Early Thursday morning, Israeli forces raided the Ramallah offices of Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP). Soldiers broke down the door and took computers, hard drives, and client files related to DCIP’s work to end the military detention of Palestinian children. AFSC works closely with DCIP to coordinate the No Way to Treat a Child campaign. We are appalled that the Israeli government is targeting civil society organizations in this manner.
In our work with DCIP we rely on their documentation and advocacy for Palestinian children who face widespread and systematic violations of their rights living under Israeli military occupation. We work to bring the experiences of Palestinian children and their families to U.S. lawmakers and the administration to push for policy change and hold the U.S. government accountable for the $3.3 billion in U.S. military assistance to Israel each year. We urge the U.S. administration to speak out against this raid and the attempts to intimidate and silence the critical work of protecting and advocating for the rights of Palestinian children.