“In 2014, Patrick led a trade mission of Massachusetts business leaders to Israel. There’s a large number of Israeli-founded businesses in the state and Patrick said the goal of the trip was to expand those partnerships. “It’s a very, very fruitful — and tangibly so — relationship,” he said. “The way to keep it going is to keep cultivating it.”
Water was one of the key focuses of that mission, as a 2011 Patrick trip to Israel had birthed the “Massachusetts-Israel Innovation Partnership Water and Clean Energy Track.” The creation of that group inspired Boston residents to form an organization called Boston Alliance for Water Justice, to hold local officials accountable for their connections to water apartheid in Palestine. In response to news of the 2014 trade mission, Boston Alliance for Water Justice delivered a number of letters to Patrick that were written by Palestinian refugee children. The children their families’ struggles to obtain basic water needs. A 15-year-old named Ahmad wrote:
I don’t know what kind of work you are doing with Israel over water but I’ll tell you that you are supporting the occupation and violating human rights. Do you know that Israel steals most of the water and leaves almost nothing for us? Do you know that we don’t have enough water to take showers in the summer, to clean the house, to clean our clothes, and sometimes we don’t have enough water or clean water to drink because Israel doesn’t care about us.
“We are not asking you to help us with water but at least don’t be a partner with Israel in killing us. Maybe you should come to visit us while you are in Israel to see for yourself.”
Deval Patrick has unequivocally supported Israel at the height of its worst human rights abuses
Screen shot from Deval Patrick’s campaign video, via his Twitter