The State Department stopped issuing temporary medical-humanitarian visas to people in Gaza. It’s an unconscionable reversal of a long-standing policy that allowed a small number of people, many of them children, to access life-saving medical care in the United States.
This change isn’t about protecting people, or making anyone safer. It’s about weaponizing our government to punish. Punish people already starving under U.S.-backed, Israeli government restrictions on aid. Punish people the Israeli military has bombed with U.S.-made weapons for months.
But Secretary Rubio has said the pause may be temporary, and that gives us a crucial chance to make the political costs of this choice too hard to bear. Let’s take advantage of every second and ensure everyone at State hears overwhelming support to reinstate this policy and help people access the life-saving medical care they need.
We’re not risking this horrible policy becoming permanent because Secretary Rubio thinks people like us aren’t paying attention or, worse, that we don’t care. Sign now and urge him to allow people from Gaza to seek care and treatment in the United States.