{"id":48751,"date":"2024-07-30T13:28:24","date_gmt":"2024-07-30T21:28:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=48751"},"modified":"2024-07-30T13:36:54","modified_gmt":"2024-07-30T21:36:54","slug":"veterans-to-vip-harris-push-now-to-end-the-siege-of-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2024\/07\/30\/veterans-to-vip-harris-push-now-to-end-the-siege-of-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"Veterans to VP Harris: Push Now To End the Siege of Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"

The national organization Veterans For Peace has written an <\/strong>Open Letter to Vice President Kamala Harris,<\/strong><\/a> asking her to push for an immediate end to the siege of Gaza.\u00a0 The letter begins:<\/p>\n

\u201cDear Vice President Harris, we are reaching out to you as military veterans who have fought in multiple US wars,<\/em><\/strong> and who continue to uphold the US Constitution and international law, to organize for justice and equality in our home communities, and to advocate for a peaceful foreign policy. We are appalled by the ongoing Israeli slaughter of tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children and by the maiming of tens of thousands more. We are outraged by the systematic blocking of food, leading to malnutrition, starvation, disease and the deaths of many more, particularly babies and young children.\u00a0 These are unbearable and unacceptable crimes that will go down in the history books as a terrible genocide \u2013 a holocaust.\u201d
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The veterans\u2019 letter reminds Vice President Harris of her own words<\/strong> after her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is<\/em><\/strong> devastating \u2013 the images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third, or fourth time.\u00a0 We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies.\u00a0 We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering.\u00a0 And I will not be silent\u2026\u00a0 It is time for this war to end and end in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity, and self-determination\u2026 So, to everyone who has been calling for a ceasefire and to everyone who yearns for peace, I see you and I hear you.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Veterans For Peace also reminded Vice President Harris of the growing danger of nuclear war:
\n<\/strong>\u201cAs you must know, Vice President Harris, c<\/em>ontinued US support for Israel amid the Gaza genocide also risks further regional and global escalation, with potentially irreversible consequences, even the unthinkable horror of nuclear war. We urge you to demonstrate the kind of leadership for which so many people are waiting \u2013 for which we are hoping and praying. Please use all your influence<\/em> to end <\/em>the unfathomable suffering in Gaza.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Signed by Veterans For Peace president Susan Schnall, <\/strong>the letter encourages Vice President Harris to take immediate action:<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t wait until January. Do the right thing NOW,<\/em><\/strong> even as you are campaigning for president. Please urge President Biden to change course in Gaza, to support an immediate, permanent ceasefire, the opening of Gaza\u2019s borders for massive humanitarian and medical aid, and to stop sending weapons to Israel as long as this massacre continues.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Veterans For Peace is sending the letter to Vice President Harris on Tuesday, July 30.\u00a0 It can be read in its entirety here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gerry Condon is a Vietnam-era veteran who resisted the war while an active-duty soldier. He is a past president of Veterans For Peace, a current Board member, and a coordinator of its Nuclear Abolition Working Group.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The national organization Veterans For Peace has written an Open Letter to Vice President Kamala Harris, asking her to push for an immediate end to the siege of Gaza.\u00a0 The letter begins: \u201cDear Vice President Harris, we are reaching out to you as military veterans who have fought in multiple US wars, and who continue […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":376,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-48751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":"Call for a Permanent Ceasefire and Emergency Food and Medical Aid"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48751"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":48757,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48751\/revisions\/48757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48751"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=48751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}