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[photo by Jo Freeman]
Israel-Palestine Committee
Jeff Halper presents “War Against the People”
In our Forum on Feb 19, 2019, Jeff Halper, Israeli anthropologist and Director of the “Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions” (ICAHD)detailed how Israel exports its Occupation–its weaponry, its models and tactics of control, its security and surveillance systems–to the U.S as well as other countries. This information casts light on the increasingly pervasive systems of control which threaten to pacify us. “War Against the People” is Jeff Halper’s most recent book.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to annex all settlements in the occupied West Bank on July 1, 2020, has been delayed, but is still in the works. This gives us more time to mobilize our voices, joining the international outcry. If enacted, the territory which is left to Palestinians will be divided by Jewish-only roads, checkpoints, and walls. Millions more Palestinians will be left in permanent second-class citizenship status, without basic civil rights and without any right to vote.
See this letter sent to Congress by the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights calling for an end to the $3.8 billion dollars of U.S. funds annually which goes to Israel to fund its military. The Senate Committee on Foreign Relations has chosen this time to prioritize passage of S. 3176, ( United States Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2020, with companion bill in the House H.R. 1837) which sends the message that Israel can take any action it chooses with total impunity.
The legislation was filed as an amendment( “Prohibiting U.S. Funds from Supporting Israeli Annexation of the West Bank,”) adding it to the must-pass National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) (S 4049/). The amendment reads: “None of the funds authorized to be appropriated by the United States-Israel Security Assistance Authorization Act of 2020, this Act, or any other Act enacted before the date of the enactment of this Act, or otherwise made available for the Department of Defense, may be obligated or expended to deploy, or support the deployment of, United States defense articles, services, or training to territories in the West Bank unilaterally annexed by Israel after July 1, 2020, or to facilitate the unilateral annexation of such territories.” The amendment is sponsored by Senators Chris Van Hollen (MD), Patrick Leahy (VT), Elizabeth Warren (MA), Chris Murphy (CT), Tom Udall (NM, Brian Schatz (HI), Martin Heinrich (NM), Bernie Sanders (VT), Tom Carper (DE), Tammy Baldwin (WI), Jeff Merkley (OR), Tim Kaine (VA), and Sherrod Brown (OH). The amendment is EXPECTED TO BE VOTED ON IN THE SENATE THIS MONTH!
To be clear, there are some flaws. Van Hollen stated falsely in his press release that “no U.S. funds are currently being expended on unilateral annexation, and this amendment would ensure that remains the case” and Rep. Jan Schakowsky in the House, who voiced her support for the amendment, made similar remarks. If the settlement construction and home demolitions that take place every day aren’t annexation activities — land theft — we don’t know what is. However, while not perfect, Van Hollen’s amendment to the NDAA is plain and simple: “None of the funds authorized… may be obligated or expended to deploy, or support the deployment of, United States defense articles, services, or training to territories in the West Bank unilaterally annexed by Israel after July 1, 2020, or to facilitate the unilateral annexation of such territories.”
It was signed by Senator Bernie Sanders and House members Rashida Tlaib; Ilhan Omar; Pramila Jayapal; Andre Carson; Betty McCollum; Chuy Garcia; Danny Davis; Ayanna Pressley; Raul Grijalva; Bobby Rush; and Nydia Velazquez.
Monday June 8 2020 marked the 53rd anniversary of the unprovoked attack by Israel on the USS Liberty. While patrolling in international waters in the Eastern Mediterranean, USS Liberty was savagely attacked without justification by air and naval forces of the state of Israel resulting in 34 US sailors killed and 173 wounded in action.
BFP was joined on June 18 by 3 US Navy veterans who served on Liberty on that day 53 years ago. They described their experiences during the attack, in the first weeks thereafter and ongoing frustration all the subsequent years unsuccessfully seeking an official US Government investigation. Why is this important NOW? Connecting the dots…….
BFP’s Israel Palestine Committee believes this little known event connects to several issues of immense current concern.
Money in Politics: Democrats and Republicans compete for donations from those who demand as a quid pro quo uncritical support for any policy of the Israeli government. Reassessment of the “special relationship” of Israel and the US The US and Israel encourage each other’s disregard of International Law The US provides Israel with over $3 billion in military aid each year. Why not use these funds to assist our own distressed communities?
Militarization of US Local Police Departments (“ Dominate the streets” policy to control protests)
Law
enforcement has been training in techniques and tactics from the Israeli
military services. Amnesty International
has documented that law enforcement officials from jurisdictions within
Florida, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, California, Arizona, Connecticut, New York,
Maryland, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington State, and
Washington D.C. have traveled to Israel
for training. in topics covered such as “mass surveillance, racial profiling,
and suppression of protest and dissent.” One exception is Durham, North
Carolina, which now opposes police training with Israeli security partners
because of concerns about “subsequent harms to communities of color” in the US.
For additional background information, check the website of the USS Liberty Veterans Association or watch an informative free video documentary available on Youtube
Cancelled! Thurs March 19, 6:30p-9:30p Wrestling With Zionism
Join BFP for an evening of storytelling, offering a fresh way to grapple with our relationships to Israel/Palestine. Location: Park Slope United Methodist Church, 410 Sixth Ave at 8th St
Produced by Jewish Voice For Peace
Sponsored by Brooklyn For Peace and Park Slope United Methodist Social Action Committee
Action Alert: Promote Human Rights for Palestinian Children (HR 2407)
Your phone call needed!! On April 30, 2019, Rep. Betty McCollum (D-MN) introduced H.R. 2407, the “Promoting Human Rights for Palestinian Children Living Under Israeli Military Occupation Act,” a bill prohibiting U.S. taxpayer funding for the military detention of children in any country, including Israel.
This legislation was introduced in the previous Congress and had 30 co-sponsors, none of whom were from New York. We need to change that this time around! Please call your representative in Congress to ask them to sign on as a co-sponsor of this bill. Let us know that you called; email bfp@brooklynpeace.org
So far, from Brooklyn, Yvette Clarke has signed on as a co-sponsor. If you’re in her district, please call to thank her! Click here for more information.
The Right to Boycott: BDS and Your Civil Liberties Forum Held May 23, 2019
The Right to Boycott: BDS and Your Civil Liberties Come to learn about the importance of BDS as a global campaign to achieve human rights for Palestinians, as well as the rise of anti-BDS state and federal laws that undermine our Constitution. Speakers include:
Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of Within Our Lifetime – United for Palestine
Brian Hauss, ACLU Staff Attorney, working on the Speech, Privacy, and Technology project
Sumaya Awad, Palestinian writer and organizer, and co-founder of Against Canary Mission
Poetry performance by Remi Kanazi, Palestinian-American performance poet, writer and organizer
Location: Brooklyn Commons, 388 Atlantic Avenue, between Hoyt and Bond, downtown Brooklyn Wheelchair accessible. Admission Free. Doors open 6:45 pm.
Sponsored by: Brooklyn For Peace Co-sponsors: Arab American Federation, Committee to Stop FBI Repression, Fort Greene Peace, Jewish Voice for Peace–NYC, Jews Say No!, Labor For Palestine, Peace Action New York State, Peace Action Staten Island, Tree of Life Educational Fund, USA Palestine Mental Health Network, Veterans For Peace NYC ch-34, World Can’t Wait, and others
Wed 9/26, 2018, 7 pm: International Law, Seeking Justice, and the Great March of Return in Gaza
International Law, Seeking Justice, and the Great March of Return in Gaza
During Israel’s creation, over 750,000 Palestinians were expelled or fled temporarily to save themselves from the violence. Palestinian refugees and their descendants around the world continue to be denied their right of return as stipulated in a 1948 UN resolution. Why won’t Israel let them return to their homes? What can be done to achieve peace with justice?
Come to this discussion of the Palestinian Right of Return
Speakers:
Bina Ahmad (social justice attorney, public defender, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights Steering Committee, Food Empowerment Project Advisory Board)
Jamil Dakwar (human rights lawyer and adjunct professor at John Jay College and Hunter College)
Donna Nevel (community psychologist, Facing the Nakba Project, Jews Say No!; Jews Against Anti-Muslim Racism)
Wednesday, September 26, 7 pm (Doors open 6:30 pm)
The Brooklyn Commons, 388 Atlantic Avenue between Hoyt and Bond, Downtown Brooklyn
Subway: A/C/G to Hoyt-Schermerhorn, F to Bergen; 2/3/4/5 to Nevins;
Nakba Day 2018: Support the Right of the Palestinian People to Rally, Resist, and Return! 1948–2018
The right of all refugees to return to their homes is recognized in international law. This right is recognized in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“Everyone has the right to . . . return to his country”), in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and in UN Resolution 194 (Palestinian Right of Return). We call for the right of Palestinian refugees and their descendants to return to their homes throughout historic Palestine, from which nearly a million people were driven and fled in 1947-48, when Israel became a state. Palestinians call that time the Nakba, or Catastrophe. These refugees and their descendants are now dispersed throughout the region in refugee camps and foreign countries. Deprived of their homes, their lands, and their livelihoods, many are living without hope for a future.
We support the rights of all people to peacefully assemble and to make their grievances known to the world. We call for an end to Israeli shootings and assassinations in Gaza and elsewhere in Palestine. On March 30, and on subsequent Fridays, tens of thousands of Palestinians living in Gaza participated in the “Great Return March” to the fence that imprisons them, and assembled for a six-week tent city and peaceful protest of the violations of their human rights—set to culminate on Nakba Day on May 15. During five weeks of demonstrations by unarmed civilians in Gaza, Israeli snipers have killed at least 47 people, including children and journalists, and wounded thousands more, many critically.
The Nakba continues to this day. Palestinians continue to be forced off their land, their homes demolished, to be replaced by waves of Jewish settlers protected by the Israeli army. Jerusalem, the center of the Muslim, Christian, and Jewish faiths and originally intended by the UN to be administered as an international city, has been annexed by Israel, which denies Muslim Palestinians access to holy sites. (Trump has legitimized this theft by agreeing to move the US embassy to Jerusalem.)
Today, over 2 million Palestinians including 1.3 million descendants of original 1948 refugees, live in the tiny strip of fenced-in land known as Gaza, under an Israeli blockade that has lasted for 10 years. Lack of potable water, medical supplies, food, electricity, and waste treatment have led the UN to declare Gaza “basically unlivable.” Israel bombs Gaza periodically, killing thousands of civilians, including children, and destroying infrastructure, including schools, hospitals, and water treatment plants.
Is it any wonder that Gazans are seeking a return to their ancestral homes and an escape from a permanent nightmare of poverty, blockade, and Israeli-inflicted violence? On the 70th anniversary of the Nakba, we demand:
*An end to US military aid to Israel ($4.8 billion/year), which violates the Arms Export Control Act of 1976, specifically forbidding arms deals with governments that abuse human rights.
*An end to Israeli attacks on unarmed protestors!
*An end to the illegal siege of Gaza which has caused untold human suffering and degradation of life.
*An end to the racism that favors one ethnicity or religion over the other in Israel and the Occupied Territories.
