<html>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
</head>
<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<b><span style="font-size:16pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Times
New Roman'"><b><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Times
New Roman'">Join us at
5:30 p.m. on Mon., Dec. 14, in force in front of the
AIPAC dinner at the Westin St. Francis, 335 Powell St., SF,
demanding an end to
AIPAC and US support for Israeli’s suppression of
Palestinian rights.<br>
<br>
</span></b>Pressure
Mounts on SF Board of Supervisors and Mayor to Reject AIPAC
Invite<br>
</span></b><b><span
style="font-size:16pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Times New
Roman'"></span></b>
<div class="moz-forward-container">
<div dir="ltr">
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Times
New Roman'">San Francisco, Dec. 11, 2015—</span></b><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Times
New Roman'">As a broad-based coalition
builds opposition to the upcoming San Francisco fundraiser
for AIPAC (American
Israeli Public Affairs Committee), Supervisor John Avalos
has announced that he
turned down an invite from the powerful pro-Israel lobbying
group in solidarity
with community concerns. Supervisors London Breed, David
Campos, Jane Kim, and
Eric Mar will also be no-shows. Pressure is mounting on the
mayor and remaining
members of the board to reject their invitations to the
gala.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Times
New Roman';color:rgb(42,39,37)">“</span><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Times
New Roman'">We
are asking public officials to join the effort to challenge
apartheid and
racist policies in Israel, just as San Francisco did during
apartheid South
Africa,” said Omar Ali of the Arab Resource and Organizing
Center. “The
international community must condemn the recent attacks on
Palestinian civilian
society, funded with over $3 billion in arms and military
assistance that Israel
receives from the United States each year, largely as a
result of AIPAC’s
lobbying and influence over US politicians. </span><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Times
New Roman'">Key organizations representing
the Palestinian, Jewish, queer, and progressive communities
are united in
demanding that all of the SF supervisors turn down AIPAC’s
invite.” </span><span style="font-family:'Times New
Roman'"></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman'">The
Expose AIPAC Coalition
has already gathered more than 800 signatures on a petition
urging supervisors
and the mayor to boycott the event. The petitions will be
presented to SF Mayor
Ed Lee on Monday, Dec. 14. <br>
</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;font-family:'Times New Roman'">As
AIPAC lobbies for even more funds for
Israel, Israel has escalated the level of attack on
Palestinians, especially in
East Jerusalem and Hebron. The Palestinian Health Ministry
reports that since
October 1<sup>st</sup>, 2015, Israeli forces have killed at
least 118
Palestinians and shot at least 2,528 others. The number of
Palestinian children
in Israeli detention has doubled; those children report
being tortured, denied
adequate food, and held in moldy and frigid jail cells.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Times
New Roman'">As a result of AIPAC’s grip
on US politicians, US money and equipment go toward stealing
Palestinian land,
killing unarmed civilians, demolishing homes, building
illegal settlements and
the separation wall that destroys farms and isolates
Palestinians from
families, work, and education. <span
style="color:rgb(42,39,37)">In addition, AIPAC
lobbies for legislation like the Protect Academic Freedom
Act, which would
punish colleges and universities that join the academic
and cultural boycott of
Israel in support of Palestinian human rights.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0.0001pt"><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Times
New Roman';color:rgb(42,39,37)">Key organizers
in the Expose AIPAC Coalition include the Arab Resource
& Organizing Center,
ANSWER, Bay Area Women in Black, General Union of Palestine
Students,
International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Jewish Voice for
Peace, National
Lawyer’s Guild –SF, Queers Undermining Israeli Terror,
Northern California
Friends of Sabeel, Palestinian Youth Movement, and
Students for Justice in Palestine-Cal. An additional 30
organizations have endorsed
the campaign.</span><span
style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:'Times
New Roman'"></span></p>
</div>
<br>
<div class="moz-signature">-- <br>
Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
415 863.9977
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="http://www.freedomarchives.org">www.freedomarchives.org</a>
</div>
<br>
</div>
<br>
</body>
</html>