As of today, 5/1/2024, the war on Gaza has gone on for 29 weeks.
We join the many voices in the US and abroad who are protesting the war, the atrocities, and our government’s complicity in the devastation by defending and funding the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
We also call for Peace and we call for:
· An Immediate, Permanent Ceasefire.
· Release of all hostages held by Hamas, and 9,000 Palestinians held in prisons and detention
· Safe Shelters for the 1.7 million displaced and unhoused people in Gaza
· Immediate Humanitarian Aid:
o Access, security and protection of people providing life-sustaining aid.
o Nutritious Food, Clean water, sanitation facilities and hygiene products for all survivors
o Restoration of US funding for UNRWA
· Medical Care:
o Protect Existing Hospitals; create Auxiliary hospitals, mobile units, fuel/electricity, medical supplies and equipment
o Access, security and protection for medical providers, ambulances and EMTs.
o Trauma Centers and mental health services for survivors, children and families of victims.
· Recovery and proper burials of the dead.
· Access and Security for Journalists in Gaza and the West Bank.
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/30/omer_bartov
https://news.un.org/en/story/2024/03/1147921
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/29/rabbis_for_ceasefire_erez_crossing
https://www.yahoo.com/news/diplomatic-push-israel-hamas-war-131410678.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/12/18/israel-starvation-used-weapon-war-gaza.
https://www.vox.com/world-politics/24140794/gaza-nasser-hospitals-al-shifa-graves-idf-hamas
https://www.democracynow.org/2024/4/29/lyd_sci_fi_documantary_1948_nakba
Eran Efrati, on Israeli military training US police. Explosive! (4 mins) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6wwLH2mimg
CONVERSATION WITH ERAN EFRATI, director of the organization Researching the American-Israeli Alliance (RAIA)
Topic: Deadly Exchange: What are American Police Forces Learning in Israel? A conversation that will bring the occupation of Palestine home to Central New York.
Date: Thursday, April 19, 6:15pm
Location: Greater Ithaca Activity Center (GIAC), 301 W. Court St., Ithaca, NY
Local contact: Beth Harris, beth55harris@gmail.com, 607-266-7587
Eran Efrati was a combat soldier with the Israeli military, which opened his eyes to the realities of the military occupation in Palestine. He is now an investigative researcher and director of the organization Researching the American-Israeli Alliance (RAIA). His research exposes the links between US law enforcement and the Israeli military, which has since 2002 been training US municipal and campus police. While Black Lives Matter and other social movements are seeking accountability and an end to police violence, American police officers, Border Patrol and ICE have been training with an apparatus that enforces a military occupation in Palestine.
Knowing this, Eran asks: “How can we resist the militarization of policing and the criminalization of citizens and immigrants?”
Eran is keenly aware of the slippery slope of applying military tactics to policing civilian populations, a topic of grave concern to Ithacans and all Americans.
This community conversation is free and open to the public. Donations to support RAIA can be made by checks written to RAIA’s fiscal sponsor, the AJ Muste Memorial Institute.
Musician Dara Anissi will open the evening with oud music dedicated to the people of Gaza.
Eran Efrati’s talk is presented by the Ithaca chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace and the Committee for Justice in Palestine. It is co-sponsored by many religious, peace and justice organizations in Tompkins, Broome and Tioga Counties, including the Tompkins County Immigrant Rights Coalition, Episcopal Peace Fellowship, Veterans for Peace of Broome County, Social Justice Council of the 1st Unitarian Society of Ithaca, Finger Lakes Veterans / Warrior Writers, Dorothy Cotton Institute, Cornell Islamic Alliance for Justice, United Methodist Upper NY Conference Task Force for Palestine/Israel, Multicultural Resource Center, Broome-Tioga Green Party, Ithaca Catholic Worker, Group 73 of Amnesty International of Ithaca NY, Ithaca Democratic Socialists of America, Congregation Tikkun v’Or Israel-Palestine Social Justice Workgroup, Ithaca College Futures Club, Cornell Students for Justice in Palestine, and Food Not Bombs.