![Have Your Members of Congress Write Attorney General Holder about Rasmea Odeh’s Case It is with a profound sense of outrage that yet again we are witnessing the U.S. support […]](https://uspcn.org/wp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/rasmea-620x300.jpg "Take Action: Respond to Attacks against Palestinians from Gaza to Chicago")
Have Your Members of Congress Write Attorney General Holder about Rasmea Odeh’s Case
It is with a profound sense of outrage that yet again we are witnessing the U.S. support Israel’s brutal attack on Palestine while it continues targeting Palestinian Americans within the U.S. During the past 72 hours, Israel has killed at least 81 Palestinians, injured thousands, and deliberately destroyed homes since the latest assault began this Monday–all with U.S. weapons and political support.
If you haven’t already taken action to protest Israel’s human rights abuses and collective punishment of the Palestinians, then please see our alert from earlier this week to get involved.
As Israel is intensifying its brutality toward the Palestinian people, the United States is moving ahead with its prosecution of Rasmea Odeh—a survivor of Israeli torture and a beloved Chicago-area Palestinian-American community organizer—despite thousands of you who already have written to and called the District Attorney to drop the spurious immigration-related charges against her.
But we won’t be deterred. Today, we’re joining with the US Campaign to End the Occupation, member groups and friends—American Muslims for Palestine, Council on American-Islamic Relations, Committee to Stop FBI Repression, Defending Dissent Foundation, National Lawyers Guild, and the United States Palestinian Community Network—in a joint day of action.
As we explain in the letter to Congress:
“The 67-year-old community leader is facing up to ten years in federal prison and the prospect of her U.S. citizenship been revoked and being deported. Her arrest stems from allegations that she failed to disclose on her naturalization application an unjust conviction by Israeli military courts over 45 years ago. She was physically and sexually tortured into confessing to a crime she did not commit, and subjected to continued torture, sexual abuse and solitary confinement while in detention for 10 years.
These charges against Odeh are spurious because she has not hidden her torture and imprisonment. On the contrary, in 1979, she publicly testified before the UN in great detail about the torture to which she was subjected while imprisoned by Israel.”
Click here to read the letter and send a personal version to your Members of Congress. It’s easy…just type in your zip code to get started.
The August Congressional recess is coming up. The US Campaign to End the Occupation wants to help you set up a delegation to meet with your Members of Congress to share your concerns about Rasmea Odeh’s prosecution and to hold Israel accountable for its increasing brutality both toward Palestinians and Americans such as Tarek Abu Khdeir.
To get started, please contact the US Campaign’s Legislative Coordinator Mike Coogan who will provide you with the training and resources you need for a successful meeting. Don’t worry if you’ve never met with your Members of Congress before. We’ll walk you through the process as needed.
For additional details about Rasmea’s case, please check out this flyer from USPCN and this article Josh Ruebner wrote in The Hill.
Thank you for taking action to protest our government’s prosecution of Rasmea Odeh and for all of your continued activism to end Israel’s brutality toward the Palestinians.
