FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 17, 2023

Susan Kuehn, Co-Convenor

Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition  smkuehn@PROTECTED 

Terry Lodge, Co-Convenor

Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition tjlodge50@PROTECTED

ACTIVISTS ARGUE KAPTUR SUPPORT FOR MILITARY AID TO ISRAEL MAY VIOLATE INTERNATIONAL AND U.S. LAW FORBIDDING GENOCIDE

Opponents of the ongoing Israeli invasions of the West Bank and Gaza Strip of Palestine have warned Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur that support for pending legislation in the Congress may violate international and federal laws prohibiting genocide (the deliberate extermination of civilians).

On November 17, 2023, the National Organization, Veterans for Peace; American Muslims for Palestine –Toledo Chapter; People for Peace & Justice – Sandusky County; the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition; Young Muslim Democrats of Toledo; Students for Justice in Palestine – Toledo Chapter; and Cleveland Peace Action delivered a letter to U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur, urging that Congressional approval of military aid for Israel’s invasion of the Gaza Strip and attacks in the West Bank could be treated as illegal support for the genocide of Palestinian civilians.

Citing the Gaza death toll of at least 11,400 men, women and children, the groups, whose membership includes hundreds of Ninth Congressional District voters, explained that the 1948 Genocide Convention and U.S. federal law make it a capital crime to attack people with the intention of destroying them as a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. The activists asked for Rep. Kaptur to demand an immediate ceasefire on both sides, restore the flow of humanitarian and medical assistance, and push for negotiations to end decades of Arab-Israeli hostilities.

“Since the tragic Hamas attack that killed 1200 Israelis in October, Israel’s military has killed at least 11,400 civilians outright, and thousands more are trapped under the rubble from artillery shelling and bombing of the Gaza Strip,” said Toledo attorney Terry Lodge. “Intentional targeting of civilians in military assaults, systematically crushing the health care system and using famine as a weapon to force civilians to leave are serious war crimes. For Congress to vote direct U.S. support for mass slaughter, starvation and the trashing of Palestine society amounts to aiding and abetting genocide, the most serious of human rights crimes. We’ve asked Rep. Kaptur to not be complicit to genocide by opposing military aid to Israel for weapons, ammunition, and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Palestine.”

“On Monday, November 13, Palestinians filed suit in San Francisco against President Biden, Secretary of State Blinken and Defense Secretary Austin to stop war crimes and human rights violations resulting from open-ended U.S. support for Israel’s wars,” noted Susan Kuehn of the Northwest Ohio Peace Coalition. “Israel’s genocide campaign is accelerating. Political game-playing by Congress and the Biden administration is wreaking catastrophe on hundreds of thousands of people. Stop the slaughter and stop the genocide. For humanity’s sake, stop the war!”

Read the full letter at this link.

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