A-Infos (en) US, Mobile protest against Israeli chief of army staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi

On March 9th 2010, The Friends of the Israel Defense Forces[1], a registered 501-(c)(3) 
tax-exempt organization that provides support and services to members of Israel’s national 
army, will be holding a gala $1,000 a plate fundraiser at the Waldorf Astoria. The keynote 
speaker will be Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, IDF Chief of General Staff, who was responsible 
for the prosecution of last year’s Operation Cast Lead against the people of Gaza. At the 
same time as the dinner, a broad coalition of local groups will stage a mobile protest 
outside the hotel to highlight the crimes committed by the IDF during Operation Cast Lead 
and Israel’s ongoing illegal blockade of the Gaza Strip. ---- WHO: A broad and diverse 
tri-state coalition, including peace and Palestine solidarity groups as well as grassroots 
community organizations and religious institutions. (Complete list below)

WHEN: Tuesday, March 9th, 5-7 P.M.

WHERE: Starting 53rd ST. and Lexington Ave. then moving through the neighborhood.

VISUALS: Hundreds of protesters dressed in black, carrying placards detailing war crimes 
and names of civilians killed by the IDF, and marching silently around the blocks near the 
Waldorf Astoria.

Gabi Ashkenazi led the Israeli military assault against the people of Gaza in Dec.- Jan. 
of 2008-9, in which 1400 Palestinians were killed, more than one-fifth of whom were 
children.  This included forcing 100 members of the extended Al-Samouni family into a 
storage shed and then bombing the structure, killing 23 people[2].  Under Ashkenazi’s 
leadership, the Israel Defense Forces attacked schools and hospitals and flouted 
international humanitarian law and the laws of war with regard to the treatment of unarmed 
civilians[3].

The protest outside the Waldorf Astoria is a part of the 6th
International Israeli Apartheid Week[4].

Co-sponsoring groups include: A.R.T. (Activist Response Team), Adalah-NY, American Jews 
for a Just Peace, Brooklyn For Peace, Center for Immigrant Families, Codepink, Committee 
for Open Discussion of Zionism, Gaza Freedom March, Israeli Committee Against House 
Demolitions-USA, Jewish Voice For Peace, Jews Say No!, Judson Church, Middle East Crisis 
Response, National Lawyers Guild - NY Chapter, NYC Anti-War Coalition, New York Collective 
of Radical Educators, Post Road, Progressive Democrats of America, Regeneración Childcare 
NYC, WESPAC Foundation, Women In Black Union Square, Women of a Certain Age, Woodstock 
Veterans For Peace, Veterans for Peace, Delaware Valley Veterans For America

Endorsed by the Palestinian group: Bilin Popular Committee, Friends of Freedom and Justice 
- Bil'in

Endorsed by the the Israeli groups: Coalition of Women for Peace, Boycott! Supporting the 
Palestinian Call for BDS From Within, New Profile, Anarchists Against the Wall

2010 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
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