The following press release was submitted by Mie Inouye to report on the “March For A Free Palestine!” protest down Broadway in Newburgh on Sunday, December 3, 2023. The march was organized by Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America, Jewish Voice for Peace - Hudson Valley, Veterans for Peace - Hudson Valley, Bard SJP, and the Mid-Hudson Islamic Community.

Three hundred community members took to the streets in Newburgh during the rain on Sunday, December 3, 2023, in support of a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and a just peace in the Middle East. Carrying a banner reading “From the River to the Sea Palestine Will Be Free,” marchers called on local representative Congressman Pat Ryan to support a lasting ceasefire and oppose additional military aid to Israel which has killed thousands of Palestinian civilians with U.S. funding and weapons. A humanitarian pause that began on November 24, 2023 ended on Friday. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in the last three days.

“As the brief respite from the bombing during the humanitarian pause last week showed us, a ceasefire is the only way to stop needless death and suffering, and to bring hostages home. After killing thousands of Palestinian men, women, and children and displacing more than one million people in the last few weeks, Israel is gearing up to continue destroying Gaza in a war of vengeance with the blessing and the backing of our government. We are here today to make clear: No more money for massacres,” said Felice Gelman of Jewish Voice for Peace.

The marchers focused their calls on Representative Ryan, who has been under increasing pressure from constituents to call for a ceasefire. At a November 9 rally at his district office in Kingston, more than 400 residents delivered a large format check from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee for $25,950 (the amount the GOP donor-funded network gave Ryan in 2022), with a memo line reading “genocide.” Ryan was one of just 22 Democrats who joined Republican colleagues in voting to censure his colleague Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.

During the march, Abdallah Quotate from Mid-Hudson Islamic Community spoke, saying: “Representative Ryan, listen to your constituents. We are Palestinians, Jews, veterans, people of conscience from all faiths and backgrounds united in our heartbreak and anguish watching Palestinian families buried under the rubble in Gaza. We demand that you represent us, the majority of Americans who want to see an end to violence, an end to occupation, and an end to injustice. Raise your voice with us for a permanent ceasefire. Do not send more of our tax dollars to fund the killing of civilians. We will remember how you vote when it’s our turn at the ballot box.”

Marchers mourned the deaths of thousands of Palestinian and Israeli civilians and called a ceasefire the first step to a just and lasting peace. They ended their march at Representative Pat Ryan’s office on Broadway, where they called on him to support a permanent ceasefire and stop sending his constituents’ tax dollars to fund Israel’s assaults on the Gaza Strip.

“Every life is precious and we mourn all of those, Palestinian and Israeli, who have been so cruelly taken from us in the last few weeks. There is no military solution to prevent more death and devastation – the only path toward a just and lasting peace is to end the occupation and apartheid which denies Palestinians their freedom and dignity,” said Andrew Hiller of Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America.

The march was organized by Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America, Jewish Voice for Peace - Hudson Valley, Veterans for Peace - Hudson Valley, Bard SJP, and the Mid-Hudson Islamic Community.