September, 08 2015, 01:45pm EDT
A New Era: Activists Celebrate a Victory for Peace, Call for A New Approach to Mid-East Policy
WASHINGTON
Jewish Voice for Peace joins supporters of peace and diplomacy worldwide celebrating another step towards securing the Congressional support to uphold the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated between the P5+1 and Iran. After the 41st Senator announced their support for the deal today, President Obama secured the votes needed to filibuster a Congressional resolution of disapproval and avoid a veto. As Congress discusses the deal alongside bills and amendments designed to undermine it this week, we continue to urge our elected officials to do the right thing by supporting diplomacy.
At the same time, we reject proposals to reward Israel's opposition to the deal with even more military aid used to fund human rights abuses and Israel's continued illegal occupation of Palestinian land. Further, we call on all policymakers concerned about a nuclear arms race in the Middle East to demand that Israel, whose nuclear weapons capacity is well-known, sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation treaty.
Rabbi Joseph Berman, JVP Government Affairs Liaison, stated: "The passage of the Iran deal will mark a historic moment in US foreign policy. This victory, which countless organizations and individuals contributed to, proves the power of grassroots advocacy. This achievement demonstrates that advocates of peace and justice can win over the well-financed advocates of war. This is a strong deal, one with strict safeguards and unprecedented levels of oversight, and one that is in the interest of the entire international community."
A national, grassroots organization that advocates for a more just US foreign policy in the Middle East, Jewish Voice for Peace mobilized thousands of members and supporters to take action in support of the nuclear deal with Iran. JVP members and supporters sent over 70,000 letters to their Congressional representatives, met with over 45 congressional offices, made tens of thousands of phone calls and wrote numerous letters to the editor and op-eds.
However, the fight for a more just foreign policy is far from over. Rebecca Vilkomerson, Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace stated: "Those of us who care about peace in the Middle East should care that this deal may well come at the cost of a significant increase in military aid to Israel. The US already gives Israel unprecedented levels of military aid, US taxpayer money which helped financed Israeli military aggression against Palestinians in Gaza last summer, aid that sustains the nearly 48-year military occupation of the West Bank, and aid that fuels the military-industrial complex both in Israel and in the US. This is a new era, Congress and the Administration have demonstrated that they can defy the Israel lobby when it comes to key issues of international diplomacy. The same courage is needed to chart a new course towards ending decades of repressing Palestinian rights and freedom."
Jewish Voice for Peace is a national, grassroots organization inspired by Jewish tradition to work for a just and lasting peace according to principles of human rights, equality, and international law for all the people of Israel and Palestine. JVP has over 200,000 online supporters, over 70 chapters, a youth wing, a Rabbinic Council, an Artist Council, an Academic Advisory Council, and an Advisory Board made up of leading U.S. intellectuals and artists.
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UN Chief Warns of Israel's Syria Invasion and Land Seizures
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United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Thursday that he is "deeply concerned" by Israel's "recent and extensive violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity," including a ground invasion and airstrikes carried out by the Israel Defense Forces in the war-torn Mideastern nation.
Guterres "is particularly concerned over the hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on several locations in Syria" and has stressed the "urgent need to de-escalate violence on all fronts throughout the country," said U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric.
Israel claims its invasion and bombardment of Syria—which come as the United States and Turkey have also violated Syrian sovereignty with air and ground attacks—are meant to create a security buffer along the countries' shared border in the wake of last week's fall of former Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and amid the IDF's ongoing assault on Gaza, which has killed or wounded more than 162,000 Palestinians and is the subject of an International Court of Justice genocide case.
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Addressing the assassination of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson and conversations it has sparked about the country's for-profit system, longtime Medicare for All advocate Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday condemned the murder and stressed that getting to universal coverage will require a movement challenging corporate money in politics.
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In addition to highlighting Sanders' interview on social media, Congressman Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) pointed out to Business Insider on Wednesday that "you've got thousands of people that are sharing their stories of frustration" in the wake of Thompson's death.
Khanna—a co-sponsor of the Medicare for All Act, led in the House of Representatives by Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.)—made the case that you can recognize those stories without accepting the assassination.
"You condemn the murder of an insurance executive who was a father of two kids," he said. "At the same time, you say there's obviously an outpouring behavior of people whose claims are being denied, and we need to reform the system."
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.)—a co-sponsor of Sanders' Medicare for All Act—similarly toldHuffPost in a Tuesday interview, "The visceral response from people across this country who feel cheated, ripped off, and threatened by the vile practices of their insurance companies should be a warning to everyone in the healthcare system."
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Reporters Without Borders' (RSF) 2024 roundup, which was published Thursday, found that at least 54 journalists were killed on the job or in connection with their work this year, and 18 of them were killed by Israeli armed forces (16 in Palestine, and two in Lebanon).
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Meanwhile, in a statement released Thursday, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) announced that at least 139 Palestinian journalists and media workers have been killed since the war in Gaza began in 2023, and in a statement released Wednesday, IFJ announced that 104 journalists had perished worldwide this year (which includes deaths from January 1 through December 10). IFJ's number for all of 2024 appears to be higher than RSF because RSF is only counting deaths that occurred "on the job or in connection with their work."
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