Press Release: Jews Shut Down Israeli Consulate

 I just received this press release from a friend who said that she had just seen this on TV, and that Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles had been shut down.

For Immediate Release: January 14, 2009
 
JEWS SHUT DOWN ISRAELI CONSULATE!

10 JEWS CHAIN TOGETHER TO BLOCK DRIVEWAY AND ENTRANCE! 
 
 
Who
Jewish people of conscience in Los Angeles, including a nurse, a school counselor, a retired school teacher, a retired union representative, and a community organizer.
 
What
Civil Disobedience to shut down the Israeli consulate, with people risking arrest by chaining themselves to the building, strong visuals condemning Israeli attack on Gaza
 
Where
Consulate General of Israel, 6380 Wilshire Blvd # 1700, Los Angeles, CA 90048
 
When
January 14th, 2009 at 8:30 AM 
 
Concerned Jewish residents of Los Angeles will shut down the Israeli consulate for the first time ever in a historic protest against the policies of Israel. An ad-hoc, multi-generational group including members of the recently founded International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, will send a message to the Israeli government and its US supporters: "Not In Our Name! We will not be silent! Jews demand an end to20the Israeli siege on Gaza and an end to Israeli apartheid." The demonstration will kick off a wave of demonstrations across the United States uniting Palestinians, Jewish people, and other Americans outraged by the siege.
 
"We are shocked and outraged at Israeli's latest act of violent aggression against the Palestinian people. Killing over 950 people, including 250 women and children, bombing schools and mosques and then calling it self-defense—that is the worst kind of hypocrisy. It also amounts to war crimes," said Hannah Howard, a local member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. "We are shutting down the Israeli consulate today because as Jewish people we cannot allow business as usual while violence is being done in our name. This is a direct betrayal of our Jewish tradition of social justice."
 
Action participants will also speak out against the US government's unconditional support for Israel's siege and its ongoing war against the Palestinian people. "While US-funded F16's rain down bombs on the people of Gaza, our elected officials locally and nationally offer unqualified support." said Marsha Steinberg, a retired union representative. "Our government must stop sending billions of dollars in military and economic aid to the Israeli war machine while defending Israel in the international community," Steinberg said. In the coming week, concerned Americans from all backgrounds w ill call on the new Presidential administration to make a 180 degree change in policy.
 
"While the end of the siege on Gaza is our most immediate priority, this is only the latest chapter in Palestinians' 60 plus year experience of occupation and ethnic cleansing. Peace and justice in the region will only come when Palestinians have freedom and control their own destiny," said Lisa Adler, a community organizer in Los Angeles and another member of the International Jewish Solidarity Network. "Even before the siege began, Israel's inhumane months-long blockade of Gaza created a major humanitarian crisis. We must end the siege. And we are building a nonviolent international movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions that brings an end to Israel's policies of occupation and apartheid and advances the Palestinian struggle for justice," said Adler.
 
For more information on the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, visit: www.ijsn.net
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Profiles of the Demonstrators
 
Marsha Steinberg is a retired union representative and long time activist for social justice.
 
Gabriel Strachota is a 22-year old Jewish native of Massachusetts. His mother grew up in apartheid South Africa and he has many aunts, uncles, and cousins living in Israel.
 
Robin Ellis is a 34-year old queer woman originally from New York and a Registered Nurse working in Los Angeles' public health system.
 
Lisa Adler is a 29-year old New York native from a Latin American Jewish family.  She spent several weeks in occupied Palestine in 2002 working in solidarity with Palestinians resisting the occupation non-violently.
 
Eric Romann is a 31-year old community organizer originally from New Jersey.  Eric's grandparents moved to Palestine to escape Nazism in the 1930's and lost many family members in the Nazi Holocaust.  His father spent the first 15 years of his life in Israel and Eric has many family members living there.
 
Samantha Tess Sunshine is a queer white Jew who lives in Los Angeles.  She is a trained sex educator who has worked in the field of sexual health for almost a decade, and is currently a lead facilitator for the Leadership Development in Interethnic Relations Program at the Asian Pacific American Legal Center.