Block the Bombs

This week, we are featuring a letter in support of the arms embargo resolution which passed the NC Democratic Party state convention on June 28, 2025 - the first in the nation. This letter garnered 300 signatures.The letter was sent to all Democratic Party officeholders at the state and federal level, as well as the Governor, the Party Chair, and Senatorial candidate Roy Cooper. We encourage all our North Carolina readers to reach out to your congressional representatives in Washington urging them to follow the lead of Rep.Valerie Foushee in endorsing the Block the Bombs Act, and Rep. Valerie Foushee and Rep. Deborah Ross in pledging not to accept AIPAC funding in the 2026 electoral cycle.

September 23, 2025

Dear Members of the NC Democratic Congressional Delegation and Senatorial candidate Roy Cooper,

We are North Carolinians representing a broad spectrum of faith and conscience. We write to express our strong support for the Resolution for an Embargo on Military Aid and Weapons Transfers to Israel which passed the State Executive Convention of the NC Democratic Party on June 28, 2025. The resolution received support from the Interfaith Caucus, the Arab Caucus, the Jewish Democrats, the Muslim Caucus, the African American Caucus, the LGBTQ+ Caucus, the Progressive Caucus, and the Association of Teen Democrats, among others.

Signatories to this letter write to communicate their support for the resolution irrespective of their party affiliations. Signers' politics differ on a range of issues, including the most effective path to a just and lasting peace in Palestine and Israel. But all signers support an end to U.S. military aid to Israel until highly-respected human rights monitoring organizations certify that Israel is no longer engaged in its inhumane campaign of starvation, displacement, ethnic cleansing, and enforcement of apartheid against the Palestinian people. The days of arming Israel to slaughter and ethnically cleanse innocents must end immediately. International humanitarian law forbids it, and our own laws prohibit American arms being used to violate human rights anywhere in the world.

Certainly, what happened on October 7, 2023 was an atrocity that caused deep trauma in Israel and the worldwide Jewish community. Hamas' violence against innocent civilians was indefensible. Yet it did not occur in a vacuum, and is best understood in its historical context. The attack grew out of a 75-yr. history of Israeli dispossession and oppression of the Palestinian people. Prior to October 7th, Israel subjected the people of Gaza to a brutal siege for 16 years, rationing food, thwarting commerce, and restricting passage in and out of the Strip. Hamas launched a desperate attack they hoped would result in a prisoner exchange and the lifting of the siege. Whatever claims can be made about Israel's right to defend itself, Israel's 23-month genocide against the people of Gaza is not legitimate self-defense.

There is widespread shock and revulsion among us and in our congregations at the massive scale of death and destruction in Gaza, and now a devastating famine caused by the Israeli blockade of humanitarian aid. It is clear that Israel could not wage this war without U.S. arms. The past 710 days have revealed that arming Israel unconditionally was wrong. It is past time for a new policy.

We are aware that there are critics of the resolution who argue that it is antisemitic. We respectfully disagree. No state that receives American military weapons may use them to violate human rights. As the resolution indicates, in February 2024, the International Court of Justice found credible evidence that Israel was plausibly committing war crimes, possibly genocide, and ordered all states that were supporting these violations to cease immediately. The arms embargo is a direct response to these calls, and to the concerns of more than 250 international humanitarian organizations.

In August, two key Israeli organizations, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, determined conclusively that Israel is carrying out a campaign of genocidal extermination in Gaza, and called for an international arms embargo to be imposed immediately on Israel. American Jewish groups Truah, IfNotNow, and Jewish Voice for Peace recognize genocide in Gaza and call for an Israel arms embargo. The conservative group, International Association of Genocide Scholars, voted overwhelmingly (86%) to affirm that Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza. The following Christian denominations and ecumenical organizations are on record supporting an Israeli arms embargo: Churches for Middle East Peace, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), United Church of Christ, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, American Friends Service Committee, African Methodist Episcopal Church, Sabeel, The United Methodist Conference, The Mennonite Church USA, The National Council of Churches, The World Council of Churches, and the list is growing. The Organization of Islamic Cooperation, representing 57 member states, Islamic Relief Worldwide, and American Muslims for Palestine have called for an arms embargo. North Carolina Democratic Congresswoman Valerie Foushee has signed onto the Block the Bombs Congressional Resolution (HR 3565). Rep. Foushee and Rep. Ross have pledged not to accept AIPAC campaign contributions in the 2026 electoral cycle.

We urge you to follow their lead and support the embargo. Give hope and encouragement to the increasing majority of North Carolinians who do not want their tax dollars used to bomb hospitals, schools, and churches, or destroy two million people's homes, or deliberately starve children, or annex the West Bank. They know these precious resources could be much better used to meet unmet social needs here in our North Carolina communities and across the country.

We appreciate your attention to our concerns. In the meantime, we hold you in our prayers as you provide leadership for our state.