News Release/Press Conference Announcement
For IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Oct. 9, 2023
WISCONSIN-BASED COALITION TO HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE TO COUNTER FALSE NARRATIVE ABOUT ISRAEL’S WAR ON GAZA
Contacts:
Janan Najeeb Attorney Munjed Ahmad
Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition – American Muslims for Palestine
jnajeeb@mmwconline.org / mahmad@law-ag.com
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Dr. Lorraine Halinka Malcoe Othman Atta
Jewish Voice for Peace – Milwaukee – Islamic Society of Milwaukee
milwaukee@jewishvoiceforpeace.org / omatta@ismonline.org
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Press Conference Details:
Location: Islamic Resource Center, 5235 S. 27th St., Greenfield, Wis.
Date: Thursday, Oct. 12, 2023
Time: 1 p.m.
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A broad coalition of Wisconsin organizations that work for peace and justice formed over the weekend to respond to the portrayal of the conflict in historic Palestine. It will hold a press conference Thursday, Oct. 12, at 1 p.m. at the Islamic Resource Center, located at 5235 S. 27th St., Greenfield.
The coalition’s member organizations include Milwaukee Muslim Women’s Coalition, Jewish Voice for Peace–Milwaukee, Wisconsin Muslim Civic Alliance, Islamic Society of Milwaukee, Racine Coalition for Peace and Justice, Milwaukee Anti-war Committee, American Muslims for Palestine, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Students for Democratic Society, Adalah Justice Group, Syrian American Medical Society-Milwaukee, Peace Action Wisconsin, Students for Justice in Palestine at UWM, Marquette University and UW-Madison, Arab and Muslim Women’s Research and Resource Institute, among many others.
In a joint statement, they say, “We are deeply saddened by the loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives, and condemn unequivocally the years of provocation by one of the most extreme supremacist Israeli governments in history.
“We are also alarmed by the one-sided narrative in mainstream U.S. media and from President Biden’s administration that posits Israel as a victim and ignores the tremendous suffering of the Palestinians under decades of brutal Israeli occupation.
“A lack of context makes it appear that this was an unprovoked attack by Hamas when in fact it is a result of decades of brutal policies on Gaza, often referred to as an open air prison,” explains Janan Najeeb, MMWC Executive Director.
This new Wisconsin coalition is calling for a correction of false narratives and an end to U.S support of Israeli apartheid and subjugation of the Palestinians. The coalition emphasizes the following points:
1. Escalating Israeli apartheid and ceaseless settler violence is a provocation.
The Israeli government has suffocated Gaza under an air, sea and land blockade for 17 years, holding more than 2 million people captive, while starving them and denying them medical aid in flagrant violation of international human rights law and countless U.N. resolutions. The Israeli government has full control over Gazan’s access to water, electricity, fuel, food and all medical and other supplies.
For 75 years, Israel created an apartheid regime that destroyed Palestinian homes and villages, segregated and fragmented Palestinian families and communities, allowed killing with impunity and left Palestinians living in a state of constant fear and insecurity
This year, the most racist, far-right government in Israeli history has been hunting down Palestinians in the West Bank and encouraging Israeli forces to repeatedly storm the holiest Christian and Muslim sites in Jerusalem. Heavily armed messianic Jewish settlers living on hundreds of illegal settlements built on stolen Palestinian lands have killed countless Palestinian children and terrorized Palestinian civilians under the protection of IDF soldiers.
2. Resistance to oppression is not terrorism.
Palestinians are an oppressed, indigenous people living under a brutal colonialist state who deserve safety, freedom and equality. There is now widespread acknowledgment that the grievous injustices suffered by Blacks in apartheid South Africa, segregation and historical lack of rights for African Americans and the ethnic cleansing of American Indians are immoral and inhumane, yet the daily suffering of Palestinians under the apartheid state of Israel is not recognized by Western politicians and media.
Palestinians are fighting for liberation, self-determination and basic rights. Calling resistance “terrorism” dehumanizes Palestinians. “Our media’s lack of balance, erasure of Palestinian voices and misrepresentation of the Palestinian situation as a ’conflict’ rather than an occupation further marginalizes the victims,” says Dr. Enaya Othman, professor at Marquette University.
3. Efforts to silence Palestinian voices and prevent their stories from being told will no longer be accepted.
Apartheid and colonialist regimes have always written the narratives of the people they oppress. We refuse to remain silent as Israeli’s brutal systems of control, ethnic cleansing and slow genocide continues while a one-sided narrative is presented to fellow Americans.
4. Safety and security will never result from policies of Jewish supremacy and militarized control over Palestinian lives.
Racist depictions of Palestinians as “violent Muslims,” disregarding the significant Palestinian Christian population who are also suffering under Israel’s brutal rule, as well as portraying European Jews as civilized white people, is not new. It is the same model used for centuries by those who have colonized and ethnically cleansed indigenous peoples around the world.
There are some who believe that God prefers them over others and is functioning as a real estate broker to approve the violent takeover of historic Palestine. Whether they consider themselves superior because of their color or race or ethnicity, the results are the same: the brutal violation of human rights and the ethnic cleansing of an innocent Palestinian Population.
“Among the scores of imperiled people in Israel and Palestine are a small minority of Christians who have lived on the land continuously since the time of Christ and know well the decades of human rights abuses and violations of international law that fuel the deadly violence we witness today,” states Rev.Lisa Bates-Froiland, Ph.D., of Redeemer Lutheran Church, who has herself visited the West Bank.
“Our coalition’s position is that the United States must end its partnership with Israel’s brutal occupation,” says Professor Lorraine Halinka Malcoe, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace.
In the words of the National Lawyers Guild, “Instead of condemning Palestinian resistance, the U.S. is obliged under international law to cut off all military, financial and political support that enables Israel’s brutal occupation.”
For 75 years, the United States has empowered Israeli apartheid with unchecked military funding, diplomatic cover and billions of dollars of private money. By declaring ironclad support for the Israeli military no matter what law they violate or crimes they commit, the U.S. paves the road for more violence and more impunity.
“Israel has announced a siege of Gaza – withholding all food, water, fuel and electricity from millions of vulnerable people imprisoned there. Yet, the United States is sending jet planes, naval carriers and ammunition to back up Israel’s plans to collectively punish and ethnically cleanse the civilians that Israel has trapped in Gaza for over 17 years,” says Munjed Ahmad from American Muslims for Palestine.
As a coalition of Wisconsin based organizations working for peace and justice in our state and our world, we commit to ensuring an honest narrative of the Palestinian plight and an end to our government’s support of Israel’s brutal apartheid system in Palestine.
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement 
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