A New Day – Organizing to Change US Policy on Israel and Palestine

 

11:30 – Exhibit in Copley Square (Boston)
12:30 – Solemn Procession Commemorating the March of Return through Downtown Crossing 
1:00 – Speak-out at Park Street Station

Organized by: Palestinian Community of Boston joined by the Alliance for Water Justice in Palestine, Boston-wide SJP, Grassroots International, Jewish Voice for Peace-Boston, Massachusetts Peace Action, Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East, United for Justice with Peace

 

Since March 30 protests inside Gaza by unarmed demonstrators have been met with regular Israeli government-authorized sniper fire from along the Gaza border.  Almost 50 Palestinians have been killed and thousands wounded.  No Israeli has been injured by these protests.

 

The use of live fire against demonstrators who pose no imminent threat to Israeli security forces has been widely condemned by governments and human rights organizations, including within Israel itself.  In the US, however, these war crimes have been defended by President Trump’s hawkish foreign policy team, even as the US continues to provide more than $4 billion in annual military aid to Israel.  In fact, the sniper rifles used by Israeli soldiers to kill unarmed Palestinians are Made in USA, some right here in New England.

 

Shamefully, few members of Congress have spoken up against these Israeli atrocities.  This has to change.

 

 

Silence on these massacres is not only morally indefensible, it also ignores an existing US statute (the “Leahy Law”) which forbids the funding of foreign military forces which violate human rights standards.

 

Members of Congress should, at a minimum

 

–Speak up to defend the right of unarmed Palestinians to protest without fear of deadly force against them;

 

–Investigate the Israeli use of US funding and weapons to commit war crimes and take steps to cut off such aid;

 

–Demand an end to the illegal Israeli blockade and suffocation of Gaza which is making life there intolerable. (see this report for useful background)

 

Congressional action is more urgent than ever as there is the danger of larger-scale massacres under the cover of the May 14 transfer of the US embassy to Jerusalem and the simultaneous marking of Israeli independence and Nakba day by the Palestinians.  Speaking up now could prevent even more bloodshed in the coming weeks.  Contact your members of Congress today!