rubio. "We urge you to demand that the Netanyahu government refrains from any use of force against peaceful civilian vessels and ensures that humanitarian aid is surged into Gaza so that the desperate conditions that continue to prompt these flotillas no longer persist."
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Senate Dems, Sanders Call for US Recognition of Palestinian Statehood
"The goal of a Palestinian state can’t be put off any longer if we want the next generation to avoid suffering from the same insecurity and affliction," said Sen. Jeff Merkley.
Sep 19, 2025
As some of the United States' closest allies join most of the world's nations in officially recognizing Palestinian statehood amid Israel's worsening genocide and famine in Gaza, US Sen. Jeff Merkley and seven colleagues on Thursday urged President Donald Trump to follow suit.
The senators introduced a nonbinding resolution calling on the president "to recognize a demilitarized state of Palestine, as consistent with international law and the principles of a two-state solution, alongside a secure state of Israel."
The resolution—which is cosponsored by Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), and Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii)—repeatedly mentions Hamas "terrorism" while ignoring the alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes for which fugitive Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant are wanted by the International Criminal Court.
The resolution's demands are "first, an immediate ceasefire, return of all hostages, and influx of aid. But then, a foundation for peace and prosperity for the future—and the only viable path for that is two states for two peoples," said Merkley, who was the first senator to back a Gaza ceasefire.
"The goal of a Palestinian state can’t be put off any longer if we want the next generation to avoid suffering from the same insecurity and affliction," Merkley added.
I’m leading the first-ever Senate resolution in support of Palestinian statehood. There is only one pathway that builds security, peace, and prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians. That path is two states for two peoples.
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— Senator Jeff Merkley (@merkley.senate.gov) September 18, 2025 at 3:48 PM
Van Hollen—who has been one of the Senate's strongest critics of US complicity in Israel's obliteration of Gaza and even tried to visit the strip with Merkley last month—said, "The most viable way to create some light at the end of the very dark tunnel in the Middle East, and assure security and self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians alike, is a two-state solution."
"Given that the Netanyahu government has obstructed that goal and the Trump administration has abandoned it, the Congress must make its position clear," he added.
Kaine said: "The US supported a historic United Nations resolution in 1947 to establish two states—Israel and Palestine. After nearly 80 years, the world has only kept one of those two promises and the lack of progress toward Palestinian autonomy has been a source of continuing tension in the region."
"Since July 2024 when the Israeli Knesset voted to deny a path to Palestinian statehood and made clear that Israel would not accept Palestinian autonomy, I have believed the US should no longer condition recognition on Israeli assent but rather on Palestinian willingness to live in peace with its neighbors," he added.
Approximately 150 of the UN’s 193 member states have officially recognized Palestine. Since October 2023, countries including Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway, and Spain have either recognized Palestine or announced their intent to do so.
Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders have openly boasted about thwarting Palestinian statehood. The prime minister has made clear his intention for Israel to control "from the river to the sea"—meaning all of Palestine—as envisioned in the founding platform of his Likud party.
Last month, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich—who, like many of his far-right compatriots, denies the very existence of the Palestinian people—proposed another expansion of Israel's illegal settler colonization of the occupied West Bank, asserting that the construction of thousands of new apartheid homes "buries the idea of a Palestinian state."
Netanyahu signed the proposal last week, declaring that "there will be no Palestinian state"—a position shared by all 15 Likud ministers, who want the prime minister to annex the entire West Bank by year's end.
Smotrich is also among the Israeli officials who favor annexing Gaza, ethnically cleansing its Palestinian population, and opening the strip for Israeli colonization. Trump, meanwhile, has proposed US control of Gaza and transformation of its Mediterranean coast into the "Riviera of the Middle East."
Lawmakers in Israel's Knesset, or Parliament, have also worked to block progress toward a two-state solution. In July, they hosted a conference titled "The Gaza Riviera–From Vision to Reality" advocating the conquest of Gaza and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in order to make the strip what Smotrich called "an inseparable part of Israel."
Critics allege that the ultimate goal of some Israeli leaders is the realization of a so-called "Greater Israel" stretching from the Nile River in Egypt to the Euphrates in Iraq.
The senators' resolution comes as more and more congressional Democrats accuse Israel of genocide, and reflects the wishes of a majority of Americans, according to recent polling.
On Wednesday, Sanders became the first upper chamber lawmaker to say that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza following the publication of a United Nations commission report that reached the same conclusion. Israel is currently facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice launched by South Africa and backed by around two dozen countries.
However, on the whole, the US government—which provides Israel with tens of billions of dollars in armed aid and diplomatic support—continues to back Israel. On Thursday, the US for the sixth time vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate Gaza ceasefire and release of all hostages held by Hamas.
This, as Israeli forces intensified their bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza City during Operation Gideon's Chariots 2, a campaign of conquest, occupation, and ethnic cleansing that aims to leave Israel fully in control of the strip.
Israeli forces killed dozens more Palestinians on Friday, the 714th day of a genocide that's left more than 240,000 Gazans dead, maimed, or missing and hundreds of thousands more starving, with no end in sight.
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US Senators Praised for Report on US Complicity in Israel's Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza
CAIR urged Congress "to immediately act on their findings by halting all military aid to the Israeli government, enforcing existing US human rights laws, and supporting international accountability efforts."
Sep 12, 2025
The Council on American-Islamic Relations on Friday commended Sens. Jeff Merkley and Chris Van Hollen for a new report about their recent trip to the Middle East that calls out US complicity in Israel's ethnic cleansing campaign in the Gaza Strip.
Merkley (D-Ore.) and Van Hollen (D-Md.) "have demonstrated a rare and commendable commitment to truth and accountability in the face of overwhelming political pressure," said CAIR Maryland director Zainab Chaudry in a statement.
"Their report confirms what Palestinians and human rights organizations have been documenting for years: that Israel's actions in Gaza and the West Bank amount to ethnic cleansing at the very least—and that the US bears responsibility for enabling these atrocities through billions in unconditional military aid and uncritical political support," Chaudry continued.
"We thank the senators for standing on the side of justice," she added, "and urge Congress to immediately act on their findings by halting all military aid to the Israeli government, enforcing existing US human rights laws, and supporting international accountability efforts."
CAIR, the largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group in the United States, previously praised the pair last month for their attempt to enter or even fly over Gaza, where Israeli forces continue to slaughter and starve Palestinians. The Gaza Health Ministry said Friday that the death toll since October 7, 2023 is at least 64,756, though experts believe the actual figure is far higher.
The government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "is implementing a plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza of Palestinians," declares the cover page of the senators' 21-page report, released Thursday. "America is complicit. The world must stop it."
Merkley said in a statement that "our report details what we saw during our recent trip to the region, including the destruction of Rafah that has reduced the city to rubble, and what we heard from experts in the field about how the Netanyahu government is systematically depriving Palestinians of the essentials needed to live—food, shelter, medicine, and water."
The report—which followed videos that the senators filmed and shared on social media at various stops—states that "the findings from our trip lead to the inescapable conclusion that the Netanyahu government's war in Gaza has gone far beyond the targeting of Hamas to imposing collective punishment on the Palestinians there, with the goal of making life for them unsustainable."
"That is why it restricts the delivery of humanitarian assistance and uses food as a weapon of war," the publication asserts. It also points to the death toll from the Israeli assault and that "at least 1.9 million people, about 90% of the population, across the Gaza Strip have been displaced during the war. Many have been displaced repeatedly, some 10 times or more."
Over 90% of Gaza's homes "have been destroyed or severely damaged," school buildings and agricultural lands "have been rendered unusable," and hospitals "have been damaged or destroyed, forcing many to close or operate under severely compromised conditions," the document notes. Additionally, "essential water and sanitation infrastructure have also collapsed under relentless bombing, leaving much of Gaza without access to clean water or functioning sewage systems."
"The fact that both the Netanyahu government and now the Trump administration are framing their plan as a call for the 'voluntary' exodus of Palestinians from Gaza is one of the most fraudulent, sinister, and twisted cover stories ever told," the report adds. "It is a farce to suggest people who have been subjected to destruction and dehumanization on such a vast scale would be departing Gaza 'voluntarily.' The plan is clearly to pressure Palestinians to leave Gaza by making life for them there virtually impossible."
Van Hollen said that "we hope this report will draw greater attention to these facts both here and around the world," and pledged that "we will do everything in our power to end America's ongoing complicity in this humanitarian disaster."
Under Democratic and Republican administrations, the US has given Israel billions of dollars in annual military aid. Both senators have repeatedly voted for Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) resolutions that would prevent the sale of certain offensive American weaponry to Israel, which have increasingly gained Democratic backers but still lack sufficient support to pass.
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