Dear colleagues, friends, and neighbors,
I am calling on Minnesota's elected leaders and everyone who has publicly commented on the ongoing situation in Gaza to join me in calling for an immediate ceasefire.
Like many of you, I have been paying close attention to the recent escalation of violence unfolding in Israel and Palestine since the October 7th attacks by Hamas. As a human being, I am overwhelmed with sorrow for the victims of this violence as well as anger towards both the Israeli Government and Hamas who have senselessly injured and killed thousands of people in a matter of days.
Among residents of my district, I have seen an outpouring of support for the victims and their families and an outcry for an end to the violence. In the aftermath of the most deadly Hamas attack in Israeli history, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of Israeli civilians, we have seen Israel respond with horrifying acts of violence and deprivation against the Palestinians of Gaza as well as an uptick in settler violence in the West Bank. Since the Hamas attacks, Israel has cut off water, power, fuel, food, and medicine to over two million people. And today, we heard the shocking and horrifying news that hundreds of Palestinians seeking medical treatment were killed in a single air strike on the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza. Both of these actions constitute collective punishment and are flagrant violations of international law
I am disheartened to see many mainstream political figures calling for the genocide of the people of Gaza, who have been subjected to unimaginable dispossession, oppression and violence and are now being called animals, savages, and terrorists. At the same time, we have seen a mass mobilization of efforts to demonize and defame anyone who dares speak out against the atrocities we see committed on a daily basis by our ally, Israel, including both Palestinian-American and Jewish activists.
It is exactly this type of conduct among leaders intentionally dehumanizing a specific ethnic group of people while demonizing, terrorizing, and marginalizing those who dissent that has been a precursor to every documented genocide in modern history. And it's exactly this type of rhetoric that inspires the most hateful among us to take matters into their own hands and commit unspeakable acts of violence against their own neighbors. This week, that includes an American landlord who, after listening to hours of coverage of the conflict, took it upon himself to murder a six-year-old Palestinian boy in Illinois.
It is not morally acceptable for American leaders to remain silent, much less use the situation to gain a win against local political rivals. Right now, we are on the precipice of a genocidal war.
That is why I am making it clear that, as an elected leader of Minnesota, I reject any and all expressions of anti-semitism and Islamophobia, and any rhetoric that dehumanizes people on the basis of their ethnicity or religion, and I demand that the Biden Administration take every
action possible to achieve a ceasefire in Israel and Palestine, to reunite Israeli hostages with their loved ones, and to restore basic necessities to the people of Gaza.
I call upon my colleagues and everyone who has publicly commented on the ongoing situation to join me.
In Solidarity,
Omar Fateh