Exactly forty-three years ago, writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin wrote an essay on his vote for the 1980 presidential election. He began, “The children are always ours, every single one of them, all over the globe; and I am beginning to suspect that whoever is incapable of recognizing this may be incapable of morality.”
I write on Friday, November 3rd, following the U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s visit to Israel to discuss President Joe Biden’s calls for a humanitarian pause in Gaza. On Thursday, Senator Cory Booker released a joint statement with thirteen other US Senators echoing the President’s call for “a short-term cessation of hostilities that pose high-risk to civilians, aid workers or humanitarian aid delivery in Gaza.”
The death toll in Palestine is nearing ten thousand. As children are being rescued from rubble, Benjamin Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel, has rejected calls for any such humanitarian pause. Instead, in response to Blinken’s visit, Netanyahu has stated that Israel will continue targeting Gaza with “all of its power.”
Also on Thursday, Congressman Thomas Kean, Westfield resident, voted “yes” on a $14.5 billion military aid package to be sent to Israel. In other words, Westfield’s representation in the House is attempting to sign away our tax dollars to be used in the collective punishment of Palestinian civilians, on top of the thousands of people who have already been killed by U.S. weapons and with U.S. funding.
As of today, at least 3,760 Palestinian children have been killed since October 7.
According to the 2022 Census, approximately 8,800childrencurrentlylive in Westfield. Can you imagine nearly half of the children in Westfield being murdered within a period of four weeks? The devastation is simply unthinkable, but it is a reality in Gaza right now.
New Jersey is home to thousands of Palestinians, many of whom still have family members in Gaza who are currently without proper access to food, clean water, and essential health services, and who are constantly at risk of being murdered by the Israel Defense Forces. The situation in Gaza is a public health crisis being funded by our tax dollars and outwardly supported by our representatives, particularly Congressman Thomas Kean.
We must remember— our neighbors are not our enemies. Our leadership is responsible for the history that led us here today. Netanyahu has confirmed his genocidal strategy going forward. Will you join me in demanding that Senator Cory Booker, Senator Robert Menendez, and Congressman Thomas Kean end US military aid to Israel?
Will you demand a ceasefire? Will you help me save our children? I end with a quote published in Haaretz, an Israeli newspaper, from an interview with Yaakov Argamani, the father of a 26-year-old woman who is being held hostage in Gaza: “Let’s be honest: In Gaza, too, families are mourning their children. There, too, fathers worry about their children. They have fatalities too. What will a few more deaths achieve? They’re in pain, just like us.”
Hope Avalone, MPH
Westfield
