I am a member of Jewish Voice for Peace. This petition opposes "The Combating BDS Act of 2016 H.R. 4514 and S. 2531" as well as similar measures introduced in the Ohio State Legislature, H.B. 476.

In early 2016, the United States and 11 other countries signed the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) at a ceremony in New Zealand. This massive trade deal is bigger and scarier than ones we’ve seen in the past, like NAFTA. The TPP was written in secret, without considering workers’ interests, and will shop our jobs overseas, let corporations lower our wages and give rich CEOs and extreme interest groups even more control over our jobs and our communities. Elected officials in Congress still hold the power to stop the TPP, and Rep. Jim Jordan can do the right thing and vote against it when it comes up in the House. Tell Jim Jordan to do the right thing for Ohio and oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement and other bad trade deals.

On February 5, the Huffington Post reported that Democratic Senator Chris Murphy had "called for the U.S. to cease military involvement in the Saudi-led war in Yemen." [1] But according to a New York Times report on Feb. 22, what Senator Murphy called for ending doesn't exist. The Times reported: "Western intervention in Libya, led by France and Britain, has created only greater instability there, while the war in Yemen, waged by Middle Eastern proxies with no overt Western involvement, continues unabated, suggesting no easy answers anywhere in the region." [2] We've urged other Senators to join Senator Murphy in calling for the U.S. to end its involvement in the Saudi war in Yemen. [3] It's sure not going to help our efforts if the New York Times won't even acknowledge that U.S. involvement exists. Urge the New York Times to correct the record and to fully acknowledge the U.S. role in the Saudi war in Yemen by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chris-murphy-saudi-arabia-yemen_us_56b3d010e4b04f9b57d9073c 2. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/world/europe/laurent-fabius-obama-syria-war.html 3. http://www.justforeignpolicy.org/act/stand-with-murphy-end-aid-to-Yemen-war

Millions of dollars of public funds from Honduras' health care system were funneled to the ruling National Party and the election campaign of President Juan Orlando Hernández. No charges have been brought against Hernández or other top party officials over the diversion of funds to the party. Human rights advocates in Honduras are insisting on an independent, United Nations-backed body to investigate, and 54 Members of Congress have urged Secretary of State Kerry to support this demand. [1] In 2009, the State Department under Secretary Hillary Clinton helped a military coup in Honduras succeed by blocking efforts to restore the left-leaning president, Manuel Zelaya, to power. [2] [3] Since then, more than 100 members of Congress have called on the Obama administration to condemn human rights violations by Honduras' security forces, and have questioned U.S. "security assistance" to Honduras. [4] The appropriations legislation in Congress for 2016 provides tools to pressure the Honduran government. It makes half the "assistance" to Honduras conditional on State Department certification that the authorities are taking effective steps to combat corruption, cooperate with commissions against impunity, and investigate and prosecute “members of military and police forces who are credibly alleged to have violated human rights.” Urge Congress to use its leverage against corruption in Honduras by signing our petition. References: 1. https://serrano.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/congressman-serrano-and-53-members-call-creation-un-sponsored-commission 2. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/16/opinion/an-anti-corruption-charade-in-honduras.html 3. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-naiman/wikileaks-honduras-state_b_789282.html 4. http://cepr.net/blogs/the-americas-blog/congressional-democrats-voice-renewed-opposition-to-u-s-security-assistance-to-honduras-will-kerry-finally-listen

Over 4.5 million refugees are without a home, but the United States has excepted fewer than most other Western nations, including Canada. Now governors are trying to ban refugee resettlement in their state [which illegal to do] and President Obama is struggling to get Congressional approval for the settlement of 10,000 in the U.S. Tell Congress that you support providing human beings a place where they feel safe and can call home.

Sen. Chris Murphy [D-CT] has called for the U.S. to end its military involvement in the Saudi war in Yemen. "I just don't see any evidence right now that the Saudis are conducting that military exercise in a way that's responsible. It's just feeding the humanitarian crisis inside Yemen," Senator Murphy said. [1] The Saudi war in Yemen has already killed thousands of civilians; the UN has said Saudi targeting of civilians in Yemen with air strikes may constitute crimes against humanity. Human Rights Watch has called on the U.S. to halt all transfer of arms to Saudi Arabia that might be used in violations of international law. [2] Urge the Senate to stand with Senator Murphy in calling for the end of U.S. military involvement in the Saudi war in Yemen by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chris-murphy-saudi-arabia-yemen_us_56b3d010e4b04f9b57d9073c 2. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-yemen-war-saudi-un-idUSKCN0V52Q0

The UN working group on arbitrary detention has found that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been arbitrarily detained in London for more than five years and should be released immediately. [1] Anthony Romero, executive director of the ACLU, said: “In light of this decision, it’s clear that any criminal charges against Mr. Assange in connection with WikiLeaks’ publishing operations would be unprecedented and unconstitutional. Indeed, even the prolonged criminal investigation of WikiLeaks itself has had a profound chilling effect. The Justice Department should end that investigation and make clear that no publisher will ever be prosecuted for the act of journalism.” [2] Urge the U.S. government to end all criminal investigations and threats of prosecution against Julian Assange and WikiLeaks by signing our petition. Initial signers: Oliver Stone, director Robert Naiman, Policy Director, Just Foreign Policy Kevin Martin, Executive Director, Peace Action Jon Rainwater, Executive Director, Peace Action West Jodie Evans, Co-founder, CODEPINK Beverly Bell, Founder, Other Worlds Jeff Cohen, Co-founder, RootsAction.org Ann Wertheimer, Chair, American Voices Abroad Kevin Zeese, Co-director, Popular Resistance Karen Barton, Coordinator, Bryn Mawr Peace Coalition Alice Slater, New York Director, Nuclear Age Peace Foundation Hedy Epstein, Holocaust Survivor C. G. Estabrook, Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois T.M. Scruggs, Anthromusicologist A. Belden Fields, Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Illinois References: 1. http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=17012&LangID=E 2. http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/feb/05/julian-assange-un-panel-uk-sweden-deprivation-of-liberty

Ted Cruz [1], Marco Rubio and Ron Wyden [2] have introduced legislation to try to erase the distinction in U.S. government policy between goods produced in Israel and goods produced in settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Similar legislation has been introduced in the House. [3] J Street and Americans for Peace Now oppose this pro-settlement legislation. [4] Although this pro-settlement, pro-occupation campaign is opposed by the Obama Administration, Senator Wyden's support for it is worrisome. It suggests that this pro-settlement campaign could spread to other Democrats in Congress. Some press reports have suggested that the Administration might be considering enforcing existing U.S. law more consistently, so that, for example, wines sold in the U.S. from Shiloh Winery in the West Bank could no longer be labeled "Made in Israel." [4] If the Cruz-Rubio-Wyden pro-settlement effort is successful, it could discourage the Administration from enforcing existing U.S. law. Urge your Senators and Representative to oppose this pro-settlement legislation by signing our petition. References: 1. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2474/cosponsors 2. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-resolution/346/cosponsors 3. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-resolution/567/cosponsors 4. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tom-cotton-israel-palestinian-territories-label_us_56afcc6fe4b09214b14f3506 5. http://forward.com/news/332192/us-labeling-rules-already-bar-made-in-israel-tag-for-west-bank/

The Obama administration is drawing up plans to significantly escalate U.S. military action in Libya. Administration officials say the campaign in Libya could begin in a matter of weeks. This escalation is being planned without a meaningful debate in Congress about the merits and risks of a military campaign, the New York Times notes. Pentagon officials have not made a case that the proposed military action has achievable goals, and airstrikes could lead to a ground war. [1] If Congress takes no action, endless war will likely be extended to a new country, without time limit, without restrictions on the use of U.S. ground troops, and without any limit on who can be targeted, even if they have never attacked the United States nor shown any public inclination to do so. Urge Congress to exercise its responsibilities under the Constitution and the War Powers Resolution by debating and voting on U.S. military escalation in Libya before it happens by signing our petition at MoveOn. References: 1. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/26/opinion/opening-a-new-front-against-isis-in-libya.html

A declassified Joint Chiefs of Staff [JCS] report shows that in September 2002, senior officials of the Bush Administration, including Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Air Force General Richard Myers, and Air Force Maj. Gen. Glen Shaffer, knew that the Bush Administration's public case for war did not match U.S. intelligence knowledge. [1] Politico notes that several Iraq war architects are now advising Republican presidential candidates. Then Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, whose military assistant was copied on the JCS report, is one of Jeb Bush’s foreign policy experts. John Bolton is advising Ted Cruz. Elliott Abrams and William Kristol are supporting Marco Rubio. Senator Dick Durbin, who voted against the war, said on the Senate floor in April 2007 that as a member of the Senate intelligence committee, he had known in 2002 that U.S. intelligence knowledge did not match the Bush Administration's public case for war. “The information we had in the intelligence committee was not the same information being given to the American people. I couldn’t believe it,” Durbin said. [2] Politico notes that the 2002 JCS report was available for inspection by Members of Congress, if they were interested. But as the Washington Post reported in April 2004, as Congress debated the war in the fall of 2002, no more than six senators and a handful of House members read the classified National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq WMD. [3] Urge the New York Times to investigate who in the Administration and Congress knew the public case for the Iraq war was bogus and when they knew it, and who should have known, by signing our petition. References: 1. http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/iraq-war-wmds-donald-rumsfeld-new-report-213530 2. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2007/apr/27/20070427-124842-1706r/ 3. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2004/04/27/congressional-oversight-of-intelligence-criticized/a306890e-4684-4ed4-99a0-c8ae7f47feb7/

Detained for the "crime" of having outspoken American ideals, Otto Warmbier has been subject to unjustified imprisonment and disgraceful violation of his civil liberties by the Repressed People's Dictatorship of North Korea. This cannot continue. We must protect the freedom of our citizens abroad. The United States government must pursue any and all diplomatic action to secure Otto Warmbrier's freedom.

President Obama and Pentagon officials have released a blueprint to close the Guantanamo detention facility by the end of the president's last year in office. The current plan relies on the cooperation of Senate Republicans, yet the president hasn't ruled out using his executive authority to bypass an unwilling Congress. The president is committed to taking Guantanamo “off the plate of the next president.” But he's facing an uphill battle and time is running out. The president has less than one year to meet his human rights obligations by closing Guantanamo and charging and trying—or else releasing—all detainees.