In the aftermath of a highly contentious and heated debate over Israel’s war in Gaza and the use of the terms “apartheid” and “genocide” in describing what has taken place there, the Oxford Union debating society on November 29 voted 278 to 59 in declaring “This house believes Israel is an apartheid state responsible for genocide.”
In an article in Countercurrents, an India-based online news, views and analysis website, Australian scientist, activist and writer Dr Gideon Polya addressed the ever-mounting death toll in Gaza by quoting one debate participant, Palestinian writer Susan Abulhawa, who stated that there are an “estimated 300,000 Palestinians killed in the first year of the Gaza Massacre.” Abulhawa went further in saying that “if the world were watching the live streamed systematic annihilation of Jews in real time, there would be no debating whether that constituted terrorism or genocide.”
The Oxford Union debating society’s finding was in line with that of a special UN committee that earlier in November declared in its findings that Israel’s war in Gaza was “consistent with genocide.” While only yesterday Amnesty International issued their findings of an investigation in which they concluded that Israel was carrying out genocide in Gaza saying that Israel’s conduct is unlawful.”
As the war in Gaza shows no sign of reaching a ceasefire agreement any time soon, activists from several anti-war and human rights groups once again protested outside of the building housing the office of California Democratic Senator Alex Padilla calling for his arrest as a “war criminal.” Their message to Padilla consistent over the course of the war has been, “Stop funding genocide.”
To wit, Padilla has not listened while refusing to “to join 19 other senators who voted for Bernie Sanders’ Joint Resolutions of Disapproval” which would have blocked $20 billion for more weapons for Israel.
Padilla has also voted against Bernie Sanders’ S.Res 504 that would have publicly determined if Israel human rights practices in Gaza violates the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act which prohibits US military aid to states that consistently commit human rights abuses. He was also among 81 senators who opposed a letter by Senator Thomas Carper (D-DE) and 18 other senators that called for the Biden administration “to establish a bold public framework in recognizing a non-militarized Palestinian State.”
After hearing from several activists who spoke on Padilla’s complicity in genocide in supporting Israel, the group performed a skit of the senator’s mock arrest for his war crimes followed by a sidewalk die-in. An activist playing Padilla speaking from behind bars, in a mask in the likeness of the senator, asked questions regarding the war and when the crowd responded he said, “I can’t hear you,” echoing the sentiments many of the senator’s constituents and others accuse him of, namely, being deaf to their voices in calling for him to “Stop funding genocide.”
The activists demanded that he “Stop arming Israel, restore funding for UNRWA and allow sufficient aid into Gaza.” Padilla, it was noted, has received $30,850 in contributions from the Israeli lobby according to the website tracaipac.com/us-senate.
Leslie Angeline, an anti-war activist who is now in her 18th day of a hunger strike in solidarity with Gazans, admitted, while speaking to those in attendance, that while she was hungry, her pain was nothing compared with what people in Gaza face every day. She promised to endure her strike.
For some time after the protest ended, the chalked messages on the sidewalk remained unmolested as a very public notice to passersby of Padilla’s complicity in aiding Israel’s efforts and war crimes being committed in Gaza.
Report and photo by Phil Pasquini
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