Banner Drop Over Cross Bronx Expressway Continues Wave of Jewish Solidarity.

by: JATO-NYC, nycjato@gmail.com http://jatonyc.org/
graphic by: Alane Golden c. 2008.

Banner Drop Over Cross Bronx Expressway Continues Wave of Jewish Solidarity

NYC Jews Call for an Immediate End to Israel’s Occupation of Palestine. A banner drop over New York City's entrance to the Cross Bronx Expressway, at 179th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan, carried out by members of Jews Against the Occupation / NYC, declared "Free Palestine."

This action by Jewish New Yorkers continued the wave of increasingly public Jewish solidarity with the Palestinians recently targeted by the Israeli government's attack on the Gaza Strip, which killed over 1,300 people. Four banners were hung from overpasses on the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and a fifth near the U.S.S. Intrepid on the West Side Highway in January.

The banner, seen by thousands of commuters during morning rush hour on Wednesday February 11, 2009, expanded the public presence of the many who strongly disagree with the US government’s support for Israel’s occupation of Palestine. Hundreds of Jews have participated in demonstrations in New York City. An AIPAC fundraiser with Michael Bloomberg in attendance was blockaded for two hours on January 29th.

A 24-hour protest in front of the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency has been called for Thursday, February 12. "We are standing up for justice," said Niuta Teitelboim, one of the JATO / NYC activists, "which is a Jewish tradition that many Jewish organizations seem to have abandoned. Too many vocally endorsed a war which involved a string of Israeli war crimes: the mass killings of children and families at UN schools designated as places of refuge; the targeting with bombs and artillery fire of hospitals and ambulances; and most recently the destruction of food and medical aid supplies in a UN facility."

"The occupation is being paid for with U.S. taxpayers' money. Israel could not maintain one of the world's largest militaries without a constant flow of cash from the U.S. treasury," elaborated Chloe Tribich, another JATO/NYC member involved in the action. "Even if foreclosures and unemployment weren't decimating our neighborhoods, surely there are better uses for $3 billion a year than helping the Israeli government commit war crimes."

"Today's action is one small contribution to the growing movement in solidarity with the 1.5 million Palestinians whose lives are being destroyed by the occupation," JATO-NYC member Ethan Heitner explained. "We know from our own history what being sealed behind barbed wire and checkpoints is like, and we know that 'Never Again' means not anyone, not anywhere - or it means nothing at all."

LET THE REVOLUTION BEGIN!

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And, remember: TOGETHER, We can make a DIFFERENCE!

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