Town Meeting voters in Newfane will be debating a resolution that calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and calls on the Vermont Congressional delegation to support Sen. Bernie Sanders' Resolution 504, currently tabled in the U.S. Senate.
Resolution 504 calls on the State Department to certify that U.S. weapons are not being used to commit war crimes. If the State Department cannot certify that within 30 days, then the arms shipments must be stopped.
U.S. weapons and ammunition are part and parcel of the indiscriminate bombing of Gaza, which have led to more than 29,000 civilian deaths, including more than 10,000 children. More than 10 children a day lose limbs because of the onslaught.
Sen. Peter Welch and Rep. Becca Balint have both expressed a desire that Israel not kill civilians indiscriminately, but neither has done anything within their power as members of the U.S. Congress to work towards that goal.
As Johanna Gardner, one of the Newfane residents who gathered signatures for the Town Meeting warning, said, "Those of us putting forth this resolution deplore the wanton killing of civilians in Gaza. We want to see our representatives do all they can to stop the bloodshed."
Gardner added, "Furthermore, we do not want our tax monies to be used for killing, especially when on our home turf we have myriad problems that languish without tax dollars to solve them. If money is to be sent to Israel, we want to know that American equipment or money will not be used in any way that would be a violation of human rights."
Even if congressional reps. don't respond to the hundreds and thousands of individual calls for ceasefire that they have received, Newfane organizers hope that a vote by the entire town will have more of an impact on them.
Dan DeWalt
Newfane
This letter to the editor was submitted to The Commons.