On Tuesday March 9, 2010, New Yorkers plan to rally outside the Waldorf Astoria to protest of the visit of Israeli Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi. The rally will begin at 6 pm.

Ashkenazi will be the honored guest at a $1000-a-plate fund-raising dinner for the Israeli Military Forces.  Protest organizers say they are outraged that such a dinner would be held in the home city of the United Nations, which is investigating the Israeli Forces for "grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions" and allegations of numerous war crimes committed against the Palestinians during Operation Cast Lead, which was launched against Gaza on December 27, 2008.

Al-Awda NY organizer Dima Abisaab said that, "After suffering for years under Israeli Occupation, then facing starvation by the siege and living in the world's largest outdoor prison, the Palestinians of Gaza were mercilessly slaughtered as they were rounded up and murdered by the Israeli Occupation Forces. It is an outrage that Israeli Generals are not imprisoned, let alone coming to our streets to raise money to continue their war crimes while Palestinians continue to starve and die from wounds because they can't access neither food nor medicine."

Student Organizer Arafat Nasan said, "While we face severe budget cuts in our school systems, while people are losing jobs and access to healthcare, the US Government continues to sends billions of our tax dollars each year to the rogue Israeli government. It is outrageous that we feed war criminals while millions of Americans go hungry."

The UN investigation cited numerous violations of International Law, accused the Israeli forces of targeting civilians, using phosphorous weapons, and of launching an attack that was, "designed to punish, humiliate and terrorize a civilian population, radically diminish its local economic capacity both to work and to provide for itself, and to force upon it an ever increasing sense of dependency and vulnerability." Over 1,400 Palestinians were killed in the assaults, two-thirds of whom were women and children.

The UN investigative team recommended prosecution of Israeli Military Personnel in the International Criminal Court and by domestic use of International Jurisdiction.  On January 28, 2010 Ashkenazi canceled a trip to Brazil for fear he would be arrested, as did several other Israeli Government officials.

Nonetheless, in November 2009, Gabi Ashkenazi warned that he would lead another similar assault on the Palestinians of Gaza, and the media reported Ashkenazi calling for a Holocaust against Gaza 's Palestinians during that same period.

Ashkenazi has been working adamantly against further international investigation of Israeli troops' alleged crimes in Gaza.

The Gaza Strip fell under a tighter siege by the Israelis in January 2007 as a result of Israeli disapproval of Palestinian elections.  Since then, Palestinians were living under a severe humanitarian crisis as Israel prevented Palestinians from access to food, water, and basic sustenance supplies before launching the aggressive attacks in December of 2008. The UN investigation also found that the Israeli siege was in violation of International Law.

Sponsoring groups of the rally, along with Al-Awda, include American Muslims for Palestine, Muslim American Society, the International Action Center, Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM), New York City Labor Against the War and the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.

Al-Awda NY, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition

info@al-awdany.org

http://www.al-awdany.org

718-228-8636

For more information contact:

Arafat Nasan, (917) 477 9847 or 
Dima Abisaab, (646)920-7114