NEW DELHI PROTEST AT ISRAELI EMBASSY AGAINST ATTACK ON GAZA

Hundreds of protestors, which included students, youth, teachers, trade unions and women raised slogans at the Israeli Embassy in New Delhi on November 19, 2012, protesting Israel’s assault on civilians in Gaza, and US support for this aggression.

The protest demonstration had been called by All India Students’ Association (AISA), Revolutionary Youth Association (RYA), the JNU Students’ Union, All India Central Council of Trade Unions (AICCTU), Left and Democratic Teachers’ Federation (LDTF), All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA).

The protestors said that the Israeli decision to rain death and destruction on Gaza, to use lethal weapons of the modern battlefield on a largely defenseless civilian population, is the final phase in a decades-long campaign to ethnically-cleanse Palestinians. The US establishment is criminally guilty of backing Israel’s genocidal war, belying the newly re-elected President Obama’s tall talk of protecting the world’s democracy.

The all-out offensive attacks of Israeli army continue to rage the Gaza strip. The Israeli government has been arguing that the attack is a response to the month long rocket attacks on the civilian population of Israel by Hamas. But, the reality of the situation can be understood from the fact that in the current attack around 48 Palestinians have been killed and more than 400 are seriously injured, while the death toll has reached 4 in Israel and around 30 injured. Interestingly US and its other western allies have decided to either keep mum or open their mouths in support of Israel’s ‘self-defense’. Protestors also condemned the silence of the Indian Government – which has called for peace but failed to condemn Israel’s aggression.
This attack by the Israeli military with an overt and covert support from US and its western allies should be seen as a preparation for their long cherished dream of attacking Iran. The Arab spring and the popular movements in Syria and Tunisia had made US to reconsider its evil designs on Iran. The present attacks, while shrinking Palestine further, also allow US to gauge the support and solidarity which the recent uprisings have brought within nations of western Asia.

Protestors included Prof. Nivedita Menon, Prof. K M Chenoy, Prof. Susan Visvanathan, Prof Mohan Rao, Prof. Ayesha Kidwai of JNU, Prof Ashutosh Kumar of DU, Uma Gupta of LDTF, Santosh Rai of AICCTU, Sandeep Singh, President of AISA, Aslam Khan of RYA, JNUSU President Lenin Kumar, VP Meenakshi and Jt Secretary Piyush, and AISA leaders of JNU (Sucheta De, Om Prasad, Akbar), DU (Anmol) and Jamia Millia Islamia (Farhan).

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