Vigil on Monday, April 8, 2024 (Photo – Brian Biery)
Gathering marked six months of vigils in front of Rep. Judy Chu’s office calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and an end to Israeli occupation of Palestine.
By News Desk
People from several faith traditions came together on Monday night, April 8, for the 24th week in a row, to pray, grieve, protest, and call on U.S. Representative Judy Chu to take urgent action in support of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and end to Israeli occupation.
About 100 Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, Christians, humanists and others created a memorial altar near the sidewalk outside of Rep. Chu’s office with flowers, handwritten notes, candles, poems and images of people killed in Gaza by the Israeli government, with the support of US military aid. Children did chalk art on the sidewalk and crafts to remember those who have been killed.
Frank (who asked that his last name be withheld), a member of Pasadena Mennonite Church, a faith community which helped spark the Monday night vigils with other interfaith friends, said, “We pray for an end to genocide and an end to occupation. We pray that Palestinians may be free from oppression, and Israelis free from oppressing. The altar is there to honor the martyrs of Palestine, to keep their memory alive in us. This altar is a sacred space of collective death and life intermingled. Of sorrow and hope.”
Hedab Tarifi, former chair of the Islamic Center of Southern California, and an Arcadia resident who was born in Gaza, shared that about 150 family members have been killed by Israeli airstrikes, ranging from 3 months old to over 70 years. Many were buried in the rubble. Rev. Katerina Gea, pastor of Pasadena Mennonite Church, read their names aloud at the vigil to honor their lives and personalize the mass civilian casualties.
Polls show that the majority of US voters disapprove of Israeli action in Gaza now, as the death toll in Gaza reaches over 33,000, with thousands more presumed dead under the rubble; at least 13,000 children have been killed as of April. The UN warns that 1.1 million more Palestinians are at risk of imminent death; half of Gaza has been classified by food security experts as enduring catastrophic famine; leading human rights and international law experts have denounced the atrocities in Gaza as a genocide. On December 29, South Africa filed a case with the International Court of Justice court with evidence that Israel is violating the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Organizers say that the Monday night vigils are family friendly and open to all who support a ceasefire: “The vigils will continue until world leaders act to end the genocide in Gaza.”
Gathering in front of Rep. Chu’s office in Pasadena (Photo – Brian Biery)
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