We, the people of Congressman Jimmy Panetta’s district (19th District–south San Jose, Santa Cruz, Monterey coastline, north San Luis Obispo), call on him to act with utmost swiftness and leverage his influence to advocate for a humanitarian evacuation from Gaza of the family of one of his constituents. Gaza’s daily death rate exceeds that of all twenty-first century conflicts. We urge Congressman Panetta to prioritize and expedite this case, using every available political and diplomatic channel to expedite a resolution and bring his constituent’s family to safety.

The Petition

Dear Congressman Panetta,

We write to you at the behest of one of your Palestinian constituents (whose name is withheld for safety reasons) to boost their urgent request that you do everything in your power, as other congressional representatives have done, to support the humanitarian parole of their family members who are seeking to escape annihilation and unbearable suffering in Gaza. There are virtually no meaningful safe zones in Gaza. Even if a ceasefire were reinstated now, thousands of indirect deaths will stem from the near-total destruction of civilian infrastructure.

Under relentless Israeli assault, tens of thousands of civilians have been massacred in Gaza while the vast majority of the survivors have been displaced and many do not have a home to return to once the killing stops. Israel has withheld all humanitarian aid since March 2, and those not killed by bombs now face the looming specter of famine. Your constituent’s family is now living in a tent in South Gaza near the Rafah Crossing where every day brings the constant threat of bombings, disease, and starvation.

Thus far, Congressman Panetta, you have utterly failed to stand up for the interests of your constituents and the basic demands of international law and human decency in the face of an ongoing genocide in Gaza. Your constituent’s family has been mired in a bureaucratic stalemate since March of 2024, desperately awaiting a lifeline, while you have accepted over $250,000 from AIPAC and voted to authorize $17 billion in unconditional military aid to Israel, funding weapons that have been used to target families like those of your constituent. Your district supports peace and a ceasefire in Palestine yet your actions and words align you with Trump and Republicans in the House of Representatives who now openly speak of using starvation as a weapon of war to facilitate Gaza’s ethnic cleansing.

In a 1967 address at Stanford University during a devastating U.S. war in Southeast Asia, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. remarked on “the appalling silence of the good people.” He went on, however, to add that “The time is always right to do right.” Congressman Panetta, it is not too late for you to do right. Nothing can bring back the Gaza dead or erase the crime of genocide. But we can and must do everything in our power to stop the killing and to save those whom we still can. You have it within your power to help save the family of one of your own constituents from certain death in Gaza. Given the escalating situation, it is vital that you use your power as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives to push for humanitarian parole for all Palestinians in need of evacuation and to facilitate an immediate safe evacuation of this particular family. We will deliver this petition directly to your office. 

Now is the time to do right.