We’re here today to keep vigil. We’re here to bear witness.
Day 88 of Israel’s genocide against the Palestinian people.
22,000 Gazans murdered by Israel, 70% of them women and children, 106 journalists, more than 300 health care workers, 4200 students, and more than 56,000 injured, in the last ten days, more than 200 a day killed, 350 a day injured.
And in 2023, a total of 55,000 Israeli settlers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound, third holiest site in Islam, according to Israeli human rights organizations, and in the occupied Palestinian territories, the worst year of settler violence in 75 years of Israel’s history.
Bombing, indiscriminate sniper shootings, starvation, deprivation of water, epidemic disease all now weapons of Israel’s ethnic cleansing operation.
But statistics only tell part of the story. This is a war against Palestinian tradition, culture, against Palestinian history. Israel’s agenda is nothing less than erasing from human memory the very idea of Palestine itself.
This is taking place all out in the open. Daniella Weiss, head of a Zionist settler movement put it like this: “The settlers want to see the sea, a logical and romantic demand. We must evacuate Gaza of all Arabs and build Jewish settlements there. Gaza must be erased so that settlers can see the sea.” Ethnic cleansing, genocide so that illegal settlers can have a better view.
Thank God for South Africa accusing Israel of genocide at the International Court of Justice. While in Washington DC, Blinken and Biden try to convince us they’re telling Israel to “minimize Palestinian civilian casualties”; while Biden bypasses Congress to sell an additional – an additional – $147 million worth of weapons to Israel. How stupid does he think we are to buy his cynical charade?
The US is not simply complicit anymore. The US is a full and active partner in the genocide of the Palestinian people.
Joe won’t bypass Congress for student loan relief. Joe won’t bypass Congress for early childhood education. And Joe won’t bypass Congress for healthcare. I say let’s bypass Joe in 2024.
We need to tell Israel and its Zionist defenders that the days of using the horrors of the Holocaust visited upon the Jewish people in Europe – and it was horrific and we must battle antisemitism and racism wherever it’s found. But we must be clear with those who would use the Holocaust as a pretext for holding the rest of the world hostage and committing genocide against the Palestinian people … those days are over.
We need to say to our Jewish friends that just as white Christian nationalism in our country is both religiously blasphemous and politically dangerous, so, too, is Zionism’s mixing of religion and nationalism. It’s Jewish Zionists, Christian Zionists, and others who are corrupting the Jewish faith with nationalism.
Standing against Zionism is not antisemitism. Anti-Zionism is not antisemitism. Why else would millions of Jews stand with us? And millions of Muslims, Christians, people of other faiths and of no religion at all, too, people of good will around the world calling not only for a ceasefire – the bare damn minimum – but also for a process that will lead to a just and lasting peace. The US has lost all its credibility so this will have to be a global effort.
We reject powerlessness and helplessness. We must embrace our power. Because change will not come from the top down. It will start from the bottom up, with people like us.
We’re not going anywhere. We’re here to stay. We’ll be here next Tuesday, too, from 5:00-6:00. Spread the word, bring a friend. We plan to be here for the duration. Let us stand together. Free, free Palestine. Free, free Gaza.