WAMM COMMITTEE

Middle East Committee

The Middle East Committee of WAMM educates about the role of U.S. foreign policy in the military and economic oppression throughout the Middle East and beyond.

MEETINGS

Time: 9:30 a.m. every Second & Fourth Monday of every month.

Location: Zoom

Contact: wamm.mec@gmail.com or contact the WAMM office

Our Facebook Page

Sign the MN SBI Divestment Petition!

WAMM’s Middle East Committee will submit the attached petition to the MN State Board of Investment (SBI) members at their next meeting to call for divestment from all entities that profit from Israeli occupation and genocide.

Minnesotans must not be complicit!

Screenshot 2024-07-31 at 3.03.13 PM
SIGN THE PETITION HERE

WAMM COMMITTEE

Palestine Solidarity Committee

The Palestine Solidarity Committee (PSC) is an action-oriented committee that focuses on ongoing organizing for the liberation of Palestine through community education, protest, and outreach.

MEETINGS

Time: Second and fourth Friday of every month at 5:30pm

Location: 4200 Cedar Ave S, Minneapolis

Contact: general@wamm.me or call 612-827-5364

Statement on Waterfall Security Solutions

July 14, 2025

Waterfall Security Solutions (Waterfall) is a company headquartered in Rosh Ha’ayin, Israel. On October 1, 2024, it entered into a contract with Saint Paul Regional Water Services (SPRWS) to provide cybersecurity for the water department’s computer system.

In light of Israel’s apartheid history, and its current genocidal assault on Gaza, we object to the renewal of this contract which is set to expire on October 1, 2025.

Our ask of the Saint Paul Board of Water Commissioners is simple; do nothing and allow the contract to expire.

The non-violent strategy of economic isolation was successful in forcing South Africa to dismantle its system of apartheid. By the end of 1989, 26 states and over 90 cities had taken some form of binding economic action against South Africa. Many cities used selective purchasing policies, whereby preference in bidding on contracts was given to companies that did not reside in, or do business with, South Africa.

The dire situation in Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories requires similar action today. Under the Genocide Convention, contracting parties, of which the United States is one, have an affirmative obligation to prevent genocide. It is not an obligation that is specifically assigned to Congress, the State Department, or even the White House. Indeed, by providing weapons to Israel, blocking UN Security Council resolutions intended to restrain Israel, and hosting rather than arresting the criminally indicted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the federal government has utterly failed in its legal responsibility to prevent genocide, and should properly be considered complicit in genocide.

In the dark shadow of this failure, we assume the moral responsibility to prevent genocide. As part of that responsibility, we call upon the City of Saint Paul to refrain from economic cooperation with any entity complicit in, or profiting from, apartheid or genocide. In particular, we call upon the Saint Paul Board of Water Commissioners to allow its contract with Waterfall to expire.

We also note worrisome statements made by the founder and CEO of Waterfall, Lior Frenkel. In an interview with International Focus Magazine, Mr. Frenkel had this to say about his personal history and his company:

“I started coding when I was 8 and started hacking systems for fun, because, you know, it’s fun. I started getting paid for my hobby when I was a teenager, like 16 or 17. Then I went to the Israeli Air Force and I was there for about 6 years doing technology and the intelligence part of the business. I finished my service, and I founded a company that was doing offensive cybersecurity for the Israeli Government. Really fun stuff. That was a lot of fun.”

Israel is acknowledged to be a leader in the development of spyware and other intrusive surveillance technologies. The most notorious, Pegasus, has been used to surveil, detain, and sometimes kill dissidents, journalists, and human rights activists. Compromised phones have also been used by Israel to geolocate individuals algorithmically targeted for assassination by aerial bombardment, with predictable results for innocents in the vicinity. It is disconcerting that a company with a history of “doing offensive cybersecurity for the Israeli Government” should be allowed entry into SPRWS computer systems that hold sensitive data on water customers in the City of Saint Paul and the thirteen surrounding suburbs that receive SPRWS water and services.

Statement on the US Attacks on Yemen from the Middle East Committee of WAMM, written 1/17/2024

The WAMM MEC (Middle East Committee) condemns the US/British bombing and killing of members of Ansar Allah (referred to as Houthis in Western media). With the support of most of the population in Yemen, Ansar Allah, in compliance with international law on the prevention of genocide, has been acting to stop Israeli aggression against Palestinians by not allowing Israel-linked ships to transit off the coast of Yemen.
 
Since Ansar Allah pose no imminent threat to the United States, and the United Nations Security Council did not authorize them, the U.S. strikes are illegal under both international and domestic law.
 
In addition, this aggression on the part of the U.S. increases tension in the region and is a tragedy for Yemen, one of the poorest nations in the world largely because it has been subject to military activity conducted by U.S. special forces working with Saudi Arabia for years.
 
We join the people of Yemen in calling for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and for a free Palestine.

January 2024:
U.S. Hands off Yemen!

Source: Khaled Abdullah/Reuters, Al Jazeera

October 2023 Statement on Palestine

Photo Credit: @anthony_xvx

Last update: November 7, 2023

The WAMM Middle East Committee demands that the Biden administration and Congress immediately end all political and military support of Israel and its genocidal attacks on the people of Gaza. 

We denounce the hypocrisy and doublespeak of our political leaders in the face of the horror that is being unleashed on Gaza, resulting in the death and injuries of thousands of people – mostly women and children, the utterly devastating destruction of homes, hospitals, schools, even bakeries, and the lack of food, clean water, medicines, electricity, and fuel because of the imposition of a draconian siege by Israel, which is not even letting in the fuel for hospitals.

As of this writing, November 3, the death toll is over 9,000, 40 percent of them children. There are black-outs cutting off communication with the outside world and within Gaza.

The aid allowed into Gaza is completely inadequate to supply even a small fraction of human  needs and acts as a fig leaf to cover crimes against humanity while at the same time, Israel continues to bomb the people with the complicity of the U.S. and with the use of U.S. weapons.What has been commonly described as an open-air prison is being turned into a death camp. Israel and the U.S. do not value the lives of hostages either in this scenario.

In addition to the $3.8 billion that the U.S. gives to Israel every year, we vehemently oppose the additional billions of dollars that Washington wants for Israel, Ukraine, the U.S. border wall, and Taiwan to continue military madness. The Israeli component of this money will be used to fund more of the thousands of bombs being dropped on Gaza right now, aircraft carriers, other military equipment, and thousands of U.S. troops sent to the area.

We join the millions of people around the world who are in the streets every day demanding an end to the ongoing slaughter to eliminate the Palestinian people with the massacres in Gaza and the state-sanctioned murder and imprisonment in the West Bank just being the most recent phase of what is metaphorically referred to as “mow-ing the grass,” a euphemism for ethnic cleansing.

Because this could not go on without the full support of the U.S. government, it is especially up to us, the people of the U.S.,  to stand in solidarity with the people of Gaza and all the heroic people of Palestine who have bravely resisted the obliteration of their collective identity, history, and culture for 75 years. With them, we call for  justice and self-determination, not to be cast into exile again, and to have the right of return to their native land.

Aida Touma-Sliman: Israel's New Apartheid Law

Sponsored by Women against Military Madness (WAMM) and Veterans for Peace, Chapter 27.
August 26, 2018
Minneapolis, MN

Aida Touma-Sliman was elected to the Knesset (Israeli Parliament) in 2015, the fourth Arab Israeli woman to become a member of the Knesset. She was born in Nazareth into a Christian Palestinian family and earned a B.A. in psychology and Arabic literature from the University of Haifa. She lives in Acre with her two daughters (since her husband’s death in 2011). Touma-Sliman founded the Arab feminist group Women Against Violence in 1992. She joined the Hadash party, later becoming editor in chief of Al-Ittihad, an Arabic language newspaper owned by the Israeli Communist Party, a faction in Hadash. She became the first female member of the High Follow-Up Committee for Arab Citizens of Israel and co-founded the International Women’s Commission for a Just Palestinian-Israeli Peace.

Stop Bombing Syria

WAMM Statement on the February 25, 2021 U.S. military bombing of Syria

Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) denounces in the strongest possible terms the illegal and deadly bombing of Syria on the border with Iraq on February 25, 2021. The airstrike, which was conducted inside a sovereign nation and without Congressional approval, took place only 37 days into the Biden administration. The outrageous attack saw 35,000 pounds of bombs dropped and as many as 22 people have been reported killed.

What happened to Biden’s promise to engage the world in decency and diplomacy?

READ ALL

February 13, 2020

WAMM Statement on the Trump/Netanyahu so-called Peace Plan

WAMM condemns the outrageous “deal of the century,” the so-called “peace plan” for Palestine and Israel, announced by Trump and Netanyahu on January 28.  This is a scheme that further expands Israel’s land base by stealing even more Palestinian land and violating Palestine’s right to sovereignty for the vague and empty promise of their own broken-up state depending upon vague measures of behavior.  This is business-as-usual and expands the Zionist 100-year project to further and permanently develop an Israeli apartheid state. This plan would deepen political polarization in the Middle East and around the world.

The “plan” was developed without Palestinian participation. Even Israeli officials admitted it is a non-starter for Palestinians. It has been rejected by all Palestinian officials and organizations. Palestinian people are demonstrating in the streets against this wrong-headed “plan.”

A four-year freeze on further expansion of settlements in the West Bank is proposed – though this is openly disputed by some Israeli officials – in exchange for a Palestinian state and “capital.” It names Abu Dis, a village outside Jerusalem, behind the wall and check points and inaccessible to Palestinians, as the capital of a semi-state of Palestine. In 1948, the international community designated Jerusalem an International City. Palestinians have always considered East Jerusalem as their capital. A look at the map of the West Bank reveals that a Palestinian state in any meaningful way is impossible because Palestinian lands are separated, disrupted and surrounded by Israeli settlements and roads. 

This announcement comes at a critical time politically in both the US and Israel.  Netanyahu was indicted on criminal charges on the same day as the plan was announced, and he faces an election within a month.  Trump is in the midst of an impeachment trial in the US Senate and faces an election in November. With the Iowa caucuses coming in a week, the plan has propelled the issue of justice for Palestine into the news. It has finally become part of the election discussion.  Both Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have issued statements opposing the Trump/Netanyahu plan. We call on all supporters for justice for Palestine to take action now and oppose the Trump/Netanyahu plan.

Tell Congress to Oppose Trump’s Plan

SIGN HERE

January 15, 2018

Talking Points re: Anti-BDS Legislation Passed in Minnesota

Minnesota Statues 3.226 and 16C.053 are unconstitutional

  • Economic boycotts are protected speech under First Amendment
  • Viewpoint discrimination against BDS supporters and participants

    • The word “boycott” was changed in the legislation to “discrimination” and the laws are said to prohibit discrimination against Israel.

    • Laws meant to infringe on practice of BDS

      • The laws require vendors and contractors who want to boycott Israel to refrain from First Amendment-protected expression in order to get a state contract.

      • Vague. The laws pretend to fix the Constitutionality problem by including words that free speech is not prohibited.

  • Lawsuits in other states with similar laws have been successfully brought. Federal courts have ruled that the laws are unconstitutional. However, lawsuits are expensive and unnecessary.

December 19, 2018

Statement Regarding BDS & Ilhan Omar

Women Against Military Madness stands with Ilhan Omar, the newly elected Congresswoman from the Minnesota 5th District, who publicly supports the constitutional rights of the BDS Campaign—a nonviolent resistance tactic that seeks to pressure the Israeli government to end its anti-Palestinian policies. Omar’s campaign stated that “Ilhan believes in and supports the BDS movement and has fought to make sure people’s right to support it isn’t criminalized.”

Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) acts for social justice in U.S. foreign policy. WAMM members believe it is their responsibility as U.S. citizens to oppose any government actions that use U.S. taxpayer money and diplomatic cover to occupy another entity with military force. One very effective way to educate about and interrupt such actions is through economic boycott campaigns. The Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) Campaign seeks to influence the government of Israel, without the use of violence, to create lasting peace and security for all people of Israel and Palestine. 

Today, Israel is occupying and colonizing Palestinian land, discriminating against Palestinian citizens of Israel and denying Palestinians who are being forced from their homes up through the present day, the right to return. As Israel continues its illegal occupation, the U.S. government continues to pledge $3.8 billion every year, enabling Israel to oppress and violate the rights of Palestinians, creating a reign of terror for the occupied.  

Inspired by the South African anti-apartheid movement, the BDS Campaign urges action to pressure Israel to comply with international law. The boycott is not designed to destroy companies that are complicit in the occupation but to change their behavior. 

BDS is a global nonviolent movement, initiated in 2005 by 170 Palestinian civil society groups, to increase pressure on the government of Israel and corporations based within Israel to desist from the oppression and exploitation of Palestinian people who live and work in Israel and the militarily-occupied territories of West Bank. The objective of BDS is also to end the brutal eleven-year-long blockade of Gaza which has kept Palestinians confined by air, land, and sea.  BDS challenges the ongoing destruction of Palestinian society perpetrated by the Israeli government and military – demolition of homes, denial of access to water, construction of illegal settlements, and a wall that divides Palestinian communities and farmlands. 

Resistance to this movement for justice has emerged across the U.S. Several states, including Minnesota, have passed legislation requiring that anyone entering into a contract with the state certify that they had not discriminated and would not discriminate against Israel. This is a euphemism for refusal to do business with individuals and companies that support BDS and resist the oppression of the Palestinian people. WAMM members have opposed such legislation, which is being challenged as a violation of the Constitutional right to free speech.

BDS is now a vibrant global movement made up of unions, academic associations, religious congregations, and grassroots movements across the world. Eleven years since its launch, BDS is having a major impact and is effectively challenging international support for Israeli apartheid and settler-colonialism.

WAMM will continue to struggle for justice for Palestinians and Ilhan Omar’s right to speak out in support of the international BDS Campaign. #IStandWithIlhan.

April 10, 2017

Statement Regarding Syria

“The Middle East Committee of Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) urges individuals, as well as civic, educational, and religious organizations to join us in denouncing any and all U.S. actions against the people and government of Syria.” 

The Middle East Committee of WAMM educates about the role of U.S. foreign policy in the military and economic oppression throughout the Middle East and beyond.

MEC is action oriented, focused especially on challenging the unconditional political, economic and military support the U.S. provides to Israel’s decades long illegal and unjust occupation of Palestine. MEC supports and works towards an equitable solution in accordance with International law.

Suggested Websites