Join three rallies this week, including one today, in response to the situation in Gaza.  1. #Boston4Gaza: Rally and Candlelight Vigil in Solidarity with Palestine.  Stop the Israeli assault on Gaza launched on July 8. End the Israeli blockade on Gaza ongoing since 2007. End US support for Israel’s military & occupation forces. Demand a US Mideast policy based on international law. Join together in Copley Square: Today, Thursday,  July 17 from 5:00-6:30pm 560 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02116 to speak out about the injustice in Palestine! Bring your own signs for the rally and we will have candles for the vigil. Call Congress! US Congress endorses Israel’s calculated slaughter in Gaza as “self defense” …and helps pay for it. With unanimous passage last week of H. Res. 657 (co-sponsored by Mass reps Kennedy and Clark), the House entirely ignored the lethal, disproportionate and mounting civilian casualties inflicted by Israel on the besieged enclave of Gaza. Hamas was subject to a cease fire demand, but not so the planners of this long-contemplated military assault. And, by calling the largely ineffective rocket fire into Israel “unprovoked”, any pretense of objectivity was abandoned. Today the companion measure – S. Res. 498 (Markey co-sponsoring) was working its way through the Committee on Foreign Relations, towards inevitable floor passage. Call Senator Elizabeth Warren (202-224-4543) and ask her to vote NO on this resolution, and call Senator Markey (202-224-2742) and register your objection.  And on Tuesday, the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee approved $622 million (on top of $3.1 billion) for Israeli missile defense. The IDF claims an 85% success rate for interceptions; critics like Professor Theodore Postol of MIT put that rate at closer to 5%. To RSVP, please go to https://www.facebook.com/events/1450288828557591/ 2. Stand With Gaza! Rally and Die-In As the U.S.-made bombs fall on Gaza, indiscriminately killing Palestinians, many of them children, we heed the Urgent call from Gaza civil society: Act now! We Palestinians trapped inside the bloodied and besieged Gaza Strip call on conscientious people all over the world to act, protest and intensify the boycotts, divestments and sanctions against Israel until it ends this murderous attack on our people and is held to account. Join us on Saturday: July 19 at 1:00pm Park Street Station as we mourn the hundreds killed and protest the complicity of the U.S. government that spends over three billion of our tax dollars and advanced military weapons annually to Israel to maintain an illegal and immoral system of discrimination and occupation and the calamitous siege of Gaza. To RSVP, please go to https://www.facebook.com/events/285514144962386/ 3. Outrage Against Israeli Massacre in Gaza: Boston Stands with Palestine As Israel's relentless bombardment of Gaza enters its second week, join with thousands across the world in demanding an end to Israel's collective punishment of Palestinians. Take to the streets on Tuesday at Copley Square: July 22 starting at 5:30pm560 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02116 to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and to demand an end to U.S. aid to Israel, an end to the siege of Gaza, and an end to the occupation.  To RSVP, please go to https://www.facebook.com/events/256379791223750/ Standing with you for peace, Cole Harrison Executive Director

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