NYCLU Says Beacon's City Administrator Chris White Violated The Open Meetings Law For Blocking Ceasefire Sign and Calling For Arrest Of Citizens

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Beacon’s City Administrator placing his hands on a pro-Palestinian, anti-genocide protester at Beacon’s City Council and Mayoral Swearing In Ceremony while Congressman Pat Ryan spoke.

Senior Staff Attorney for the NYCLU, Beth Haroules, sent notice to The City of Beacon’s Administrator Chris White, Mayor Lee Kyriacou and the City Council that City Administrator Chris’ behavior violated the Open Meetings Law during Beacon’s Swearing-In Ceremony for City Council and Mayor on January 6, 2024 when Chris prevented the protesters from silently holding their Pro-Palestinian and anti-genocide banner that read “Ceasefire” while Congressman Pat Ryan gave remarks.

The letter described the scene, which has been published in full below, and includes description of public video footage of both the ceremony from the front of the room where the Mayor was, and the disruption in the back of the room by the City Administrator. That video footage has been published at the bottom of this article.

“We urge the City to avoid treating silent protestors who may attend City meetings and events this way.”

— Beth Haroules, Senior Staff Attorney at the NYCLU

The Letter, Republished In Full

Dear Mayor Kyriacou and City Administrator White:

On behalf of the New York Civil Liberties Union, we write to express our concerns about the events surrounding a peaceful and silent protest conducted at the Beacon Mayoral and City Council swearing-in ceremony on January 6, 2024 by residents of Beacon who were attending this public event. We urge the City to avoid treating silent protestors who may attend City meetings and events this way, and to respect the First Amendment rights of protesters going forward.

“The silent protesters did not shout or interrupt Representative Ryan – they simply told the people holding down the banner that they would not let it go.”

— Beth Haroules, Senior Staff Attorney at the NYCLU

The Events of January 6, 2024

The Memorial Building, where the Swearing In Ceremony took place in Beacon on January 6, 2024.

The swearing-in event was held at the Veterans Memorial Building, owned by the City of Beacon and currently occupied and used by the Veterans of Foreign Wars (“VFW”). It was a governmental event that was very much open to the public. During the swearing-in event, Mayor Kyriacou introduced U.S. Representative Pat Ryan to address the gathering.

Representative Ryan has been greeted at his public speaking events by various of his constituents requesting that he support a ceasefire in Gaza. As Representative Ryan began to speak, four people (three of whom are residents of Beacon, all of whom are Representative Ryan’s constituents) who were sitting in the last row of seats stood up and unfurled a small black cloth banner that read “Ceasefire” in white letters.

“Nevertheless, the City Administrator directed the police officers in attendance to arrest these peaceful protesters. The officers indicated that they would not arrest anyone unless a VFW representative asked them to do so..”

— Beth Haroules, Senior Staff Attorney at the NYCLU

Christopher White, the City Administrator, and several people in attendance immediately moved to the side of and behind these four silent protesters and tried to hold down the banner. The silent protesters did not shout or interrupt Representative Ryan – they simply told the people holding down the banner that they would not let it go. The videotape of the swearing-in event, with a camera angle on Representative Ryan and the Mayor and other members of the City Council, shows that no one at the front of the hall appeared to be disturbed. No one even turned in their seats or appeared to be looking at the back of the VFW Hall. Representative Ryan continued his remarks, undisturbed and without pause. The videotape of the swearing-in event revealed no other noises in the hall other than the Representative’s remarks to the audience.

Nevertheless, the City Administrator directed the police officers in attendance to arrest these peaceful protesters. The officers indicated that they would not arrest anyone unless a VFW representative asked them to do so; they immediately apparently got that request and moved to arrest these silent protestors. Threatened with arrest, the peaceful protesters, one of whom was carrying an infant in a chest carrier, left the swearing-in event, escorted by police officers.

Preventing the Protesters from Silently Holding Their Banner Violated the Open Meetings Law

New York’s Open Meetings Law 3 (“Open Meetings Law”) provides members of the public with the right to observe and listen to a variety of meetings of public bodies. Several Open Meetings Law Advisory Opinions expressly address signage. In Open Meetings Advisory Opinion 52964, the Committee on Open Government of the State Department of the State of New York (“Committee”) provided guidance on the ability of government bodies to regulate signs at meetings open to the public. In doing so, the Committee listed as primary considerations: whether signs would be disruptive or obtrusive, whether the signs or sign holders would block a person from observing the proceedings or block an exit or create a fire code violation or would be obscene. [In the absence of these factors, the Committee indicated that signs should not be barred from an open meeting?] None of these circumstances existed at the swearing-in event. The peaceful protesters stood holding their banner in the last row of seats at the back of the hall and were silent throughout except to the extent that they told those seeking to push down the banner that they simply would not let it go. None of this exchange is even reflected in the video recording of the swearing-in event.

The Removal of the Protesters Upon Threat of Arrest Clearly Violated the First Amendment.

It is also well-settled that anyone may attend meetings of local public bodies in New York. This right of access is guaranteed by New York’s Open Meetings Law, 5 the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, section 8 of the New York State Constitution. The only restrictions on this right of public access relate to keeping order in the meeting. Though the Council is authorized to adopt rules for its operations,6 its authority is not unlimited. Indeed, to the extent that the City Council Meeting Rules in effect at that time applied to that gathering, they did not address signage and cannot be interpreted to have prevented the attendees from silently holding the banner at the swearing-in event.7

Events like the swearing-in event are a “limited public forum” and, as such, any limitation on speech must be reasonable in light of the purpose of the forum.8 Further, any restrictions imposed must be viewpoint-neutral.9 Accordingly, a governmental body may not use an improper reason, such as a dislike for a particular speaker’s viewpoint, as a basis to silence a person or exclude them from a public meeting, which is what apparently happened here.10

The protection of public access to open meetings serves fundamental constitutional values. The purpose of an open, public government meeting is to allow the public to understand, inform, petition and influence its government. In light of this purpose, it was patently unreasonable to prevent these Beacon residents from petitioning their elected official, Representative Ryan, to threaten to have the silent banner holders removed from the event space, and to threaten their arrest Conclusion

Permitting citizens to engage with their government is a critical role of public officials in a democracy. We request that you review the events that took place at the swearing-in event, acknowledge that the city of Beacon should have let the protesters hold their banner and not be threatened with arrest, and ensure that such events going forward are handled consistently with the First Amendment and applicable New York State law.

We are of course available to discuss these matters with you at a mutually agreeable time. Please let us know if you would like to do so.

Footnotes:

1 See City of Beacon, All Events: Swearing-In Ceremony for Mayor and Councilmembers, January 6 @ 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM, available at https://beaconny.gov/index.php/events/swearing-in-ceremony-for-mayor-and-councilmembers/.

2 See City of Beacon Swearing In 01-06-24, Beacon YouTube channel, available at

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fbeaconny.gov%2F&feature=emb_title&source_ve_path=MzY4NDIsMzY4NDIsMzY4NDIsMzY4NDIsMzY4NDIsMzY4NDIsMzY4NDIsMjM4NTE&v=XNT-XeXQbSY.

3 NY Public Officers Law, Article 7.

4 Advisory Opinion 5296 may be found at: https://docsopengovernment.dos.ny.gov/coog/otext/o5296.doc. See also Advisory Opinion 3845, which may be found at https://doccs.dos.ny/coog/otext/o3845.htm.

5 Id.

6 The Beacon City Council does not appear to have any published rules relating to its operations at public meetings.

7 City Council Rule of Procedure 8(d)(8)(i) reads: The audience shall be respectful of all speakers and shall refrain from comments and gestures, private discussions, cell phone use, or other conduct that interferes with the orderly progression of the meeting or in any way discourages free speech.

8 See Devine v. Village of Port Jefferson, 849 F. Supp. 185, 189-90 (E.D.N.Y. 1994) (analyzing village board meeting as a limited public forum); see also City of Madison Joint School Dist. No. 8 v. Wisconsin Employment Relations Comm’n, 429 U.S. 167, 174-76 (1976) (suggesting that any portion of a meeting of a public body that the body opens for public comment is a limited public forum); Norse v. City of Santa Cruz, 629 F.3d 966, 976 (9th Cir. 2010) (holding that First Amendment protections of a limited public forum applied not only during the public comment period of the meeting, but also throughout the entire meeting), cert. denied, 132 S. Ct. 112 (2011).

9 See Rosenberger v. Rector & Visitors of Univ. of Va., 515 U.S. 819, 829 (1995) (stating that “[t]he State may not exclude speech where its distinction is not ‘reasonable in light of the purpose served by the forum,’ nor may it discriminate against speech on the basis of its viewpoint.” (quoting Cornelius v. NAACP Legal Defense & Ed. Fund,
Inc., 473 U.S. 788, 806 (1985)).

10 See White v. City of Norwalk, 900 F.2d 1421,1425 (9th Cir. 1990).

11 See We the People, Inc., of the U.S. v. Nuclear Regulatory Comm'n, 746 F. Supp. 213, 216-18 (D.D.C. 1990)
(signs that do not block the public’s view are permissible).

What Is This New Antisemitism Bill? It's Not New, And It's Based On These Limitations

Screenshot of a list of limitations to speech by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) .

On Wednesday, May 1st, 2024, The House of Representatives passed a Bill called “The Antisemitism Awareness Act,” which some in Beacon have called misleading and a disservice to Jews. Said Tina Bernstein, a resident of Beacon and longtime advocate for justice including during the anti-Vietnam war movement, told A Little Beacon Blog in a Letter To The Editor: “Our House of Representatives and 133 spineless Democrats have fallen in line with right wing conservatives by making it illegal to condemn the fascist government of Israel by conflating that criticism with antisemitism. How shameful! What a disservice to Jews all over who are upholding the principles of ‘Never Again To Anyone.’ And what total disregard for the lives of Palestinians.”

The Bill was pushed through as students across the United States and now the world are holding pro-Palestinian protests demanding that their universities divest financially from Israel, stop exchange programs with Israel, gain amnesty from suspensions for protesting, and other protections. These students are being violently attacked by riot police called in by some universities, as what happened at Columbia, UCLA, SUNY New Paltz, and others. As stated in the proposed bill: “Since 2018, the Department of Education has used the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism when investigating violations of that Title VI.”

According to the Associated Press, the proposal, “would codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism in Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a federal anti-discrimination law that bars discrimination based on shared ancestry, ethnic characteristics or national origin.”

The IHRA defines that discrimination as: “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

The IHRA provides examples to illustrate when this discrimination might occur, according to their disgression. Some of those examples include:

• Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.

• Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.

• Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.

• Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.

• Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.

• Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.

The limitation of criticism of this kind could make it discriminatory, for example, to say that Israel was committing genocide of Palestinians.

“If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the bill would broaden the legal definition of antisemitism to include the ‘targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity.’ Critics say the move would have a chilling effect on free speech throughout college campuses,” according to the Associated Press.

Says Arvind Dilawar in his piece for Truthout: “As the definition explicitly references criticism of Israel, pro-Palestinian activists fear it may open them up to prosecution, and even hate crimes charges, simply for organizing against the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza or occupation of Palestine in general.”

Arvind has also been tracking how many states in America, including New York State, are creating state laws to back this broad definition, which does not exist for other nations, including African nations for the brutality American inflicted upon African Americans when stolen from their homes for free labor in America.

Other sectors of American political representatives have had unexpected reactions. Some who normally support bans on Muslims took a turn on this legislation that so protected Israel. NBC News captured these quotes:

"Did the House of Representatives just make parts of the Bible illegal?" Charlie Kirk, conservative commentator, posted to X, formerly Twitter.

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene posted, "Antisemitism is wrong, but I will not be voting for the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023 (H.R. 6090) today that could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews."

NBC News reported this post: "Congress votes to make the Bible illegal hate speech. I guess I'll see you all in jail!" wrote Lauren Witzke, a former Republican Senate candidate in Delaware.

New State Law Would Deny Financial Aid to Students Who Criticize Israel

by Arvind Dilawar

Although the bills claim to protect Jewish students, they would in fact codify a definition of anti-Semitism that includes criticism of Israel.

Late last year, New York State Senator Bill Weber and Assemblyperson Ari Brown introduced Senate Bill S7752 and Assembly Bill A8399 in their respective chambers. The bills were cosponsored by two dozen other legislators, including Senator Rob Rolison and Assemblyperson Anil Beephan, whose districts include parts of Beacon. The bills — both misleadingly titled “The Combating Campus Antisemitism Act” — claim to be protecting Jewish students by prohibiting “tuition assistance awards to any student who has knowingly engaged in promoting antisemitism.”

In fact, both bills would punish students who criticize the Israeli government, whether in regards to its ongoing genocide in Gaza — which has claimed the lives of more than 34,596 Palestinains, including 14,500 children and 8,400 women, according to Al Jazeera at the time of this writing — or its occupation of Palestine more broadly.

While neither bill directly mentions Israel, both reference a definition of anti-Semitism from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) — which does mention Israel. The IHRA lists specific examples of criticism that it claims are anti-Semitic, which are broad enough to include any criticism of Israel’s well-documented apartheid regime in the West Bank (“claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor”) to its ongoing genocide in Gaza (“drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis”).

The IHRA is an inter-governmental agency, which now includes 35 member countries, including Israel, and nine observer countries. Although it was ostensibly founded to combat Holocaust denialism, the IHRA’s definition of anti-Semitism was in fact a response to the Second Intifada, an uprising by Palestinians against the ongoing Israeli occupation, as documented by the Foundation for Middle East Peace. Organizations committed to Zionism (Jewish ethno-nationalism) like the American Jewish Committee expressly sought a definition of anti-Semitism that would include anti-Zionism (opposition to Jewish ethno-nationalism) and the IHRA’s working definition gave it to them in 2016.

The IHRA describes its definition of anti-Semitism as “non-legally binding” — but that hasn’t stopped the Israeli government and lobbyists like the American Legislative Exchange Council from trying to make it into law in the United States. ALEC is a notorious right-wing “bill mill” that brings together special interests and politicians to craft “model legislation” to lobby for in federal and state legislatures. The Center for Media and Democracy, a government watchdog, recently published audio from an ALEC meeting in 2021 at which Elise Steinberg of the Consulate General of Israel in Los Angeles and others urged the assembled legislators to codify the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism into law through their respective legislatures.

Prior to October 7, the Israeli government and ALEC had limited success in pushing states to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism. From 2018 to 2023, only nine states — Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas — passed laws adopting the definition, according to FMEP. Since October 7, Georgia joined that list; seven more states — Indiana, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania and South Dakota — are considering similar legislation; and no less than 15 related bills are before Congress.

Since being introduced, neither Senate Bill S7752 nor Assembly Bill A8399 has advanced beyond committee, meaning they remain far from law. However, one of the bills before Congress, HR 6090, advanced through the House of Representative on May 1, with Representative Mike Lawler, whose district includes parts of Dutchess County, cosponsoring and Representative Pat Ryan, whose district includes Beacon, voting in favor. Notably, both Lawler and Ryan have received thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from pro-Israel lobbyists.

a little gaza news :: The University Students and Faculty Join The Push For Palestinian Liberation - Gaza Solidarity Encampments (A Link Roundup)

The American news coverage of the growing number of university protests called Gaza Solidarity Encampments is not being well-covered. For example, when the news broke that there were snipers at Emory University, and then at Ohio State University, someone made the assumption that civilians were the ones holding and pointing the rifles. However, the police were called by the universities to come be placed onto the roof, and point rifles at the students and faculty, who were engaging in sitting and setting up their tents. Violence occurred if police or pro-Israeli civilians came in to agitate.

Also not covered as much are Jewish students and faculty participating in these Pro-Palestinian protests. Like this night in the streets for Seder for Passover.

Several professors have joined the students to protect them and serve as witnesses. Some parents have voiced how proud they are of their child. Despite the tuition that may be going to these universities. NBC New York reported: "The students' plight has become a central part of protests, with students and a growing number of faculty demanding their amnesty. At issue is whether universities and law enforcement will clear the charges and withhold other consequences, or whether the suspensions and legal records will follow students into their adult lives."

Presidential candidate Jill Stein was arrested at an anti-war protest at Washington University, held, and charged with assault of a police officer, as reported by Al Jazeera. She is 73 years old, and was arrested with 99 other people. “It was kind of scary to tell you the truth,” she said in an interview with local news station KSDK as reported by Time.

In depth accounts to follow on the Encampments at Universities are Ahmed Eldin, Wear The Peace, Everyday Is Juneteenth

a little gaza news :: University Encampment Edition

This roundup for "a little gaza news" highlights some moments of the Gaza Encampments, as well as emerging testimony from IDF (Israeli Defense Forces aka Israeli Occupation Forces).

• “There Are No Universities Left In Gaza: Israel’s Destruction Of Gaza’s Education System.” - Middle East Eye
  ”After more than 200 days of Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza, many of Gaza’s educational institutions lie in ruins. According to a team of UN experts, there are currently no universities remaining in Gaza due to the devastating bombardment of the Israeli army. Palestine has one of the highest literacy rates in the world, but the war on Gaza has devastated the education sector, killing thousands of students, and leaving hundreds of thousands others out of school for almost seven months.”

• “Do you want Columbia University to be cursed by God?”
  The real life question asked by Congressman Rick Allen to Minouche Shafik, the President of Columbia University. She answers: “Definitely not.” And then orders the police to begin arresting students and faculty, which turns violent. She expels students and has them evicted. Students might have 15 minutes to gather their things. Their things were otherwise tossed into a tall pile of trash that they weren’t allowed to touch, according to other reports and photos. She has been president of Columbia University for less than a year.

• Students being pulled and dragged away by police at Emory University in Atlanta, GA. - Everyday Is Juneteenth

• T-Shirt Of Arrested Man: “Jews Say Ceasefire Now” - Wear The Peace

  “Antisemitism on college campuses” | This is IU professor Ben Robinson being arrested. He was subsequently banned from campus for a year for “criminal trespassing” yesterday.

• NYU Faculty Form A Chain Around Gaza Solidarity Encampment As Students Prepare To Pray - Wear The Peace

• “Dr. Noëlle McAfee Noelle McAfee, the chair of the philosophy department at Emory University in Atlanta, was arrested during a pro-Palestine protest on campus.” - Middle East Eye
  This arrest was incredible. Noelle came out to witness a student being beaten by police. She was concerned for her students, and stayed. When the police told her to leave, she declined, and they arrested her.

• Dr. Noëlle McAfee, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences and chair of the philosophy department at Emory University, speaks out following her arrest at the encampment the day before. - Everyday Is Juneteenth

• Jewish Organizer and If Not Now Co-Founder Simone Zimmerman Says: "We see echoes of things we’ve been taught to oppose our whole lives happening in Gaza right now.” - Middle East Eye

  If Not Now co-founder Simone Zimmerman tells El Sayyed the values young Jews are taught about their faith and their history compels them to speak out against Israel and fight for Palestinian freedom. Zimmerman’s personal story from a pro-Israeli student to a pro-Palestinian organizer was documented in the acclaimed new film ‘Israelism’. This was on this week’s episode of The Big Picture Podcast on YouTube, Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

• Members of All That’s Left joined Rabbis4Ceasefire in a journey to the Erez crossing to Gaza to try and bring in humanitarian aid. - atlcol
  "During the Passover Seder, we read in the hagadah “all who are hungry, let them eat.” Liberation for some - for Jews only - is a false liberation. And yet, a state that claims to speak for world Jewry is - on Passover and since October 7th - starving tens of thousands of innocent people in Gaza."

  Rabbis For Human Rights CEO Avi Dabush told @atlcol: “We are commanded to not turn away.” We cannot look on idly as thousands are brutally oppressed in our name. Though the police stopped us from bringing in aid - which we will instead bring to Palestinian communities in the West Bank - and arrested several activists, we will continue to fight for justice and human dignity until all are free from the river to the sea."

• “Israeli soldiers don’t draw the line between terrorists and civilians.” And IDF soldier speaks out to News4 - Channel 4 News
  In this interview, and IDF solider talks about why Palestinian kids are targeted to kill. “A lot of them [IDF] don’t draw the line between terrorists and civilians.” In a rare interview, an Israeli soldier tells us the attitudes of some IDF soldiers serving in Gaza since the October 7th attacks. The IDF says it only targets Hamas, which hides behind civilians.”

• Ohio State Campus Police Attempting To Arrest Students While Praying - zjpeace
  “A human chain formed by students blocked violent Ohio State Police from reaching peaceful protestors who were offering prayer amidst a protest.”

  “Let them pray,” is what was being chanted. “The way this made me cry,” said zjpeace.

• Over 200 zip-tied Palestinians found executed in a hospital and YOU are upset at our protest??? - Wear The Peace
  This posted got voted Best Poster by one of ALBB’s readers. “If you’re mad about the peaceful protests but not the mass graves, the children under the rubble, the 2 million humans starving, the 35,000 dead, and the genocide as a whole, then you have selective empathy towards humans, and Palestinians don’t make the cut in your racist selection of who deserves said “empathy”. Picture: Jewish Voice For Peace and taken by Watch Me Rise.

• Children from Gaza say Thank You to the Students. - untoldpalestine

• The Poem, “If I Must Die” by Professor Refaat Al-Areer, written before he was murdered by Israel in December. His eldest daughter, Shaimaa Refaat, was assassinated by Israel, along with her husband and newborn baby.

• An apartheid checkpoint in Canada, banning the Keffiyeh - fatenelwan
  “Ontario Legislature staff discriminated against our group under the auspices of the racist Keffiyeh ban, preventing us from reaching the viewing gallery in time.”

• Zionist citizens are not walking on this side of the wall with graffiti. They have crossed over. Notice the amount of IDF soldiers in an area for what reason. This is everyday life for some Palestinians. For 76 years of US/Israeli occupation. Must stop. Free Palestine 🇵🇸

Elizabeth, NJ Is Location For Protest Against Zim Shipping Company On A15 Economic Blockade Day

Photo Credit: Alexa B. Wilkinson

Editor’s Note: Formerly Beacon-based now Newburgh-based photographer Alexa B. Wilkinson documented and reported on the vehicle protest against Zim shipping Company today on this A15 Economic Blockade day. All photographs by Alexa B. Wilkinson.

Wrote Alexa:

“As part of the @a15actions, early this morning in Elizabeth, NJ Port Workers For Peace with @nyclaborforpalestine and @palawda led a caravan of vehicles through the Port of New Jersey to denounce the Zim shipping company’s support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza. Zim CEO Eli Glickman has pledged that his ships will assist Israel’s campaign, even as it leads to mass starvation and the killing of over 17,000 children.

Photo Credit: Alexa B. Wilkinson

“Many port workers are horrified at what’s happening in Gaza,” said Chino May, one of the caravan organizers. “Our labor is being exploited to enrich corporations that uphold mass murder. But we make these companies go, so we can make them listen to us. The killing has to stop.”

“The caravan received mostly honks of support and a few agitated truck drivers. Police flanked the lead car and the group, and at some points attempted to break the line of cars up by merging in between them. At one point the port authority police asked how long they would be there and if there were more coming, to which the police received one word answers and vague responses.

“As we see global action taking place today across thousands of cities and economic choke points, the news will be flooded with Trump and Iran…don’t take your eye off the ball. This is focal point. All eyes on Gaza.”

Free Palestine 🇵🇸

Newburgh-Beacon Bridge Shutdown During National A15 Economic Blockade For A Free Palestine

The Newburgh/Beacon Bridge was shut down today, April 15, 2024, at 8am in coordination with at least 65 other cities across the United States who designated April 15th Tax Day to be A15 Economic Blockade to Free Palestine. Organized by a15actions, the mission states: “75 years and 182 days into this US backed genocide we must take collective risk beyond symbolic acts of solidarity. On April 15th, we will block logistical hubs to stop the flow of capital worldwide. This is just the beginning. We will not cooperate with the police. If a blockade in one city faces repression, we will respond in solidarity in other cities. Join us in organizing towards our collective liberation.” See the shutdown in Oakland, CA, Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, and the Golden Gate Bridge.

Texts from a reader showing Local radio station K104 was Reporting on Sheriff messages about terrorism, and not about the cause of the shutdown, which was A15 Economic Blockade for a Free Palestine.

@HV4FreePalestine was the first to cover the true nature of this blockade. The radio station K104 focused on parroting messages from Sheriff Offices like Putnam County, to perpetuate fear via the terrorist narrative that this country has accepted as normal with anything related to “the Middle East.”

Reported HV4FreePalestine:

“This morning at 8am, over a dozen Palestinians, Jews and allies blockaded the westbound Hamilton Fish Newburgh-Beacon bridge for over an hour, stopping traffic on I-84 for miles at the peak of rush hour. The action, part of the April 15 Economic Blockade for Palestine taking place in 65 cities across the globe, ended at 9am with 15 arrests.

“Organizer Abdallah Qotate states: ‘As a Palestinian, I wake up everyday worrying whether my best friend in Gaza will live to see another day. I’m forced to be in the street because our elected government refuses to listen to us. How many Palestinians have to die before our government will stop sending our tax dollars to Israel to fund this genocide?’

“As a Palestinian, I wake up everyday worrying whether my best friend in Gaza will live to see another day. I’m forced to be in the street because our elected government refuses to listen to us. How many Palestinians have to die before our government will stop sending our tax dollars to Israel to fund this genocide?”

— Abdalla Qotate

In a non-violent act of civil disobedience, protestors highlighted the federal government and US economy’s role in Israel's genocidal siege against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Activists blocked all westbound lanes of traffic on the bridge for nearly one hour, amidst the busiest time on the bridge, over which 65,000 commuters and 6012 transport trucks travel daily.

During the protest, New York State Police assaulted, pushed and threatened peaceful demonstrators with a baton. In a tweet removed later, the New York Department of Transport for the Hudson Valley reported that as of 8:44am, one lane remained closed during police intervention.

Shutting down a key artery of commerce and commuter transport during one of the busiest hours of morning traffic, demonstrators were part of a global movement shutting down commerce to end the genocide.

“During the protest, New York State Police assaulted, pushed and threatened peaceful demonstrators with a baton.”

— @HV4FreePalestine

Grace Collins, one of the participants, concludes “Months of pleading to my representatives has not slowed the genocide in Palestine. Disrupting traffic to get our message across is a natural next step. If the constituents wont be heard through government channels then we will get our message across in nonviolent ways however we can.”

“From the Hudson Valley organizers: ‘Tax Day is a reminder that the Biden administration has made over 100 transfers of taxpayer dollars in military assistance to Israel since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza. We refuse to allow business as usual to continue while Palestinians are murdered by Israel using American weaponry and tax dollars. Those committed to Palestinian freedom in the Hudson Valley have tried many tactics—we’ve demonstrated, we’ve lobbied our representatives, Pat Ryan and Marc Molinaro, for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire, we’ve visited their offices, we’ve educated the public. Those on the highway today are done waiting on congressional representatives. We are committed to keeping up the pressure until the genocide ends and Palestine is free.”

Citizen Reporter @bryanne_af reported that she was happy to learn she had been stuck in traffic for a cause during her Kid School Drop-off morning, telling her Instagram friends: “Hudson Valley shut down the westbound Newburgh Beacon bridge for Palestine today!!! 😭🇵🇸😭 I had no idea what was going on and had to drive over an hour to get home from dropping my kids off to school - so happy and proud to discover it was comrades doing worthy and noble work! So very thankful for their bravery and that I got to bear witness to the incredible impact they had on the Hudson Valley this morning - the blockade here went for six miles beyond the bridge, toward Fishkill [down 9D passing Stonykill Farm and the Heritage Financial Stadium] - if this inconvenienced you, just IMAGINE how Gaza suffers from what our tax dollars are doing in blocking their food, their medicine, their freedom to live! From the river to the sea!!! 🇵🇸🇵🇸🇵🇸

Another reader, Citizen Reporter Cowboy, responded to the news of the shutdown by telling ALBB: “I gotta go check Whacker Wire to see if my Mom was arrested today.” Their mom has been arrested 4 times during this extermination of Palestine, including once at Grand Central Station.

April 2 Leave it Blank on Primary Day, PK & New Paltz Actions, Newburgh Iftar, and More

This Press Release was distributed by the Beacon Coalition:

The Beacon Coalition was formed while trying to pass the Ceasefire Resolution in Beacon. They continue to send out updates. Below is their latest update:

“As the U.S. continues to undermine progress made towards a permanent ceasefire in Gaza, it is all the more important that we keep up local pressure. There are lots of ways to show up for Palestine this week at the ballot box, in local parks, online, and beyond. Starting with…”

LEAVE IT BLANK NY: Did you know that you can submit a blank ballot in the New York Presidential Democratic Primary on April 2nd (and in early voting), to send a strong signal to Biden that New Yorkers want a permanent ceasefire? While there is no uncommitted or write-in option in New York, blank ballots are counted, and we strongly encourage primary voters to use this powerful opportunity to make our voices heard for a ceasefire. Find out more information on the Leave it Blank Campaign here, and sign up to phone bank here The campaign needs all hands on deck between today and the April 2nd primary, and phone banking is a great way to connect with other New Yorkers about how our tax dollars should be invested at home, not funding the destruction of Gaza. 

THIS WEEK:

• SATURDAY 3/30 at 8PM: Land Day Vigil (Peace Park, New Paltz). In solidarity with the liberation of Palestine. Flowers & masks encouraged. More info here. 

• SUNDAY 3/31 from 12-3PM: Poughkeepsie Protest. Gather at Harriet Tubman Park (72 Market Street, Poughkeepsie) in support of Poughkeepsie’s ceasefire resolution.

• FRIDAY 4/5 at 7PM: Community Iftar at the Newburgh Masjid (25 Washington Terrace, Newburgh). Community event organized by the Newburgh Masjid board and congregation. All are welcome regardless of faith, affiliation, etc. Please be sure to RSVP to info@newburghmasjid.org so that the Masjid can prepare enough food for all to enjoy.

• Looking for ways to support from home? Check out this call for creative submissions to the “Seeds of Resistance” Zine (deadline April 1st) from Qader Voice, Cosmic Dog House Press, and Celebrate845, and this opportunity to share art with children of Gaza. 

Finally, we’re still looking for folks who wrote to the Beacon City Council and/or who spoke during public comment in support of Beacon’s ceasefire resolution to submit their written letters and speeches to this email address (beaconceasefirecoaltion@gmail.com). These submissions will be compiled and distributed in a public forum that may serve as a reference for other municipalities who are writing letters and speeches for their own councils. So, please be sure to include in your email whether you’d like to be named as the author of your piece in this public compilation (and by what name if so), or if you prefer to remain anonymous. 

Chalk Art For "Free Palestine" Message Gets Splattered With Possibly Permanent Paint - And A Reminder As To "Welcoming City" Meaning

“Free Palestine” message created by the artist Ryan Manzi, in addition to signs for Beacon, a shamrock for St. Paddy’s Day, and Scooby Do.

The irony of the permanent desecration of the brick building in order to cover up a temporary message of freedom with a layer of a bright blob of permanence is one for poets to ponder.

It is a wonder if the City of Beacon will pursue the graffiti blob maker (graffiti blobs are not art or expressions), or if they will instead pursue the chalk artists, who they are already in hot pursuit of on a regular basis, and have arrested in the past for making chalk art. An arrest that failed, since chalk is temporary, says one of the arrested artists and Beacon resident Ryan Manzi.

This article includes a video interview with Ryan as he pops up to chalk another message of freedom and justice just down the brick from the tagging signed in paint drips. Be sure to scroll down to watch/listen.

Forensic Discovery Of The Paint Over The Chalk

Ryan and his friend Steve first started chalking Beacon last Spirit of Beacon Day. His goal was to chalk spirit all over town. His work has been seen on the sidewalk outside of Towne Crier, outside of the Beacon Car Wash and the Beacon Fade and Shave, and on the big green construction fence/wall at the development site on Main Street that went bankrupt and has been standing still. That chalk space has since been covered up by another artist, in paint however, which may have come with permission, which was done for Beacon Bonfire, without a nod given to Ryan’s original chalk art that started there.

The paint covering the pro-Palestinian CHalk.
Photo Credit: Katie James Inc.

Ryan latest chalk art piece is on the building that used to be Pizza and Stuff, and is the back of Sun River Health. He chalked out FREE PALESTINE with the Palestinian flag. When this happened, ALBB was sent the photo by several people, all of whom were excited to see such expression.

Just days later, the chalk art was covered up by what seems to be splattered paint, maybe from a spray can, or a brush. Said Ryan to ALBB: “I know my chalk, and that's somebody deliberately covering it up.”

The person covering up the chalk used a paint-like substance, than ran down the building in drips. “It's literally spray paint. The running streaks are spray paint. In other words, LITERAL graffiti.” Recently, Ryan and his painting partner Steve have been arrested for their chalk art. Ryan says a call was made by someone who saw them chalking. Ultimately, charges were lifted because chalk is temporary. Ryan’s preferred brand of chalk is Crayola from local boutique Zakka Joy.

THe shamrock, left untouched by the Free Palestine cover-upper. The rain has already begun to wash away the chalk naturally.

Upon the discovery of his chalk work being covered in paint, Ryan took to being a forensic artist to figure out what happened. Ryan pointed out the drips. Another paint stroke on a brick looked like a deliberate stroke, versus spray paint. Additionally, he noted, his other chalk art of a shamrock, Scooby Do, or the words BEACON were not covered up or deleted by the paint.

“It shows clear and deliberate hatred and bigotry,” Ryan told ALBB. It is not known if Beacon Police will pursue the permanent paint thrower, or only focus on the chalk artist because he is always out on Main Street and is recognizable by most people who live here. Ryan is easy pray for the Beacon Police to come and get.

April Article from the Poughkeepsie Journal

As Ryan popped up to chalk a new message, a person walking by said “I like it,” and another said “Looks awesome!” Some Beacon elementary school kids walking by raised their fists in solidarity.

A white man also approached, eager to take a picture. ALBB wasn’t sure if he was taking a picture for evidence against the chalk art, as he mentioned not liking trash on the ground, saying nothing about Palestinians, but he stood by nonetheless to chat while Ryan finished his work. A Black man approached next, fist bumping Ryan, the two of whom later discussed Ryan’s latest nail polish.

In the video interview with Ryan, he mentions a Poughkeepsie Journal article, which reported on the time in 2017 when Beacon signed a resolution declaring itself a “Welcoming, Safe and Inclusive City.” Ryan had this to say, in 2024, about where the City is now: “Please remind them of their own doings, and then tell me where it doesn't add up, because its nothing new, thanks 🫶🏽💯”

Revisiting The “Welcoming, Safe and Inclusive City” That Beacon Resolved Itself To Be in April 2017

Ryan is not the only one who recalls Beacon’s resolution during the time of Trump’s Muslim Travel Ban, where Beacon and other cities sought to send signals to the federal government and all community members that it did not discriminate based on race or religion.

Palestinian Beacon business owner Kamel Jamal also mentioned this passage during his speech at City Council Meeting in 2024, urging City Council to pass a Ceasefire Resolution, demanding an end to the death and destruction going on in Palestine at the hands of Israel, with aid and support by the United States Government, and several of its local leaders at the state and municipal levels.

This time, in response, Mayor Kyriacou has been trying to “correct” the 2017 recollections of Beacon citizens. During the 2024 night of the passage of the ceasefire resolution by the mostly reluctant City Council Meeting (where Paloma Wake was the lone Councilmember steadily urging that the issue get recognized and pass), Mayor Lee “reminded” the community that he wrote the “Welcoming, Safe and Inclusive City” resolution, and stressed that its purpose was for police directive.

The city was divided then, and remains so. The Poughkeepsie Journal article that Ryan referenced captured the essence of the time. The article quotes below reflect the time, but read the full article here:

Published on April 4, 2017:
“In the City of Beacon, city officials and employees cannot interrogate or arrest someone based on their citizenship status, and will not help enforce federal immigration law.

“Those provisions are among several aspects of a resolution declaring Beacon a “welcome, safe and inclusive city” and designed to help individuals living in the U.S. without legal permission. But while the resolution was passed by the city council by a unanimous vote, the language used in the resolution was meticulously debated, and it proved divisive among area residents who attended Monday's meeting.

“Of 23 residents who spoke during two public comment sessions, 13 supported the resolution and 10 opposed it. Many in attendance wore red or blue to signify their stance on the issue.”

The article continued, describing the resistance to the wording and relevance of the resolution. Relevance is something Mayor Lee Kyriacou continues to push for today, in order to avoid discussion of these sorts of things, which center around racism, Islamaracism and bigotry. He mentioned wanting relevance again during last evening’s City Council Meeting, when he was discussing proper forum and decorum at City Council Meetings and topics taken up.

Back to the 2017 article. It further highlighted an effort by then City Councilmember, Ali T. Muhammad, who is currently participating in protests and ceasefire resolution pushes as a citizen, to include the word “sanctuary,” but received pushback by other councilmembers. As background, the term “sanctuary city” was punished by Trump when he put federal restrictions on funding for such cities:

“While not in name, the resolution offers many of the same protections as designated sanctuary cities. The resolution itself makes no reference to the term ‘sanctuary city,’ and a motion by Ali Muhammad, 4th ward council member, to add the term to the resolution name failed, 4-2.

"Peggy Ross, 1st ward council member, argued that the term ‘sanctuary city’ implied that Beacon would provide food or shelter in some way, which the resolution does not call for. Muhammad, however, said that choosing not to use the term "whitewashed" the resolution.

"Opponents challenged that the resolution was not a matter for the city council.

"‘What sort of benefit does this resolution have to protect our citizens or our police officers?’ asked Joe Galbo, of Beacon."

A Reminder Of The Legal Implications Of Beacon’s 2017 Welcoming, Inclusive and Safe City Resolution:

As reported in the Poughkeepsie Journal: "Under the resolution, city officials and employees cannot ‘stop, question, interrogate, investigate or arrest’ someone based on their immigration or citizenship status or a civil immigration warrant, administrative warrant or an immigration detainer.

"Officials and employees cannot inquire about an individual's immigration or citizenship status unless necessary to investigate a criminal activity by that individual, nor can they engage in the enforcement of federal immigration law, the resolution said."

Demanding Ceasefire Protest Moves To Poughkeepsie For Their Council, Since US Can't Get Their Ceasefire Resolution Right

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Since The United States can’t get their Ceasefire Resolution right (hear from Guyana on what is wrong with the resolution) the protesters demanding a local ceasefire has moved to Poughkeepsie to demand a resolution and vote from their council.

Where: Harriet Tubman Park, 71 Market Street, Poughkeepsie, NY (off of East-West Arterial, aka Church Street, aka Route 44).
Time: 12-3pm

Protesters will safely occupy the wide, flat sidewalks. There will be cars driving by, so please stay on the sidewalks if you are protesting. If you cannot stand, but can drive through, do honk your horn!!

If you need more reasons to be vocal about liberating Palestine, visit A Little Beacon Blog’s Instagram. All of our posts have been there in the essence of time. We are doing our best to bring them here to the blog for you, for longevity, and for ease of use for sharing to people who aren’t on social media.

These messages were gathered and posted by @sarahofmagdalene.

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A Little Gaza New: Collection Of Posts On Israel's Starvation of Palestinian Children

Hello. This is the first of our Palestinian coverage that we have been producing at our Instagram. Since October 7th, in between local articles, we curate news articles about Palestine, and post them in collections. The tone is different than here at the blog. ALBB’s tone at Instagram has grown more personal. We start each Palestine group post with this “little gaza news” graphic, and a description that sets the guidance for the posts to come.

From ALBB’s Instagram:

“Today at ALBB was supposed to be about bringing you the news about the Cold Spring Farmers Market. But today so many pictures of Palestinian children burned bombed in the most unusual way surfaced. As well as more pictures of more children starving to death. As Joe Biden allows this to go on. And says that building a pier along side Gaza is the solution. It is not a solution. Ceasefire and End the Occupation is the answer. We, people in Beacon and all of the United States, are paying for this. At the very least, that can be why you care.

“This year, Katie is practicing Ramadan for the first time. She’s wanted to for years. And so just decided. Already had been reading the Quran and praying multiple times a day. It has been a beautiful experience so far. Only day 3 (or 4? brain gets scrambled when hungry.)

“Hunger. Hunger. Water. The people of Gaza have no water. Remember? Months ago they had no water. Months. Food. No food. Hardly any food. Israel denies all the food. Israel shoots people trying to get food (a video has surfaced of the massacre). Remember The Flour Massacre?

“Today, 50 people were shot from an Israeli helicopter. For fun. For sport. Israeli leadership has stated many times that they aim to clear all of Palestine out. This is the 2nd Nakba. So. That’s what this is. Call me anything you want here in Beacon. “White Power Hamas.” “Terrorist Apologist” “Hamas Supporter.” I am not alone. We are surrounded by people trying to stop this heinous homicide. Don’t cover your eyes or plug your ears for the next news photos. Hopefully “a little Gaza News” will get happier soon. If you want a Ceasefire / End The Occupation sign ALBB produced, let us know. We can keep printing them. Hang one in your room. Your office. Wherever you want.”

Posts From This Curation:

• Little girl gets burn bombed. What children look like when their bodies are covered in burns from these burns that the United States supplies Israel with.

• Little boy get burn bombed. His body is covered in burns and his lips deformed.

• Little girl tells about how she is ugly now, but used to be beautiful (she is beautiful now, she just feels ugly because of all of the trauma and corpses around her).

• 12-year old boy shot by Israeli sniper in West Bank; Itamar Ben Givir says the sniper deserves an award. Ben Givir is an Israeli lawyer and politician who serves as the Minister of National Security.

• Child recalls: “They took my mom and dad to the corridor and killed them in front of me.”

• Irish anger over Gaza may make for a tense White House (Washington Post)

• Little boy who dropped a hot food pot for his family, and is crying because he is struggling to get it back to his refugee spot.

• An Israeli Apache helicopter opened fire towards thousands of hungry Palestinians at Al Kuwait roundabout in northern Gaza while they were waiting for aid, killing at least 50 of them.

• 50 Palestinians were killed by Israel in less than 5 minutes.

Pro-Israel Lobbyists Buying Support For Gaza Genocide Throughout Hudson Valley

by Arvind Dilawar
Arvind Dilawar is an independent journalist. His articles, interviews and essays on everything from the spacesuits of the future to love in the time of visas have appeared in The New York Times, Time Magazine, The Daily Beast and elsewhere. He was also formerly a columnist at Pacific Standard.

Of the six congressional districts that include Hudson Valley counties, only one is on track for an election in which neither candidate has received funding from pro-Israel lobbyists. In Beacon’s District 18, two potential candidates have each received money from pro-Israel lobbyists: current Congressman Pat Ryan, and Republican hopeful Alison Esposito.

“Ryan expresses his opposition to even non-violent protest against the Israeli occupation of Palestine, as advocated by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Unsurprisingly, Ryan has yet to endorse a ceasefire in Gaza, which is supported by at least 69 other members of Congress, according to the Working Families Party at the time of this writing.”

In all of the other districts, candidates from one party or the other have received the endorsement — and financing — of the bipartisan American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Republican Jewish Coalition or Democratic Majority For Israel (DMFI). This avalanche of lobbying comes amid the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza, which has claimed the lives of at least 29,954 Palestinians, including 12,300 children and 8,400 women, according to Al Jazeera at the time of this writing.

Although AIPAC, RJC and DMFI target different segments of the political spectrum, their functions are essentially the same: to funnel funds to politicians who commit the United States to continue sending billions of dollars in military assistance to Israel and deploying both its military (e.g. warships in the Red Sea) and diplomacy (veto at the United Nations Security Council) to fend off challenges to Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian territory in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem.

In New York's 18th congressional district, which includes Beacon, Democratic incumbent Pat Ryan and Republican forerunner Alison Esposito have both received endorsements from pro-Israel lobbyists. As the two are likely to advance to the general election, district voters will be left with no choice independent of pro-Israel lobbyists from either major political party come November.

Ryan is endorsed by both AIPAC and DMFI, and his campaign received at least $69,800 from the former for the current election cycle, per the Federal Election Commission. (According to FEC reports, DMFI has yet to financially contribute to Ryan’s campaign.) In his position paper on US-Israeli relations — which AIPAC requires of every candidate seeking endorsement — Ryan expresses his opposition to even non-violent protest against the Israeli occupation of Palestine, as advocated by the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. Unsurprisingly, Ryan has yet to endorse a ceasefire in Gaza, which is supported by at least 69 other members of Congress, according to the Working Families Party at the time of this writing.

Esposito is endorsed by RJC, which has contributed at least $42,601 to her campaign thus far, per the FEC. She is currently the forerunner in the district’s Republican primary and therefore most likely to face Ryan in the general election.

These are the other candidates in Hudson Valley districts who have received endorsements from AIPAC, RJC and/or DMFI this election cycle — and how much money they’ve received, per the FEC:

• NY-16 (Westchester): Democratic challenger George Latimer is endorsed by AIPAC, which contributed at least $1,195,456.45 to his campaign.

• NY-17 (Rockland, Westchester, Putnam, Dutchess): Republican incumbent Mike Lawler is endorsed by both AIPAC and RJC, which together contributed at least $7,375 to his re-election campaign.

• NY-19 (Ulster, Green, Columbia): Republican incumbent Marc Molinaro is endorsed by both AIPAC and RJC, which together contributed at least $8,000 to his re-election campaign.

• NY-21 (Rensselaer): Republican incumbent Elise Stefanik is endorsed by both AIPAC and RJC, which together contributed at least $269,649.48 to her re-election campaign.

• Altogether, AIPAC, RJC and DMFI have given more than $1.5 million to candidates in the Hudson Valley for this election cycle — and that’s only counting contributions up to the end of 2023, as FEC reports for 2024 have yet to start rolling in.

With AIPAC demanding that the United States “give Israel the time, resources and support to win this war,” this widespread lobbying is being explicitly tied to the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza by the lobbyists themselves, who want to ensure that US funding, military support and diplomatic cover allow the violence to continue. But these efforts should force voters in the Hudson Valley to question whether, alongside the thousands of civilians being starved and slaughtered, if it isn’t the United States’ democracy that’s dying in Gaza too.

Seeds Of Resistance! Calling All Hudson Valley Creatives! Deadline April 1

Seeds Of Resistance! Calling All Hudson Valley Creatives!
Submit to our Zine!
Creators of all kinds and ages are encouraged to submit
Submission Deadline: April 1, 2024 at 11:59pm
Size Parameters: 8.5 x 5.5” and 300 DPI
Link to Submit >

International Women's Day Recognizing Women Who Are Not Being Recognized And Are Being Killed

Today is International Women's Day, which has been a day for recognizing which women are not recognized. Beacon resident, Palestinian refugee and local business owner (Ziatun and Beacon Bread Company) Lena Jamal shared a post from The Slow Factory that we will quote here:

"This International Women’s Day we call on all who identify as feminists to engage in the lifelong unlearning of their biases and to be in solidarity with Palestinian women, Sudanese women, Congolese women who are experiencing an ongoing genocide.

"In Palestine, more than 9,000 women have been brutally killed by the Israeli Occupation. Sixty three women killed per day.

"In Sudan, 4 million Sudanese women & girls are at risk of sexual violence.

"In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, more than 1 million women have been survivors of sexual violence.

"In Turtle Island aka the so called USA, 94% of fatal violence committed again Trans people are committed against Trans women."

Visit The Slow Factory’s post for this and several other quote posters you need to see.

Letter To The Editor At Highlands Current: Re Hijacking Spirit of Beacon Day to Palestine/Israel Suffering

“In the spirit of having dialogue, one could argue that a ceasefire resolution is spot on with what the Spirit of Beacon spirit would aim to accomplish: bringing together different community members in the public forum of City Hall to stand against murders of Palestinian doctors, journalists, parents, children, teachers, aid workers, donkeys, lambs, olive trees, and anything that is alive in Palestine.  ”

— Katie Hellmuth, former Chair of Spirit of Beacon Day

ALBB’s Editor’s Note: Katie Hellmuth is the publisher and writer for A Little Beacon Blog, and former Chair for the Spirit of Beacon Day. She submitted her Letter to the Editor of the Highlands Current after she learned that Rabbi Brent Chaim Spodek had compared the Spirit of Beacon Day to the genocide going on in Palestine by the Israeli government.

Her Letter as Printed Reads:

As the former Chair of the Spirit of Beacon Day, I am taken aback by Rabbi Brent Chaim Spodek’s letter where his proposed local Beacon solution to addressing the war on Gaza  would be to go the route of coming together to have something like a Spirit of Beacon Day Parade instead of passing a ceasefire resolution in Beacon. Rabbi Brent is responding to the request of several citizens of Beacon - Jewish, Muslim, Arab, Christian, Undeclared - to have a permeant ceasefire, return of all hostages and kidnapped and detained Palestinians, and the defunding of Israel by the Untied States (and by extension New York and Beacon tax dollars).

Rabbi Brent attempted to relate the mega homicide going on in Palestine right now to the racial riots by some of Beacon’s youth in 1977 which went on for some days. Those riots had physical clashes, but nothing close to the multination of bodies we have seen of the children of Gaza, where their parents and other community members are searching for their body parts, not knowing who they belong to. Not to mention digging Palestinians out of the rubble. Or the systematic destruction of schools, hospitals, mosques, churches that has occurred after October 7th, 2024, but also occurred before that date as well, under Israel’s occupation of Gaza, funding by the United States, and thus in part by New York and Beacon.

An important question that needs asked and answered is: If a ceasefire resolution in Beacon is so fruitless, then why the pushback against it? Rabbi Brent said it would “strain” if not “shred” the social fabric in Beacon. However, Beaconites who have family and land in Palestine are already strained as they text each morning and night to see if their family and friends are still alive. With the rejection of the consideration of a ceasefire resolution, the community who supports Palestine feels even more not seen or heard.

In the spirit of having dialogue, one could argue that a ceasefire resolution is spot on with what the Spirit of Beacon spirit would aim to accomplish: bringing together different community members in the public forum of City Hall to stand against murders of Palestinian doctors, journalists, parents, children, teachers, aid workers, donkeys, lambs, olive trees, and anything that is alive in Palestine.  

Katie Hellmuth
Former Chair of the Spirit of Beacon Day
Publisher A Little Beacon Blog

Letter To The Editor: Lila Barchetto, A Jewish Resident Supporting Beacon's Ceasefire Resolution

My name is Lila Barchetto, I am a Jewish Beacon resident of 10 years and I fully support our City of Beacon passing a ceasefire resolution.

Our tax dollars are funding the Genocide of Palestinian people, the collective punishment of innocent men, women, and children. Israel is an apartheid state, a colonial project, and a racist theocratic ethnostate that has not and will not save Jews from anti-semitism globally.

Beacon owes no allegiance to Israel. And neither do Jews for that matter. "Bibi'' Netanyahu and his fascist cabinet do not care what our little city does. Netanyahu doesn't care what President Biden says or what The International Court of Justice rules. The Israeli government has spoken clearly and plainly that they wish to annihilate Gaza and murder as many Palestinians as possible. The Israeli government has repeatedly prioritized vengeance over freeing hostages. Not even the lives of their own citizens could deter Israel's goal of total destruction, ethnocide, and genocide in Gaza. There is no complication. By calling for a ceasefire Beacon is taking a stand for its residents and is sending a message to the state and federal Government that we do not condone genocide. We do not accept that our tax dollars are funding Israel's Genocide of Palestine.

There is nothing anti-semitic in the language of this resolution. The purposeful conflation of Jewishness with Israel is at its core anti-semitic. The redundant lamentings of long standing "complications" to this issue is willfully distracting and deeply patronizing. Please, speak plainly about what this "slippery slope" is descending into. Take the time to be specific, and tell us what is so complicated. If the opposition to this resolution can not do that, then they have said nothing.

The City Council should pass this resolution to ensure that we truly are the "welcoming, safe and inclusive city" we claim to be. Israel's Genocide of the Palestinian people is costing Beacon an average $200,000 taxpayer dollars annually. The environmental cost is beyond measure. I can not overstate the cost to our collective and individual humanity if we do not act now as a community and call for a ceasefire in Gaza.