Ceasefire Vigil

media release: Madison for a World BEYOND War has been vigiling from 9 am - 5 pm daily inside and outside of Tammy Baldwin's Madison office (30 W. Mifflin St.) since the bombing of Gaza began again last week.  Today at noon they will hold a vigil with music, poetry, and to read names of some of the thousands of children killed by the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza. 

The event is co-sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace – Madison, Madison Veterans for Peace, Chapter 25, and Building Unity.

“As an Israeli-American, I am appalled and disturbed by the massacre of Palestinian innocents by Israel, the military aid Israel is receiving through American citizens' tax money, and the support offered by my Senator, Tammy Baldwin. I wholeheartedly agree with actions to force Baldwin to listen to her constituents and change her current stance.” - Esty Dinur, member of Jewish Voice for Peace-Madison

The groups are asking Senator Baldwin to join the ranks of the members of Congress who are making public statements for a ceasefire and against continued funding for Israel’s indiscriminate bombing of civilians. The senators speaking up include Sanders, Van Hollen, Welch, Durbin, Merkley, and Warren, and many US representatives including Madison’s, Rep Mark Pocan.  

The vigilers and sponsoring groups ask Senator Baldwin to:

·  Call for a total and permanent ceasefire in Israel and Palestine now.

·  Introduce and/or sign on to legislation to cut military aid to Israel completely, and demand that the Israeli government commits to abide by international law and begins sincere negotiations with Palestinians to end the occupation.

Nicholas Kristof wrote Wednesday in the New York Times, in an editorial entitled, So Many Child Deaths in Gaza and for What?, “… 16,248 people have been killed in the enclave so far, about 70 percent of them women and children.  … The pace of killing of civilians has been much greater than in most other recent conflicts; the only one that I know of that compares is perhaps the Rwanda genocide in 1994. Far more women and children appear to have been killed in Gaza than in the entire first year of the Iraq war, for example.”

Under the UN Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide and Article 6 of the Rome Statute, the crime of genocide occurs when a nation deliberately inflicts on the group “conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” 

Under these terms, Israel commits US-funded genocide in Gaza when it bombs civilian targets-hospitals, schools, UN refugee centers, journalists, UN workers, mosques, apartments and escape routes– while denying an imprisoned population water, food, medicine and fuel. Since October 7th, Israel’s assault with US weapons has resulted in tens of thousands of Gazans killed or wounded and 1.7 million people displaced, including almost a million in 154 UNRWA shelters, some of which Israel has bombed. In the words of UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, “Gaza has become a graveyard for children.”

World BEYOND War is a global movement to end all wars.  World BEYOND War is participating in the Merchants of Death war crimes tribunals that are now taking place to hold war profiteers accountable.  Learn more here: https://merchantsofdeath.org/