KINGSTON – Several hundred people rallied outside Congressman Pat Ryan’s Kingston office late Thursday afternoon calling on him to support a ceasefire in Gaza and stop supporting public funding for the war.
Israel declared war against the Hamas terrorist network after members attached on October 7 and slaughtered hundreds of civilians and took hundreds hostage.
Hamas hides out among innocent Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is attempted to root out the terrorists. Innocent Palestinians are dying during the fighting and the protesting groups are calling for an end to the killing.
Mie Inouye, a member of Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America, said as a soldier, Ryan should know there is no military solution to Gaza.
“We grieve every life that has been lost in this conflict, including Israeli and Palestinian lives,” she said. Our point is we are against war and we want to put an end to the violence and we believe that what Israel is doing in Palestine, which is they have killed over 10,000 people, half of them children, is not going to bring peace to the region, in fact, it is just going to perpetuate the cycle of violence.”
Felice Gelman, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace – Hudson Valley, said she is “deeply disappointed to see my congressman line up with the same militarists who brought us the Iraq war. Didn’t he learn anything from serving?”
Bard Students for Justice in Palestine also participated in the rally. Days earlier, the same group issued a statement with sketches of parachutists, a reference to the Hamas attacks on Israel, supporting the terrorists.
In a series of tweets on “X,’” formerly Twitter, Ryan wrote that “Our ally, Israel, is surrounded by enemies who seek to destroy it. It has both the right and the responsibility to defend itself and its people – including rescuing hostages, reasserting control of its border, and establishing deterrence against future attacks.”
Saying he is “deeply committed to pursuing a lasting peace… I believe that will only be achieved through a two-state solution.”
Ryan criticized Hamas for its “long history of using civilians as human shields, (and) I continue to urge Israel to do everything in their power to minimize civilian casualties and respect human rights.”
