This week, New York City is welcoming world leaders for the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly. One of them is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is wanted for arrest by the International Criminal Court for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.<\/p>\n
Mass public pressure has forced Netanyahu to change his travel plans for this year’s visit, shortening his trip to just 24 hours to deliver a speech where he plans to defend<\/a> Israel’s horrific crimes in Gaza and Iran. The pressure comes from protests planned<\/a> by activist groups across the city and opposition from New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who has called on federal authorities<\/a> to arrest Netanyahu under the ICC warrant, since the city itself lacks the legal authority to do so.<\/p>\n Even though local officials don\u2019t have the jurisdiction to execute the warrant, there is still so much we can do to cut off the U.S. funding to Israel that has bolstered Netanyahu and his regime\u2019s ongoing genocide against Palestinians. That\u2019s why I decided to run for office myself: to challenge the status quo and transform politics as usual.<\/p>\n This past June, I was elected to be the Democratic nominee for state Senate representing Western Queens, and could become the first Palestinian American to win elected office in New York this November. I\u2019ve spent my life advocating for Palestinian rights by organizing protests, lobbying elected officials, and most recently, co-authoring the Not On Our Dime<\/a> bill introduced by then-Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani and state Sen. Jabari Brisport to stop New York state from subsidizing Israeli settlements and war crimes.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s been disheartening to see so many of my future colleagues in Albany remain silent on Netanyahu\u2019s visit and our state\u2019s complicity in genocide against my people, I also know it\u2019s nothing new. Before Oct. 7, 2023, few politicians I\u2019d met with were willing to speak up for Palestinians, and even fewer were willing to co-sponsor the Not On Our Dime legislation when it was first introduced in 2023, the bill faced immense backlash<\/a> from Democratic leaders in the state legislature.<\/p>\n In the three years since then, there\u2019s been a sea change in public opinion, with more Americans than ever turning against<\/a> the brutality of the Israeli apartheid regime funded with our tax dollars. Mamdani\u2019s outspokenness against the genocide in Gaza and his focus on affordability and fighting for dignified lives for New Yorkers is what propelled <\/a>him to his historic victory last year. However, many of our leaders are still greatly out-of-step with the constituents they represent<\/a>. With midterm elections quickly approaching, they would be wise to take note, particularly if they want to mobilize the masses needed to defeat fascism at the ballot box.<\/p>\n As the chief architect of the ongoing genocide in Gaza that has killed more than 74,000 Palestinians<\/a> in the last three years, Netanyahu must be arrested and held accountable for his actions. It should be an easy demand for elected officials to make. At the same time, however, it won\u2019t stop the war crimes and violence committed against Palestinians. Netanyahu is one man \u2013 a leader of a country full of officials and a military who are seizing people\u2019s homes, abusing prisoners and bombing hospitals. Israel\u2019s apartheid regime didn\u2019t start when it invaded Gaza after Oct. 7; it has existed for more than 78 years. And just like leaders of the past, Netanyahu can be easily replaced, and bombs would resume dropping the next day.<\/p>\n In addition to accountability, we need systemic change and to utilize all of the tools at our disposal to cut off U.S. support for the state of Israel. New York legislators are far from powerless, and any who claim to have no influence over Israel\u2019s actions are either speaking in bad faith or just simply ignorant of where our tax dollars go to.<\/p>\n Passing the Not On Our Dime Act is one way elected officials can take action and support Palestinians. In May, Brisport and newly elected Assembly Member Diana Moreno reintroduced<\/a> the bill, picking up stronger momentum that reflects how the tides are changing in the halls of power with regard to Palestine. However, nine Assembly cosponsors and three in the state Senate are not enough. We need more legislators to back policies like Not On Our Dime to divest our taxpayer dollars from Israeli war crimes and invest them in our communities and in our city.<\/p>\n Beyond divestment, elected officials must also act to stop weapons transfers happening right here in our own city. Organizers with NYC-DSA\u2019s Break the Chain are sounding the alarm<\/a> over military cargo that is being shipped out of John F. Kennedy Airport to weapons manufacturers in Tel Aviv. According to reports from The Intercept, explosive material like grade A nitrocellulose is sharing the same runways<\/a> as passengers and workers, putting countless lives at risk. As state legislators, we owe it to our constituents who are funding the airport with their taxpayer dollars to demand accountability from the Port Authority and all complicit airlines, and to halt all shipments that are being used to aid Israel\u2019s ongoing genocide.<\/p>\n We can learn a lot of lessons from the international solidarity movement that organized against apartheid in South Africa. In the 1970s and \u201980s, our government was resistant to backing comprehensive sanctions on the brutal apartheid regime, with most legislators happy to continue our economic relationship while offering meaningless platitudes about the evils of racism. There were of course representatives who saw the moral necessity of action before the rest of the country, including the Congressional Black Caucus who introduced anti-apartheid legislation in 1972 and Assembly Member Herman Ferral<\/a> who pushed for divestment on the state level.<\/p>\n