SF Indymedia: Rogue Israeli State Protested at White House Rally - by William Hughes
Rogue Israeli State Protested at White House Rally - by William Hughes
Washington, D.C. - As Israeli terror bombing of civilians continues relentlessly over Gaza and Lebanon, demonstrators took to the streets near the White House, on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2006, to protest. Led by Arab-American organizers, and supported by antiwar groups, like the ANSWER Coalition, they rallied, at noon, in Lafayette Park, which is directly across the way from the official residenc of President George W. Bush. The crowd was estimated at about 30,000. The protesters also paraded around the White House after the speakers’ part of the program was completed. There were 24 riveting speakers at the well planned rally. One of the first was Dr. Esam Omesh, President of the Muslim American Society. He said: “There is no difference between a Muslim life, Christian life or Jewish life...The invasion of Lebanon and the destruction of its infrastructures and the deliberate targeting of civilians through the indiscriminate, disproportionate Israeli war machine is, indeed, criminal. It must be ended now.”
Dr. Omesh continued, “All the prisoners and captives must be released...We demand the release of all the thousands of civilians, thousands of prisoners that are held in the dungeons of Israel. Civilians that were kidnapped by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) against a sovereign nation-against a sovereign people. Let the prisoners go today.”
Background: The Bush-Cheney Gang has given Israel carte blanche to pulverize Gaza and bomb Lebanon back into the Stone Age. The IOF has killed over 1,000 Lebanese, since July 12, 2006, and left more than one million souls homeless. The Palestinian death toll for that same period of time is around 175. (1) Gaza is a humanitarian crisis of the first order, while many of the beleaguered people of Lebanon have been brought to their knees by the merciless onslaught of the IOF’s blitzkrieg. (2) It is an axiomatic principle of the law needing no citation of legal authority that the right of self-defense is not a license to kill indiscriminately.
