Thirty two Members of the US Congress signed a petition addressed to the State Department calling on US Foreign Minister Rex Tillerson to personally intervene and urge Israeli occupation authorities to reconsider its charges against Palestinian human rights defender Issa Amr. Tens of thousands of US citizens also signed the petition.
Amr is currently facing 18 charges in Israeli military court for his non-violent protests and activism against illegal settlements in the city of al-Khalil in the West Bank.
The Youth Assembly against Settlement said in a statement on Thursday that signing the petition by 32 US lawmakers is a big victory to the American organizations and solidarity activists who launched a large-scale campaign across The States in order to sign the petition.
The pro-Palestine lawmakers who signed the petition are long-time supporters of the Palestinian cause and have been attacked by the Jewish Lobby in the US on several occasions. They are members of the Democratic Party including Keith Ellison Betty McCollum Earl Blumenauer and Mark Pocan the statement pointed out.
Amr said that the Israeli occupation government in cooperation with Israeli settlers fabricated the unlawful charges against him with the goal of eliminating youth activism against illegal Israeli settlements.
