press conference, protest, and vigil

We will gather at noon in front of the courthouse (next to the County office building), where members of our community will speak about our request for Rep. Jimmy Panetta to stop supporting Netanyahu's violence. Then we will carry our requests to Panetta's office on the third floor.

Also, we will gather at 6:30pm that evening at the Collateral Damage statue in a candlelight vigil to reflect on the people suffering. The statue, called "Collateral Damage," sits in the island next to the Town Clock amid the busy traffic downtown. We are grieving for the people in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Yemen and Israel. Shockingly, our nation is supplying the next load of weapons to continue the violence.
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Panetta's record of supporting the violence (partial list):

1. Failure to support a ceasefire:
A large majority of the public has wanted a ceasefire since the initial Israeli military response to the horrible Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. According to a Data For Progress poll on October 19, 2023, 80% of Democrats and 56% of Republicans agreed that “The U.S. should call for a ceasefire.” in Gaza. For eight months Rep. Panetta failed to respond to the high volume of mail from constituents asking that he support a ceasefire. Finally, on June 7, 2024, Rep. Panetta endorsed the Biden proposal for a ceasefire.

2. Support for additional offensive weapons to Israel
Panetta’s support for additional offensive weapons to Israel continues to undermine the prospects for a ceasefire. Rep. Panetta stated on Nov 2, 2023:, “More efforts also must be taken to reduce the impacts of Israel’s military campaign on peaceful civilians in Gaza”. Yet in spite of all evidence in the months that followed that the Israeli military is not protecting civilians, Panetta voted to approve an additional $17 billion in military aid to Israel in April 2024.

3.Denunciation of International Court of Justice and International Criminal Court
On January 23, 2024, Rep. Panetta signed a letter to “express our disgust” with South Africa’s filing of a “grossly unfounded case against Israel at the International Court of Justice”. Shortly thereafter the ICJ found South Africa’s case for genocide plausible, and ruled that Israel must take actions to prevent indiscriminate killing of Palestinians and “deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” The ICJ updated its ruling in May, 2024, calling on Israel to “Immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate.”

In May 2024, the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor requested arrest warrants for Israeli and Hamas leaders, presenting evidence of intentional attacks on civilians and “starvation as a method of warfare.” However, Panetta voted with House Republicans to sanction ICC officials, in a resolution (opposed by the Biden administration) that dismissed the court’s charges as “illegitimate and baseless”. This resolution denies the evidence presented by Human Rights Watch, Oxfam, and a UN report labeling Israeli and Hamas actions as “crimes against humanity.”

4. Acceptance of contributions from arms manufacturers and AIPAC
In the 4th quarter of 2023 Panetta received $143,000 from AIPAC, the pro-Netanyahu lobby. He has accepted nearly a quarter million dollars from the arms industry.

5. Voted with Republicans to conceal the death toll in Gaza