By Press TV Website Staff
Jennifer Koonings, a New York City-based activist and nurse practitioner who recently participated in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, spoke to the Press TV website about the ongoing war on Gaza and the "worst" humanitarian crisis in the besieged Palestinian territory.
Koonings and other pro-Palestine activists in New York recently launched a hunger strike outside the United Nations headquarters in New York City, demanding an immediate ceasefire and cessation of attacks on Gaza.
They joined more than 60 Palestinian activists in Jordan who are now on day 11 of their hunger strike against the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza.
“We demand an immediate arms embargo on Israel, sanctions against Israel, suspension of Israel’s UN membership status, 500 aid trucks into northern Gaza immediately and protection of healthcare workers and infrastructure,” he told the Press TV website.
The death toll from the Israeli genocidal war on Gaza that completed 400 days on Saturday has risen past 43,600. According to the latest UN report, 70 percent of victims in Gaza are women and children.
Koonings said the only reason why genocide can be ignored or even justified in the West is because the Palestinian victims are not seen as human beings.
“I can mostly only speak for the indifference in the United States but I believe it mostly comes down to anti-Arab and anti-Muslim hate. Americans have been fed anti-Arab rhetoric for decades leading to the complete dehumanization of people from West Asia,” she told the Press TV website.
“Americans have more or less accepted that "war" happens in countries "over there" and that people living in those places are somehow "used to it" or even "deserving of it", which is the result of the US empire's decades-long propaganda campaign justifying their war crimes.”
The US activist who works as a sexual assault forensic examiner for adults and children in New York City said the average American is “kept in the dark about the truth of the US empire's crimes and a large majority are kept too poor and oppressed to have the capacity to seek the truth and fight for it.”
With Democrats out of power in the US and Donald Trump returning to the White House, Koonings said both Democrats and Republicans “serve corporate interests” and are not concerned about Gaza.
“It doesn't really matter who is in the White House, they are both fascist and not for the people,” she said, adding that the Democrats are “more harmful” for only giving “lip service” about human rights.
“I think things are already at "worse" in Gaza. Trump doesn't come into office for another three months and the genocide is happening today, right now, so that is what we need to focus on,” she told the Press TV website in the middle of her hunger strike.
Koonings also recently participated in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and said the flotilla is “ready to go.”
“The ships have passed endless inspections with flying colors and are ready to sail with flags from countries who are anti-Zionist. Unfortunately, the Turkish government is the only thing in the way now and will not give the appropriate paperwork for the ships to leave the port, effectively holding the ships hostage,” she asserted, referring to the current status of the humanitarian mission.
“There has been an encampment at the ship's port since September protesting Türkiye's sabotaging this mission. We still hope to carry out this important mission that over 4 million people around the world donated to.”
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