GSWOC-UAW Bargaining Team Statement on Palestine: California elected officials must take action toward a ceasefire

October 17, 2023

We grieve the horrific loss of thousands of Palestinian and Israeli lives over the last ten days at the hands of the IDF and Hamas. We stand in unwavering solidarity with the two million Palestinian civilians trapped in Gaza as they undergo the trauma of nonstop bombing and forced transfer at the hands of the right-wing Israeli government and Israeli Defense Forces (IDF).

This did not begin ten days ago. The Israeli government’s decades-long violent dispossession of Palestinian lands and the continued dehumanization of the Palestinian people have created the situation unfolding before our eyes. We can’t ignore that the Israeli government’s current war efforts are an escalation of years of apartheid and occupation.

With the full backing of the United States government, Israel has begun a retaliatory campaign in the Gaza Strip that enacts collective punishment through cutting off essential resources such as water, electricity, and Internet services. The IDF’s deployment of nearly 10,000 bombs in a little over a week has already killed over 2,700 Palestinians, including over 1,000 children. The IDF is planning to escalate its assault on Gaza, which would result in untold additional deaths of innocent Palestinians with no place to go. We join millions across the globe in sounding the alarm that Israel’s escalation in Gaza amounts to an imminent genocide.

As the elected leadership of GSWOC-UAW who have met with and will continue to meet with elected officials across the state, we believe it is our moral obligation to speak up and call on California elected officials to demand a ceasefire and de-escalation in Gaza.

Elected officials in California have both the power and the responsibility to take action to immediately cease funding to the Israeli government and the IDF. We are proud to continue the long history of the labor movement’s solidarity with oppressed people across the globe through calling for an immediate ceasefire—and ultimately, for an end to the occupation.