SF Rising joins the outpouring of voices calling for Palestinian liberation, an immediate ceasefire, and humanitarian aid to be allowed into Gaza. Today, our student members are participating in a national walkout to bring attention to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. We grieve with the families who have lost loved ones, who have been taken hostage, and who are currently trying to survive without water, food, or electricity.
Over the past few weeks, thousands of lives have been lost in both Palestine and Israel, including those of children who should have had the opportunity to grow up, explore the world, and grow old without fear of being killed by warfare. The violence has been unacceptable, far reaching and painful to witness.
We also firmly believe that context and history matters. The crisis in Palestine and Israel is not new. Nor is it one where we can point a finger at and jump to conclusions without looking back at past decades. In the early 1900s, Britain colonized Palestine and then handed over the land to Israel in 1948, without any say from native Palestinian people. Since then, the Israeli government has sought to forcefully remove Palestinians from their own country to seize and occupy the land. Palestinians have been cut off from their homelands, and those who remain have been cut off from education, jobs, healthcare, and voting. Today, Palestinians living in Gaza have no civil rights.
As people living in the United States, this fight may seem like a distant one, but the reality is that the U.S. has been funding the Israeli military with our tax dollars since 1952, contributing $225.2 billion ($4 billion a year) – about 71% of all its aid – to the bloodshed in this region that has killed thousands of Palestinians.
At San Francisco Rising, we believe that all people deserve to live free from oppression and colonization, to return back to their homelands without fear of losing their loved ones or their own life. We stand with the Palestinian community in calling for the end of occupation and apartheid in Palestine, and that our representatives stop U.S. funding which fuels genocide.
That is why SF Rising supports the Ceasefire Resolution and calls on Congress to allow humanitarian aid to enter into Gaza. Join us and call on your Congressmember and Senator to back this resolution today.
Our hearts are with all those who have been affected by the crisis in Palestine and Israel and we stand in strong solidarity with the movement for a free Palestine in our lifetime.
