Yossi Schwartz ISL (RCIT section in Israel/Occupied Palestine), 24.07.2024
On July 23, 2024, hundreds of anti-Zionist Jewish members of Voice for Peace (JVP) were arrested for demonstrating at the Cannon House Building on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, in peaceful protest on the eve of the mass murderer Netanyahu.
“Their banners said embargo on weapons transfer to the Zionist monster to continue with the genocide of the Palestinians. The rotunda of the building in the United States Capitol complex filled in minutes with hundreds of people who appeared as if from nowhere as part of a surprise protest against Israel’s war in Gaza.” Let Gaza live,” they chanted. They were dressed in red shirts that, on one side of the shirt, read, “Jews say stop arming Israel.” The other side: “Not in our name.” Protesters lift white sheets on the building floor with slogans saying: “Never again for anyone.”
“This is a historical moment where we have to say we stood up for Palestinian freedom. We stood up to end this genocide, “For so many of us, we are the descendants who survived ethnic cleansing and genocide. Our ancestors and grandparents taught us that the worst thing to do in these moments is to be a bystander. It’s what we must do when our government refuses to listen to the people,”. said protester Liv Kunins-Berkowitz.” [i]
While the Zionist monster is responsible for real hate toward the Israelis and the Jews that support Israel, the JVP, by protesting the crimes of the Zionist monster and the American imperialists that provide the heavy bombs to throw on civilians in Gaza, are fighting Anti-Semitism.
The police, the brutal force of the American ruling class, arrested hundreds of demonstrators who refused to leave. While genocide is a very serious crime, and the White House has provided the Zionist state 14 billion dollars for the genocide and used its veto power three times to block a decision ordering a ceasefire, the police are oppressing those who oppose the genocide.
And while the police act in support of the major crime, seven American trade unions representing about 6 million workers sent a letter to Joe Biden on Tuesday calling on his administration to “immediately halt all military aid to Israel” ahead of a visit to the US by the arci criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, the Zionist monster’s Prime Minister.The unions that signed on to the letter include the Association of Flight Attendants (AFA), American Postal Workers Union (APWU), International Union of Painters (IUPAT), National Education Association (NEA), Service Employees International Union (SEIU), United Auto Workers (UAW) and United Electrical Workers (UE).
“Our unions are hearing the cries of humanity as this vicious war continues,” said Mark Dimondstein, the APWU president, in a press release. “Working people and our unions are horrified that our tax dollars are financing this ongoing tragedy. We need a ceasefire now, and the best way to secure that is to shut off US military aid to Israel.“[ii]
This is a very significant development. However, a letter is not enough. The American working class can and should shut the military aid to Israel by its actions and break with the imperialist Democratic Party, and form a working-class party.
In Israel itself 41 brave reservist soldiers, in a statement to the daily Haaretz, confirmed that the death toll in Israel’s war of annihilation in Gaza speaks to a policy of shoot to kill, a policy whose existence the Israel army denies. Their testimonies corroborate those of Palestinian eyewitnesses and doctors. In the statement, they say:
“This invasion, aside from endangering our lives and the lives of innocents in Rafah, won’t bring back the hostages alive… It’s either Rafah or the hostages, and we choose the hostages. Therefore, after the decision to enter Rafah rather than to bring about a hostage deal, we, male and female reservists, are declaring that our conscience doesn’t allow us to lend a hand to forfeiting the lives of the hostages and torpedoing another deal.“. A 19-year-old Sofia Orr was released after spending 85 days in Neve Tzedek military jail after refusing to enlist. She told the IDF, “I refuse to enlist in order to show that change is needed, and that change is possible, for the security and safety of all of us in Israel-Palestine, and in the name of empathy that is not restricted by national identity.” She explained, “I refuse to enlist because I want to create a reality in which all children between the Jordan River and the [Mediterranean] sea can dream without cages.Despite being sentenced to several stretches in military jail, she still refused the draft. “I realized that the army doesn’t stand for the basic values I grew up with, of resolving conflicts with dialogue, of empathy, and of solidarity and equality—not in how it treats its soldiers and not in how it conducts itself externally in the occupation and war. It’s a system that is inherently very aggressive and violent, and I cannot take part in any such system.”[iii]
The new developments came after the ICJ ruling, which most likely influenced these developments.
Permanent ceasefire now!
Stop the weapons to Israel by the working class!
Refuse to participate in war crimes!
Israel out of Gaza!
Free all for all!
Palestine, red and free from the river to the sea!
Endnotes:
[i] https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/7/23/us-capitol-police-arrest-jewish-activists-calling-for-israel-arms-embargo
[ii] Michael Sainato 23 July 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/jul/23/labor-unions-israel-letter-biden
[iii] Jean Shaoul, 2024-07-23, https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2024/07/22/zjjr-j22.html