October 18, 2023
To:
Congressman Raul Grijalva
101 West Irvington Rd., #4
Tucson, Arizona 85714
STOP THE GENOCIDE!
Dear Sir,
In the Monday, October 16, 2023 issue of the Arizona Daily Star, the article titled “Grijalva Voices Concerns About Siege,” by Laura Gersony, reported that you joined 54 other House Democrats to “voice concern” about Israel's plan to enact a complete siege of Gaza and cut off water, food and electricity to the helpless hostage population of Gaza. Concern?
This is GENOCIDE!
Under international law, the crime of genocide is defined by “the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such,” as noted in the December 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. (Raz Segal, A Textbook Case of Genocide, jewishcurrents.org Oct 13.2023) Voicing “concern” is an ineffectual way to respond to a textbook case of genocide unfolding in front of our eyes.
Apparently your concerns only lasted until the end of the article when you brushed them aside and shared your plans to vote in favor of sending supplemental military aid to Israel, because “the whole paradigm after Hamas attacked Israel completely changed.” The paradigm has not changed. This cycle of violence has been going on for 75 years.
While coverage of the attacks on Israel saturate the news cycle of almost every medium of mass communication, often without substantiation, opposing viewpoints are suppressed as part of the coordinated atrocity narrative to inflame public opinion and justify a genocidal response in retaliation to Palestinian resistance to occupation.
- 75 years of ethnic cleansing
- Scores of violations of UN resolutions with impunity
- 15 years of blockade
- Constant humiliation of a entire people
- Theft of Palestinian lands with impunity
- Bulldozing of homes and orchards Terrorist attacks by settlers Pogroms on Palestinian towns
- Bombing of hospitals, homes, schools, mosques. Desecration of Palestinian sacred sites
- Daily raids into Palestinian homes
- Denial of water, food, power
- Constant humiliation of an entire people
- Genocide while the whole world watches
We are very outraged by your stated desire to join the Israeli genocidal campaign against the Palestinians by sending supplemental aid. Perhaps you are serving the corporate interests, the oil companies, and the arms manufacturers, but you are not representing us. History will not remember you to be kind to you. Genocide is a crime but so is funding it.
Anyone who has followed the Green Party of Pima County for any length of time is well aware that we condemn anti-Semitism, occupation, racism, injustice, apartheid, murder, rape, torture, kidnapping, war crimes, the mistreatment of civilians and Genocide. But we are not neutral. We support the just resistance of the Palestinians to the 75-year assault on their land and their goal of freedom from the illegal Israeli occupation. The Israelis and their U.S. corporate enablers are carrying out genocide of the Palestinians in real time and in front of our eyes. This must stop. Stop funding the Israeli genocide of Palestine. Stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and genocide of the Palestinian people.
We remain true to our principles, our moral ethics and hold fast to our strong commitment to justice for all. We ask that you reconsider and withdraw your support for the ongoing genocide.
Eduardo Quintana
GPPC Chairperson
Jason Reichenberg
GPPC 1st Vice-Chairperson
Bob Aros
GPPC Treasurer
Mike Cease
GPPC Secretary
Kira Ogola
GPPC Gender Outreach Representative