Tag: Rubio

Congressional Letter Supporting Freedom for Dr. Abu Safiya Sent to Rubio

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by Stanley Heller, Administrator, Promoting Enduring Peace

On Sept. 10, Oregon member of Congress Dr. Maxine Dexter published a letter that she sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. It was signed by 69 members of Congress and called for him to press Israel to grant freedom for Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. All five members of Connecticut’s congressional delegation signed. The doctor had been the director of Kamal Adwan Hospital in northern Gaza until Israeli forces made the hospital close on Dec. 27, 2024. He was seized then, and has only been seen on occasional visits by his lawyer. Sixty-six House members and three senators signed on to the letter to Rubio, including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and former top-ranking member of the Judiciary Committee Jamie Rankin.

We are delighted that all five members of the Connecticut delegation signed on to this necessary and vital letter. It’s been 20 months of agony and torture for the doctor. He has not been put on trial for any offense and has not even been formally charged. We strongly urge U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy and U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal to sign on to this statement or make their own plea for the abducted doctor’s freedom. Israel takes our billions. It should respect basic human rights. Luke Bronin, who is not a member of Congress but who won the Democratic primary in the first Congressional district (the Hartford area), will hopefully make his own statement.

The Congressional letter begins:

We write with urgent concern about the life-threatening conditions facing Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, a Palestinian pediatrician detained by Israel without charge or trial. Israeli authorities have detained him now for nearly two years, reportedly without adequate medical care. As recently as early July, Dr. Abu Safiya’s lawyer warned that his physical condition had deteriorated to the point of near-death.

You can see Congresswoman Dexter’s full letter at FreeDrAbuSafiya.org.
It links to the hand-signed letter and a printed list of signers.

The Campaign to Free Dr. Abu Safiya was formed at a meeting in Woodbridge at the Palestine Museum US in November 2025, where the doctor was given a Courage Award in absentia by one of the coalition member groups.

[The website for Promoting Enduring Peace is pepeace.org, where you can find more information about the struggle to free Dr. Abu Safiya and learn about the other projects that Promoting Enduring Peace is involved with.]

Calling on Senator Murphy to Oppose Senate Bill #170

by Stanley Heller, Middle East Crisis Committee

Imagine if your business or group supported Cesar Chavez grape boycott your state government put you on a blacklist, and you would be forbidden all state contracts and any pension fund investment. Or maybe state authorities punish you because you refused to buy Nestle products in the ’70s when it was dressing up saleswomen as nurses and pushing baby formula on women in the poorest countries in defiance of all good health sense. Imagine if when Macy’s and Woolworths boycotted Nazi German goods in the ’30s they would be sanctioned. What if the states did something similar to groups demanding action against Sudan because of what its government did in Darfur?

Senate Bill #170 proposes just that in regard to one boycott, the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement that works to end international support for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and pressure Israel to comply with international law. It was proposed by Florida Sen. Rubio and has 28 cosponsors including CT Senator Blumenthal. It goes beyond boycotts. It punishes any “entity” that advocates “sanctions” so it could be triggered if a group called for a cut-off of cluster bombs to Israel. If passed SB #170 would be an outrageous violation of free speech and a very bad precedent for trade unions who use the weapon of boycott to support striking workers. An effort is being made to persuade CT Senator Chris Murphy to oppose the bill. Labor lawyer John Fussell wrote a terrific letter to Murphy about #170 and 194 CT residents signed on to a similar letter opposing #170 that was hand-delivered to him at his town meeting in West Hartford. Email him through his website or even better call his office in DC at (202) 224-4041. For details see www.TheStruggle.org.

Far from punishing people for advocating BDS, state governments should support it. A few years ago Connecticut’s Treasurer reported that the state had $32 million invested in State of Israel Bonds or stocks in Israeli companies.