Published 14 Jan 2009, 10:46 am - No Comments -
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As the Israeli offensive in Gaza has entered its nineteenth day, the Palestinian Ministry of Health is reporting that nearly one-thousand lives have been lost with more than three hundred children among the dead. Israel’s military said it carried out its latest overnight strikes on sixty targets as reservists are being prepared for possible ground operations into the densely populated urban areas of the coastal strip. Meanwhile for the second time since the conflict began, Katyusha rockets landed in Northern Israel after being fired from Southern Lebanon sparking concerns that fighting could open on a second front. As the assault on Gaza continues, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt in urging for a ceasefire. The Foreign Minister of Germany is also publicly calling for an end to all hostilities. At the start of the Israeli offensive against Gaza, protests around the world immediately called for an end to the killing. From the West Bank to Egypt, to London, and even Chile, demonstrations have denounced Israeli military incursions. In the United States and Canada, Israeli consulates have become sites of protests as a group of eight Jewish women occupied the consulate in Toronto last week and four demonstrators were arrested in Boston after staging a sit-in at their consulate in Boston this past weekend.
GUESTS: Lisa Adler, member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, participating at a sit-in in Los Angeles in front of the Israeli Consulate at 6380 Wilshire Blvd.
JEWS SHUT DOWN ISRAELI CONSULATE!
10 JEWS CHAIN TOGETHER TO BLOCK DRIVEWAY AND ENTRANCE!
Who: Jewish people of conscience in Los Angeles, including a nurse, a school counselor, a retired school teacher, a retired union representative, and a community organizer.
What: Civil Disobedience to shut down the Israeli consulate, with people risking arrest by chaining themselves to the building, strong visuals condemning Israeli attack on Gaza
Where: Consulate General of Israel, 6380 Wilshire Blvd # 1700, Los Angeles, CA 90048
When: 8:30am
Concerned Jewish residents of Los Angeles will shut down the Israeli consulate for the first time ever in a historic protest against the policies of Israel. An ad-hoc, multi-generational group including members of the recently founded International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, will send a message to the Israeli government and its US supporters: "Not In Our Name! We will not be silent! Jews demand an end to the Israeli siege on Gaza and an end to Israeli apartheid." The demonstration will kick off a wave of demonstrations across the United States uniting Palestinians, Jewish people, and other Americans outraged by the siege.
"We are shocked and outraged at Israeli's latest act of violent aggression against the Palestinian people. Killing over 950 people, including 250 women and children, bombing schools and mosques and then calling it self-defense— that is the worst kind of hypocrisy. It also amounts to war crimes," said Hannah Howard, a local member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. "We are shutting down the Israeli consulate today because as Jewish people we cannot allow business as usual while violence is being done in our name. This is a direct betrayal of our Jewish tradition of social justice."
Action participants will also speak out against the US government's unconditional support for Israel's siege and its ongoing war against the Palestinian people. "While US-funded F16's rain down bombs on the people of Gaza, our elected officials locally and nationally offer unqualified support." said Marsha Steinberg, a retired union representative. "Our government must stop sending billions of dollars in military and economic aid to the Israeli war machine while defending Israel in the international community," Steinberg said. In the coming week, concerned Americans from all backgrounds will call on the new Presidential administration to make a 180 degree change in policy.
"While the end of the siege on Gaza is our most immediate priority, this is only the latest chapter in Palestinians' 60 plus year experience of occupation and ethnic cleansing. Peace and justice in the region will only come when Palestinians have freedom and control their own destiny," said Lisa Adler, a community organizer in Los Angeles and another member of the International Jewish Solidarity Network. "Even before the siege began, Israel's inhumane months-long blockade of Gaza created a major humanitarian crisis. We must end the siege. And we are building a nonviolent international movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions that brings an end to Israel's policies of occupation and apartheid and advances the Palestinian struggle for justice," said Adler.
For more information on the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, visit www.ijsn.net
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