World BEYOND War Madison Chapter Pressures
Sen. Tammy Baldwin to Support a Gaza Ceasefire
World BEYOND War

(December 15, 2023) — World BEYOND War Madison is continuing to urge Senator Tammy Baldwin to support a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Activists who met with Senator Baldwin in her office and spoke at a press conference included:

• Tsela Barr, Jewish Voice for Peace
• Rowan Atalla, Madison Rafah Sister City Project
• Madison Alder Marsha Rummel, co-sponsor of the Madison ceasefire resolution that passed unanimously at city council on Dec 5
• Samer Alatout, UW-Madison Professor of Community and Environmental Sociology

The group is asking Baldwin to:

• Call for a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine now.
• Work to cut military aid to Israel and demand that the Israeli government abides by international law and begins sincere negotiations with Palestinians to end the occupation.
• Call for a reversal of the US veto of Article 99 in the UN.
• Call on Israel to lift the siege on Gaza, allow unlimited humanitarian aid, oppose involuntary forced removal of residents from their land and homes, and in the West Bank, halt settler attacks and expansion, military and police raids, and child detention.

Over 60 members of Congress have spoken up for ceasefire, including five US Senators – Dick Durbin, Peter Welch, Jeff Merkley, Elizabeth Warren, and Bernie Sanders.  The workers in 71 congressional offices have recorded a total more than 690,000 calls for a cease-fire, but most are “unnoticed and unheard,” an open letter this week from congressional interns said.

Thousands of Wisconsin ceasefire activists marched in Madison on Saturday.  Madison for a World BEYOND War has been vigiling from 9 am – 5 pm daily inside and outside of Tammy’s Madison office since the bombing of Gaza began again on Dec 1.

The press conference was hosted by Madison for a World BEYOND War, Madison Rafah Sister City Project, Jewish Voice for Peace – Madison, Madison Veterans for Peace, Chapter 25, and Building Unity.

The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to demand a humanitarian cease-fire in Gaza in a strong demonstration of global support for ending the Israel-Hamas war. The vote also showed the growing isolation of the United States and Israel. The vote in the 193-member world body was 153 in favor, 10 against and 23 abstentions.

Last week, the United Nations invoked Article 99 to call for a ceasefire. Thirteen of the 15 member nations of the Security Council voted yes. The US voted no. Amnesty International said the US vote displayed “callous disregard for civilian suffering in face of a staggering death toll.” Refusal to support a ceasefire is aiding and abetting genocide under international law.

“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

Nicholas Kristof wrote last week 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.”

Here’s a television news report [https://videopress.com/embed/taCnlrlY].

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/