Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya refused to abandon his patients in Gaza. He buried his own son in the hospital courtyard after he was killed by an Israeli drone that struck the entrance of Kamal Adwan Hospital. He kept the hospital running through Israel’s brutal 85-day siege, and didn’t stop fighting for his patients even when the Israeli military raided the hospital and kidnapped dozens of hospital workers. For that, the Israeli military kidnapped him a year and a half ago, and now he's been beaten, starved, thrown in solitary, and is in critical condition — all for trying to save Palestinian lives.
In his last meeting with his lawyer, Dr. Abu Safiya said “They brought me here to kill me.” Dr. Abu Safiya must be released immediately, along with the thousands of Palestinians the Israeli government is holding without charge or trial, who are now at risk after the Knesset passed a law that allows the death penalty for Palestinians.
Kidnapping one of Gaza's few remaining doctors while bombing its hospitals and killing over 1700 health care workers is yet another facet of Israel’s genocide — and it is being carried out with American weapons, paid for with our tax dollars. Palestinians have survived three years plus a century of ethnic cleansing, genocide and aparthied. Enough is enough.
In Congress, I will fight tooth and nail to cut off the endless flow of weapons and American taxpayer dollars to Israel as it violates countless international laws and indiscriminately bombs civilians across multiple countries at once.