LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Time for Yemen action

Posted

To the editor:

Recently, I helped organize a demonstration against the U.S.-backed Saudi-led war on Yemen in front of U.S. Rep. Eliot Engel’s Bronx office, along with local Concerned Citizens for Change and five other organizations.

We called on Rep. Engel, as ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, to join Sens. Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand in publicly opposing U.S. support for the war. We also urged the congressman to join Rep. Nita Lowey and Sen. Bernie Sanders in calling for an immediate ceasefire in Hodeida, the Yemen port city.

Millions of Yemenis depend on food aid that enters through that port, and continued Saudi/UAE aggression there could push the country into famine.

The U.S.-backed war in Yemen is breaking a famine on Rep. Engel’s watch. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s recent victory over incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley should signal to Rep. Engel a need for change. Ms. Ocasio-Cortez has spoken up for “basic human dignity” in the Middle East, and called out establishment Democrats for their silence on human rights.

Rep. Engel should take note of these growing humanitarian concerns, and his constituents’ frustration. He should join his 50 Democratic colleagues, and our U.S. senators, in co-sponsoring legislation to withdraw the United States from the war in Yemen, and use his position to demand a ceasefire in the port city of Hodeida.

Isaac Evans-Frantz

The author is co-founder and leader of Action Corps NYC.

Isaac Evans-Frantz,

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