NEW YORK

AN APARTHEID STATE IS NOTHING TO CELEBRATE: PROTEST THE “TIMES OF ISRAEL FIRST ANNUAL GALA” AT THE WALDORF HOTEL IN NYC, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15!

On February 15, 2015, The Times of Israel is sponsoring its first “annual gala” at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City “to celebrate the very best of the country we call home.” The Times has declared the theme of this inaugural event, “Telling Israel’s Story.”

This “gala,” however, will be anything but a honest accounting of the Israeli regime.

The event won’t mention the 800,000 Palestinians ethnically cleansed by Zionist forces to create a “Jewish state” on a land with a non-Jewish majority.

It won’t mention the laws — over 50 and counting — that discriminate against Palestinian citizens of Israel.

It won’t mention Israeli massacres of thousands of civilians in Gaza, including children, the elderly, and the disabled, designed to terrorize an indigenous population into submission.

It won’t mention Israel’s brutal occupation of the 1967 territories of historic Palestine, with its Apartheid Wall, system of dehumanizing checkpoints, resource theft, and violent “Jewish only” settlements.

It won’t mention the role Israel plays in protecting Western imperial interests in the Middle East, or in training police from around the world in techniques of surveillance, torture, and population control.

In short, it won’t begin to tell the true story of apartheid Israel.

But it is an important opportunity for defenders of justice for Palestinians to speak truth to power, to make our voices heard over the cynical lies of the Israeli propaganda machine and its U.S. sponsors, and to affirm our support for the Palestinian call for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions against Israel (BDS), which demands an end to Israeli military occupation of the 1967 territories, full equality for Palestinian citizens of Israel, and right of return for Palestinian refugees as affirmed by UN resolution 194.

Please join us outside the Waldorf on the 15th to declare: An apartheid state is nothing to celebrate!

Note: Proceeds from the event are in part going to support the Jewish National Fund, one of the primary organizations through which Israel implements its racist control over the land of historic Palestine.

Co-sponsors (list in formation):

Al-Awda New York: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition
Adalah New York: The Campaign for the Boycott of Israel
American Muslims for Palestine
Direct Action Front for Palestine
Existence Is Resistance
International Action Center
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
International League of People’s Struggle – US chapter
International Socialist Organization
Jews for Palestinian Right of Return
Labor for Palestine
Middle East Crisis Committee (CT)
New York Association for Gender Rights Advocacy (NYAGRA)
NYC Solidarity with Palestine
Princeton for Palestine
Queers Against Israeli Apartheid – NYC
Queer Palestinian Empowerment Network
Stop The Jewish National Fund Campaign
Students for Justice in Palestine at Brooklyn College
Students for Justice in Palestine at College of Staten Island
Students for Justice in Palestine at John Jay College
Students for Justice in Palestine at New York University
The Hampton Institute
US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
US Palestinian Community Network

(contact info@al-awdany.org if your organization would like to co-sponsor)

More details to follow!