Peace, Not Apartheid – Emergency Gaza Relief
Thursday, November 16th ⋅ 7:00 – 8:30pm
La Villa Banquet Hall, 11500 Brookpark Rd, Cleveland, OH 44130
A panel of local leaders will discuss the current Palestinian struggle in the face of Israeli apartheid: to build community engagement and affinity with the struggle for Palestinian self determination, community members will provide updates on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the urgent need for a ceasefire and building justice for Palestine.
An emergency Gaza relief effort will be presented by the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF). The event is free and open to the public. A free will offering is requested to benefit PCRF.
Presenters:
- Abbas Hamideh, Al-Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Movement
- Faten Husni Odeh, CAIR Cleveland
- Dr. Shereen Naser
- Alfred Porter Black on Black Crime Inc., Hip-Hop Workshop
- Eric Resnick, Jewish Voice for Peace Cleveland (JVP)
- David Shutkin, Center for Jewish Nonviolence, JVP Cleveland
- C Stonebraker-Martinez, InterReligious Task Force on Central America and Colombia
- Philip Yenyo (AIM-Ohio)
- EMCEE TEAM
- Amina Hamdan, CSU 2023 Graduate, SJP
- Jeffrey Elias Kassouf, CPA Middle East Committee
- INVITED
- PCRF Palestine Children’s Relief Fund representative
- Khalid Samad (Peace in the Hood, formerly)
- Rob Rice (Committee of 500 Years)
Ceasefire Now!
Contact Congress:
- Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
- Message your Senators and Representatives
STOP THE GENOCIDE – CEASEFIRE NOW!
Contact Congress in support of this resolution:
Reps. Bush, Tlaib, Carson, Lee, Ramirez Lead Colleagues in Call for Immediate Ceasefire
- Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121
- Message your Senators and Representatives
The atrocities committed by Hamas and Israel in the past nine days will continue to escalate unless something drastic changes. Both entities have committed egregious attacks on civilians. However, there were no beheadings done by Hamas, as was falsely claimed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the presence of U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken. As of this writing, the New York Times reports 2,670 Palestinians have been killed in reprisal for the October 7 Hamas attacks, and 9,600 wounded. Twice as many Palestinians have died in this hideous conflict as Israelis. Where does the killing stop?
The Israeli occupation, past, and current invasion and siege of Gaza, Palestine can be defined as genocide. Professor Raphael Lemkin, a Polish Jewish legal scholar first used the term in 1945, in Genocide: A Modern Crime. He writes: “Genocide does not necessarily signify mass killing. More often it refers to a coordinated plan aimed at destruction of the essential foundations of the life of national groups so that these groups wither and die like plants that have suffered a blight.”
One ‘drastic change’ that should occur is for the U.S. comply with international law and cease arming Israel. Short of that pipe dream, the U.S. should strongly compel Israel to end its brutal and enhanced siege of Gaza’s 2.1 million people, nearly half of whom are children.
MORE ACTIONS YOU CAN TAKE: Our friends at Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow have a good grassroots operation going with protests and phone banks to support the protests. Phonebanks make it possible for everyone to participate across the country. I’m sure some of you are participating in this and other grassroots activities. While these are “Jewish-led” events everyone opposed to the siege, bombing and ethnic cleansing in Gaza can participate. A list of phonebanks and protests is here. A centerpiece is a week of actions in Washington DC including events on today and a Capitol Hill protest on Wednesday.
El Salvador: Guilty Until Proven Innocent
In addressing gang violence, El Salvador has become the world leader in imprisonment. Vast numbers of the innocent are jailed in the process. Join us for a panel discussion on what’s happening and what can be done to stop it.
Wednesday, September 20th
At the UnBar Cafe, 12635 Larchmere Blvd, Cleveland, 44120
Come at 6:30 PM for sandwiches, soups, salads and baked goods, along with non-alcoholic beverages (available for purchase)
Panel Discussion at 7:00 PM with:
- Adela Zaya Hernandez, Director of International Partnership and Programs in Central America and the Caribbean for International Partners in Mission
- Susan Barnish, Program Director, COAR Peace Mission
- Erica Ewing, longtime IRTF volunteer, in El Salvador recently
- Mary Ober, owner of Revy Fair Trade, working with El Salvadoran artisans since 2009
- Chrissy Stonebraker-Martinez, IRTF, moderator
Free and open to the public.
Sponsored by Cleveland Peace Action Education Fund and IRTF-InterReligious Task Force on Central America and Colombia
Settler violence and the Israeli government’s complicity must end
Cleveland Peace Action calls on the Biden Administration to strongly condemn the settler violence and the Israeli government’s complicity. We further call on President Biden and Congress to declare zero tolerance for Israel’s continued construction of new illegal Jewish-only settlements in the occupied West Bank; to condemn the Gaza blockade, to release political prisoners and detained children; and for the US to immediately end military aid to Israel.
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