In the wake of Israel’s genocide in Gaza, we, like many Americans, recognized our country’s role in aiding Israel and the responsibility we had to demand our leaders call for a ceasefire. Amidst these protests, however, our team couldn’t help but recognize that the violence being perpetuated by Israel and supported by the U.S. government was the symptom of a much greater problem, Israel’s Apartheid of Palestinians and American support for such a system.

As such, in late 2023, the Arab American Voter Project formed the initiative, Allies Against Apartheid, to do our part in building a widespread coalition of everyday Americans who wanted to ensure that what is happening in Gaza could never happen again. We knew that for such an objective to be attainable we would need to structure ourselves to be steadfast in our approach, make the issue visible in our communities, and, be multifaceted in our demands. In comes the Allies Pledge.

Designed to be broad in scope and not constrained to any one event or region, the Allies Pledge was developed to sustain lasting pressure on our representatives to end the Apartheid’s aggression once and for all. As such, the Pledge grew out of a need to plug in those already demonstrating and any American with a moral compass into a movement that could outlast a simple ceasefire. At the same time, as a team made up of Arab and Palestinian Americans, we knew that growing the movement and ending the social stigma surrounding the issue was critical to ending the cycle of silence that persists in the U.S. Allies against Israel’s Apartheid deserve to feel seen, heard and safe.

We wanted the Pledge to go beyond a simple rolling commitment to demand more from our representatives and in itself be a form of protest. While the Pledge is simple and any voting-aged American should be comfortable signing, we recognized that the issue has persisted for so long because too many ordinary Americans, let alone our leaders, are afraid to take a stand. That’s why every person who signs the Allies Pledge receives a sticker, window decal, or yard sign to proudly display in their community. We know that with every pledge and show of support, our movement works to break the silence and, that with each brave individual showing their support, they make it easier for the next brave American to pledge.

While pledging should be any like-minded American’s first step into long-term activism against the Apartheid, our hope is for all allies to be plugged into and participate in meaningful activism in their communities. For that reason, Allies works to grow the movement outside its usual corridors, foster new coalitions and, in doing so, work with grassroots organizations to help new pledges find means of advocacy and protest that speak to them.