Residents Rally and March For an Arms Embargo

KINGSTON – 150 Hudson Valley residents rallied outside Rep. Pat Ryan’s office in uptown Kingston on Saturday afternoon to demand that Rep. Patrick Ryan and presidential candidate Kamala Harris support an immediate arms embargo of Israel. Activists held banners and signs reading “Not Another Bomb” and “Arms Embargo Now.” They marched around the Stockade District carrying paper poppies to represent the 40,000 Palestinians who have been killed in the ongoing genocide. At the end of the march, they laid their poppies at the door of Rep. Ryan’s office.

Abdallah Qotate, Goshen resident and member of the Mid-Hudson Islamic Community, said, “Pat Ryan, our congressman, I’m here at your office for the fifth time, trying to warn you before you lose the election. In the Special Election, Ryan defeated the Republican by only 3,837 votes. In the General Election, Ryan defeated the Republican by 3,592 votes. I would like you to remember the 4,200 Muslims in the Hudson Valley who will not vote for you unless we see a clear position from you supporting an arms embargo and ending the genocide in Gaza.”

Tina Bernstein, Beacon resident and member of Jewish Voice for Peace-Hudson Valley, said, “Kamala Harris and Pat Ryan continue to talk about a “war” and speak empty words about ceasefire as if 200,000 dead, infants burned alive, families receiving dismembered body parts in bags marked by weight is the tragic collateral damage of war. This has never been a war but an assault on another people supported and orchestrated with US dollars provided with unconditional support. As a Jew I refuse to have someone tell me that my freedom is only possible as long as there is a Jewish State, an apartheid state that is based on the subjugation, dehumanization and deprivation of basic human rights of others. This Jew says, Not in My Name!”

Kingston resident Jasmin Attalla, one of the organizers of the event, shared in a written statement: “As an Arab American, as a local business owner, and as a mother, I am tired (and quite frankly traumatized) from having my tax dollars fund an internationally condemned genocide instead of healthcare, housing, food, schools, and infrastructure at home. The US has extreme leverage yet refuses to use it by cutting off weapons shipments and military funding to Israel. Harris, Walz, and Ryan, your inaction makes you complicit in the murder of tens of thousands of civilians. Listen to your constituents! We demand an arms embargo NOW!”

The rally was sponsored by the Uncommitted National Movement in collaboration with Jewish Voice for Peace Hudson Valley, Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America, Mid-Hudson Islamic Community, Communist Party USA Hudson Valley, Rally Middletown, Beacon Climate Action Now, and the Beacon Ceasefire Coalition.

The Uncommitted National Movement is a growing movement aligned with the international community at-large. The Israeli war crimes against humanity have already been documented by several Human Rights organizations, including Israel’s B’Tselem and have resulted in actions by the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice.

The “Uncommitted” movement at large says to VP Harris: “Not another bomb” sent to the Israeli military to support their war crimes against humanity.” Not only do we know that this arm embargo will save lives of Palestinians, and stop starvation and spread of diseases, but it will also raise the awareness and support of the hundreds of thousands of voters across the country.