War criminal and former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert toured the United States in late October 2009. He is receiving massive speakers’ fees for these events, while the voices of his numerous victims remain unheard. In Kentucky, New Orleans, Chicago and San Francisco, he has been met by strong contingents of protestors who have disrupted his speeches, engaged in “people’s arrests” of Olmert, and made it clear that war criminals are not welcome! The US Palestine Community Network, alongside many other dedicated Palestinian community and solidarity activists in these cities, has joined in these protests to expose the war criminal Olmert. The World Affairs Council of San Francisco welcomed Olmert the war criminal, while standing by as protesters were subject to police brutality.
Over 220 people sent letters to the WAC, as below, through the USPCN. Find out more about the San Francisco Olmert protest here.
Dear Ms. Jane Wales,
I am dismayed and appalled about the World Affairs Council’s decision to invite Ehud Olmert to speak in San Francisco as an honored guest. Olmert is personally responsible for the massacre of approximately 1400 Palestinians during the December 2008-January 2009 Israeli war on the Palestinians of Gaza and over 1200 Lebanese killed during the July 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon. The massive devastation wrought by Olmert’s war on Gaza was recently documented by a United Nations investigation headed by South African Judge Richard Goldstone, whose report concluded that Israel and its officials should be held accountable for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The World Affairs Council should issue an apology to the people of San Francisco and, first and foremost, the victims of Olmert’s crimes, for its invitation to this war criminal. </p> <p>The killings in Gaza and Lebanon come in addition to the long sequence of criminal and brutal actions perpetrated by Olmert while at the helm of the Israeli government – the devastating siege on Gaza, the continuing construction of the Apartheid Wall and illegal settlements, the imprisonment of nearly 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners, the demolition of Palestinian homes, the threats of ethnic cleansing against Palestinians inside Israel, the denial of seven million Palestinian refugees’ right to return home, and the continuing military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.
Furthermore, I am appalled that while the war criminal Olmert was welcomed by WAC, human rights advocates who objected to Olmert’s war crimes were beaten and mistreated by police with the approval of WAC.
Ehud Olmert continues a legacy of world renowned war criminals who are rejected by the world’s conscience even while liberal governments afford them the veneer of legitimacy.
I hope to soon hear of an apology by WAC for its invitation to Olmert. A war criminal like Ehud Olmert should not be welcomed, feted and treated as an honored guest – he should instead be placed on trial before an international tribunal.
Sincerely,
