NNU, UE Demand U.S. Halt Military Aid to Israel
Demonstrators took to the streets of Ft. Greene, Brooklyn back on Nov. 17, 2023 to demand an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
Work-Bites
National Nurses United [NNU]—the largest union and professional association of registered nurses in the U.S. and the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America [UA] earlier this week called for the U.S. to “immediately halt military aid to Israel” and “secure a permanent and immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.
“As workers and as unionists, we call on the United States to take urgent action to immediately halt military aid to Israel; secure a permanent and immediate ceasefire that ensures an end to the mass killing and starvation of innocent Palestinian civilians; ensure that the remaining hostages in Gaza and political prisoners in Israel are safely returned home; and recognize Palestinian sovereignty and restore the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination,” the unions wrote in an Oct. 2 joint letter to President Donald Trump.
NNU and UE also said they “concur with the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and Israel, which found that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
Together, the unions represent more than a quarter million trade unionists across the U.S.
The joint union letter came just days after Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced a multi-point deal for peace in Gaza and gave Hamas—the organization representing Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied Gaza Strip—a deadline to accept.
On Friday Trump said Hamas has until 6 p.m. Sunday [EST] to accept the deal, warning on social media, “If this last chance agreement is not reached, all hell, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas.” He also said, “There will be peace in the Middle East one way or the other.”
Hamas agreed to the plan with conditions. But on Saturday, Trump followed up his threat with a Truth Social post saying Hamas must move quickly on the deal “or else all bets will be off.”
“I will not tolerate delay, which many think will happen, or any outcome where Gaza poses a threat again,” he said. “Let’s get this done, fast. Everyone will be treated fairly!”
Trump had previous floated a scheme to take over Gaza and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”
“The attack by Hamas on October 7, 2023 was an atrocity,” the joint NNU and UE letter to Trump declares. “But Israel’s collective punishment of millions of Palestinians and destruction of Gaza over two years constitute a crime against humanity. More than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed, including nearly 20,000 children, while 1.9 million have been displaced and countless others have been severely injured and have lost their family members since October 2023.”
The labor unions said the death toll also includes “many of our union siblings, including hundreds of health care workers, media workers, engineers, and civil servants killed on the job.”
More than 250 journalists have killed attempting to cover Gaza.
“These horrific losses,” the union letter further states, “also do not take into account the more than a century of oppression, including forcible dispossession of property, restricting travel, and more, inflicted upon the Palestinian people culminating into apartheid.”
The full NNU and UE letter to Trump can be found here.