As the organizers of Central Coast Advocates for Peace in the Middle East, we are constituents of Congressional District 19 on the Central Coast of California (see map below), which is represented by Jimmy Panetta.
As citizens who care about our common humanity, it is unacceptable to us that our US Representative Jimmy Panetta and both of our US Senators, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla—all Democrats—continue to support Israel’s devastating military actions in Gaza and the West Bank by voting for US military aid to Israel, and by accepting campaign donations from Israel’s lobby in the US, AIPAC.
Our citizen-led activism is even more vital with the current joint US and Israeli war with Iran. There will be no peace in the Middle East as long as the US president and Congress continue to enable the destructive policies of right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his followers.
We launch this website in order to share information and expand our activism on behalf of international law and human dignity.
Members of our group also have affiliations with the (Quaker-based) Friends Committee on National Legislation; the Foreign Affairs Team of Indivisible Santa Cruz; the Panetta Vigil, which held weekly protests outside his office; and the Palestinian Justice Coalition, a project of the Resource Center for Nonviolence.
Since coalescing in summer 2025, we have reached out to hundreds of local community leaders and District 19 constituents, urging them to speak out by signing two important letters to Rep. Jimmy Panetta. The first letter[link] urged Rep. Panetta to endorse legislation to restore the desperately needed flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza. The second vital letter from our community asked Panetta to endorse legislation limiting offensive military aid to Israel by co-sponsoring the Block the Bombs Act.
Our group has also worked with the Santa Cruz Democratic Central Committee, which has recently voted to support both of the above bills. We have organized peace vigils, including at the Panetta Town Hall in Watsonville in Fall 2025. We plan to continue to expand our citizen activism, including sponsoring a Candidate Forum on War vs. Peace, vigils, education, and demonstrations to pressure Rep. Panetta and Senators Schiff and Padilla to support the human rights of Palestinians.
Sign up for our Substack emails here. [link]
Thank you.
Ellie Aucoin-Unruhe, Bilingual Elementary School Teacher (retired)
Mimi Edgar, Friends Committee on National Legislation Santa Cruz Advocacy Team
Carolyn Brigit Flynn, Author and teacher
Nashwan Hamza, Title?
Marcia Heath, Lead Educator in Movement and Dance, Founder of BodyWise
Nancy Heischman, Mediator
Rick Longinotti, Co-Founder, Non-Violent Communication
Map of District 19 on the Central Coast of California
Following redistricting in 2021, California District 19 includes Santa Cruz County (excluding most of majority-Latino Watsonville), and parts of Monterey County, Santa Clara County and San Luis Obispo County. It includes the cities of Santa Cruz, Monterey, Seaside, Paso Robles, Atascadero and the south side of San Jose.