Category: Middle East

300 Activists for Palestinian Rights at All-Day Hartford Conference

by Stanley Heller, Middle East Crisis Committee

The pews were filled at the Hartford Unitarian Society for a major conference about U.S. activism during a time of immense killing of Palestinians and Lebanese. Thunderous chanting filled the hall. The best part was that 80 to 90% of those attending seemed to be under 30. Participants were members of a score of activist groups in Connecticut and Massachusetts. A workshop of nearly 40 people founded a Labor for Palestine chapter. Our group and members of Jewish Voice for Peace New Haven took part in a panel on Jews confronting Zionism. I gave a slide show based on my book Zionist Betrayal of Jews using photos to show how Zionist leaders consistently allied with far-right parties, even groups that were violent antisemites, in their single-minded quest to drive out Palestinians and create a Jewish state.

In speeches to the whole assembly, Hesen Jabr, a Palestinian-American nurse, described how she was fired right after being given a nursing award because of her remarks and social media posts about the attacks on Palestinians. Sultana Hossain, who is part of the Amazon Labor Union and Labor for Palestine spoke about efforts to organize for Palestinian rights in the one unionized (Long Island) Amazon plant.

The conference took place among new threats of repression. The radical right is pushing for a bill that would give the Secretary of the Treasury the power to designate any nonprofit as “terrorist supporting.” If it passed, the Secretary (who serves at the pleasure of the President) could on his/her own devastate a group. There would be no need to show any evidence or provide due process. A group so designated would lose its tax-exempt status. That might be the least of its problems. Once designated as supporting terrorists it would no doubt be demonized and attacked in social media or worse. It’s believed groups supporting Palestinian rights would be the first targets.

Breaking Chains, Building Bridges, 9 am – 6 pm Sat. Nov. 16, Hartford.

Register here — https://www.eventbrite.com/e/breaking-chains-building-bridges-ct-for-palestine-tickets-1002651446467

 

Wesleyan University, Middletown CT: Breaking Chains, Building Bridges will bring together activists, organizers, students, workers, artists and all those ready to stand in solidarity with Palestine and grow the movement for collective liberation. We invite people of conscience from across Connecticut and the greater region to join us in political education, skill-building and strengthening relationships for the struggle ahead. Free Palestine! Mask up and see you there – Unitarian Society of Hartford, 50 Bloomfield Ave. Hartford, CT 06105.

Activists gathered Oct. 7 Action on Gaza at Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s Office

On Oct. 7, peace and justice activists gathered in front of Rep. DeLauro’s New Haven office at 59 Elm St. for a community reading of the open letter to Pres. Biden and Vice Pres. Harris from American medical professionals who served in Gaza. The letter was then given to her aide Lou Mangini to read to her. The reading was organized by the Greater New Haven Peace Council.

Below are excerpts. The entire letter is online at www.gazahealthcareletters.org/usa-letter-oct-2-2024.

I’ve never seen such horrific injuries, on such a massive scale, with so few resources. Our bombs are cutting down women and children by the thousands. Their mutilated bodies are a monument to cruelty. Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, trauma and critical care surgeon, Veterans Affairs general surgeon

I saw so many stillbirths and maternal deaths that could have been easily prevented if the hospitals had been functioning normally. Dr. Thalia Pachiyannakis, obstetrician and gynecologist

Gaza was the first time I held a baby’s brains in my hand. The first of many. Dr. Mark Perlmutter, orthopedic and hand surgeon

Open Letter from American Medical Professionals Who Served in Gaza

October 2, 2024

Dear President Biden and Vice President Harris,

We are 99 American physicians, surgeons, nurse practitioners, nurses, and midwives who have volunteered in the Gaza Strip since October 7, 2023. Combined, we spent 254 weeks volunteering in Gaza’s hospitals and clinics. We worked with various nongovernmental organizations and the World Health Organization in hospitals and clinics throughout the Strip. In addition to our medical and surgical expertise, many of us have a public health background, as well as experience working in humanitarian and conflict zones, including Ukraine during the brutal Russian invasion. Some of us are veterans and reservists. We are a multifaith and multiethnic group. None of us support the horrors committed on October 7 by Palestinian armed groups and individuals in Israel. …

…[T]he human toll in Gaza since October is far higher than is understood in the United States. It is likely that the death toll from this conflict is already greater than 118,908, an astonishing 5.4% of Gaza’s population.

Our government must act immediately to prevent an even worse catastrophe than what has already befallen the people of Gaza and Israel. A ceasefire must be imposed on the warring parties by withholding military support for Israel and supporting an international arms embargo on Israel and all Palestinian armed groups. We believe our government is obligated to do this, both under American law and International Humanitarian Law. We also believe it is the right thing to do.

Read the letter in its entirety here: https://www.gazahealthcareletters.org/usa-letter-oct-2-2024

Marking One Full Year of Genocide and Escalating Violence Across the Region, New Haven Jews Call for the US to Stop Arming Israel

by Jewish Voice for Peace

During the Jewish High Holidays, 50 New Haven Jewish community members gathered for a public ritual action, mourning the dead, fighting for the living, and demanding that the U.S. stop arming Israel.
October 7, 2024 — …Today New Haven Jews and other community members gathered to perform a tashlich ritual action, casting off support for the Israeli military.

Dressed in traditional white, New Haven Jews and community members sang niggunim [Ashkenazi religious songs], read poetry by Mosab Abu Toha and Rabbi Brant Rosen, participated in a communal casting ritual, and called for the U.S. government to stop arming Israel. They carried a banner that said, “Mourn the dead, fight for the living. Stop Arming Israel.” The message was clear: we must turn our grief into action…

Every life taken in the past year — Palestinian, Lebanese, Israeli — every parent, child, grandchild that was killed in the past year was someone else’s entire world. At Jewish Voice for Peace our commitment to Palestinian liberation is grounded in our belief that every human must have the right to live in safety and freedom. The Jewish tradition teaches us that the preservation of life, pikuach nefesh, is the single most important commandment. For decades, the Israeli government has exploited and distorted our thousands-of-years-old Jewish tradition to justify the occupation, war crimes, and mass slaughter of a 76-year-old apartheid state…

The Israeli military has killed over 41,000 Palestinians, including more than 15,000 children. We know the numbers are likely much higher.

The U.S. government is actively enabling the Israeli government’s genocidal campaign… in direct violation of international laws…

The action concluded in a call to demand that Senator Chris Murphy vote yes on the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval introduced by his colleagues Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Peter Welch, and Senator Jeff Merkley. The Joint Resolutions of Disapproval, which cite U.S. and international law, would block $20 billion in weapons to Israel approved by the Biden administration.

Zionist Betrayal of Jews Slide Show Available

by Stanley Heller, Middle East Crisis Committee

A new and expanded edition of the book “Zionist Betrayal of Jews” has been published. The book was first published in 2019 but is now updated with new material about the Zionist embrace of Trump and white-nationalist enabler Elon Musk. It also has a new section about the collaboration of a Hungarian Zionist leader with the Nazis.

I have created an 80-photo slideshow about the revelations of the book that I’d be happy to present to your organization online or in person. It’s one thing to read about events and another to see photos of the history. For instance, there are photos in the slideshow of an anti-Nazi campaign capped by the 100,000 who turned out in New York in 1933. The Zionists undermined this effort with their sabotage of the anti-Nazi boycott. Photos also show Zionist leaders’ deals with dangerous antisemitic governments in South America and the nefarious activities of Trump and Musk.

The information is not only of great value for Jews but also for all non-Jews sympathetic to Palestinian rights. The latter are routinely tarred as antisemites. My book and slide show demonstrate the utter hypocrisy of the Zionists, who collaborated again and again with violent antisemitic forces. The slide show lasts about 35 minutes and is followed by Q&A and discussion.

More about the book at stanleyheller.com. Reach me at [email protected].

New Haven Alders Cop Out on Ceasefire Resolution

Five months after a proposed ceasefire resolution was presented to the Board of Alders, and five days after hearing testimony via Zoom that lasted five hours, the Board of Alders voted to “read and file,” and not act on the resolution. Would your alder have supported a ceasefire? We’ll never know, according to the meeting.

Only East Rock Alder Caroline Smith was opposed to dismissing the resolution in this way.

[The New Haven Independent coverage can be read here:
newhavenindependent.org/article/ceasefire_resolution_vote_results]

Interior Dept Staffer Becomes First Jewish Biden Appointee to Publicly Resign Over War in Gaza

by Ellen Knickmeyer, AP, May 15, 2024

An Interior Department staffer on Wednesday became the first Jewish political appointee to publicly resign in protest of U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza.

Lily Greenberg Call, a special assistant to the chief of staff in the Interior Department, accused President Joe Biden of using Jews to justify U.S. policy in the conflict. …She is at least the fifth mid- or senior-level administration staffer to make public their resignation in protest of the Biden administration’s military and diplomatic support of the now seven-month Israeli war against Hamas. She is the second political appointee to do so, after an Education Department official of Palestinian heritage resigned in January. … “I can no longer in good conscience continue to represent this administration,” she wrote. “He [Pres. Biden] is making Jews the face of the American war machine. And that is so deeply wrong.”… “I think the president has to know that there are people in his administration who think this is disastrous,” Call said of the war overall and U.S. support for it. “Not just for Palestinians, for Israelis, for Jews, for Americans, for his election prospects.”

[Entire article available here: apnews.com/article/resignation-gaza-war-biden-israel-a55c20d136f08127d16bce6ced1af82d]

Both Hayes and DeLauro Go Back on Pocan Letter And Vote Billions for Israeli Military

by Stanley Heller, Middle East Crisis Committee

[U.S. Representatives Rosa DeLauro and Jahana Hayes were among 56 members of Congress who signed Rep. Mark Pocan’s letter, calling on Pres. Biden to withhold offensive arms transfers to Israel. On April 20, when the bill went to the House of Representatives, they voted in favor of giving Israel $26 billion, of which $4 billion is for Israel’s missile defense system and additional weapon purchases.]

The bill H.R. 8034 throws the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) under the bus. In Sec. 308, none of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available by this Act and prior Acts making appropriations for the Department of State, foreign operations, and related programs may be made available for a contribution, grant, or other payment to UNRWA, notwithstanding any other provision of law.

“Gaza” is mentioned 11 times, demanding reports to see if any money was diverted to Hamas or “other terrorists.”

$9 billion is appropriated to the President for “vulnerable populations and communities.” It could be for Ukraine or Gaza or Israel or whatever. By my reading he doesn’t have to give a nickel to Gaza. It’s all up to President Biden.

Over 3,000 Race in IRIS ‘Run for Refugees and All Immigrants’

by Emily Khym, Yale Daily News, Feb. 13, 2024

In the annual Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services’ Run for Refugees on Sunday, Feb. 11, 3,152 people joined in the 5K race. Ahead of the race, pro-Palestine protesters calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza interrupted Rep. Rosa DeLauro, cutting her speech short.

IRIS, a non-profit organization based in New Haven, has hosted the event annually to raise funds for its mission of supporting refugee resettlement and to raise awareness around the issue of refugee resettlement. IRIS raised $168,547, nearly 130 percent more than their fundraising goal. Starting this year, IRIS changed the name of the event from the “Run for Refugees” to include “All Immigrants.” On average, IRIS serves around 1,200 refugees and immigrants in New Haven.

“It doesn’t matter what [government] papers you come with, we welcome you and we are going to try to help you as best as we can,” Executive Director of IRIS Maggie Salem said.

Khuan-Yu Hall photo

Before the race, New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker spoke about the vital role immigrants and refugees play in building New Haven’s community. A speech from U.S. Rep. Rosa DeLauro followed Elicker’s speech.

At the start of DeLauro’s speech, she was interrupted by a group of pro-Palestine protesters standing alongside the finish line. Several of the protesters were holding Palestinian flags and calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, in which — as of Feb. 11 — Israel has killed over 28,100 Palestinians since Hamas’ surprise attack against Israel on Oct. 7, in which Hamas killed about 1,200 people in Israel.

“There was a group of people who pulled out loud speakerphones and started protesting about how DeLauro had not acted on the Israel-Hamas War,” Steven Zhang ’25, who was running in the race, told the News. “It lasted for around six to seven minutes … eventually DeLauro ended up not finishing the speech, and the race coordinator signaled the start of the race.”

(Read the article in full here: https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2024/02/13/over-3000-race-in-iris-run-for-refugees-and-all-immigrants)

Senator Murphy Suckered into Defunding UNRWA

by Stanley Heller, Administrator, Promoting Enduring Peace

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has provided food, education, and more for Palestinian refugees since 1948.

Israeli government leaders have tried to weaken or destroy it as a way of pressuring Palestinians into giving up their rights. At the end of January, the Israeli government had an anti-UNRWA propaganda campaign ready for what they knew would be a devastating decision against their actions in Gaza by the International Court of Justice. The Israelis alleged 12 members of UNRWA had taken part in the Oct. 7 attack from Gaza. It sent the charges and names of the 12 to Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA’s commissioner general. He tried to appease the Israelis by acting before any evidence behind the charges was given.

Instead of cooling things down, this caused the charges to seem more credible, leading to Biden’s suspension of aid. This seems quite boneheaded on the part of Lazzarini, but he was between a rock and a hard place. According to an interview in The Guardian: “He said an Israeli bank account belonging to UNRWA had been frozen and the agency had been warned that its tax benefits would be canceled. Lazzarini added that a consignment of food aid from Turkey, including flour, chickpeas, rice, sugar and cooking oil, that would sustain 1.1 million people for a month, had been blocked at the Israeli port of Ashdod. He claimed the contractor said the Israeli authorities had instructed the company not to move it or accept any payment from a Palestinian bank.” So his heart was in the right place, but his actions helped produce the disaster.

Republicans and Democrats created H.R. 815 (formerly known as the “Revive Act”) which included a section forbidding any money going to UNRWA from the US government (its biggest contributor). The lead negotiator for the Democrats was U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy from Connecticut. On Feb. 2 he had called UNRWA “indispensable.” Yet days later he made the deal to cripple it. On PBS he said he did it to appease Republicans so they wouldn’t block humanitarian aid to Gaza. He also made the far-fetched claim that other agencies could do UNRWA’s work.

The bill passed the Senate and went to the House, where the Republicans hope to take out all the economic and humanitarian aid. Will they also take out the language on UNRWA? Not a chance.

Rally in Hamden for Ceasefire Resolution

by Paula Panzarella, rally participant

photo: Paula Panzarella

On Feb. 20, from 6-7 p.m., over a hundred people were in front of Hamden Town Hall, rallying in favor of a draft resolution for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza fighting. “Permanent Ceasefire Now,” “Another Jew for a Free Palestine,” “Stop the Killing,” and “Let Gaza Live” were some of the banners held by the crowd.

Shortly after 7 p.m., many people attended the meeting to give testimony about the need for local municipalities to take a stand against the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza. The hearing lasted well past midnight, with more than four hours of public commentary. The Town Council did not vote that night and may take up the resolution at a following Town Council meeting.

What Can We Do to Create Peace In the Midst of Conflict? Feb. 14, 2024

Two respected professors have agreed to participate in our third Conversation: Dr. Anat Belitzki, Quinnipiac University and Tel-Aviv University, Israel, and Dr. Jimmy Jones, Islamic Seminary of America. As before, we will have an emphasis on listening, learning, and face-to-face conversations at small tables.

To protect the “safety” of participants and encourage honest conversations, we are once again not sending out press releases.

That means that it depends on each of us to spread word about the event. Feel free to copy the attached flyer, post it, email it to friends, share on social media.

The more participants we have, the richer the conversation.

Petition to the New Haven Board of Alders: Support a Ceasefire in Gaza

At least 30,000 Palestinians have been murdered by Israel in the last 3 months, including more than 10,000 children.

This ongoing genocide is supported by US military and with your tax money. $69,076,862 of Connecticut residents’ federal tax dollars are given annually to Israel. New Haven alone supplies $1,838,975 per year.

We call on our alders to pass an emergency resolution calling for:

  • an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the West Bank
  • unrestricted entry of immediate humanitarian aid into Gaza
  • an end to US funding of the violence done by the Israeli military & illegal settlements
  • release of all hostages including Palestinians arbitrarily detained by Israel
  • immediate restoration of electricity, water, food and medical supplies to Gaza
  • an end to the siege and blockade of Gaza
  • reaffirming our Board of Alders’ commitment to combat anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab racism, antisemitism and Islamophobia in all forms, and to ensure the dignity and safety of all its residents

35+ CITIES AND TOWNS ACROSS THE COUNTRY HAVE CALLED FOR A CEASEFIRE – INCLUDING BRIDGEPORT, CT

NEW HAVEN: IT’S YOUR TURN!

After Weeks of Telling Israel Not to Widen Gaza War, US Widens It to Iraq and Yemen

by Dave Lindorff, a 2019 “Izzy” winner who has written for Rolling Stone, NY Times, Nation, FAIR, Salon, London Review of Books.

Americans are finally getting sick of US warmongering. For weeks we’ve been reading articles and hearing broadcast reports about how the Biden administration, including President Biden himself and Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as well as US Ambassador to Israel Jacob Lew and Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, have been warning Israel not to cause or allow the war on Gaza to spread across the borders of Israel and its occupied territories into other parts of the Middle East.

Suddenly, the US Navy ships based in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, along with some British ships and planes (added no doubt to be able to call it a “coalition” effort), have hit suspected Houthi militia targets in Yemen, making it the US itself, not Israel, that is “expanding the war.”

This act of war, ordered by President Biden without so much as a consultation with Congress, where progressive Democrats and Republicans are expressing outrage, is doubly dangerous because the Houthi militia being pummeled by the US and Britain are allies or/and are supplied by Iran.

The US also rolled out another provocation — a rocket attack that killed the leader of a Hezbollah militia unit right in central Baghdad. As the headline over that story in the Washington Post put it: “US Strike in Baghdad Raises Specter of a Wider War.”

“Raises the specter,” indeed, and not just outside Israel’s and Palestine’s borders but potentially all the way across Europe and the Atlantic to the US.

Now, admittedly, the US has long dismissed the laws of war, at least when it comes to applying them to its own actions. But however cavalier Washington is about those laws, they are universal and they do say that when a country does violate them, using certain banned weapons for example, or invading a country that doesn’t pose an immediate threat to the attacker, the country that is the target of such violation has the right to respond in kind. So Americans ought to know that attacking a Hezbollah target who is under the protection of the Iraqi government in central Baghdad is actually inviting Iraq, the host country, or Hezbollah, the victim, to attack leaders in the US, either where its troops are based abroad (for example in Iraq) or in DC. Same goes for the US attacks on Houthi militia sites in Yemen. After enduring attacks against their forces and the Yemeni people by Saudi Arabia for years (with US-supplied weapons and direct assistance), the Houthis, at this point, are warning that “US interests” will now be retaliated against.

It’s easy to see how this kind of tit-for-tat, started by a hubristic USA leadership, could quickly spiral out of control. Suppose the Houthis were to launch an anti-ship missile and sink or heavily damage a US Navy vessel in the Persian Gulf…

For the rest of this article, please go to: https://thiscantbehappening.substack.com/p/after-weeks-of-telling-israel-not. For this and other articles: https://thiscantbehappening.substack.com.

Resisting the War on Gaza: An Appeal from the New Haven Sunday Vigil

Joan Cavanagh, vigil participant

We are witnessing, in real-time, ongoing genocide against the people of Gaza. It could not occur without US military aid and financial support. We urgently appeal to you to join the New Haven Sunday Vigil for Peace and Justice as part of your other efforts to end this atrocity.

The vigil began in May of 1999 as a project of the Connecticut Peace Coalition/ New Haven in response to the US bombing of Kosovo. Similar to the postal service before privatization, defunding, and DeJoy, we’ve vigiled most Sundays since, in sun, rain, snow and sleet, in temperatures ranging from several degrees below zero to 95 degrees above. Our message is simple: Resist this Endless War. By this we mean, resist our permanent state of war and preparations for it, overseas and at home.

Participant numbers have fluctuated from a “high” of 15 to 20 during the initial post-911 invasion of Afghanistan and the 2003 war on Iraq to a “low” of three to four in recent years. Occasionally, we’ve been told by a dismissive passerby that the US is “at peace.” Not exactly. Consider our ongoing nuclear weapons buildup; our drone bombings against many countries of the world; our “covert” operations and global regime change maneuvers; and our funding of wars conducted by client states. Consider our government’s war on poor and vulnerable populations to benefit a smaller and smaller number of global ultra-rich. Remember that these are ongoing, bipartisan issues.

When our regular vigil participants dwindled to a new low at the end of last summer, we figured we’d had a good run and considered ending it. Then came the terrible October 7 attack by Hamas on Israel, followed immediately by an orgy of collective punishment supported by US funds and materiel against civilians in Gaza. It has, as of this writing, taken the lives of over 25,000 people, an estimated two-thirds of whom are children.

We continue with more urgency than ever. We need your help. For more information about the content of the vigil and how to join, please call 203-668-9082 or contact [email protected] or  [email protected].

Jews Call on CT Labor Unions to Support Ceasefire and Free Speech

Shelly Altman, Jewish Voice for Peace New Haven

Thursday, Nov. 13, 2023: Today the New Haven chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVPNH) released an open letter criticizing the retaliation against former SEIU CT State Council Executive Director Kooper Caraway and urging SEIU to support a ceasefire in Israel-Palestine and to defend workers from retaliation and firings based on support for Palestinian freedom.

“As Jews, we know that conflating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism only makes Jews less safe. Instead of retaliating against its members for speaking out for Palestine, the CT labor movement should be joining us in calling for an immediate ceasefire,” said Shelly Altman of JVPNH.

“We are living in a time of McCarthyite repression and as a rabbi, I affirm that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism. Speaking critically of the Israeli government and its actions, demanding a ceasefire, and supporting Palestinian rights are not anti-Semitic,” said Rabbi May Ye of Mending Minyan, a Jewish congregation based in New Haven.

“In Connecticut, we have free speech rights vis-a-vis our private employers. It is illegal for a private employer to fire, discipline, or threaten any employee for speech protected by the First Amendment,” said James Bhandary-Alexander, an experienced civil rights and labor attorney who teaches at Yale Law School.

The statement, released on Instagram, describes Kooper Caraway’s resignation as “a great loss” for movements for justice in Connecticut and affirms that criticism of Israel is not anti-Semitism. It urges the Connecticut and national labor movement to “stand up for all workers who are facing retaliation and firings for speaking out and organizing for freedom and ceasefire” as well as “demand a ceasefire, halt the provision of weapons to Israel, and end the occupation and Israeli apartheid.”

To find out more about Jewish Voice for Peace, visit our website www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org for campaigns, news, local organizing chapters, and ways to take action.

Israel-Gaza War’s Grief Spills onto Church St.

by Thomas Breen, New Haven Independent, Oct. 9, 2023

Half an hour into a tense and loud and flag-filled standoff between pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protesters on the front steps of City Hall, city police brought in barricades to physically separate the two sides….

That was the scene outside of City Hall at 165 Church St. Monday afternoon during an at-times combustible, but never violent, set of dueling rallies sparked by the horrific bloodshed of the ongoing war in Israel and Gaza.

photo: Thomas Breen

Several hundred people from across the city and the state turned out for the parallel protests … The two sides took turns, and shouted over one another, about the Israeli occupation, Hamas terrorism, open-air prisons and blockades, the kidnapping and murder of civilians, the righteous uprising of a dispossessed people, the righteous defense of democracy….

“Free, free Palestine!” one side cheered over and over again at Monday’s rally. “From Hamas!” cheered the other side in response.

The pro-Palestine protest was organized by a number of student and local lefty political groups, including the Connecticut Democratic Socialists of America, Yalies for Palestine, the Party for Socialism and Liberation-Connecticut, and Wesleyan Students for Justice in Palestine….

The pro-Israel contingent, meanwhile, saw a mix of New Haveners and Connecticut residents, many of whom are members of the Chabad Lubavitch Hasidic community, and nearly all of whom have close ties to and family and friends currently living in Israel….

Joshua Pernick, the rabbi in residence and director of Jewish life and community relations at the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven, told the Independent about his brother, who after a weeklong vacation in the United States returned to his home in Holon, Israel, this weekend just hours after Hamas began its attack. He and his wife and six-month-old child have been shuttling between shelters ever since, Pernick said. … ​“The problem of terrorism is it doesn’t discriminate….”

Faisal Saleh, the founder and director of Woodbridge’s Palestine Museum, showed up to the other side of City Hall’s steps Monday to support those rallying for Palestine.

Saleh was born and raised in the West Bank. He moved to the U.S. when he was 17, in 1969. He said he’s been communicating with Palestinian artists in Gaza who he knows through his museum work every few hours, just to make sure they are still alive amid the Israeli army’s strikes.
“Everybody is waiting to see what will happen,” he said….

[The article can be read in its entirety at newhavenindependent.org/article/israel_palestine]

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