March 28, 2026

Donald J. Trump
President of the United States. The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington D.C. 20500

RE: IMMEDIATE & PERMANENT CEASEFIRE in GAZA, IRAN, & LEBANON

Dear Mr. President:

We, the undersigned elected officials of Connecticut, value human life, dignity, equality, safety, and peace for all, regardless of race, religion, or ethnicity. We stand in solidarity with our Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and all other communities, reaffirming our commitment to their safety, security, and well-being both here in Connecticut and to their families and friends in Palestine. It is in this spirit that we join with voices of conscience in Connecticut and around the world in recognizing the imperative need for an immediate, mutual, and permanent ceasefire in the assault on Gaza, Iran, and Lebanon.

We strongly condemn Israel’s and the Trump administration’s blatantly illegal, naked war of aggression against Iran.  This unprovoked military attack on Iran threatens to drag the entire world into military conflict and economic misery.  The United States must find an immediate off-ramp to deescalate the situation, and take actions to bring peace and justice to the region and the world, such as complete withdrawal from the region entirely. 

The armed violence in Palestine has claimed hundreds of thousands of innocent civilian lives, millions of people displaced, and homes, neighborhoods, schools, universities, hospitals, churches, and mosques destroyed.  Already at least hundreds of lives have been taken by Israel’s deliberate policy of mass starvation, and thousands more are at imminent risk, barring an immediate ceasefire and prompt delivery of sufficient humanitarian aid into Gaza, including renewed cessation of aid delivery since the start of the Iran war.  Additionally, there must be an end to violations of international law, including of Israel’s and the Trump administration’s proposed ethnic cleansing of Gaza, under the falsely named “Board of Peace”.  The “Board of Peace” is a colonial project that uses and accepts the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Gazans to achieve its goals. All religious sites, including the Al Aqsa complex, must be protected from encroachment and destruction.

We further urge you to prioritize the safety and well-being of all detainees, recognizing their right to freedom and unconditional release. We call on you to exercise all available diplomatic leverage towards such an end.  In addition, we uphold the right to self-determination for all peoples including and especially the people of Gaza, meaning that no foreign power or entity, such as Israel, United States, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Egypt, or any other country shall determine the fate of or rule over the people of Gaza.  We also support the concept of equal rights for all peoples in the region, and believe that recognition of separate states or statelets for different peoples will not contribute to this concept of equality and freedom for all peoples.

The current genocidal approach has proved counterproductive, resulting in unnecessary deaths and prolonged suffering.  There is much to do to secure a peace that ensures safety, freedom, justice, and equality for all people in the region.  These efforts include an arms embargo of Israel, as per U.S. law, forbidding transfer of weapons to countries engaged in human rights abuses and nuclear weapons proliferation.  We also call for peace in the broader region by formally exposing and declaring Israel’s nuclear weapons arsenal, and starting the process of denuclearization of Israel as a larger process to rid the region and entire world of all nuclear weapons.  We must emasculate the nuclear blackmail that Israel is reportedly employing against the Trump administration.  This nuclear blackmail reportedly entails Israel threatening to use its nuclear weapons against Iran if the United States does not conventionally bomb and attack Iran, in effect forcing the United States into war it does not really desire.  However, the immediate priority must be to stop the mounting death and destruction in Gaza and the West Bank.

Sincerely,