WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) issued the following statement in opposition to Prime Minister Netanyahu’s plans to begin annexation of large swaths of the West Bank beginning on July 1st.

“I join my Congressional colleagues in voicing my vehement opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government’s plans to begin unilateral annexation of large swaths of the West Bank. This harmful move would do irreparable damage to the wellbeing of the Palestinian and Israeli people and jeopardize any efforts for long-term peace and equality in the region.

The Trump Administration’s overt and tacit support of annexation has further emboldened the Netanyahu government to move forward with a plan rooted in a callous disregard for the lives of the most vulnerable communities.

Let me be clear, unilateral annexation is a threat to democracy and would create apartheid like conditions and entrench human rights violations against the Palestinian people. Additionally, annexation would push the parties further from a negotiated agreement culminating in a real two state solution.

As the United States reckons with its own systemic inequities and engages in a national conversation about racial injustice and the value of Black and brown lives, we must be consistent in our calls for dismantling systemic racism. We must reject short sighted, oppressive, and discriminatory policies both in the United States and abroad.

Last year, Prime Minister Netanyahu took unprecedented steps to ban members of the United States Congress from entering the country. That move came on the heels of an increase in demolitions of Palestinian homes in the West Bank and ongoing detention of Palestinian children.

This pattern of human rights violations shouldn’t be tolerated from the Trump Administration or the Netanyahu Administration. We must uphold the values that we espouse. We must stand up in the face of injustice and we must dismantle systems of oppression.”

Earlier today, Congresswoman Pressley joined her colleagues in sending a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo calling on him to stop the new unity government of Israel from further proceeding down its path of annexation of Palestinian territory in the West Bank.

# # #