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Hedy Epstein
Join me in DC to Move Over AIPAC!
Washington, DC
May 21-24
Plus hear from:
John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, authors of
The Israel Lobby
Laila El Haddad,
"Gaza Mom" Blogger
Nadia Hijab, Palestinian
analyst and writer
Noura Erakat, Palestinian
attorney and activist
Anna Baltzer, National
Organizer, US Campaign to End the Israeli
Occupation
Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb, Director of
Shomer Shalom
Ret. Col. Ann Wright
Phyllis
Bennis, policy analyst
Rebecca Vilkomerson,
Director, Jewish Voice for Peace
… and many
more!
Be part of massive creative actions including:
People-powered Freedom Flotilla, Moving
Billboards, Erecting and Tearing Down a Wall,
Dialogue Booths
… and more!
Full Schedule
Read Hedy's Op
Ed Here
Tweet
Facebook
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As a
Holocaust survivor, I am sensitive to people’s
suffering, including the plight of the Palestinians.
That is why I am so opposed to the powerful Jewish lobby
AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee),
which unconditionally supports Israel. And that is why
I’ll be attending the Move Over AIPAC gathering in
Washington DC, May 21-24, timed to coincide with the
AIPAC’s own policy conference and Israeli Prime Minister
Netanyahu's meetings in Washington.
I hope you will join me.
I have traveled to the Israeli
Occupied West Bank Middle East several times. On one
trip I saw the Israeli police turn a water cannon on our
nonviolent protest near Der Beilut in the West Bank, I
recalled Birmingham, Alabama in 1963, and wondered why
an ostensibly democratic society like Israel responded
to peaceable assembly by trying, literally, to drown out
the voice of our protest.
In Mas'ha, also in the
occupied West Bank , I joined a demonstration against
the locked gate in the fence which prevented farmers
from tending to their land, and witnessed Israeli
soldiers firing at unarmed Israelis, Palestinians and
international protesters. I saw shrapnel lodged in the
leg of Anne Farina, one of my traveling companions from
St. Louis. And I thought of Kent State and Jackson
State, where National Guardsmen opened fire in 1970 on
protesters against the Vietnam War.
This is the legal system and
security state AIPAC and its keynote speaker, Israeli
Prime Minister Netanyahu, will defend at their annual
policy conference in Washington, DC. And, despite this
grim reality, members of Congress will converge to hail
AIPAC and Israel. In contrast, CODEPINK and a coalition
of over 100 organizations will meet to call for a new,
even-handed policy. Our gathering will include a summit,
cultural events, and bold, creative actions you don’t
want to miss. Be part of creating a huge mock wall, a
people-powered Gaza freedom flotilla, and more.
You can view the full
schedule to see just how packed this long
weekend will be.
AIPAC implies that it speaks for all Jews, but it
certainly does not speak for me or other members of the
Jewish community in this country who are committed to
equal rights for all. By lobbying for $3 billion of our
tax dollars to be spent on the Israeli military, AIPAC
does a disservice to the Palestinians, the Israelis and
the American people. It helps to keep the Middle East in
a perpetual state of war.
If AIPAC doesn’t speak for you
either, then please join me in DC May 21-24!
Yours in peace,
Hedy
Epstein
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