TO: CNA/NNU/NNOC

Nurses call for action in solidarity with Palestine

As the strongest Nursing Union in America, CNA/NNU/NNOC must join the call to stand with Palestine. The signed members below denounce Israel’s genocide against the people of Palestine and ask our leadership to commit to

1. Issue, and widely publicize, a statement that clearly acknowledges and recognizes how, when, and where the current violence originated. This includes colonization and oppressive military tactics, as well as violations of international law by the Israeli government
2. A commitment to providing material relief directed by Palestinian nurses and healthcare workers.
3. Withdraw support from elected officials who accept money from AIPAC or are not in line with supporting ceasefire resolutions, including legislation or refusal to sign onto a ceasefire.
4. Actively commit to the divestment and withdrawal of our pensions from corporations that benefit from the colonization and oppression of the people of Palestine, such as Blackrock.
5. Provide legal support to nurses who are experiencing retaliation in their workplaces for pro-Palestinian speech and activism.
6. Participate in organizing labor for Palestine demonstrations, actions, and political activities, consistent with their messaging around support for a permanent ceasefire, an end to Israeli apartheid on Palestinian land, ensuring a one state solution to the Palestinian people, and restoration of infrastructure in Palestine.
7. Immediately release nurse education regarding the Israeli occupation of Palestine, and notify membership.

Why is this important?

We, the rank-and-file nurses of California Nurses Association, National Nurses United, and National Nurses Organizing Committee, understand the power of collective action. Around the world, the Labor movement has fought for and with oppressed and marginalized communities for decades. Our Union brothers and sisters have stood hand in hand with oppressed and marginalized people in their fights for equality: from the U.S Civil Rights movement to ending Apartheid in South Africa. 

Since October 7th, 2023, the relentless bombing of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank has resulted in more than 22,000 people killed and more than 52,000 are injured, in addition to thousands who are missing and feared dead under the rubble, 305,000 residential homes have been destroyed or damaged, 339 educational facilities are damaged, 197 places of worship have been damaged, and 26 out of 35 hospitals are not functioning. More than 300 healthcare workers including doctors, nurses, and civil defense rescuers, have been killed as well leaving an already fractured medical infrastructure with less resources and healthcare professionals to assist in caring for critically injured civilians. We have seen the news of Israel using Artificial Intelligence to bomb the press where over 100 journalists have been killed along with many of their family members, to bomb mosques and churches, and historical monuments–to erase any history of the Palestinian people. We are witnessing a genocide unfolding in real-time. 
As nurses, we follow the nursing code of ethics. The ethics we live by have four main principles: autonomy, beneficence, justice, and non-maleficence. To call for the liberation of the Palestinian people, and to demand that the Union stand beside the Palestinian people, is deeply rooted in our nursing code of ethics. Palestine deserves to live free from this endless violence and displacement from their native land. We have committed our lives to these principles, and so long as we have a collective voice, we will demand a Free Palestine. Our call for Palestinian Liberation is an extension of our commitment to justice, and if we are silent, we are complicit in the genocide. We hope that CNA/NNU/NNOC stands with us in unwaveringly supporting the liberation of the Palestinian people, because doing so is imperative to our Union’s anti-imperialist, racial justice values that we claim to uphold. 

Before you sign, please consider exploring these actions that you can take now.
http://tinyurl.com/unfp1

In Unity, 
Union Nurses For Palestine

How it will be delivered

Online via social media