photo credit: Noah Abrams/KRCB
A display at the Sonoma State University student solidarity camp for Gaza on
April 26th, 2024.

People from across ten Northern California counties say they plan to file a class action lawsuit Thursday against North Bay congressional representatives Mike Thompson and Jared Huffman.

Why?

It's because of the politicians' alleged votes for military aid to Israel.

One of the plaintiffs in the planned class action lawsuit: North Bay resident Maria Barakat.

"I'm a Lebanese and Palestinian American," Barakat said to KRCB News. "You know, it's been a long and painful year for a lot of us around this country, and people of conscience, and while the public protest may have quieted down in the last couple of months, folks have been organizing."

That organizing has led Barakat and others to the courts, they said.

"I'm part of a group called Taxpayers Against Genocide, and we are filing a lawsuit against our elected representatives here in the North Bay...for their support for genocide in Gaza," Barakat said.

In May of this year, the International Court of Justice found Israel was committing "plausible" acts of genocide in Gaza, and ordered a halt to the aggression.

The International Criminal Court has also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes committed against the residents of Gaza.

Barakat and Taxpayers Against Genocide said they see a direct link between the US Congress and the international cases.

"We believe, as a class of about 500 taxpayers in the North Bay, that our representatives have exceeded their constitutional limitations on their tax and spend authority," Barakat said. "So when they voted in April 20th, 2024 to increase military aid to Israel by $26 billion, we believe that they exceeded their limitations on their authority."

Barakat said the lawsuit is intended to perhaps set precedent.

"We want the courts to declare, and for a judge to actually decree, that the causes of this action are proper, that this is an appropriate action for citizens to bring forward," Barakat said.

She said Taxpayers Against Genocide alleges U.S. lawmakers violated their duty under international law.

"That prohibits complicity in genocide," Barakat said. "We want an injunction restraining these representatives from providing military assistance or financing to Israel...so voting in favor of any additional allocations of taxpayer dollars as military aid to Israel, for example."

A rally in support of the class action lawsuit is planned for noon Thursday outside the federal courthouse in San Francisco.

KRCB News has reached out to Congressmen Jared Huffman and Mike Thompson for comment, we will have more on this story in the coming days.