Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine Call for Vigil for International Palestinian Children’s Day

Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine Call for Vigil for International Palestinian Children’s Day.
When: Friday April 5th 2024 at 12 Noon
Where: UCSF PARNASSUS CAMPUS 530 Parnassus Avenue.


On April 5th 2024 International Palestinian Children’s Day we gather here at the Parnassus campus of the University of California to mourn the mass killing of 32,000 Palestinians 70% of whom are women and children.

We mourn the more than 72,000 wounded, of whom a vast number are children who have had to suffer amputations without anesthesia because of Apartheid Israel’s illegal blockade of humanitarian aid.

There is a new category among Humanitarian Aid workers trying desperately to help the children of Gaza:
WCNSF- Wounded Child No Surviving Family.

This is because Israel targets entire families, completely destroying entire family lines.

We mourn the complete destruction of homes, and vital infrastructure by the US/UK bombs that Israel has been dropping on Gaza during these past 6 months.

We denounce the bombing of Gaza, of hospitals, schools, universities, and we denounce the forced starvation of the more than 2 Million people of Gaza via the refusal by Israel to allow land-based aid into Gaza via the borders.

All of these actions by Israel constitute War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity and there is more than ample evidence that was presented to the International Court of Justice by South Africa.

This evidence supports the position that Israel and any country selling arms to Israel is plausibly guilty of GENOCIDE.

We demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire, an end to US aid to Israel, a resumption of US funding to UNRWA and unrestricted opening of the Borders to provide the emergency humanitarian aid to All of Gazans (South as well as Northern Gaza).

We demand the release of ALL hostages, including the 10,000 Palestinians that Israel holds in jails under military law instead of civil laws.

Many of these are CHILDREN under administrative detention being held indefinitely without charges.

The latest news coming out of the Israeli two-week siege and annihilation of an important hospital, Al-Shifa, has brought credible reports of mass executions of hospital personnel and patients, with visible proof of torture, and bodies strewn throughout the complex showing signs of being trampled to death by bulldozers.

This includes CHILDREN. As Healthcare workers 4 Palestine, many of whom work at the University of California, we were horrified to see the disproportionate actions by Israel after Oct 7th.

This was the sixth such attack by Israel against a civilian population of 2.3 Million which has been under illegal siege during the past 17 years.

We were also reasonably alarmed when on November 5, 2023 we learned that 100 Israeli doctors had signed on to a letter urging the IDF to “BOMB any and all HOSPITALS in Gaza”. This, coupled with the direct targeting of healthcare workers and ambulances, we called on senior leadership to take a stand and denounce the bombing of hospitals and the targeting of healthcare workers by Israel.

Senior leadership’s response was less than morally acceptable, whom instead doubled down on the typical tropes that any expression of solidarity w/ Palestine could in any way be construed as antisemitic which could endanger Jewish students.

This response totally disregarded the fact that Jewish students and staff were also standing with Palestine.

We demand that the University of California DIVEST from Israel in its pension and endowment funds and refuse to hire or collaborate with any of the 100 Israeli “doctors” that signed on to the letter urging the bombing of hospitals in Gaza. In fact, we stand in solidarity with Palestinian civil society and trade unions in support of the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions movement where we demand UC academically Boycott Israel from any and all participation with UC.

Unions throughout the country as well as UC worker unions have passed resolutions in solidarity with Palestine demanding a Ceasefire.

The Regents of the University should take a brief look at history and see how their support for Apartheid South Africa damaged the reputation of this institution.

We are asking UC to do the right thing and cleanse itself from its Genocidal ties to Apartheid Israel.

An institution of higher education and of healthcare should not be an investor in any business that manufactures weapons or of businesses that aid a government that commits war crimes. Especially war crimes against institutions of healthcare and education.

If the ICJ rules that this is a genocidal war, then all owners of companies providing money and weapons to Israel are liable to be held complicit in future litigation. This means it’s critical to reduce this risk for the university. To make sure that our investments do not support entities that do not meet PRIDE standards.

Healthcare Workers 4 Palestine