June 7, 2024

Since the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023, Israel has engaged in an all-out war against the people of Gaza, a tiny enclave it has militarily blockaded since 2007. To date, more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed, the majority of them women and children, with thousands more injured.

The bombings have targeted hospitals, schools, neighborhoods and refugee camps. There is no place to run, no place to hide. Humanitarian aid has been blocked and actual famine has now been reported. The goal is obviously to make Gaza uninhabitable. These are war crimes, pure and simple, and cannot be justified in any way.

Furthermore, this “war” did not start on Oct. 7. It began before the establishment of the Israeli state, when some 750,000 Palestinians were driven from their ancestral lands. It has continued through the construction of an apartheid state that has oppressed and repressed its Arab minority while absorbing more and more Palestinian land.

This colonial settler project has been encouraged, funded and defended by the U.S. government, the former colonial power Britain and other “Western” states.

It is far too late to simply call for a “ceasefire” and an “exchange of hostages.” The only solution to this more than 75-year struggle is the dismantling of the Israeli state and the creation of an independent, free and democratic Palestine where people of all races and religions can live in peace and equality.

We therefore call for the immediate and permanent end to all U.S. support for Israel – financial, military and diplomatic – and total support for the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, by any means necessary.

Virginia Defenders for Freedom, Justice & Equality
PO Box 23202, Richmond, VA 23223 * Phone / Text: 804.644.5834 * Email: DefendersFJE@hotmail.com
Websites: defendersfje.blogspot.com * virginiadefender.org * sacredgroundproject.net * odessasolidaritycampaign.net