Palestine petition presentation at Sheffield City Council

The Star, Sheffield

Jonny Feldman from Sheffield Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid presents a 7,500-name petition calling for support for the people of Gaza to a meeting of Sheffield city Council on March 6, 2024

Transcript

00:00 [APPLAUSE]

00:02 The United Nations.

00:04 The United Nations.

00:06 As a Jewish baker, I am proud to have been entrusted

00:11 to present to you a petition signed by nearly 7,500 people

00:19 in Sheffield.

00:22 Muslims, Jews, Christians, socialists, secularists,

00:28 in short, a cross-section of the communities

00:31 that you represent, demanding that the council show

00:36 a strong moral leadership, demanding the council take

00:39 action on the issue of the war in Gaza.

00:44 We're presenting this today on the 152nd day of slaughter.

00:52 We are horrified at the amount of killing, 30,000 people,

00:58 30,000 Palestinian people, 11,000 and more of whom

01:04 were children.

01:05 And every day, we hear of a new crime.

01:08 We welcome the council passed back in November,

01:12 a ceasefire motion.

01:14 And before that, the council recognized

01:17 the state of Palestine.

01:18 But it is not enough.

01:21 And it is not enough because the crime of apartheid

01:24 being committed by Israel is a crime against humanity.

01:30 Because what we are witnessing in Gaza

01:32 is the type of industrial slaughter

01:35 we thought we would never see again.

01:38 And because what this amounts to is genocide.

01:42 The council must step up and not be silent.

01:46 Do not betray your humanity, your decency,

01:50 and look the other way, or cope to external pressures

01:55 and then pretend somehow this is justifiable

01:59 because it is not.

02:01 We're asking you to take three principal steps.

02:06 We ask you to welcome the International Court of Justice

02:09 order that Israel prevent any further genocide

02:12 or acts and any incitement to genocide.

02:15 Second, we ask you to accept the Amnesty International

02:18 description of Israel as a state practicing

02:22 the crime against humanity of apartheid

02:24 and work towards making Sheffield an apartheid,

02:28 an Israeli apartheid, free zone.

02:31 And third, as you did with the Ukrainians,

02:34 we ask the council to issue a statement of unity

02:38 and solidarity with the Palestinian people, who

02:40 for 75 years have lived under the injustice

02:44 of an apartheid system and face today

02:47 the ultimate injustice of genocide in Gaza.

02:51 And in the words of Archbishop Tutu,

02:54 if you are neutral in situations of injustice,

02:58 you have chosen the side of the oppressor.

03:02 And we are better than that.

03:03 You are better than that.

03:05 Sheffield is better than that.

03:06 So we ask you, our council, to show moral leadership

03:10 and have a vote and enact the demands of this petition.

03:14 Thank you.

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