CODEPINK Protests at German Diplomatic Missions: STOP US & German arms for Israel’s Genocide!

SiAWo6 sQ7GpoxZfYZuyNF99fp0p8eFLvwrivFe3MU7Z1u P8BzLzEJn2X8Mq LjM0d25ZGNRxLDEYtlbhd2nC G1zYKubQsRMngBqKEJ07zbCJv4U24eygXzhva0 XTT b8Ij6gDR0CSkEUvACZKw0

[CODEPINK and other peace activists outside the German Consulate in Los Angeles/Ryan Wentz — CODEPINK]

From coast to coast, CODEPINK delegations protested at German diplomatic missions in support of Nicaragua’s case against Germany at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for complicity in Israel’s genocide that has killed or maimed over 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza.

On the first day of ICJ proceedings, April 8, 2024, in Nicaragua v. Germany, pickets and letter deliveries took place in DC, NYC, LA, Chicago, Boston, San Francisco, Houston, Miami and Seattle. Demonstrators echoed Nicaragua’s requests of the World Court to order Germany and the United States to stop supplying weapons to Israel. According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the US supplies 69% of Israel’s arsenal; Germany supplies 30% of the weaponry.


Benjamin Alvarez Gruber, US correspondent for Deutsche Welle (DW), state-owned German state-television, covered the story at the DC German embassy, where CODEPINK organizers Medea Benjamin, Julia Norman and Palestinian American Motaz Salim led the delegation. Participants headed into the embassy office to deliver a “stop the arms, restore UNRWA aid” letter from CODEPINK. “We were fed a lot of formality,” said Norman, summarizing the embassy’s response for the crowd, “there needs to be a lot of investigations … investigations take a lot of time … there’s no way to prove yet that war crimes are occurring.”

“Shame, shame,” cried the crowd outside the embassy.

Norman continued, “While there was a sense of grief in that room, there was no sense of urgency.”

This despite the threat of mass starvation looming over Gaza as a result of Israel’s refusal to allow food, water and medicine into the densely populated coastal strip.

“It also leads me to believe that they are in total support of what’s going on,” Salim added.

MynF0vEkSp1mefiS6bGoCaH5Pvkx7v3s Twrmhm3JW6scFr68ESn j9TB2QORCXGuVP 3befuSvCkNrH3AhQ9aZv2zse9h1vM4418V4RaZeFmAiATyNW9esiE30DbT7A3 REhW2tvwgfQETQuOjGj4E

[D.C. peace activists outside Germany Embassy| Michelle Ellner — CODEPINK]

In Los Angeles, an angry defender of Israel’s genocide confronted a protester before the action began, and when it looked like an assault might be imminent, building security called the police. Five officers responded, lining up patrol cars in front of the consulate building, as fifty picketers-some driving three hours to participate in the protest — chanted in front of the office building housing the German consulate on the fifth floor. Palestinian American Mirvette Judeh, whose family is from the West Bank, told the crowd it was the power of the people’s protests that propelled 40 members of Congress, including former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, to sign a letter to President Biden calling for a halt to weapons shipments to Israel. When it came time to deliver the CODEPINK letter to German Consul General Andrea Sasse, the building security guard allowed only one member of the delegation, Judeh, up to the fifth floor.

tITTWClbDD8JB3F0VKo g3VJUWgRW0WHeY A eKhZPwuRsOOSMuSWahkXcKuDYAuR94wmlTDT9xdyRj bCjw2B

[Mirvette Judeh speaking outside German Consulate in Los Angeles | Rick Chertoff]

While the doors to the consulate had earlier swung open to visitors, Mirvette said they were shut tight when she arrived with the letter for the German Consul General. She knocked. The door opened. “I said could I speak to someone about Germany needing to stop funding the genocide and ethnic cleansing, and providing weapons and support to Israel, and they said, ‘If you keep talking, we’re not going to deliver the letter.’

Later the Israel defender returned with three menacing others spewing four-letter words, itching for a fight and videotaping protesters.

Three Dubai women visiting relatives in San Diego drove three hours to participate in the protest. “We are forbidden from protesting in Dubai,” said the women, CODEPINK Instagram followers anxious to participate in another action.

In San Francisco, twenty picketers gathered in front of the German consulate in the city’s posh neighborhood of Pacific Heights, where CODEPINK participants took turns reading the letter, discussing the genocide, and attempting to go inside the consulate to deliver the letter. “The security guard asked the consulate staff if we could come in and the staff declined to allow that, but the guard took the letter inside for us and we confirmed that the staff received it and would pass it along to the Consul,” said Cynthia Papermaster, organizer of the delegation.

NmC0s4eB5FXpD5bPP9Pol1tZq3D2hnnWSHmfnR6R

[CODEPINK San Francisco members outside German Consulate in San Francisco | Phil Pasquini]

In Chicago, a 10-member delegation of Muslims and Jews met for over an hour with Michael Ahrens, German Consul General, who began the meeting saying Israel had a right to defend itself but listened intently and took notes while participants told heartbreaking stories from both Gaza and the West Bank.

ZoBdv9dOc WKfyNpsuyV2OJswu4mzu4HYMCo4INILxJXF7QGYbGVkc2bXIARVDwbuzGgGYS1PYxyI0Ko11E7AKhxP0IgFmwfYWZSnmdy2iizYnqlVPdfL8sl I2O9otmrt7L0jNC9M61Ftq5y 7s5k4

[Peace activists outside German Consulate in Chicago]

In New York City, the German mission’s First Secretary Daniel Drescher came down to the street to meet with the CODEPINK delegation and receive their letter. Participant Leigha Gillespea spoke of the harm resulting from Germany’s UNRWA defunding, which was based on testimony now debunked as false confessions made under Israeli torture.

The German mission diplomat said no funding had actually been cut because this year’s budget had already been allocated. Gillespea retorted, “Then why did you announce that you were cutting the funding instead of merely investigating the allegations?”

Delegation organizer Robert Jereski said, “He had no sound answer and clearly understood the damage that Germany’s contribution to the campaign against UNRWA had done. He also had no answer to the disparate response of Germany to Israel’s bald allegations against UNRWA and the ICJ’s finding of plausible genocide, especially where the former had no proof while the decision of the highest court was replete with evidence.”

Imam Catovic, a former diplomat originally from Bosnia, who joined the Code Pink picket, urged the First Secretary to recognizee that Germany’s own history makes it particularly well placed to condemn genocide whenever and wherever is takes place, and that Germany’s guilty conscience should not cloud judgement about what is right, echoing the position of the Jewish activists present that Germany’s policies do not align with Jewish values or safety. They all underscored that a demand to end Palestine suffering is not antithetical to Jewish safety but in fact a requirement for the safety of all people.

zHEgtYM61cWXlkLjsZmLTrTQnGuCnNC9W3Xx4doJJhQ4 Yc7wcXuq6nrWCgV0mBUFTgtDnDjVcOXRATl1utGdEktQm90NpQNic

[New York delegation of peace activists speaking with German UN Mission’s First Secretary Daniel Drescher | Maha Alami]

In Seattle, a contingent delivered the CODEPINK letter to the honorary consulate, where a staffer welcomed antiwar activists into the office, only to have the Honorary Consul General Uli Fischer,, formerly in the German Air Force and a retired Boeing employee, refuse to meet with them. Nevertheless, participants said they could see through a crack in the door that the Consul General was reading the letter also signed by Veterans for Peace and the Seattle Antiwar Coalition.

Acs0VFcIdL1MiH8nNx6T4 O4G1gHzL7kaLS J6YJRAx4euA0sLPS6dOEQAm3s3MAVfyIbeXQgrrv2cgVBDOtZ5eg9a4zGOyWMl

[Seattle peace activists outside German Consulate]

In Boston, activists with Massachusetts Peace Action delivered the letter to the German consulate.

The pickets, rallies, and petition deliveries were part of an international call for solidarity with Palestinian-Germans who risk beatings and arrest when they protest Germany’s complicity in Israel’s slaughter in Gaza. Without US and German weapons, Israel’s genocide might well come to an end, sparing the lives of over a million Palestinians uprooted from their homes to struggle with mass starvation.

________________________________________________________________

Marcy Winograd volunteers as the Coordinator of CODEPINK CONGRESS and a co-producer of CODEPINK Radio. She also co-coordinates CODEPINK’s World Court Campaign to support South Africa’s case against Israel’s genocide in Gaza. A retired English and government teacher, Marcy blogs about militarism and foreign policy.

Support Countercurrents

Countercurrents is answerable only to our readers. Support honest journalism because we have no PLANET B.
Become a Patron at Patreon

Join Our Newsletter

GET COUNTERCURRENTS DAILY NEWSLETTER STRAIGHT TO YOUR INBOX

Join our WhatsApp and Telegram Channels

Get CounterCurrents updates on our WhatsApp and Telegram Channels

Related Posts

Join Our Newsletter


Annual Subscription

Join Countercurrents Annual Fund Raising Campaign and help us

Latest News