A local chapter of the U.S. and Canadian movement Mennonite Action rallied in Harrisonburg on Tuesday to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. WMRA's Randi B. Hagi reports.
[people singing hymns, peace anthems]
About 175 people representing several Mennonite congregations and their allies gathered outside City Hall on Tuesday afternoon, bearing signs that read "peace on Earth," "cease fire," and "let Gaza live." They delivered a letter to city leaders asking them to pass a resolution advocating for a ceasefire in Gaza. Reuters reported on Jan. 31 that some 70 U.S. cities, including Chicago and Seattle, have passed resolutions related to the Israel-Hamas War.
Emily Hershberger is a local planner with Harrisonburg Mennonite Action.
EMILY HERSHBERGER: I come as a mother. I also come as a Mennonite Christian who follows Jesus, and Jesus was someone who blessed children, who healed sick people, who fed the hungry. Today, what's happening in Gaza is very much a war on children.
The Associated Press reports that Israel's attacks on Gaza have killed more than 29,000 Palestinians since the beginning of the war. Around two-thirds of the dead are women and children.
HERSHBERGER: This is not working. This is not making Israel safer. It's not making us safer in this community as anti-Semitism and Islamophobia and anti-Arab sentiment rise because of these tensions. We need our leaders to listen. We need our leaders to wake up to that reality. The bloodshed is only increasing, and we come as people of faith to say, "no more. Not in our name."
Leaders of several humanitarian aid groups denounced the U.S. on Tuesday for vetoing a United Nations Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
