Seek Justice for Sea Turtle Protector Killed in an Airstrike

Mona Khalil spent her life protecting sea turtles from extinction. Then an airstrike killed her in the very place she built to keep them safe — and Secretary of State Marco Rubio should make sure her death does not go unanswered.

On Lebanon’s southern coast, she built the Orange House into a refuge for endangered sea turtles — a place where fragile hatchlings could crawl safely toward the Mediterranean, where injured animals could be cared for, and where people could learn that protecting wildlife is part of protecting life itself.

Now Khalil is dead after an Israeli airstrike hit her home and conservation center, according to NPR reporting. Her death is a devastating loss for her family, her community, and the animals she dedicated her life to protecting.

War does not only kill people. It destroys wildlife, homes, communities, coastlines, habitats, and the people who stand between vulnerable animals and extinction.

Khalil’s work mattered because endangered loggerhead and green sea turtles already face enormous threats: coastal development, pollution, fishing gear, climate change, and the loss of safe nesting beaches. A conservation site like the Orange House is not just a building. It is a lifeline.

The United States cannot treat the killing of a beloved conservationist and the destruction of a wildlife refuge as an acceptable side effect of war.

As secretary of state, Marco Rubio has a responsibility to use U.S. diplomatic power to demand accountability, protect civilians, and make clear that U.S. support must not enable attacks that endanger people, animals, and the places they depend on to survive.

Environmental defenders around the world face threats, violence, and death for protecting land, water, wildlife, and the climate. When one of them is killed, silence sends a dangerous message.

Please sign the petition to call on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to demand an independent, credible investigation into the Israeli strike that killed Mona Khalil; publicly press Israel to protect civilians, conservation workers, wildlife sanctuaries, and endangered animals; and ensure U.S. support is not used in violation of international law.

The petition to Secretary of State Marco Rubio reads: Demand accountability for the Israeli airstrike that killed sea turtle conservationist Mona Khalil and press Israel to protect civilians, environmental defenders, conservation sites, and endangered wildlife. U.S. support must not enable attacks that violate international law or destroy the people and places working to protect vulnerable animals.
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Source:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cwylx1vq18zo

Photo: A sea turtle hatchling is released at Mansouri beach, Southern Lebanon, into the Mediterranean Sea by conservationists Mona Khalil and Habiba Fayed (sometimes spelled Syed), co-founders of the Orange House project to protect endangered Green Sea and Loggerhead turtles.