The City of Rochester Must Stop Genocide

Sometimes folks ask themselves, “What would I have done when Hitler was killing all of those Jews?” Well, now you know. What you’re doing or not doing right now about what is happening in Palestine shows exactly what you would have done in Germany. There are a lot of parallels between what happened there and what is going on in Gaza (and now the West Bank). It’s pretty sad that hundreds of people had to show up to City Council – some refusing to leave – just to get a non-binding resolution passed that was pretty weak.

Like in Apartheid South Africa, a way to help stop the mistreatment of Palestinians on their own land, which has been going on for decades, is to Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS). In fact, Rochester should take a stand against genocide being committed anywhere.

Therefore, as a member of City Council, I will do the following:

1. Propose legislation that changes the City Charter forbidding the City from using taxpayer money to purchase any product or service from any business that supports genocide. This would not only include companies based in other countries, but those originating from the United States.

2. Propose legislation that terminates our Sister City agreement with Rehovot, Israel.

NOTE: I am ethnically Jewish. I am speaking out and acting against genocide, just like we should be doing in Congo, Sudan, and other places in the world in which racism and capitalism are devastating millions of people. Isn’t genocide a bottom line? Shouldn’t that be the one thing we can agree on no matter what our political party, ethnic background, citizenship, etc.?

References:

Black Agenda Report

Breakthrough News

CounterPunch

Electronic Intifada

The Empire Files

The Grayzone

MintPress News

Sheerpost

Truthout


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  • David Sutliff-Atias