On Tuesday, 27 July, New York city advocates for justice in Palestine, led by Al-Awda NY, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, exposed infamous extreme Zionist settler Justin “Yaakov” Fauci outside his Long Island home. Fauci became notorious for publicly admitting his crime when he stated, “If I don’t steal it, someone else is gonna” as he invaded the Palestinian home of the Al-Kurd family, home to Muna, Mohammed and Nabil al-Kurd among generations of Palestinian strugglers. He moved from New York to become a colonizer in Palestine and seize the Al-Kurd family home in Sheikh Jarrah, Jerusalem.
In East Meadow, Long Island, the organizers delivered mock eviction notices to Fauci’s home and posted “Wanted” posters around the area while wearing t-shirts bearing the notorious statement Fauci made as he casually invaded the Al-Kurd home, reading, “If I don’t steal it someone else is gonna steal it = home invasion, genocide and Zionist extremism.”
Settlers like Fauci are supported by a string of Zionist organizations in the U.S., most of which enjoy both federal and state-level tax-exempt status in New York.
Attorney Lamis Deek, of Al-Awda NY, declared: “It is a violation of U.S. federal law for Americans to engage in war crimes and genocide, it is shocking that there is impunity for such open acts of violence, and it is outrageous that New York State actively shelters, promotes and celebrates such violence, which is itself also a crime.”
Protesters also highlighted other levels of complicity throughout local governments in supporting the colonization of Palestine. Under Councilmen Esposito and Blakeman, Hempstead was twinned with an Israeli settler-colony built on stolen Palestinian land in the West Bank and dedicated a plaza to settler spokesman David Friedman, who calls for the colonization of all of Palestine.
“These councilmen are celebrating anti-Palestinian violence and sending a message to Palestinians that they are not safe in New York or in Palestine. Our government should e work to protect all our communities and not exhorting them to export violence, to break US laws, and legislating anti-Palestinian racism. This has to end, and the Hempstead IHRA Executive Order issued must be struck down,” said Suzanne Adely, president-elect of the National Lawyers Guild.
Following the action at Fauci’s home, activists protested the offices of New York Attorney General Letitia James in Brooklyn. The protest was organized by Al-Awda NY and the NY4Palestine Coalition, including Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, American Muslims for Palestine – New Jersey Chapter, Existence Is Resistance, Within Our Lifetime: United for Palestine, and Jews for Palestinian Right of Return, along with allied organizations Jewish Voice for Peace – New York City, and was attended by a large contingent of Neturei Karta.
The protest drew attention to New York-based Zionist nonprofits helping settlers – like Fauci himself – to participate in the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinians.
“We’re here today because this is what the people of Palestine – our friends, comrades, and in many cases our families – ask of us,” U.S. coordinator of Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, said, speaking about the new Campaign to Defund Racism launched by over 150 Palestinian activists, municipalities, and organizations, including the Samidoun Network in occupied Palestine, on July 21.
The protesters urged New York Attorney General Letitia James to shut down and revoke the non-profit, tax-exempt status of groups which are funding war crimes and crimes against humanity in Palestine. The groups are also demanding an end to New York-based Zionist extremism, and calling on New York communities and government officials to stop aiding and normalizing war criminals operating in the state.
“The U.N. Human Rights Commission Rapporteur recently decried settlements as war crimes, and New York private and government actors are actively abetting war crimes, violence and genocide in Palestine with wholesale impunity. This must end if Palestine and the region can ever see peace,” said attorney Audrey Bomse, a member of Al-Awda New York and the National Lawyers Guild.
Deek closed by saying, “This will be the first of many actions to demand the closure and prosecution of Israeli apartheid and war crime perpetrators. New Yorkers want our taxes to be used to support our communities here instead of being used to destroy communities and commit high crimes in Palestine.”
