Progressive Jews Demand an End to Syrian Genocide

News Release February 10, 2012 from TIKKUN Magazine

Progressive Jews Demand an End to Syrian Genocide and a Boycott of Russian and Chinese Products as Long as Those Countries Refuse to Join in Active Measures to Replace the Assad Government!!!

Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun magazine (the largest circulation progressive Jewish magazine in the world), called upon the world community to intervene and stop the genocide being waged by the Assad government against the people of Syria.

In a statement sent to President Obama, the U.N. and world leaders of Western countries, Rabbi Lerner said, "The world must not sit idly by on the blood of the democracy- and human rights-seeking people of Syria against their brutal dictatorship. The Syrian regime has already killed more than 5,000 of its own citizens, and tens of thousands have been wounded, or arrested and tortured. This is a crime against humanity, and it deserves a powerful intervention from the West."

Rabbi Lerner went on to say, "Those who condemned Israel for its invasion of Gaza must recognize that the deaths in Syria are already three times larger than the deaths of that misguided activity of Israel that earned it the condemnation of much of the world. Syrian President Assad and his military and police henchmen msut be brought to trial at the International Court of Justice! It is time now to actively and non-violently engage in active measures to replace the Assad government. Those measure should include economic boycotts of Syria and of Russia and China for refusing to join in opposing the genocide in Syria. The economic noose that the US has started to use against Iran is immediately needed against Syria's genocidal regime. Massive economic and human right support (including medical supplies, physicians and nurses, temporary clinics, food and rations) are desperately needed by the people of Syria who are being shelled and bombed and massacred by their government.

Strong and universal condemnation of Russia's and China's cynical role in preserving the dictatorial regime of Assad should be followed by a global boycott of goods from Russia and China till they join in the efforts to change the genocidal regime in Syria. Progressive Jews oppose the use of military force to achieve these ends, but there are many non-violent means that have not yet been tried to weaken the Assad regime, and they must be implemented immediately to help stop the massacre that has been going on for months but that has recently escalated in a bloody and horrific way in Homs and other Syrian cities."

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