Eight groups across the religious/ethnic spectrum have called on the Marriott Marquis Hotel to cancel a fundraiser set for tomorrow night by the Hebron Fund, which gives money to the illegal colonies in Hebron. Protests are planned if the fundraiser goes forward.
Aaron Levitt of Jews Against the Occupation-NYC explains, "As a Jew who
has worked in Hebron as a human rights monitor, I'm dismayed that the
Marriott is facilitating fundraising for Hebron's violent Jewish
settlers. One example of this violence is the ritual stoning by Israeli
settler youth of Palestinian girls walking to the Cordoba School in Tel
Rumeida, Hebron. Each day, several dozen young girls hurried to their
schoolhouse, huddled together, past the entrance of the magnificent new
settlement synagogue. And each day settler youths standing in front of
their synagogue would hurl a barrage of stones at the passing girls.
The attackers' parents did nothing, or watched in approving silence.
The settlers' violence, and my own shame, was worst on Shabbat, when
sometimes I would stare at the beautiful synagogue, wondering what
corrupted version of my faith was practiced there."
