Condemning Genocide: Ending American Support for Violence in Gaza

American military support for Israel’s war against Gaza is unacceptable, and we call upon the Biden administration to stop perpetuating violence.

This violence has led to the death of at least 1.5% of the Gazan population, the purpose of which is genocide, as repeatedly reiterated by Netanyahu’s ministers: “The Gaza Strip should be flattened, and for all of them there is but one sentence, and that is death.” This quote comes from Yitzhak Kroizer (MP), but has been repeated by many figures in the far-right Israeli government and in our own right wing.

Currently, we have sent over 100 shipments of weapons to Israel which has allowed them to advance that goal, by giving them the tools to wage mass death.

The horrific martyrdom of our service members — both Aaron Bushnell’s act of protest and the unnecessary sacrifice of three soldiers in Jordan — and the pain of our younger generation, witnessing their forefathers commit the heinous crimes which led to the creation of Israel, has perpetuated this cycle of violence.

The brutality with which our law enforcement has responded to students advocating for peace — many of them Jewish themselves — is shameful and undemocratic.

We have seen the hypocritical approach to this conflict play out across all levels of American governance. From the censure of Rashida Talib for upholding a Palestinian freedom slogan, while Congressman Brian Mast has said there are no innocent Palestinian civilians with no repercussions, to the authoritarian response of our universities against peacefully protesting students. This must end.

We are at a turning point, as a country, and must decide what kind of nation we want to be. In the past decades, we have seen immense progress in America for marginalised groups, and our progressive attitudes led us to a natural friendship with Israel, as itself an aspirationally progressive state.

However, the dark tide of Netanyahu’s government has co-opted the dream of a two-state solution, and proved itself willing to go to any lengths — even genocide — to secure a Jewish state. Netanyahu has continuously broken international law, and more recently US sanctions, with new Israeli residences being created in the West Bank, and over half a million Israelis currently living on Palestinian land in that territory.

Netanyahu has ignored the ceasefire intended to return Israeli hostages, and has stated he will invade Rafah regardless. He has bombed an embassy and has too many corruption charges to list succinctly. Yet our government stands with him, despite Chuck Schumer’s attempt to chart a path to the right side of history.

The ICC stands poised to issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu, rightly classing him with fellow dictators such as Vladimir Putin, while Netanyahu has dismissed these charges and positioned himself against the international community. This is not the path we, as a nation, want to follow.

We call upon President Biden to stand up and address the country, to take responsibility for the violence against our students, and to finally address this issue in an even-handed way. The current response stands to ruin both Biden’s chances of reelection and hurt the entire Democratic party down-ballot, not to mention the divisive effect upon our nation.

The Biden administration has repeatedly pretended that only the Muslim community in America cares about the war. This is not true, over half of Jewish Democrats support a lasting ceasefire and de-escalation. Over a thousand students of many faiths and ethnicities have been arrested for daring to protest the murder of 34,000 Palestinians, from California to Texas to New York.

The violence unleashed on the UCLA campus by pro-genocide counter-protestors is representative of the wider pro-war movement. We cannot continue to cater to the worst impulses in our society, those which begin nobly by echoing the pain and trauma of the Israelis, yet end with the call for Gaza’s erasure.

We wholeheartedly condemn the October 7th attacks and the immense damage they caused to Israeli society — in the tragic loss of life, the suffering of the hostages, and mass psychological trauma — but we, America, must be wise enough to respond rationally.

We cannot allow a genocide to be waged with our weapons. It is against our law, as attested to by over 20 lawyers in the Biden administration, it is against international law, and it goes against every moral sentiment that we hold dear.

Our message to our government is this: end the cycle of violence now.