WASHINGTON – WHAT: Hundreds of Jewish New Yorkers with Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) will march on Senator Schumer’s home and hold a Shabbat service in protest of his silence as Israel escalates violence against Palestinians.
Protesters will demand that Schumer and his colleagues commit to ending U.S. military funding to Israel and call for the cessation of Israel’s violence against Palestinians.
With at least 119 Palestinians (31 children) and 8 Israelis killed in less than a week, JVP-NYC condemns the Israeli military’s airstrikes on families in Gaza, mob violence targeting primarily Palestinians, and the ongoing state-led dispossession of Palestinians from their homes. In the face of war crimes and unimaginable violence, Senator Schumer and many of his colleagues remain silent. US military funding is used by the Israeli government to imprison and torture Palestinian children, steal and destroy Palestinian homes and property, and annex Palestinian land.
WHO: Jewish Voice for Peace – NYC
WHEN: Friday, May 14th, 6:30PM – 8:15 PM
WHERE: Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn, NY
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ACTION AND VISUALS: Protestors will gather at 6:30pm at Grand Army Plaza with placards and fresh poppies – the national flower of Palestine – commemorating the lives of the 119 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military and settlers. Rabbi Miriam Grossman of Kolot Chayeinu will lead the mourner’s kaddish, followed by Jewish speakers of different backgrounds. They will then march to Senator Schumer’s home, carrying a banner reading “Jews say stop funding the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.” They will lay the banner, flowers and placards of those killed at his doorstep, during a Shabbat service.
Photos and videos of the event are available upon request.
BACKGROUND: The Israeli military’s airstrikes on Gaza and Israeli police and mob violence killed at least 119 Palestinians in less than a week. But this violence is not new. Israel has held Gaza under military siege for 15 years. Nearly 2 million Palestinians, including 1.3 million refugees, live in Gaza, which the UN declared in 2012 would be unlivable by 2020. Meanwhile, in occupied East Jerusalem, the Israeli government is attempting to expel Palestinians from their homes in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, while across Israel and the occupied West Bank, violent mobs have attempted to lynch Palestinians in cities like Lod and Haifa.
The United States Congress gives Israel $3.8 million in military aid each year, more than it spends on global climate programs. Dozens of members of Congress, including Senators Sanders and Warren and Representatives Ocasio-Cortez, Tlaib, Omar, Carson and Newman have condemned the latest Israeli state violence. Majority Leader Schumer remains silent.
This Shabbat protest is being held on the eve of the 73rd anniversary of the Nakba, when Zionist militias forcibly expelled 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and destroyed 500 villages.
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