(4/16) Shut-Down of Israeli Consulate

Today at around 10 am over 50 protestors led by Jews for A Free Palestine and supporters marched to the Israeli Consulate. They took over the lobby and interrupted business as usual demanding: 1) an end to the genocidal war on the Palestinian people, 2) an end to the occupation and all settlements, 3) the upholding of the international human rights of all Palestinians, including the right of refugees to return home.

A group of twelve Jewish protestors attempted to deliver these demands to the Consulate but were denied enterance. Demanding that someone from the Consulate come and speak to them directly, the group then held the lobby of the Consulate for over an hour, inhibiting the flow of traffic in the building. In historic opposition to the Israeli government, the group of Jewish protestors were arrested for trespassing and taken to Central Station in North Beach. The group was cited and released.

This evening after sundown marks the beginning of the Jewish festival Passover which celebrates the biblical story of the exodus of the Hebrews from enslavement. The holiday commemorates the bitterness and violence of oppression and the sweetness of liberation. It has become a symbol to people of many faiths of freedom and justice.

Protest organizers choose this day to shut down the Israeli Consulate because, in the words of one protestor, "it is impossible to celebrate Passover while the war on the Palestinian people continues to escalate. Palestinian people continue to suffer attrocities on a daily basis. 205 children have been murdered in Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip, in the last two months alone." The protest comes just days after another murder of an International Solidarity Movement member, peace activist, Tom Hurdell.

Protestors sent out a clear mesaage today that there are many Jews who in the spirit of Passover and our committent to justice and human rights will be mourning the suffering of the Palestinian people and holding in our hearts and minds their struggle for self-determination and liberation as inextricable from our own. As the festival of Passover teaches, one should never harden one's heart to the just plight of another, none of us are truly free until we are all free.
Free Free Palestine!

-Jews For A Free Palestine

To further support Palestine liberation solidarity efforts, please attend this Saturday's April 19th shop-in at Rainbow Grocery@ 13th and Folsom in San Francisco, 4pm-7pm & support the worker iniciated and community supported deshelving of Israeli goods.