 that is organized this rally, precedence setting resolution, a letter that is being introduced today at a press conference at noon by 65 state representatives and senators. That's nearly a third of the Congressional of the State House delegation, which is calling for an immediate ceasefire of Israel's genocidal war. The details of this rally, this rally is part of a movement in defense of indigenous rights. So the best way to begin that is with a land acknowledgement of Vermont's dispossession of its own indigenous people. We are on the historical homeland of indigenous people. We honor their rich history as the traditional and ongoing stewards of these lands. We know that this land is unceded. European colonials have carried out massive violence and ethnic cleansing and genocide to steal their land. The US, a colonial and imperial power, continues this. We honor both the historical and ongoing resistance of indigenous peoples to settler colonialism. We support their struggles for justice and self-determination. We commit ourselves to active solidarity with all struggles for indigenous rights. The struggle for indigenous self-determination stretches from this state to Palestine. We are here in solidarity with the resistance of colonized people without exception. Genocide and every single person, every single politician is being put to a test, to a historical test. When there is genocide, were you silent? Were you for it? Or did you take a principled stand against it? We are here to rally support for the principled people who are calling out for a ceasefire right now of Israel's genocidal war. The scale of destruction carried out by Israel cannot be overestimated. They've killed nearly 30,000 people, bombed over 80% of the buildings in Gaza. They've driven nearly 2 million people into refugee camps on the Egyptian-Gaza border and they are cutting off all feet to those people. Nearly half a million people are under threat of starvation right now and over half of the people who've been killed by this genocidal war are women and children. This is outrageous and we say never again, never again for anybody, never again for Palestinians. This must stop now. If people saw Biden last night on a comedy show, he promised there's a ceasefire coming. If Biden was genuine about that, he would not have ordered his underlings to veto ceasefire resolutions in the United Nations countless times. The comedy show, it shows poor judgment that he could be on a comedy show amidst the genocide. He is using that statement to try and hoodwink Palestinian Arab and Muslim voters in Michigan to not do what Representative Taleed called for, which is both not committed instead of poor genocide, Joe. The other thing we've heard recently from some representatives who unconscionably have refused to sign on this letter calling for a ceasefire is that Palestine is not a local issue. Really? What a claimant are you million dollars of our taxpayer money is sent annually to Israel to carry out these acts of safe terror and genocide? Over six million dollars of Vermont taxpayer money go to fund this genocide. The Vermont Air Guard, which is based in Burlington's airport regularly runs bombing operations in occupied Palestine in support of Israel. This is a local issue and if you had any doubt about that look at the consequences of this war which exploded at home in Burlington when a white racist shot down three Palestinian students on the streets of our queen city. Palestine is a local issue. Every single representative should sign this letter if they don't, they're complicit with genocide. And in said, a threat to justice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Our liberation is compromised when Palestinians are colonially occupied. We can only win if Palestinians win their right to self-determination. We are part of a global movement for solidarity with Palestine and our interests are bound up with their interests. Imagine what we could do with the four billion dollars a year sent to a genocidal regime for flood relief, for jobs, for education, for health care. Imagine what we could do with six million dollars to help prepare people's homes that were flooded this summer here in Vermont. Palestine is a local issue. Our liberation is bound up with their liberation. So we see this ceasefire letter as an important precedent as a first step for a much bigger project of cutting off all USA to this apartheid genocidal regime in Israel. We see it as a first step for Vermont to divest its pensions from investments in companies in Israel, from investments in weapons manufacturers that arm this genocide. We are part of a movement for Palestinian liberation. So we celebrate the representatives that took a bold stand today and we demand that they take the next steps all the way until Palestine is free. So we have a short rally, a press conference that includes the representatives that signed the letter as well as representatives from our own movement. First I want to introduce Deborah Stoleroff and Jewish Voice for Peace. Give it up for Deborah. As Ashley said, my name's Deborah Stoleroff and I am representing Jewish Voice for Peace from our New Hampshire chapter. We have about 700 active supporting members in our state out of numbers that have grown quite difficult since October 7th. I'm going to be speaking at the press conference. I don't want to take much of your time but I want to say that as a Jew, I recognize the hesitancy of people to speak out on this issue as Christian and Jewish Zionists have worked so hard to complete this issue of anti-Semitism. But let's be clear, it is not anti-Semitic to criticize a government. It is a duty to call out governments committing inhumane acts of violence. It is our duty as Jewish folks to call out these governments. We are responsible. That Israeli government is responsible and they're doing this in our name. I also want to say that as long as Israel is committing these crimes, they make it less safe for Jewish people everywhere, inside and outside of Israel. These are supporting Israel's funds, Israel's military, that they are doing this in our name and they are rendering us consistent. I say, not in my name, not in my name. That's right, man. You see that in my name. Singing the song with the calm response, raising up... ...from the National Lawyers' Guild at the Ramon Law School. Please give it up. ...morning. My name is Angela Gallant. I'm here representing the National Lawyers' Guild chapter at the Ramon Law and Graduate School and letting President Xi's fire now for Israel's genocide campaign in Gaza, extremely dire. Access to the basic necessities of life is drastically limited. We know starvation and famine are spreading. Civilians are being bombed and shot in the places they are told to go for safety. Most of Gaza's hospitals and all of its universities have been destroyed. We have a moral withdrawal, our financial and political support from the nation that is inflicting these catastrophic conditions. On January 26th, the International Court and Justice issued a ruling in the case against Israel by South Africa under the Genocide Convention. The court said that the allegations that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza are plausible and the right of the people of Palestine to be free from genocide is at risk of irreparable harm. The court issued a provisional order that Israel must take all measures within its power to prevent all acts named in the Genocide Convention. These include killing members of the targeted group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the targeted group, and deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the targeted group's physical destruction. Now more than ever, the United States must stop providing the financial and material means and the political cover for Israel to continue carrying out its campaign to collective punishment against the people of Gaza, destroy their homes and to render their land uninhabitable, and protect the Palestinian people's right to be free from genocide. In telling the president- It's absolutely clear that we should understand is that Netanyahu and the State of Israel could do none of this without the political, financial, and military backing of the US government. The genocide that Israel is carrying out is also being carried out by the Biden administration. Nobody should be under any illusions about our administration, our government. It is complicit, not only complicit, it is an agent of these humanitarian crimes against the people of Gaza and all of historic Palestine. And I just think the International Court of Justice has not just one lawsuit against the State of Israel sponsored by the majority of former colonized peoples of the world, charging Israel with genocide. It now has a second lawsuit sponsored by 51 countries, all of them from the Global South, from the formerly colonized people charging Israel with a part-time and the prime of occupation and supporting the Palestinian struggle for liberation. What we are seeing is a global movement in the metropolitan and curial centers uniting across borders in a global struggle in solidarity with Palestine. So we have to chant against the State of Israel and against the Biden administration with utmost clarity. We must chant, Netanyahu, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide. Netanyahu, you can't hide, we charge you with genocide. Netanyahu, next up we have Graham Unans Rupinak from rural Vermont, give it up for Graham. My name is Graham Unans Rupinak. I am the policy director at rural Vermont, a nearly 40-year-old member-based organization working for food justice and food sovereignty, through education, organizing advocacy. We often find ourselves in this building in these committee rooms. Through our membership of working in the National Family Farm Coalition, we are also a member organization of La Vie Campesina, one of the largest social movement organizations in the world. The heritage of food sovereignty is an explicit focus on human rights for all people, democracy, the rights of peasants and indigenous peoples, the right to food, territorial rights, internationalism, and solidarity. We're here today to report on with gratitude for this effort by these legislators and the organizations and individuals they've been working with to offer this letter. Using their political power as representatives of their constituents in this place, we call home to call for a ceasefire in Gaza at the end of the military aid to Israel. I want to read parts of the statement that La Vie Campesina on October 27th was helped contextualize this moment in the realm of our work in food and agriculture. For decades, small producers, including fisherfolk and farmers, have been denied access to their waters, land, and other crucial common goods. Many were killed by Israeli forces while seeking to secure their livelihoods. The Israeli occupation has treated a military exclusion zone and almost half of Gaza's desirable land and a maritime buffer zone that allows access to barely 15% of the Mediterranean, which makes it impossible for fishermen to catch an adequate amount of fish to sustain their communities. This added to the blockade on exports and imports, access to food, agricultural inputs, and fuel and their repetitive aggressions turned Gaza into a grand open air prison prior to this current genocide. For Palestinians suffer collective punishment and are deprived of their rights, including the right to adequate food. The right to food is recognized in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and is enshrined in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, which Israel signed and ratified 57 years ago. More than 700 Israeli military checkpoints divide the West Bank, which completely separates the all-Auguar area that produces 80% of the food for Palestinians. So 100,000 Palestinian families that depend on olive production and unable to access their names for harvest and Gaza and the West Bank primarily through the thousands of assault rifles that have been distributed by the Israeli government to settlers. Since the year 2000, the Israeli occupation has destroyed 3 million fruit and olive trees in this place, Palestinian farmers. Israel's continuous 17-year blockade has also led to a severe water crisis which we all now know all too well as water is no longer allowing the culmination of the denial of the right to food for the excruciating onset of the manufacturing starvation in Gaza. And although we come here today in support of this effort from our representatives, we must also admit deep disappointment that in this moment of this 100 years war against the people of Palestine that we have not done or not doing more as a state given the complicity and the agency has actually said that the United States and the Israeli party, occupation, displacement and killing of Palestinian people over many years and now with this escalation which the International Court of Justice has declared to plausibly be a genocide ordering immediate and effective measures to protect Palestinians in the occupied Gaza strip from the risk of genocide by ensuring sufficient humanitarian access and enabling basic services. Israel and the United States have failed to comply and we should not be surprised. Those in power will not yield to International Court of Justice. They will not yield a serious public opinion to a public opinion of serious threats to their own political power. They will not yield to tens of thousands of murdered, maimed and starving Palestinian children. They will not yield to our voices now and they will not yield to voices in this letter. Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu. People who understood oppression in apartheid more than likely any of us standing here today champion the Palestinian cause. Tutu said that Israel's apartheid was even worse than South Africa's. And importantly for us here today, especially with policy makers, considering what effective action looks like, he said that what ultimately forced these leaders together around the negotiating table was the cocktail of persuasive, non-violent tools that have been developed to isolate South Africa economically, academically, culturally and psychologically that's going on by best in the sanctions. This action is much escalated because right now the state of Vermont attributes greater societal cost to the entire emissions from the cattle on my farm than it does the US-made manufacturing bombs dropping on Gaza from F-35s like those housed abroad to the air base. There cannot be politically impossible in a moment like this. There could be no deference to political leadership whether it be an executive or legislative branches or federal or local government or universities around the state. Our interest in what we must work towards is the politically necessary. Our political power is not in our individual positions in state government organizations is in working together with and for the people of Vermont and solid areas of human rights globally. Representative, members of the public, member-based organizations, the politically necessary will only become politically possible when we work to create change and policy together from the ground up and make power a seed to the demands and real needs of us, of the people here in Vermont and around the world. The closing role of Vermont is here with you in this work to end the occupation of part-time genocide to bring repair, return, and self-determination to the people of Palestine. Free Palestine! Free! I want to underscore the significance of Graham speaking out because this is about farmers, agricultural workers, globally standing in solidarity with Palestinians who've historically farmed the land of Palestine. Those farms have been dispossessed. Those farms have been bombed. Those olive trees have been ripped up by the Israeli defense forces, the Israeli occupation forces. So, Via Campesina, rural Vermont stands with the Palestinian agricultural workers of Palestinian farmers struggle for freedom and liberation. It stands in the hypocrisy of the Biden administration. Right after the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel was plausibly committing genocide and agreed to take the case to sentence and convict Israel of that crime against humanity, what did Israel and the United States do in response? They immediately cut off all aim to UNRUP, which is the main UN organization that educates, provides food, and subsidizes the living of people in the occupied territories and the refugee camps of Palestinians. Free! That is so disgraceful because it was based on a lie that Israel generated, that UNRUP employees were involved in the October 7th attacks. There has been no evidence of that whatsoever. So, right after a plausible genocide was accepted by the International Court of Justice, the U.S. and Israel and the other imperialist powers compounded the crime of genocide by cutting off all aim to occupy Palestinians. What a destroyer we can. When Palestine is oppressed, boycott sanctions end the best. When Palestine is oppressed, when Palestine... Next up, we have one of the many brave organizers on campuses all across the United States that are campaigning against the State of Israel on their campuses. Getting boycott divestment and sanctions, resolutions passed in student governments, getting their campuses to divest from companies invested in military manufacturers invested in the State of Israel. Please give it up to a UBM student from the Students for Justice in Palestine. Thank you all for coming. We are in plunge by of the genocide. This is not the first time we have been here and it will not be the last. These last five months, we have sharpened our understanding of what it is we're up against. It's not just from Palestine, but here on this continent as well. We have seen that... Sorry, I'm too tall for this. We have seen that this is not going... This is going to take more of the mass mobilization. We've got this. Because we know that we've not just fight for a ceasefire, we have to complete uproot imperialism. And we are at a point where we are translating this mobilization into organization. I am proud to say that everybody I know here in this crowd who came to this movement months ago for protests and rallies are now in an organization struggling for the long term. We recognize that this is a long term fight and it's not going to be an easy fight. This is something that we will have to dedicate our everyday lives to. And no matter what happens in the legislature, in Congress, or in the White House, today, tomorrow, next month, next year, we will be organizing and building our own seeds, not being found for ban. This is the spearhead of fascism in this country. And when we fight dynamism, we sharpen ourselves to the coming years to struggle against oppression, white supremacy, and imperialism. So, as we mobilize today, as we get our speeches and we have our rally, we must remember that we can only stay grounded in our organization and in our community. So if you have not done so already, organization, get into the formation and see the work through a free Palestine. Exactly what Logan said. Everybody should join an organization. If you're not in an organization, the best place to start in solidarity with Palestine is to join the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation. Since the attacks on October 7th and since this genocidal war started, we have had, meeting after meeting, with 60, 70, 80, 100 people in attendance, planning actions, planning campaigns, organizing not just for this emergency, when we were fighting for a ceasefire, but for the long-term struggle to free Palestine. So, join the coalition, join its constituent organizations. Now is the time to organize, because we are in a long fight. Next up, we have Wes Palmer from the Party for Socialism and Liberation. Please give it up to Wes. I have been in connection with someone who has family in Gaza, and every time I do her story, every time I text her back, it just breaks my heart every single time. Her name is Abad Masood, and continued by pronouncing it incorrectly. But she runs a nursery called Sabar Nursery. It is the largest nursery, but was the largest nursery in Gaza before Israel had just completely devastated it. And her family still stuck in Gaza. She has lost all the animals of the plant. She was keeping there. And just recently, she told me how she lost all of her pets. She lost all of her other animals that is just devastating to me. I hope this message reaches you well. I am Abad Masood, a 24-year-old Palestinian from Gaza City. My beautiful family consists of my mother, Nergene, my sister Omanah, my brother Adam, his wife, honey, and their daughter Marmar. Four months ago, I decided to move to Germany with my husband, Abad, leaving all my family members in Gaza. I'm here to share our story and seek help during these challenging times in Gaza and for my family. My beloved family, still in Gaza, continues to endure the harsh effects of the relentless war, suffering on all human and spiritual levels. When the war began, circumstances forced my entire family to leave our home and its surroundings. In that heartbreaking moment of evacuation, my family's tears flowed like rain. They bid farewell, degrees of our joy are high. This project is a source of light for us. And as my mother bid farewell with tears, it was almost as if the plants were nourished by the tears. It was a painful collapse of their spirit and shattered dreams. Our all family, the loved ones who left the house, sleeping behind shattered dreams, exhausted folks in simple belongings. The fear of losing my family as accelerated, when I finally managed to contact them, even if we were committed, happiness to those of you, and the worries inside for a moment. In saying deep sadness, everything is destroyed, our dreams scattered, and nothing is left at all. My mother continued to say, our home and the source for our livelihood are gone. There is nothing left, even us, with how we don't know. First reflected the state of despair and loss, showing the extent of the harsh cold, their dream and shattered hope suffered. In the face of my mother's words, I failed to bear the impact of her words. It has only been a few months since the hardship of my care father, and until now, it remains impossible for anyone to understand the difficulty of life without them. I feel much weaker than being able to bear the loss of my family or any other thing, and helplessness dominates every aspect of my life. I am helpless to change the harsh and pain of reality. I find comfort in communicating here is the only thing I can do and stand by my family side. We're trying all our might to help them get out of the grip of this war, and our goals to move them to a safer place outside of Plaza, away from the danger threatening them. We look forward to building their lives and providing their hopes, dreams and projects anew. Although the circumstances at this time have increased the cost of living and financial resources close the challenge, they find themselves prepared to help to bear the cost of the torture. They're asked to pay amounts reaching around $7,000 per person, making a difficult matter for challenges increasing day by day. In addition, I hope to have the ability to support my dear sister, Omaima, and her educational journey and the realization of her dreams and aspirations. Omaima, the outstanding student, the faculty of arts, majoring in French language, holds great ambition and her heart. As much as I would love to reach you, Omaima, for the story, I encourage you to vote for Omaima and to read the rest of it there. Your support represents the spirit of solidarity and the sea of mercy and the face of these harsh forms. It's not just financial assistance, it's a beacon that lights the path of both our hearts, burning with sorrows, with suffering silence and our journey to safety holds its countless challenges. Your support means a lot to us. It means extending a helping hand in moments of weakness and loss. I am Omaima and my words are a small gateway that we are open to compassionate hearts. I implore you with all my humility and love, help us protect my family from the storms of life and continue searching for a safe haven. Don't just be witness, be part of our story, stand with us with gentleness and compassion. Thank you with deep gratitude and respect. When I had a conversation with her, I remember when everybody was sent to Raqqa and the night that they were bombed during the supermortem. This was our conversation. Are they okay? I am outside Gaza and my families in Gaza and the south district. Are they in Raqqa? I've heard from them at all, are you safe? I haven't heard anything from them for two days. The last thing I was told was that things are getting worse and the situation is getting more dangerous and I feel very afraid. I hope they are fine. I'm so sorry about it. I'm praying for you and your family and their safety as well as everyone else in Gaza. We are all worried and we are all watching. I will continue to share, donate and if you need someone to talk to during this horrible time I will listen. If there's anything else I can do, please let me know and if there's any updates on your family, please let me know. I'm so sorry for these people. I hope you can help by spreading the word as much as possible. As I do not know many people and I have been dire need of donations as soon as possible. At the beginning of the war I lost a number of my family members and I figured that I would lose a number of others. This is only one family in Gaza and she needs to raise over $7,000 for each person. The total amount of money that she needs to raise is 75,000 euros. Can you imagine what every other family there has to experience having to leave their homes to cross that border, being forced to pay more than what they could ever afford? They can't even afford food, napalm, bird seats. And they're being asked to pay this amount. Otherwise, Israel is writing to come on there, come there on the first day of Ramadan and massacred everyone. How can we fucking stand for this? Go one dot me slash eight seven four, three six eight one seven. Go one dot me slash eight seven four, three six eight one seven. Thank you. Give it up for West. That was a, that was a, don't you cry. Make sure your parking is paid for. They're giving out tickets if people want to pay for the parking. Sorry for that announcement, I just heard that. Couple of things and then our last two speakers. First people probably saw that the Burlington city council came out against the ceasefire. And then they proceeded to block our democratic right to put an apartheid free referendum on our town meeting ballot this coming March 5th. But you know what? They're scared of us because across the country, people agree with a ceasefire and they oppose apartheid. Just this last week, Lebanon, New Hampshire voted for a ceasefire. Burlington is at the back end of justice in this country. It is violating solidarity. But we are not going to relent. The coalition is launching a campaign to get all organizations, all unions, all mosques, synagogues and churches to pass apartheid free resolutions and adopt that as their own. We're also calling on everybody in in-person town meetings to introduce resolutions in the other business section to call for an immediate ceasefire to Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. And next up, we have Valerie Siegel from Vermont, Arizona, Palestine. The slavery for the Jim Crow South or apartheid. What would I do if my country was committing genocide? The answer is right now. Aaron Bushnell, rest in the towers. He was called months ago for labor organizations in countries that currently fund the Israeli military to stand in solidarity with them and put pressure on their governments to demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to the illegal occupation. It is important to know that we, Vermont Labor for Palestine, see ourselves in the working class people of Palestine. From the journalists, medics, academics, student workers, state and municipal workers, construction workers, chefs, farm workers, artists, artisans and craftspeople, servers, social workers, therapists, childcare providers and educators. We all want a chance for life, freedom and love. We, workers from Palestine to the United States, ask for bread and roses both. That's right. An injury to one is an injury to all. And a call for ceasefire from the president of the United States is the absolute least our state of Vermont can do to stand in solidarity with the working class people in Gaza. We additionally stand in opposition to the apartheid regime of Israel and occupied Palestine, a call for the end of our tax dollars being used to financially uphold such a regime. We must oppose all of USA to Israel. Furthermore, as Vermonters, we need these tax dollars to serve the people of Vermont in the midst of our housing crisis, our crumbling and inequitable healthcare system and the inflationary pressures squeezing our school districts. Standing against genocide, apartheid and settler colonial occupation will always be a stance for peace that brings true justice. It is reflective of our unwavering commitment to end the cycle of violence and colonial domination. We as Vermont labor for Palestine call on our state legislators to call on President Biden to take immediate action to demand an immediate and permanency spire in Gaza and an immediate and permanent end to all USA to Israel, your oppression. Our call is to workers all over Vermont. It is all of our responsibilities to end our complicity in this genocide and the ongoing occupation. As a proud anti-Zionist Jew in diaspora, I honor and continue the long history of Jewish opposition within the labor movement and resistance to Zionism and the Israeli regime. There is an even longer history of Judaism and labor beyond Zionism and that history continues with us today. In the last three implicit that the genocide Israel is committing in Palestine in our names and with our money. None of us are free until Palestine is free. None of us are free until all of us are free. Free Palestine. Give it up for Mal. Mal's a bit too humble, but I'll announce a big struggle that they are a part of, which is the struggle to organize graduate student workers at the University of Vermont. They just want an NLRB ruling that states that they have the right to organize a bargaining unit. This is important because the University of Vermont bosses are the enemies not only of workers on their campus, they're also the enemy of Palestinians on their campus. They cancel the speaking engagement of Muhammad El-Kurd. That is part of demonizing Palestinians in Burlington and on University of Vermont's campus. So we should be in solidarity with the organizing drive that Mal is a part of and also in solidarity with students for justice in Palestine on UVM's campus because as we know, the workers united will never be defeated. The workers united will never be defeated. The workers united will never be defeated. Last up, but not least, we have Waqf-e-Kawar for Monastery Justice in Palestine. Please give it up to Waqf-e-Kawar. One of you who showed up today in solidarity, we would love you to stand with our courageous legislators who brought up this letter as the beginning of a long conversation in the State of Vermont, we appreciate them at the same time as for you. The speakers talk to you about how local Palestine is now. Palestine is an American story, Palestine is a Vermont story. That's right. And for that, we ask you all to come stay with us and even if the seeds fire happen today, don't leave us. That's right. Palestine is under occupation and there's a stand under the siege. What am I going to tell you? Stories about home that I'm looking on the phone around the clock. Who died? Who survived? Am I going to tell you about Palestine and surviving on the beach of cactus now? Babies are dying. There is no water. Diseases everywhere. Juno side has been cleansing. What am I going to tell you? But in a sunny day like this, with a glimpse of hope that came out from the building of Palestine, I wish you to stay with us with Palestine, with the freedom of Palestine, with all your respect to our courageous legislators and our independent government who signed that letter. This letter, we're not going to take it as token as an honor. If you read it, it demands that it conditioning the aid for the state of Israel. And this is extremely important. For Americans, we love you all. We really do. But we want more. We want you to go to your villages and ask for seeds fire resolution from your villages, from your towns, and to bring up a private re-campaign to your community. Which we ask is this just the start. We both ended up here on these steps. Please join the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation. Organize your workplace. Organize your town. Organize this state to fight for a free Palestine. Now we're going to attend the press conference sponsored by the legislators who signed this letter. We're here to support them, celebrate them, and demand more, as what Pete said. Great Palestine. Thank you for coming. Good afternoon. I'm Representative David Teppelman from Orleans 3. Thank you, David. Before I begin reading, I just want to let you all know that we've received a great deal of support from my fellow legislators and the people at work in this building. And I just want you to all know that, that we really are doing everything we can here. Also, I just want to put it out there that this is not licensed for anti-Semitism or any more hate than we already have. Yes. Right. Yes. As the early days of this war emerged, we organized in an attempt to find our collective voice as we turned the page on another chapter of this endless conflict. While we work to construct a response to the escalating violence between Israel and Palestine, we began to hear a familiar message. Stay in your lane. We do not accept the premise that only certain voices belong in this struggle. We must not ignore the suffering of innocent civilians or accept the notion that we can only influence crises within our immediate sphere. When our nation provides the weapons of war used in crimes against humanity, there is no neutral position. There are no lanes. Every citizen must declare that we will not stand, try, lead by, and leave resolution efforts to our superiors. Inaction is a betrayal of the founding principles of our nation. Our part in this crisis must be examined. We should ask ourselves at what point would we allow the value of our loved one's lives to be disregarded? Under what circumstances would we accept the degradation of our fundamental human rights? Why are we to believe that this begins and ends in Gaza? Our hearts do not differentiate between the deaths on one side or the other. Yes. The scale of agony Gazans are enduring is beyond human comprehension. As is the anguish of families whose loved ones were kidnapped or killed on October 7th. Gaza, when your family members are killed indiscriminately, we can only imagine them as our own families suffering. Yes. We must act. So we must act. With that commitment to action, we draft this letter and to ask our fellow civil officials to co-sign. The invitation remains open to send the message that we will not be a party to mass murder. We support all genuine actions to bring a rapid end to this unnecessary brutality. Thank you and the Lieutenant Governor. Thank you, Representative Templeman. I joined this group of 64 legislators and counting in signing onto this letter to President Biden, urging him to use all of the leverage of the United States to create a ceasefire in the ongoing war between the government of Israel and the people of Gaza. Yes. We were all horrified on October 7th when Hamas brutally attacked and terrorized the people of Israel, killing over 1200 Israelis and taking hundreds of hostages. The October 7th attack was reprehensible and the people who orchestrated it should be held accountable. We know that there are still approximately 130 hostages being held by Hamas. The international community can and must come together to force their release. The international community is nearly unanimous in its opinion that these individuals should not be held as bargaining chips. However, since October 7th, 29,000 people in Gaza have been killed. Over 70,000 have been injured and nearly 2 million people have been displaced and are living in scrawled camps and in unhealthy conditions. Medical supplies are nearly non-existent. Clean water is almost impossible to find. Safe housing is scant. And due to these conditions, the additional illness and deaths that are likely to come if an immediate ceasefire is not achieved is unfathomable. Our collective conscious knows when enough is enough. The United States must stand up for the people of Gaza and the people of Israel who want a more peaceful resolution to the decades-long issues of inequity. I am signing this letter because it is tiring for peace to prevail. It is tiring for humanitarian aid to be delivered to the people of Gaza who are suffering as pawns in the violence between Hamas and the government of Israel. Israel does have a right to defend its people, but the actions that the Israeli government has taken since October 7th are beyond the scope of defense. The right to defense does not extend to killing innocent Palestinians. Jesus Hamas has no right to... The right to defense does not extend to killing innocent Palestinians. Jesus Hamas has no right to kill innocent Israelis on October 7th. Too many have died. And without pressure for a ceasefire from the United States and others, it is likely that thousands more will fall victim to the power struggle between Israel and Hamas. I'd like to next introduce Melissa Batak, wife of an indigenous Palestinian and mother of Palestinian children. I first visited Gaza 24 years ago, almost to the day. March 1st, 2000. This was my journal entry. I don't even know where to start about today. I've had a mixture of emotions from joy, to hurt, to anger, to sadness as I have heard and seen things here in Gaza. The streets are rivers due to poor drainage. Houses and rubble as a result of housing demolitions. Poverty on every street corner. Cement houses and blocks holding the tin down. Shelters made out of palm trees and plastic. A nice two-lane paved highway for Israelis. And that five feet away on the other side of a barbed wire chain-link fence, a small one-lane dirt road for Palestinians. Candles and lanterns instead of light bulbs because Israelis shut off the electricity. Two different entrances, one for Palestinians and the other for Israelis and internationals. Crowded buildings with small openings for walkways, mud streets, run-down places, poor economy, barbed wire, tanks, rifles, checkpoints. Has the wife of an indigenous Palestinian and the mother of two Palestinian children, all of whom have dual Israeli and American citizenship. The images coming out of Gaza over the past five months have broken me beyond what I could hide the pain mentally, emotionally, physically. And I'm not ready to mourn because of the reports of which continue to come out. And yet I know that my experience of all of this doesn't hold a candle to what the wives and mothers in Gaza and the surrounding region are going through. You see, the pain extends beyond the border of Gaza. It is not only Palestinians in Gaza who are impacted, but in the West Bank where violence has escalated, including the Israeli military dropping bombs on Janine. We have family in Janine. My husband's village is just outside of the checkpoint, closer than the river is to where we are standing right now. When the bombs drop there, we worry about our family back home. And it's not only because of the increased violence in the West Bank, but the Israeli military continues to launch operatives in the southern part of Lebanon. And as tensions escalate between the IDF and Hezbollah, we grow more concerned for Shadi's mother, brothers and sisters, our nieces and nephews and their children. And it's not just the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and the Israeli citizens who are also Palestinians who are being threatened, but worldwide, the anti-Palestinian rhetoric and Islamophobia has surpassed any other moment in modern history. That's right. I read the news of six-year-old Wadiah's death on a Monday morning before putting my children on a school bus. The bus pulled away and I sat down and wept because I don't know what will happen to my children. It's the landlord who loved this child and played with this child who was capable of stabbing a child to death. Then how do I know that a fellow Vermontian won't do the same for my children? Then having it come even closer by having three young children, young college men shot in Burlington. But like I said, the offensive in Gaza extends beyond the borders of Gaza impacting Palestinians worldwide. And not just Palestinians because what affects Palestinians impacts us and our humanity as well. And in the midst of all of this, we ask what is the price tag? What price was me paid to end this? And how many lives cut short will be enough? I am here today because years from now when I am asked where I was when this was happening, what did I do? What did I say? Where did I stand? I want to be able to say that I was here in this moment standing with all of you brave people around me seeking peace and not war supporting life and not destruction calling for a ceasefire. My name is Willow. Sorry, it's a little low for me. I am a coordinating committee member of the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation. I want to say thank you to all of the legislators in Vermont who have collaborated with the members of our committee and our coordinating coalition on this letter. Thank you to the representatives who have already signed on taking a stand against this genocidal war. This letter is a dire call for action to understand the reality of this crime against humanity. We look to what South Africa has laid out for us. Israel is an apartheid regime engaging in the genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. Twenty nine thousand are dead. Sixty nine thousand injured one point nine million displaced. Due to Israel's ongoing siege and persecution over half of Gaza's infrastructure is crumbling including two thirds of their hospitals. Many rendered barely functioning. Some flattened completely. The health care systems collapsing. Surgeries are performing without anesthesia. Newborns are forced to share incubators. There's no drinkable water and finding food has already become a struggle as they grind animal feed to make bread. Humanitarian aid must be allowed into Gaza. All humanitarian aid unrestricted completely. Israel now could not perform any of these atrocities if it did not have the full political economic and military support of the United States government. Precisely why we must end all USA to Israel in 2023 alone. Our government allocated three point eight billion dollars to the Israeli military occupation and estimated six million from Vermonters to housing. Yeah flood relief. Yeah, that's right. Expanded health care access to all. Instead the money went to aid and the bet this ongoing genocide. The war abroad has exploded at home. Three Palestinian boys were shot in our city of Burlington. Keenan, Tassim and Hishan who is paralyzed from the waist down now. Because a white man filled by hate for Arabs and Muslims felt so comfortable in our community to commit hate crimes without the fear of consequences. Now as a trans person, this shakes me to my core because the plight of the Palestinians parallels my own to live freely in a world that wishes to see us exterminated. I think of my lost siblings when I see Israeli soldiers standing atop the rubble of their homes destroyed and demolished by two thousand pound bombs raising a rainbow pride flag. Not in my name. There is no pride in genocide. Now Vermont has a proud tradition of standing with the oppressed. Supporting every group's right to a free and equal society. When we see oppression, we stand against it in all of its forms. No exceptions when it comes to Palestine. Echoing the words of Martin Luther King, Jr. Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. Thank you. My name is Deborah Stolaroff. I'm a Jewish Vermont educator and represent Vermont, New Hampshire Jewish voice for peace, which has over 700 active supporters. I want to thank Conrad Casey, David Templeton and their colleagues who authored and gathered signatures for this letter urging President Biden to call for a ceasefire and end military aid to Israel. As well, I want to thank the 65 Vermont legislators who signed their names to this letter. Thirty thousand people have already lost their lives. That's a number similar to the whole population of central Vermont. A London School of Hiking report estimates 75,000 lives could be saved by a ceasefire. Vermonters are known nationally and worldwide for our courage and commitment to progressive values in human rights. I urge legislators who have not yet done so to stand with the thousands of Vermonters calling for a ceasefire and an end to military aid to Israel and to sign this letter. As a Jewish person, I recognize the hesitancy of legislators to publicly condemn the actions of the Israeli government due to the fast that Christian and Jewish Zionists have worked so hard to conflate critiques of Israel with anti-Semitism. But let me say this, it is not anti-Semitic to criticize a government courageous to call out governments committing inhumane acts of violence. In fact, violence against Palestinians on the part of the Israeli government make it less safe for Jewish people in and outside of Israel as most of the world equates the state of Israel with Jewish people. Many Jewish Vermonters do not support the Israeli acts of genocide and strongly believe that Palestinians deserve the right to self-determination. Early as November, 60 percent of Vermonters were in favor of a ceasefire. Since then, the percentage has only increased. Gaza has been declared a death zone by the World Health Organization. In this very moment, while we comfortably stand in front of you, millions of Palestinians, civilians, thousands of children and women of weight, await their death, if not from bombs and IDF soldiers than from hunger, dehydration and unwarranted disease. If they live, they will forever be traumatized by the heart that they've endured. According to the U.S. campaign for Palestinian rights, the U.S. spends $3.8 billion to support Israel's violence against Palestine. That means nearly $6 million of Vermont tax dollars fund Israel's violence against Palestine. As long as our tax dollars fund the Israeli military, the plight of Palestinians is a local issue that affects us as it renders us all complicit. Therefore, the Vermont Legislature can and should play a role to stop Israelis attack on Palestine. In the past, small, mighty Vermont has set an example for the rest of the United States. It can do so again. We celebrate this letter. It is a first small step as a next step. We would like the Vermont Legislature to forward a bill to divest state pension funds from Israeli bonds that have complete impact on the lives of Palestinians along with our partner organizations, Vermont, New Hampshire, Jewish voice for peace will be proud to support this legislation. The safety and freedom of all people from Vermont to Palestine to Israel is bound together. We must envision a future and invest in a world where all people can live safely with access to the necessities of life and dreams for the future. We follow our stadium. I am an Arab and I am a Muslim and I live here in Vermont. I would like to appreciate every single legislator, House member and senator for signing the letter and I will appreciate a lieutenant governor, David Zuckerman for doing so. All about. Right. Appreciation is not enough. My words going to go to the members who didn't sign. We need to sit down and talk about. Silence is not an option. In genocide time, silence is not an option. Let's start educating each other. We learn from you. You learn from us and our children who are around us can layer the first chapter will be let's study American Revolution history. Standing against oppression, aggression, subjugation, occupation. This is America. Just copy and paste. First chapter of American Revolution. It was the Boston Tea Party. It was a chapter of divestment. Chapter of sanction and boycott. America. I'm learning from you. Except me as one again is very Vermont story not long ago, a courageous government of this great state. And now it is apartheid free state. Madeleine. Conan. Not only sign on apartheid free state on the case of South Africa, but I remember personally when she spoke in behalf of all New England governors in the Boston Common. She represented every governor in New England. My dream someday a future governor will do the same. If I start talking about my family and the phone calls I receive every day, I will break down and I refuse to break down. I appreciate every single legislator and before I finish, I want to say something. We cannot be here and make the question of Palestine as local as it is without remembering. People went before us in the genocide. Our indigenous people. Who gave us this courage to stand up? Our black and brown people who suffered under lynching and slavery for decades and my siblings, the Jewish people, LGBTQA people. And these disability people and the people of color who perished in the genocide along with our sisters and brothers. Yes, of the socialist movement. For that, please don't forget Palestine. It's the beginning, not the end. Long live Palestine. People are happy about that now. Are there any questions? Thank you very much for attending.