Protest bulldozer will demolish homes outside ‘Israel lobby’

David L. Mandel, a member of the local Jewish Voice for Peace chapter, a U.S-Israeli dual citizen and longtime activist for peace and justice in the Middle East, said, In fact, more and more of us, especially younger Jews, are increasingly appalled by the disastrous occupation, militarist and anti-democratic policies of Israel’s government.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011
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Daybook/SUNDAY editor

Protest bulldozer will demolish homes outside ‘Israel lobby’
event Sunday, Dec. 4; Local elected officials urged to
show support of justice by shunning AIPAC lunch

Wielding giant props painted to look like homes and a Caterpillar bulldozer, local members of Jewish Voice for Peace and others will dramatize Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes outside the annual AIPAC gathering at the Radisson Hotel, 500 Leisure Lane, Sacramento, on Sunday, December 4 at 11am.

Since Israel began its military occupation of Palestine’s West Bank and Gaza Strip in 1967, more than 24,000 Palestinian homes have been demolished as part of Israel’s on-going occupation and colonization.

More than 500,000 Jewish-Israeli settlers have been moved to the occupied West Bank in violation of the Geneva Conventions. Many of the settlers are armed, and, with the protection of the Israeli military, attack and harass Palestinian civilians and destroy their property.

AIPAC, the American Israel Political Action Committee, commonly referred to as the “Israel lobby” but espousing particularly hard-line Israeli and U.S. policy positions, tries to entice local elected officials to attend this annual luncheon by pretending it represents the views and interests of American Jews.

“In fact, more and more of us, especially younger Jews, are increasingly appalled by the disastrous occupation, militarist and anti-democratic policies of Israel’s government,” said David L. Mandel, a member of the local Jewish Voice for Peace chapter, a U.S-Israeli dual citizen and longtime activist for peace and justice in the Middle East. “AIPAC’s public support may not yet be down to 1 percent, but that’s whose interests it represents and we have no doubt it will get there as the 99 percent in America become increasingly aware of how we’re being misled on this issue along with so many others.”

“Our government’s continued political, military and financial support of Israel is politically and morally untenable: it promotes war and oppression, not peace and justice,” states a letter sent by Jewish Voice for Peace, Veterans for Peace, Physicians for Social Responsibility and several other organizations to local, state and federal elected officials, asking them not to attend the event. “While people all over the Middle East are demanding freedom and democracy, AIPAC supports the denial of these basic rights to Palestinians under the guise of security for Israel, which disingenuously claims to be ‘the only democracy’ in the region. As Americans, we are deeply concerned that the United States continues to isolate itself from world opinion with regard to basic human rights, respect for international law and equal treatment for Palestinians,” continues the letter.

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