FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 4, 2024

Contact:
Lori Rudolph, Jewish Voice for Peace ABQ (JVP)
lhrudolph@gmail.com, 505-550-9553

WHAT: A solemn vigil to mourn one year of the genocide in Gaza and the death of more than 41,000 Palestinians including 16,000 children by the Israeli military with US weapons will be held on Tuesday, October 8 in downtown Albuquerque. Participants will deliver letters to NM senators’ offices asking for a weapons embargo on Israel.

WHEN/WHERE: 12 noon–12:30 pm, outside of Sen. Heinrich’s office building, 400 Gold Ave SW, funeral procession to Sen. Lujan’s Office, 500 Marquette NW, with a die-in at approximately 12:50 pm.

WHO: Organizations endorsing the vigil include Southwest Coalition for Palestine, UNM Faculty and Students for Justice in Palestine, La Raza Unida, Cambio, Albuquerque Center for Peace and Justice, Students for Justice in Palestine, Veterans for Peace ABQ, Los Jardines Institute, Jewish Voice for Peace ABQ, and Santa Feans for Justice in Palestine.

Community organizations led by Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) will begin the vigil and funeral procession outside the offices of Senators Heinrich and Lujan to mark the year-long war in Gaza and the deaths of all innocent children and civilians in the region, and demand that the senators support a resolution to end arms transfers to Israel. They will also mourn the escalation of West Bank land theft, the killing of civilians and ethnic cleansing. The vigil will include speakers, poetry reading, and a funeral procession with mourners pushing strollers containing infant body bags, recitation of the names of some of the thousands of babies killed, and photos of death and destruction.

JVP member Paul Afek and vigil speaker commented: “The UN has called the Gaza Strip a graveyard for thousands of children. Since the October 7 Hamas attack, the Israeli military has killed over 16,400 children, with thousands missing. As Jews, our tradition teaches us that every life is precious. Every person is an entire world, and every death is a world extinguished. We need to speak not only of Israeli deaths, but also the daily genocidal death and destruction the Israeli government is carrying out on Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, and now Lebanon. Every life lost is a tragedy, with family who grieve for them. Afek also said that Gaza has been under a 17-year siege, but Israel has intentionally withheld deliveries of lifesaving food, medicine, fuel and medical supplies, in violation of the ruling of the International Court of Justice.

Dr. Andre Montoya, a physician at UNM School of Medicine and a speaker at the vigil, will cite a letter to President Biden and Vice President Harris from 100 American doctors and nurses volunteering in Gaza asking them to stop sending weapons to Israel. The letter includes accounts of the brutality they witnessed, including the words of one volunteer in Khan Younis: “I’ve never seen such horrific injuries, on such a massive scale, with so few resources. Our bombs are cutting down women and children by the thousands. Their mutilated bodies are a monument to cruelty.”

The vigil sponsors will deliver letters to the senators with the following ASKS: 1) Support the Joint Resolution of Disapproval led by Sens. Sanders, Merekely, Welch and Shatz to stop President Biden’s  $20 billion weapons package to Israel; 2) Demand that Israel allow safe and timely delivery of humanitarian aid; 3) Urge President Biden to to compel Netanyahu to agree to a permanent ceasefire, in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Iran with hostage and prisoner exchanges.