Must end now

The horrific images of children starving in Gaza, due to Israel’s cruel, inhumane blockade of all humanitarian aid since early March, shocks the world’s conscience. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recently announced plan to distribute aid, while forcing Gazans to move yet again, is a spurious cover for his and Trump’s ethnic cleansing scheme.

Yet concrete action to end this calamity is hard to organize. How does a genocide end? And specifically, how do people of conscience, acting with majority support of the US public, organize to end it? The lack of true democracy in the United States, so evident in domestic policy on many issues, is even worse in terms of foreign policy, especially regarding the mostly ironclad support for Israel. However, cracks are showing, and they must be exploited quickly.

Earlier this week, US Senator Peter Welch (D-VT) brought his S Res 224, calling for an end to the humanitarian blockade on Gaza, to the Senate floor. The resolution had the support of all Democrats, except Sen John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, and the two Independents who caucus with the Democrats, Senators Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Angus King (I-ME).

The resolution was predictably blocked from getting a vote by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair James Risch (R-ID), but was significant as no other legislative measure in the year and half since the war on Gaza began has garnered such widespread, albeit partisan support (no Republicans supported it, nor have any called for a ceasefire or cutting off US weapons to Israel).

A companion resolution in the House of Representatives will be introduced very soon, and while both would be non-binding, they represent progress in the long struggle to exert pressure on Israel, and Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem are keenly aware of US political developments. Additionally, the Senate will likely soon vote on Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs) to stop specific US weapons transfers to Israel. Sen Sanders forced such votes twice since November, and while they failed, the upcoming votes should attract more support, and add to the pressure on the Israeli government, which of course is opposed by most Israelis.

Legislative initiatives are far from the only strategies and tactics being employed by peace and human rights activists. Other recent and upcoming events and opportunities include the following:

Activists led by Montgomery County, Maryland Peace Action showed up at new US Senator Angela Alsobrooks’ “Sick of It” rally protesting the Trump/Musk cuts to health programs, and had a strong showing about also being sick of the Gaza genocide, including confronting the senator. It may have had some impact, as she later signed onto Sen Welch’s resolution, after having been largely silent on the genocide in Gaza, and voting against Sen Sanders’ most recent JRDs.

The impressive anti-genocide commencement speech by George Washington University student Cecelia Culver has received significant media coverage. She is now shamefully being investigated by the university. Similarly, New York University student Logan Rozos condemned the Gaza genocide in his commencement speech, and the university is withholding his diploma. Both students, along with other students similarly persecuted for speaking out for an end to the horrors in Gaza, deserve support and solidarity.

Reprising and expanding an effort from last year, New Hampshire peace activist Bob Sanders is conducting a cross country bike ride to raise awareness of the dire situation in Gaza.

Excerpted: ‘The Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza Must End Now’. Courtesy: Counterpunch.org