Palestine petition presentation at Sheffield City Council
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
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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.