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DESCRIPTION:Rally Speak Out At AFL-CIO\nEnd AFL-CIO Complicity With Genocide\n\nBreak 
 AFL-CIO Links To Racist Histadrut Trade Union Federation No US NED Money 
 for AFL-CIO “Solidarity Center”\n\nGlobal Day of Action\n\nThursday, 
 November 9, 2023 1:00 PM\nSan Francisco Labor Council 1188 Franklin St., 
 SF\n\n\nJoin the picket and press conference protesting the sup- port of 
 Israel’s genocide by the AFL-CIO national lead- ership and the San 
 Francisco Labor Council leadership.\n\nNearly all unions around the world 
 are calling for a halt to the bombing and genocide against Palestinians, 
 but not the AFL-CIO national leadership and the San Fran- cisco Labor 
 Council leadership.\n\nDockers in Barcelona and Belgium logistics workers 
 are stopping all military cargo to Israel and we need to do the same here. 
 Instead of supporting solidarity action with the Palestinian workers and 
 people, the AFL-CIO is on the side of the apartheid regime of 
 Israel.\n\nThe AFL-CIO leadership is directly linked with the Zionist 
 “union” Histadrut. The Histadrut helped arm and support Apartheid South 
 Africa and steals money from Palestinian workers. The AFL-CIO also worked 
 with the CIA to murder thousands of trade unionists in South Africa by 
 supporting Chief Buthelezi.\n\nToday, AFL-CIO takes $75 million from the US 
 NED to support operations in 75 countries through it’s so called 
 “Solidarity Center”.\n\nThey also openly support the racist ideology of 
 Zionism which says Jews have more rights than Palestinians who have lived 
 their entire lives in that Israel and the occu- pied territories.\n\nThe 
 same union leadership have supported Biden and the war mongers in the 
 Congress who voted billions more for military aid to Israel and Ukraine. 
 This is when hundreds of thousands are homeless, hungry, and mil- lions 
 have no healthcare.\n\nIn 2021 when delegates in the San Francisco Labor 
 Council wanted to pass a resolution for the defense of the Palestine 
 people, AFL-CIO president Liz Schuler sent a letter to the Council saying 
 it was out of order and SFLC Executive Director Rudy Gonzalez and his 
 supporters shut down the debate without even a discus- sion. The same 
 leadership has organized boycotts of the monthly meeting by delegates, so 
 this month they didn’t even have a quorum.\n\nIt is time to rebuild the 
 labor movement with democra- cy and not an agenda controlled by the 
 Democrats and war mongers like Nancy Pelosi.\n\nSilence On Genocide is 
 Support To Genocide\nStop US Military and Economic Aid to Israel\nFor Labor 
 strikes and boycotts to shut Israel down\nNo Support For The Democrats and 
 Republicans, Labor Party NOW!\n\nInitiated by United Front Committee For A 
 Labor Party \n\nhttps://ufclp.org, info@ufclp.org\n\nBDS now ‘off the 
 table’ for San Francisco San Francisco Labor Council labor group, leader 
 says\nhttps://www.jweekly.com/2021/09/13/bds-now-off-the-table-for-san-francisco-labor-group-leader-says/\nBY 
 GABRIEL GRESCHLER | SEPTEMBER 13, 2021\nThe quick rise in unions around the 
 country endorsing boycotts against Israel could face a challenge in San 
 Francisco.\n\nA leader in the San Francisco Labor Council tasked with 
 reviewing a proposed BDS resolution said he agrees with the national arm of 
 the AFL-CIO: Backing the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement against 
 Israel falls outside the local chapter’s purview.\n\nIn response, the 
 resolution’s supporters said if it is blocked, they will appeal the 
 decision.\n\nIn June, 19 members of the SFLC, a local AFL-CIO body with 
 more than 100,000 workers, submitted “Resolution in Solidarity with 
 Palestine” to the group’s delegate assembly. The resolution included an 
 endorsement of the BDS movement and a call to end U.S. military aid to 
 Israel. The SFLC’s executive committee formed a seven-person group tasked 
 with reviewing the resolution and making recommendations.\n\nAs part of 
 that review, Rudy Gonzalez, an SFLC executive committee member and co-chair 
 of the resolution’s review group, spoke on Sept. 9 with Fernando Losada, 
 the national AFL-CIO Western regional director.\n\nAfter the meeting, 
 Gonzalez told J. that endorsing BDS would put the labor council “in a 
 foreign policy position” beyond its authority; it’s a matter, he 
 explained, that is up to the national AFL-CIO group.\n\n“That’s off the 
 table,” Gonzalez said about BDS remaining part of the resolution.\n\nIn 
 an interview with J., Losada reiterated the AFL-CIO’s position on foreign 
 policy matters.\n\n“Expressions of solidarity [are] always good,” 
 Losada said. “But in terms of setting international policy, that is the 
 purview of the national AFL-CIO through our organizational processes. 
 There’s an existing policy in solidarity with working people in the Holy 
 Land. It does not include BDS.”\n\nFor his part, while Gonzalez is open 
 to a resolution strictly in solidarity with Palestinians, he would like the 
 council to focus on matters closer to home, such as the country’s wealth 
 gap, the effects of the pandemic and access to health care.\n\nGonzalez, 
 the secretary treasurer for the San Francisco Building and Construction 
 Trades Council, said if the resolution comes up for a vote and still 
 includes the BDS endorsement, he expects it to be ruled “out of 
 order.”\n\nBut supporters of the resolution, including signatory Frank 
 Martin del Campo, S.F. chapter president for the Labor Council for Latin 
 American Advancement, said they would challenge such a move.\n\n“We 
 respect the thoughts and proposed actions of the AFL-CIO and value their 
 esteemed leadership,” del Campo wrote in an email to J. “However, if 
 the Resolution is ruled out of order, we will be appealing the ruling to 
 the highest body of our council, the delegates assembly. We have fought for 
 the democratic rights of all consistently for the last 10 years.”\n\nThe 
 SFLC has passed resolutions in the past regarding international matters, 
 including in Colombiaand Myanmar.\n\nThere’s an existing policy in 
 solidarity with working people in the Holy Land. It does not include 
 BDS.\n\nWhen asked what sets BDS apart from issues addressed in other 
 international resolutions, Gonzalez said it’s because there isn’t a 
 unified position on the BDS movement.\n\n“There’s a place for labor to 
 step in and protect people and draw awareness to something,” he said. But 
 there isn’t agreement on boycotts against Israel, Gonzalez said, adding 
 that he knows both pro-BDS and anti-BDS labor leaders in the 
 city.\n\n“There isn’t unity around that question,” he said.\n\nSusan 
 Solomon, the other co-chair of the SFLC resolution review committee, who is 
 also the former president of the S.F. Unified School District teachers’ 
 union, United Educators of San Francisco, did not respond to a request for 
 comment.\n\nUESF’s delegate assembly passed a resolution in May that 
 endorsed BDS, making history as the first K-12 teachers’ union ever to do 
 so — and causing an uproar among some in the Jewish community. UESF’s 
 executive board shortly thereafter passed a resolution condemning 
 antisemitism, which now sits side-by-side with the BDS resolution.\n\nThe 
 San Francisco Labor Council is part of a growing number of local unions 
 across the United States that are either backing or considering support for 
 boycotts against Israel.\n\nBut opposition to BDS among labor leaders at 
 the national level remains strong.\n\nIn Los Angeles, after chapters of the 
 teachers’ union advanced a BDS resolution in May, Randi Weingarten, 
 president of the American Federation of Teachers, stated in a letter that 
 her organization “has never supported BDS.”\n\nBut she also said she 
 wouldn’t interfere with decisions made by local chapters.\n\n“We 
 believe strongly in dialogue, debate and the free ability to express a 
 range of viewpoints,” she wrote. “The ‘federation’ in American 
 Federation of Teachers has real meaning: Locals have broad autonomy, and 
 the national union does not override locals over differences or questions 
 of policy.”\n\nA full vote on the boycotts by the L.A. teachers’ union 
 is set for this month.\n\nRichard Trumka, who led the AFL-CIO from 2009 
 until his death in August, began his tenure by denouncing boycotts against 
 Israel.\n\nIn an October 2009 speech before the New York–headquartered 
 Jewish Labor Committee, Trumka said the AFL-CIO was “proud to stand with 
 the JLC to oppose boycotting Israel.” Jeff Schuhrke, a labor historian 
 who has written in the past about labor’s support for Palestinians and 
 BDS, said he doesn’t think Trumka’s absence will change the AFL-CIO’s 
 orientation.\n\nHe wrote, “I don’t expect Trumka’s death to change 
 the AFL-CIO’s long-standing positions on Israel, Palestine, or 
 BDS.”\n\nThe AFL-CIO Squashed a Council's Cease-Fire Resolution. What 
 Does It Say About Labor Right Now?\nThe move illustrates larger dynamics 
 currently at play within the U.S. labor movement as the assault on Gaza 
 rages on. While some unions and labor activists are advocating for an 
 immediate end to the onslaught, most officials are keeping 
 quiet.\nhttps://inthesetimes.com/article/afl-cio-israel-palestine-ceasefire-resolution-gaza\n 
 \n\nA young person mourning after an Israeli attack that struck a refugee 
 camp in Gaza City on Nov. 2, 2023. So far, more than 9,000 Palestinians 
 have been killed by the\n Israeli military.PHOTO BY MUSTAFA HASSONA/ANADOLU 
 VIA GETTY IMAGESLABORThe AFL-CIO Squashed a Council's Cease-Fire 
 Resolution. What Does It Say About Labor Right Now? The move illustrates 
 larger dynamics currently at play within\n the U.S. labor movement as the 
 assault on Gaza rages on. While some unions and labor activists are 
 advocating for an immediate end to the onslaught, most officials are 
 keeping 
 quiet.\nhttps://inthesetimes.com/article/afl-cio-israel-palestine-ceasefire-resolution-gazaJEFF 
 SCHUHRKE NOVEMBER 2, 2023\n\nThe Israeli military has been bombarding Gaza 
 for weeks — dropping thousands and thousands of bombs and killing 
 more than 9,000Palestinians—including\n more than 3,700 
 children — and displacing some 1.4 million.\n\nOn Oct. 16, 
 Palestinian trade unions issued a call to action for organized labor and 
 workers everywhere ​“to halt the sale and funding\n of arms to 
 Israel — and related military research.”\n\nThe Palestinian labor 
 coalition — including the Palestinian General Federation of Trade 
 Unions — specifically called on trade unions around the world to: 
 Refuse to\n manufacture weapons destined for Israel, refuse to transport 
 weapons to Israel, pass motions in their individual trade unions demanding 
 the same, take action against companies complicit in the siege of Gaza, and 
 apply pressure to governments to stop supporting\n and funding the Israeli 
 war machine.\n\nThe call resonated with some union members in the United 
 States, including Alice, a delegate with the Olympia, Washington-based 
 Thurston-Lewis-Mason Central Labor\n Council (TLM CLC). The TLM CLC 
 represents the AFL-CIO-affiliated local unions in the western Washington 
 counties of Thurston, Lewis and Mason.\n\nAlice saw the call from the 
 Palestinian trade unions and was inspired to draft a resolution for the TLM 
 CLC to publicly affirm its solidarity.\n\nAlice (who asked that her last 
 name not be published because she fears being targeted by anti-Palestinian 
 groups) saw the call from the Palestinian trade unions and\n was inspired 
 to draft a resolution for the TLM CLC to publicly affirm its 
 solidarity.\n\nAfter the council discussed and unanimously adopted 
 Alice’s measure on Oct. 18, according to two TLM CLC delegates, an 
 announcement with a link to the resolution was\n posted on the council’s 
 website and Twitter account.\n\nThe resolution stated that the labor 
 council ​“opposes in principle any union involvement in the production 
 or transportation of weapons\n destined for Israel.” It also encouraged 
 the national AFL-CIO to ​“publicly support an immediate ceasefire and 
 equal rights for Palestinians and Israelis.”\n\nBut the following Monday, 
 an AFL-CIO senior field representative informed the board that the 
 resolution did not conform with the national AFL-CIO’s official 
 position,\n according to interviews and emails shared with In These 
 Times.\n\nHe specifically pointed to a press release issued by the national 
 labor federation on Oct. 11 calling for ​“a swift resolution to the\n 
 current conflict to end the bloodshed of innocent civilians, and to promote 
 a just and long-lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians,” but not 
 explicitly mentioning a cease-fire or opposing the production and shipment 
 of weapons destined for Israel.\n (Some AFL-CIO-affiliated unions represent 
 workers in the defense industry, including the International Association of 
 Machinists and Aerospace Workers and United Auto Workers.)\n\nBy differing 
 from the AFL-CIO’s stated position, the field representative explained, 
 the TLM CLC’s resolution was technically void because it violates a 
 governance\n rule, Rule 4(b), which states: ​“Area labor councils, as 
 chartered organizations of the AFL-CIO, shall conform their activities on 
 national affairs to the policies of the AFL-CIO.” He further clarified to 
 Alice that the rule ​“has long been understood\n to apply to 
 international positions as well as national.”\n\nThe Israeli army struck 
 a refugee camp in Gaza City and Palestinians are searching through the 
 rubble and trying to remove debris on Nov. 2, 2023. PHOTO BY ASHRAF\n 
 AMRA/ANADOLU VIA GETTY IMAGES\n\nMeanwhile, the resolution had already 
 gained widespread public attention after the TLM CLC’s statement about it 
 was retweeted by the\n Democratic Socialists of America’s National Labor 
 Commission.\n\nBut Alice says that after being pressured by the AFL-CIO’s 
 field representative, the TLM CLC deleted the statement from its website 
 and X (formerly Twitter) account\n late last week. She adds that the field 
 representative also asked her not make a public statement — including 
 to media — about the situation, but she feels it is urgent to get the 
 word out to encourage more local bodies within the AFL-CIO to take a stand 
 at\n this critical moment. (Labor Notes also published an article about the 
 AFL-CIO and TLM CLC.)\n\nA screenshot of a deleted tweet from the 
 Thurston-Lewis-Mason Central Labor Council (left) and evidence that it had 
 been deleted based on a retweet from DSA Labor\n (right). PROVIDED TO IN 
 THESE TIMES AND AUTHENTICATED BY THE ARTICLE'S AUTHOR.\n\n“We need more 
 labor councils, we need more locals passing resolutions like this, because 
 they can’t stop us all,” Alice says. ​“If it’s just us, they can 
 sweep it\n under the rug like they’re trying to do right now. But if 
 many, many of us across the country start doing it, then it becomes 
 something much harder for them to sweep under the rug.”\n\nThe 
 AFL-CIO’s intervention against the TLM CLC’s cease-fire resolution 
 illustrates the larger dynamics currently at play within the U.S. labor 
 movement as the assault\n on Gaza, which has been described and decried as 
 genocidal, rages on.\n\n“We need more labor councils, we need more locals 
 passing resolutions like this, because they can’t stop us all,” Alice 
 says. “If it’s just us, they can sweep it under\n the rug like 
 they’re trying to do right now. But if many, many of us across the 
 country start doing it, then it becomes something much harder for them to 
 sweep under the rug.”\n\nWhile some unions and labor activists are 
 advocating for an immediate end the Israeli military’s onslaught and 
 expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people, most\n of the top 
 officials in U.S. labor are either keeping quiet, dancing around the 
 central issues, or — in this case with the AFL-CIO — stepping 
 in to police voices calling for a cease-fire and non-cooperation with 
 Israel’s war machine.\n\nJohn Campbell, another TLM CLC delegate (we are 
 using a pseudonym because he is concerned about retaliation), says Alice 
 intentionally tried to make the resolution\n palatable for people with 
 various viewpoints and that the council wasn’t ​“exactly going out of 
 our way to say anything [outlandish] here” and that ​“I think calling 
 for a cease-fire is pretty reasonable.”\n\n“The fact that even what she 
 did end up putting out, and what the membership did end up voting 
 on — again, unanimously — the fact that that still ruffled 
 feathers\n is a bit surprising, honestly,” Campbell says.\n\nThe AFL-CIO 
 and the field representative who Alice said she interacted with did not 
 respond to requests for comment.\n\nKooper Caraway, who was previously 
 president of the South Dakota State Federation of Labor and the Sioux Falls 
 AFL-CIO, says it is not\n uncommon for the AFL-CIO to step in and overrule 
 central labor councils when they take actions on national or international 
 issues.\n\nCaraway resigned as executive director of the SEIU Connecticut 
 State Council a couple of weeks ago after backlash from state Republicans\n 
 and Democratic Gov. Ned Lamont over remarks Caraway made at an Oct. 9 
 Palestine solidarity rally in New Haven — making him one of at least 
 dozens of people in the United States who have lost their\n jobs or had job 
 offers rescinded resulting from their advocacy for Palestinians in recent 
 weeks.\nWhile not commenting on the circumstances of his resignation, 
 Caraway urges local labor bodies to ​“act locally in any way they 
 can” to support Palestine, similar\n to how they did to encourage the 
 anti-apartheid movement in South Africa.\n\n“There was a lot of local 
 action for a long time in support of the ANC [African National Congress] 
 and supporting the South African struggle against apartheid before\n the 
 national labor movement got behind that,” he says. ​“That helped 
 build momentum nationally.”\n\nBUILDING MOMENTUM\n\nU.S. labor officials 
 have a long history of being among Israel’s most stalwart supporters, 
 using union funds to purchase hundreds of\n millions of dollars in State of 
 Israel bonds from the 1950s onward.\n\nOnly in recent years have some 
 unions become more critical of the Israeli government and more sympathetic 
 to the Palestinian freedom movement, including during\n Israel’s 2021 
 bombardment of Gaza.\n\n\nIn the past few weeks, several local unions and 
 networks of labor activists have issued statements or circulated letters 
 expressing solidarity\n with Palestinians, urging a cease-fire and 
 condemning both the unfolding genocide in Gaza and escalating settler 
 attacks in the West Bank.\nOne of the latest examples is the Chicago 
 Teachers Union (CTU), whose house of delegates this week approved signing 
 on to a letter of\n solidarity with other unions ​“calling for human 
 rights, for the release of all hostages, and for a cease-fire in Israel and 
 Palestine.” The letter also directly calls on Biden to immediately call 
 for a cease-fire.\n\n\n\nWhite House Requests “Unprecedented” Loophole 
 That Would Obscure Arms Sales to Israel\n\nThe measure effectively gives 
 Israel a check to purchase $3.5 billion in arms in complete 
 secrecy.\n\nJANET ABOU-ELIAS, LILLIAN MAULDIN, ROSIE KHAN, MEKEDAS BELAYNEH 
 AND LIV OWENS, WOMEN FOR WEAPONS TRADE TRANSPARENCY\n\n“We Need You to 
 Stand Up”: Bernie Sanders’ Former Staffers Call on Him to Back 
 Cease-Fire in Palestine and Israel\n\nHundreds of former staffers of the 
 democratic socialist senator have signed a letter urging him to back a 
 peaceful resolution to the war in Palestine.\n\nELOISE GOLDSMITH\n\nThere 
 Is Hope—and a Growing Movement for Palestine. Join Us in Washington D.C. 
 on Saturday.\n\nThe time is now for people from all walks of life to raise 
 their voices and demand Biden call for a cease-fire and for the United 
 States to stop funding war and oppression.\n\nNASHWA BAWAB\n\nAt the same 
 meeting, the CTU also approved another resolution focused on the classroom 
 and teaching and learning that called for increased\n measures around 
 ​“social emotional supports for members and students during world 
 conflicts.” This includes, among other things, professional development 
 ​“to help members understand the historic complexity and profound human 
 impacts of this conflict” and\n that the CTU ​“will gather, share, 
 and support options and resources for supporting children and families 
 impacted by this conflict.”\n\nOne of the latest examples is the Chicago 
 Teachers Union (CTU), whose house of delegates this week approved signing 
 on to a letter of solidarity with other unions\n "calling for human rights, 
 for the release of all hostages, and for a cease-fire in Israel and 
 Palestine." The letter also directly calls on Biden to immediately call for 
 a cease-fire.\n\n\nMeanwhile, after Republicans, right-wing news outlets 
 and Starbucks smeared Starbucks Workers United (SBWU) as terrorist 
 supporters in response to some members posting\n statements in support of 
 Palestinians on social media, Workers United President Lynne Fox came to 
 SBWU’s defense.\n\n“At a time when we should be focused on the human 
 tragedy taking place in Gaza and Israel, Starbucks is instead taking every 
 chance it gets to bash its employees as\n supporters of hate and violence 
 without any concern for truth — or consequences,” Fox wrote in In 
 These Times.\n\nOn October 20, SBWU posted a statement on social media 
 reaffirming their members’ ​“solidarity with the Palestinian 
 people’s right to self-determination.”\n\n“We are opposed to 
 violence, and each death occurring as the result of violence is a tragedy. 
 We absolutely condemn antisemitism and Islamophobia,” the SBWU 
 statement\n said. ​“We condemn the occupation, displacement, state 
 violence, apartheid, and threats of genocide Palestinians 
 face.”\n\nUnions of academic workers at institutions including Rutgers, 
 University of Michigan, University\n of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, 
 Columbia and New York University have also published statements expressing 
 solidarity with Palestine in recent weeks. The Harvard Graduate Student 
 Union (HGSU)’s\n attempt to do the same was allegedly obstructed at an 
 Oct. 16 membership meeting through intimidation and procedural delays, 
 according to a press release from a group of rank-and-file HGSU members. 
 (The HGSU did not respond to\n a request for comment.)\n\nU.S. Labor 
 Against Racism and War convened a call attended by hundreds of unionists 
 and has organized an email-writing campaign directed at urging national 
 union presidents\n to call for a cease-fire. Another national call is 
 planned for tonight (Thursday, Nov. 2).\n\nAbout two weeks ago, U.S. Labor 
 Against Racism and War convened a call attended by hundreds of unionists 
 across the country, and has organized an\n email-writing campaign directed 
 at national union presidents urging them to call for a cease-fire. Since 
 the campaign was launched at that time, more than 28,000 letters have been 
 sent. Another national call is planned for\n tonight (Thursday, Nov. 
 2).\n\n\nThe National Writers Union, which also convened a call in the 
 middle of October for labor activists to discuss the situation in Gaza, has 
 criticized the\n Israeli government for violating international law and 
 called on Western media to do a better job of covering the crisis.\n\n\nThe 
 United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) has called for 
 a cease-fire. UE is also the only national union to both call\n for an end 
 to U.S. military aid to Israel and to endorse the Boycott, Divestment and 
 Sanctions (BDS) movement to peacefully pressure Israel to end the 
 occupation. Together with with United Food and Commercial Workers Local 
 3000 (and endorsed by a group\n of unions including the San Antonio 
 Alliance of Teachers & Support Personnel Local 67), the UE has sponsored a 
 petitionfor unions and members to demand a cease-fire. This is the petition 
 that the CTU signed.\n\nLabor for Palestine, a group that has been active 
 since 2004, is also asking U.S. union members to sign onto a statement 
 embracing\n Palestinian trade unions’ call to not build or transport 
 weapons for Israel, while rank-and-file United Auto Workers (UAW) members 
 are circulating an open letter urging the union to endorse BDS, which can 
 be signed by UAW members\n or community allies. (In 2015, after 
 rank-and-file members with UAW-affiliated graduate worker unions at the 
 University of California, New York Universityand University of 
 Massachusetts\n Amherst each voted in 2014 to endorse BDS, the UAW’s 
 international executive board formally ​“nullified” the 
 measures.)\n\n"MORAL RESPONSIBILITY"\n\n\nCalls for a cease-fire have been 
 growing and coming from a variety of groups around the world, including 
 coalitions of Palestinian-led organizations, Jewish American\n activists 
 holding mass civil \ndisobedienceprotests around the country and respected 
 humanitarian groups like Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, 
 the International Committee of the Red Cross,\n as well as the United 
 Nations General Assembly and hundreds of thousands of protesters across the 
 globe. The editorial board of the conservative Financial Times, one of the 
 most pro-business\n publications in the world, has also recently joined the 
 calls for a cease-fire.\n\nMeanwhile, most U.S. union leaders have remained 
 silent.\n\nIn These Times reached out to fifteen prominent U.S. unions and 
 asked directly\n if their national leaders support the growing demands for 
 a cease-fire and whether they support Palestinian labor’s call for an end 
 to the arms trade with Israel. In what appears to be a sign of the larger 
 movement’s hesitations, only the International Union\n of Painters and 
 Allied Trades (IUPAT) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT) 
 responded.\n\nPalestinian children in Gaza following an Israeli attack on 
 the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza City on Nov. 1, 2023. More than 3,700 
 Palestinian children have been killed\n by the Israeli military over the 
 last several weeks, and more than 6,300 other Palestinian children have 
 been injured. PHOTO BY ALI JADALLAH/ANADOLU VIA GETTY IMAGES\n\n\n“We 
 unequivocally condemn the actions taken by Hamas that purposefully targeted 
 Israeli citizens. Civilians now on both sides of the conflict are 
 disproportionately\n suffering, and the current humanitarian disaster 
 unfolding in the Gaza strip is entirely preventable,” IUPAT General 
 President Jimmy Williams, Jr. said in an emailed statement. ​“Israel 
 must cease bombing dense urban areas and should immediately allow for\n 
 humanitarian aid to reach the people most affected by the conflict. 
 Targeting civilians is a war crime. Collective punishment is a war crime. 
 It is the duty of all working people to stand up and say 
 enough.”\n\n\n“A conflict of this magnitude cannot be fixed by bombs 
 and bullets,” Williams continued. ​“The IUPAT is proud to join the 
 labor movement across the globe in calling\n for an immediate end to 
 hostilities and de-escalation of tensions across the region.”\n\n\n“A 
 conflict of this magnitude cannot be fixed by bombs and bullets,” 
 Williams continued. “The IUPAT is proud to join the labor movement across 
 the globe in calling\n for an immediate end to hostilities and 
 de-escalation of tensions across the region.”\n\n\nThe AFT’s response 
 pointed to recent\ntweets by the union’s president, Randi Weingarten, 
 calling\nfor a ​“humanitarian pause” to allow aid into Gaza and 
 criticizing the Israeli government for not doingenough to stop settler 
 attacks in the West Bank and harassment of\n Arab students at Netanya 
 College.\n\n\nWeingarten and two of the AFT’s other top officers also 
 issued a statement shortly after Hamas had attacked southern Israel and 
 killed 1,400 people,\n including more than 1,000 civilians, and the Israeli 
 government had begun its assault on Gaza. That statement said in part that 
 ​“Israel has every right to defend itself as it will now do,” while 
 also expressing concern for Palestinian civilians ​“caught in\n the 
 crossfire.”\n\n\nOnly a few other national unions have publicly said 
 anything about the recent violence in the region, or have explained to 
 their members why they will not be speaking out.\n\n\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/11/08/18860201.php
SUMMARY:Rally Speak Out at SF AFL-CIO, End AFL-CIO Complicity with Genocide
LOCATION:San Franciscoo Labor Council\n1188 Franklin St.\nSan Francisco
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2023/11/08/18860201.php
DTSTART:20231109T210000Z
DTEND:20231109T220000Z
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