Congresswoman Nydia M. Velázquez is serving her seventeenth term as Representative for New York’s 7th Congressional District in the 119th Congress. She is the Ranking Member of the House Small Business Committee, a senior member of the Financial Services Committee, and serves on the Committee on Natural Resources. Velázquez has broken barriers throughout her career. In 1992, she became the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives. She later became the first Hispanic woman to serve as Ranking Member of a full House committee and, in 2006, the first Latina to chair one.

Mahmoud Khalil is a Palestinian graduate of the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. He has previously worked in development and international affairs with the United Nations, the British government, as well as other non-profit organizations in the Middle East.

Khalil played a key role in Columbia’s student movement opposing Israel’s war on Gaza. In March 2025, the Trump administration unlawfully arrested Khalil, transported him thousands of miles away to an ICE detention center in Louisiana, and attempted to deport him — all in retaliation for his advocacy in support of Palestinian rights. After 104 days in detention, a federal court ordered his release.”

Eman is a Palestinian-American educator who teaches about Native American history and endangered plants and wildlife. She’s also a media consultant with 10+ years of experience in press rooms. A West Bank native, Eman now organizes across the nation for Palestinian dignity through Indigenous land stewardship, education, and intergenerational activism, and she recently organized Brooklyn with Jewish allies to put up more than 2,000 Palestine signs.

Constituents in Congressman Hakeem Jeffries district, NY8, formed to build a campaign powerful enough to pressure him, the Minority Leader of Congress, to call for a permanent ceasefire of Israel’s devastating war on Gaza, to end US military aid for that war, to allow for the unrestricted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, and recognize the State of Palestine. We have been collecting  signatures throughout the district on a letter addressed to the Congressman and have been delivering them to his office in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. We organized a rally in front of his office and have met with staff members of Congressman Jeffries to discuss these issues. Our work is ongoing.

NY-10 Neighbors is a collective of Congressional District NY-10 residents coming together to stand against the occupation of Palestine and the genocide of Palestinians. Through political education and collective action with our neighbors, we build community and demand that our congressional representatives end U.S. support for Israel’s occupation, apartheid, and war crimes. NY-10 Neighbors believes in the power of our community to hold our elected officials accountable until U.S. policies respect the inherent dignity, humanity, and right to self-determination of Palestinians and all people.

139 for Palestine is an autonomous group of families whose children attend P.S. 139 in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. The group came together in the fall of 2024 after two parents realized that the fight for Palestinian liberation should not only be happening at protests in Manhattan or in other spaces far-removed from their day-to-day lives and communities. The group started with around a dozen families meeting at the playground.

In January 2025, 139 for Palestine launched weekly, family-friendly vigils outside the neighborhood tot lot. These vigils have since drawn an ever-growing crowd of community members spanning a wide range of ages and backgrounds. In the spring of 2025, 139 for Palestine connected with a tent school in Gaza: the Without Borders School. The school has served thousands of Palestinian students over the past two years in the midst of the ongoing genocide. When it was forced to temporarily shutter in September 2025 during the intensified ground invasion of Gaza City, the school’s administrators gathered and distributed water and food to the community, and visited with injured students. After relentless days and nights of fear, destruction, and loss, the bombing and heavy artillery stopped in October 2025. Without Borders School is currently erecting tents to rebuild the school, in the midst of their immense grief. 139 for Palestine fundraises for Without Borders School at their weekly vigil and through events like kids’ lemonade stands, art builds, soccer games, and neighborhood street fairs.