This article appears in the January 12, 2024 issue of Executive Intelligence Review.
Worldwide Action Intensifies
To Stop Gaza Genocide
[Print version of this article]
Jan. 6—Shocked by the sight of genocide, day after day in living color on network TV and social media platforms—genocide reminiscent of the Nazi Holocaust—a growing number of prominent individuals, organizations, legislative bodies and nations are engaged in direct action to put a stop to the slaughter. Gottfried Leibniz in 1709 had asserted that from evil, we are endowed with the ability to bring about a greater good. Perhaps we are in the midst of that possibility in the dynamic of the peace mobilization now unfolding to stop Israel’s three-month war of annihilation against the Palestinian people of Gaza.
Thousands of actions are being taken both inside and outside the United States to stop this war. Because of growing censorship by the mainstream media, most people are probably not aware of the scope of these actions or the growing international backlash against the genocide of the Palestinian people. But as the crisis intensifies, expect that to change over the course of 2024.
Government Level Peace Initiatives
The government of South Africa has invoked the 1948 “Genocide Convention” against Israel with the trial before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague scheduled to begin January 11. (See article elsewhere in this issue.)
On January 3, Türkiye’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Öncü Keçeli stated:
“Israel’s murder of more than 22,000 Palestinian civilians, the majority of whom were women and children, in Gaza for nearly three months should not go unpunished in any way.”
China’s Deputy Ambassador to the United Nations, Geng Shuang, on Dec. 29 renewed the call by China for an international conference to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli crisis. Speaking before the UN Security Council, Geng said:
“The crux of the protracted Palestinian-Israeli issue lies in the failure to implement the two-state solution and the failure to guarantee the fundamental rights of the Palestinian people. We call for an international peace conference that is more broad-based and effective, so as to expedite the formation of a timetable on the roadmap for the implementation of the two-state solution. We support Palestine’s full membership in the UN and the early resumption of direct negotiations between Palestine and Israel.”
Senior U.S. State Department official Josh Paul resigned on Oct. 18 due to the Biden administration’s handling of the Palestinian-Israeli war. Paul was the director of congressional and public affairs for the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs for over 11 years. In his resignation letter he said:
This Administration’s response—and much of Congress’ as well—is an impulsive reaction built on confirmation bias, political convenience, intellectual bankruptcy, and bureaucratic inertia. That is to say, it is immensely disappointing, and entirely unsurprising. Decades of the same approach have shown that security for peace leads to neither security, nor to peace. The fact is, blind support for one side is destructive in the long term to the interests of the people on both sides. I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we have made these past decades, and I decline to be a part of it for longer.
Over the course of the last three months, a series of open letters signed by hundreds of political officials, the majority Democrats, have been issued to the Biden administration and Congress demanding a ceasefire.
Oct. 19: A group of Muslim and Jewish congressional staffers issued a letter which begins with the statement, “Today, we write to implore our bosses, Members of the United States Congress, to join calls for an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Millions of lives hang in the balance, including the 2.3 million civilians—half of whom are children—in Gaza, civilians in Israel, and Jews and Muslims around the world.”
Nov. 8: More than 500 named staff members of the Democratic Party and Biden’s 2020 campaign signed a letter which states in part: “We implore you, President Biden, to live that moral courage right now by stepping up to be a leader we can be proud of in the face of injustice. As President of the United States, you have significant influence in this perilous moment—you must call for a ceasefire, hostage exchange, and de-escalation, and take concrete steps to address the conditions of occupation, apartheid, and ethnic cleansing at the root of the horrific violence we are witnessing now.”
Nov.14: Political appointees and staff members, numbering more than 500, from 40 government agencies signed a letter protesting Israel’s war policy, saying in part:
“We call on President Biden to urgently demand a cease-fire; and to call for de-escalation of the current conflict by securing the immediate release of the Israeli hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians; the restoration of water, fuel, electricity and other basic services; and the passage of adequate humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.”
Jan. 4: A letter signed anonymously by 17 staffers of Joe Biden’s re-election campaign warns Biden that his current policy towards Gaza could cost him the 2024 election:
“We joined this campaign because the values that you—and we—share are ones worth fighting for. Justice, empathy, and our belief in the dignity of human life is the backbone of not only the Democratic Party, but of the country. However, your administration’s response to Israel’s indiscriminate bombing in Gaza has been fundamentally antithetical to those values—and we believe it could cost you the 2024 election.”
Petitions of Prominent Thinkers
Richard Falk, professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University, who served from 2008–2014 as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967—on Dec. 18 released the “Declaration of Conscience and Concern of Global Intellectuals on Gaza Genocide”. To date the Declaration has close to 1,500 signers, including prominent retired diplomats, government officials and top academics. The Declaration states in part:
“The revival of this military campaign waged by Israel against the civilian population of Gaza amounts to a repudiation of UN authority, of law and morality in general, and of simple human decency…. The collaborative approval of Israel’s action by the leading liberal democracies in the Global West, particularly the United States and the United Kingdom, accentuates our anguish and disgust….”
More than 1,000 scholars from New England universities and educational institutions sent a letter dated Dec. 5 to New England members of the U.S. Senate, demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. The letter begins:
We, the undersigned scholars at New England colleges and universities, are your constituents in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. We teach and research in numerous disciplines and professions; and we represent diverse ethnic, religious, and political backgrounds. We uphold the rule of law, including due process and accountability, and we honor widely accepted international norms and standards of justice, including the laws of war and armed conflict. Together, we are writing you to call for a permanent ceasefire in Israel-Palestine; an end to Israel’s siege of the Gaza Strip; and an enduring political resolution between Israelis and Palestinians based on international law and the principles of justice, equality, and dignity for all….
Demonstrations in the Americas
In the aftermath of the veto by the United States on Dec. 8 of the UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, demonstrations broke out around the country to denounce this disgusting act. Demonstrations were held in Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Chicago, Rhode Island and in New York City, where about 1,000 protestors rallied at Washington Square Park. In Los Angeles, a rally was held in Holmby Park outside a private fundraiser attended by “Genocide Joe” Biden; while in Pasadena hundreds gathered at Centennial Square, across from the Pasadena City Hall. Burbank Mayor Konstantine Anthony spoke at the Pasadena rally, saying:
“We need to fundamentally change where our money goes in this country. Do we want to continue funding bombs and missiles and tanks and war? Or do we build schools, do we build hospitals, feed the hungry and heal the sick?”
And in Anaheim, California over 1,000 protestors temporarily shut down one of the entrances to Disneyland. The Walt Disney Company is believed by some to be one of the corporate sponsors of Israel’s war on Gaza.
“Judios por Palestina,” a group of mostly young Mexican Jews, on Dec. 15—the last night of Hanukkah—held a candlelight protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Organizers of the Schiller Institute were also present at the gathering. At one point during the vigil, protestors began singing traditional Hebrew songs, including “Hineh Ma Tov” from Psalm 133:1 which goes “How good and how pleasant it is for people to dwell together in unity!”
On Jan. 3 a coalition of Jewish groups including Jewish Voice for Peace, IfNotNow and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network shutdown the California State Assembly in Sacramento as it was holding its first session of the year. Hundreds of activists chanting “ceasefire now” hung banners from the gallery and occupied the Capitol rotunda.
In the spirit of these actions taken by people of conscience no longer willing to sit back and do nothing in the face of horrific genocide against the Palestinian people, Jose Vega of the Schiller Institute, who leads a team of activists well known for their interventions against notorious warmongers such as Hillary Clinton, at the Jan. 6 meeting of the International Peace Coalition, had the following to say:
“There’s a genocide happening in Gaza, there’s a war going on in Ukraine right now and there are 55 other wars happening that people don’t know about or talk about. The question is what are you actually prepared to do about it?... If you are actually conflicted about what’s happening in the world, all the death and destruction, you have to act.”
