Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Anti-War Action Network (AWAN).

The Anti-War Action Network (AWAN) calls on all cities nationally to mark another year of genocide and resistance!

AWAN calls on all anti-war, anti-imperialist organizations around the country for a week of action from September 22-26th. During this year's UN General Assembly High-level Week, Palestine will take center stage due to the genocide and starvation in Gaza. A free Palestine will be the main focus both inside the UN, outside on the streets, and at protests across the country! That week Netanyahu will come to the U.S. to try to justify his efforts to steal Gaza and the ongoing genocide. There will be protests in NYC, but we need protests across the country to demand that we hold war criminals accountable! Arrest Netanyahu! End aid to Israel! End the siege of Gaza!

Resistance is justified when people are occupied!

End all U.S. aid to Israel!

End the siege of Gaza!

#AntiWarMovement #Palestine #Gaza #AWAN

San Jose – On Thursday, August 2, dozens of people attended the Santa Clara County Housing, Land-Use, Environment, and Transportation (HLUET) subcommittee meeting and the San Jose City Council Public Safety, Finance, and Strategic Support (PSFSS) subcommittee meetings to demand that they divest from companies complicit in genocide.

At the HLUET subcommittee meeting people spoke to the County Supervisors Margaret Abe-Koga and Sylvia Arenas, calling on them to divest from fossil-fuel companies and to introduce and pass an ethical investment policy.

Tim Samson, member of San Jose Against War, spoke to the supervisors saying, “Chevron is one of the largest producers of fossil fuels for Israel with a significant stake in Israel’s energy sector. As a resident of this county, I see the human rights abuses of Palestinians as a local issue. The county has a moral obligation to divest from companies such as Chevron.”

A dozen more in-person and a handful of virtual attendees spoke of the people’s demand to divest from Chevron and their desire to see an ethical investment policy introduced and passed by the county.

At the San Jose PSFSS subcommittee, around two dozen people showed up to give public comment that is only available in-person. San Jose City has upwards of $50 million invested in companies complicit in Israel’s genocide in Palestine including Alphabet, Microsoft and Caterpillar.

This mobilization was a follow up from a previous city council meeting where Councilmember Peter Ortiz directed Finance Director Maria Oberg to provide report to present at the PSFSS meeting.

Drusie Kasanova, a member of San Jose Against War, spoke to the subcommittee saying, “I’m disappointed to hear the investigation on the city’s investment portfolio were not presented. But we are still here to mobilize and raise that concern and express our support for divestment in-line with the city’s ethical investment policy and to support divestment from Alphabet, Microsoft and Caterpillar.”

San Jose community member and Palestinian American Dina Saba stated, “The 2% of the city’s funds in these companies are investments supporting genocide, the mass slaughter of over 20,000 children, and intentional starvation by Israel and that is 1000% unacceptable.”

Saba continued, “I don’t want my beloved city’s investments supporting the mass slaughter of my family and my people.”

Two dozen more people spoke on supporting the moral obligation of divestment from companies complicit in enabling genocide in Palestine.

There are plans to continue the divestment campaign through applying pressure to the finance director and councilmembers to support divestment.

#SanJoseCA #CA #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #SJAW

Chicago, IL – The Chicago Coalition for Justice In Palestine held another protest against the genocide in Gaza on Saturday, August 30, as Israel’s campaign of destruction and famine nears its 23rd month. The coalition mobilized about 100 Chicagoans to the riverwalk near Trump Tower even as many Chicago-area activists and organizers were attending the People’s Conference for Palestine in Detroit, Michigan the same day.

The protest demanded an immediate end to the genocide, sanctions imposed on and divestment from the state of Israel, an arms embargo, the right of Palestinian return, and justice for journalists martyred while covering the genocide. Many protesters held signs honoring the Al-Jazeera crew that was murdered by Israel three weeks before.

In addition to targeting journalists, Israel’s war crimes include the indiscriminate, forced starvation of the people of Gaza as the Israeli occupation forces block the flow of food and essential aid into the occupied territories. On Thursday, the Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza reported that the known number of people who have starved to death reached at least 317, including 121 children.

With the “looming threat of an intensified military operation in Gaza, any escalation will further devastate Palestinians already living under famine conditions,” said Nadia Alyafai, a leader with the U.S. Palestinian Community Network who spoke at the protest. “And we know who will suffer the most: the sick, malnourished children, the elderly and people with disabilities who can’t evacuate, who continue to be displaced, and now have nowhere to go.”

“The media, the US, and the Zionist entity continue to lie about access to aid — but we have the pictures, we have witnesses on the ground — this is a man-made famine,” Alyafai said.

Alyafai then stated, “A few hours ago, the genocidal Zionist entity targeted my homeland, Yemen, killing the prime minister alongside several other ministers in the Yemeni government,” Alyafai continued, “This comes after the people of Yemen have continued to stand for the Palestinian people by any means necessary: blocking ships and cargo in the Red Sea, and taking the streets to resist the genocidal Zionist entity.”

The crowd cheered in response and chanted “Yemen Yemen stand your ground! They will never break you down!”

Alyafai closed her remarks by calling out Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs and the Illinois Board of Investments for investing state tax dollars in Israeli Bonds, despite Israel’s genocidal war crimes.

“We have been fighting and marching every week demanding the very basic rights guaranteed to all of humanity – Palestinians are not lesser than any other human being on Earth,” said Tarek Muhammad Khalil with American Muslims for Palestine, who was next to speak. “If anything, I would venture to argue the people of Gaza have shown us that they are better than us – that their face is stronger than us. They have renewed our faith by giving us strength. We should not be looking down to them but we should be looking up to them, because they have shown us the way!”

“We call for an end to the occupation of Palestinian lands by the illegal Zionist entity – and in Chicago we also call to an end to the occupation of Black and brown working-class neighborhoods by a police force who was trained alongside the racist IOF soldiers,” said a member of the Chicago Alliance against Racism and Political Repression (CAARPR). “Our Palestinian comrades gave unwavering support to us during the George Floyd rebellion, and have always stood with us in our fight for community control of the police – and just as they have stood with us year after year, I can promise you that CAARPR will always stand shoulder to shoulder with you until we see a free Palestine.”

After the rally, the protesters took Michigan Avenue and marched south, past the Art Institute of Chicago. Demonstrators called out to the shoppers to join them, chanting “Out of the sidewalks, into the streets!”

Protesters will be back out again in Chicago next week on Saturday.

#ChicagoIL #IL #AntiWarMovement #Palestine #Gaza #CCJP #CAARPR