Special eyewitness report 4/3/18 on Int'l solidarity ; take action on AIPAC

Thu Mar 29 18:05:10 PDT 2018

● Eyewitness report from international supporters of Palestinian
resistance.

Tuesday, April 3, 2018 7pm. 909 12th St. Sacramento.

Two alumni of the International Solidarity Movement
<https://palsolidarity.org/about>  will share their experiences and provide
an update on international activism in Palestine. Please share on facebook
<https://www.facebook.com/events/167084273947301/> .

Co-sponsored by the Leon Lefson Memorial Fund.

FMI: 916-448-7157; SacReg4PalestinianRights at gmail.com

● Mark your calendars:

Sunday, April 22, 2018, 10:30am, Protest the pro-Israeli apartheid lobby,
AIPAC <https://www.facebook.com/events/1852062081492969> , at their annual
Sacramento Annual event. Hyatt Regency, 1209 L St. Sacramento. FMI:
SacReg4PalestinanRights at gmail.com

Sunday, April 29, 2018, 12:30pm, Protest event celebrating Apartheid Israel
<https://www.facebook.com/events/2088427744761570/> . There is nothing to
celebrate about Israeli apartheid and ethnic cleansing. Scottish Rite
Center, 6151 H St, Sacramento. FMI: SacReg4PalestinianRights at gmail.com.

● Send a simple message to your local electeds:

Tell them “Don’t go to the April 22, 2018 AIPAC meeting.”
Click to find your Sacramento City Council member
<https://www.cityofsacramento.org/Mayor-Council/Find-Your-District> .
Click to find your Sacramento Board of Supervisor
<http://www.saccounty.net/SupervisorLookUp/Pages/default.aspx> .
Click for your State Assemblymember and Senator
<http://findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov/> .
Click for: Representatives Matsui <https://matsui.house.gov/contact/> , Bera
<https://bera.house.gov/connect-with-me/email-ami> , Garamendi
<https://garamendi.house.gov/contact> , Senator Harris
<https://www.harris.senate.gov/contact>
See letter below for more information.

Letter to Sacramento Area Elected officials:

Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights
c/o 909 12th St., Suite 118, Sacramento, CA 95814 - 916-448-7175

March 29, 2018

Dear

You and other elected officials have likely been invited to the April 22,
2018 “Sacramento AIPAC Community Annual Event,” sponsored by the American
Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which self-identifies as
“America’s pro-Israel lobby.”

As your constituents, we urge you and your staff not to attend this event.

AIPAC’s primary mission continues to be ensuring the ongoing flow of U.S.
political and military support for Israel’s ever-alarming policies of
dispossession, annexation, discrimination, extra-judicial killing, and armed
aggression, all in gross violation of international law.

AIPAC is promoting legislation in Congress, S 720 and HR 1697, that attack
our right to boycott, a fundamental element of our constitutionally
protected right to free speech. American citizens have a right to criticize
our government and other governments, particularly ones receiving our tax
dollars and political cover.

At its recent showcase conference in Washington, D.C., AIPAC tried hard to
backpedal from its increasing identification with the most hard line views.
But as If-Not-Now1 leader Emily Mayer, expressed in a March 6, 2018 Ha’
aretz article2, leading presidential contenders and other politicians stayed
away this year, a sharp break from the past.

AIPAC has no problem with Israel’s recent announcement of a blacklist under
which leaders of U.S. groups including the American Friends Service
Committee and Jewish Voice for Peace are being denied entry into Palestine
by Israel, which controls all Palestine’s borders. Israel has prevented
some of your Sacramento area constituents from entering Palestine; for some
this means they cannot visit their families.

Sane Americans and most U.S. Jews are aghast at Trump’s announcing plans to
move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. Recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s
capital infers acceptance of Israel’s illegal annexation of East Jerusalem
and large parts of the surrounding West Bank. Israel has illegally implanted
hundreds of thousands of Israeli Jews on occupied Palestinian land in
violation of the Geneva Conventions. Meanwhile Israel puts relentless
pressure on hundreds of thousands of Palestinian residents of Jerusalem who
are denied basic rights including being able to elect the government that
controls them.

Americans are tired of endless wars. Their sentiments were expressed in June
of last year at the U.S. Conference of Mayors who passed three resolutions
opposing the military-heavy Trump budget proposal.
We want our government to support human rights and international law, to
utilize the power of diplomacy, and to not engage in more military
aggression. In this regard, we are dismayed by the extent to which AIPAC and
the right-wing Israeli regime have had so much influence on U.S. foreign
policy.

In contrast to AIPAC’s continuing support for Israel’s occupation and
abuses, the California Democratic Platform calls for ending U.S. support for
the Israeli occupation of Palestine. We urge you to support this call.

Even if you are not a member of Congress, AIPAC seeks demonstrations of
loyalty to its positions from political leaders at all levels to maintain
the illusion of unanimous support. By attending the annual AIPAC event you
send it a message of approval. We ask that you not send this message by not
attending the AIPAC event.

We are happy to meet with you to further discuss our concerns and address
any questions you have.

Sincerely,

Sacramento Regional Coalition for Palestinian Rights

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