Wednesday
Jun022010
Muslim Advocacy Group Launches Campaign Against Israel's Blockade
Wednesday, June 2, 2010 at 3:00PM
By Alexa Gitler
Talk Radio News Service
Officials with a Muslim advocacy group in Washington, D.C. announced Wednesday the launch of a new campaign aimed at educating government officials as well as the public about what they say is a humanitarian crisis occurring in the Gaza region.
During a news conference, MAS Freedom, an entity of the Muslim American Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Islam, criticized the Israeli government for continuing to enforce an economic blockade along the Gaza strip. According to officials with the group, the decision to create a campaign, entitled, ‘End The Embargo, Let Gaza Live,' came in response to an incident earlier this week in which at least nine people were killed and dozens wounded after Israeli military forces stormed a humanitarian flotilla making its way to Gaza.
“We have the responsibility to speak truth to power, to call upon our President to do what is morally right in a crisis that we can influence as taxpayers, and citizens of the United States,” said Ibrahim Ramey, the group's civil and human rights director.
“We will continue to protest, demonstrate, petition our government, and do all the things that are necessary until the siege of Gaza ends," added Mahdi Bray, executive director of MAS.
Ramey said that the new initiative will use a petition drive and a post card campaign in an attempt to send a message to President Barack Obama and others in his administration that they must pressure Israel and Egypt to end the blockade.
Talk Radio News Service
Officials with a Muslim advocacy group in Washington, D.C. announced Wednesday the launch of a new campaign aimed at educating government officials as well as the public about what they say is a humanitarian crisis occurring in the Gaza region.
During a news conference, MAS Freedom, an entity of the Muslim American Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting Islam, criticized the Israeli government for continuing to enforce an economic blockade along the Gaza strip. According to officials with the group, the decision to create a campaign, entitled, ‘End The Embargo, Let Gaza Live,' came in response to an incident earlier this week in which at least nine people were killed and dozens wounded after Israeli military forces stormed a humanitarian flotilla making its way to Gaza.
“We have the responsibility to speak truth to power, to call upon our President to do what is morally right in a crisis that we can influence as taxpayers, and citizens of the United States,” said Ibrahim Ramey, the group's civil and human rights director.
“We will continue to protest, demonstrate, petition our government, and do all the things that are necessary until the siege of Gaza ends," added Mahdi Bray, executive director of MAS.
Ramey said that the new initiative will use a petition drive and a post card campaign in an attempt to send a message to President Barack Obama and others in his administration that they must pressure Israel and Egypt to end the blockade.
Protesters' Message To Obama: Get Tough On BP
While President Barack Obama met with officials from BP Wednesday, a handful of demonstrators gathered outside the White House to urge the President to take stronger action against the oil giant responsible for the massive spill in the Gulf Coast.
"[The White House has] yet to start talking about a criminal prosecution," said Diane Wilson, a shrimper and activist from Texas who last week poured what appeared to be oil on herself during a hearing with BP executives.
Mahdi Bray, the executive director of the Muslim American Society, also participated in the protest and joined the call for a tougher response.
"We want to apply more pressure on the White House and our public officials," Bray told Talk Radio News. "They really need to seize the assets of BP before they find some kind of financial loophole, possibly bankruptcy."