Bay Area Communities To Rally and Demand No Aid to Israeli Apartheid on Tax Day

This Tax Day, Bay Area communities will rally in opposition to the ongoing military US aid to Israel. Since the start of 2023, over 90 Palestinians have been killed by occupation forces, including in attacks by armed Israeli settlers, marking this year as the deadliest year for Palestinians since 2002. A press conference will be held at 4:30pm, before the mobilization.

“For too long, the US has played an active role in the perpetuation of military occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.” says Sharif Zakout of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center. “The US government provides more than $3.8 billion annually in direct military aid to the Israeli occupation. We demand an end of $3.8 billion of US military funding to the Israeli occupation forces. Our taxes should fund healthcare, housing, and education, not Israeli’s crimes against Palestinians.”

These protests will take place against the backdrop of escalating attacks on Palestinians by Israeli forces. In the West Bank, Palestinian cities of Jenin, Nablus, and Hawarrah have been raided repeatedly by Israeli settlers, with military backing. In Al-Aqsa Mosque, Palestinian worshippers have been repeatedly subjected to brutal assault and arrest by the Israeli military police during the holy month of Ramadan. Palestinian Christians were also attacked on Holy Saturday at Jerusalem’s Church of the Holy Sepulchre, with extremist settlers vandalizing holy sites..

“This Tuesday, in protesting outside of the Israeli Consulate, we are demanding an end to the US’s explicit complicity in the deliberate ethnic cleansing and slow genocide of the Palestinian people.” says Suzanne Ali of the Palestinian Youth Movement. “We support the Palestinian peoples’ inalienable right to self-determination and resistance against the oppressive Israeli regime and continued settler violence.”

This May will mark the 75th anniversary of the Nakbeh (“the Catastrophe”), the forced displacement and ethnic cleansing of over 800,000 Palestinians from their homelands.