On July 25th, a group of community folks gathered outside the office of Rep. Marilyn Strickland and along nearby College Ave. to convey our grave concerns about Gaza and her hesitancy to take a stand for the people there.
We issued this statement, written by Dr. Antoon-Walsh:
| Local constituents banged pots and pans outside of Rep Strickland’s Lacey office on Friday. Their goal is to raise awareness of the empty pot and pans the Palestinian people of Gaza are also banging in protest of their deliberate starvation by Israel as the last supplies of food have run out.
Local pediatrician Dr. Emily Antoon-Walsh stated “Of the over 100 people known to already have died from malnutrition, over 80 of them are children. We know that children die first in famine. Infant formula has run out and our colleagues are watching their patients die without being able to feed infants in the NICU. The doctors and nurses don’t have food themselves.” Israel has already starved dozens of Palestinian children to death. After months of deliberate starvation, countless Palestinians will die if food is not allowed to enter emergently. Even if food does get in, the stage of starvation is so extreme that refeeding syndrome can kill many as well. Reintroduction of nutrition must be done slowly and carefully as refeeding puts one at risk for cardiac arrhythmias and dangerous electrolyte imbalances. Dr. Mimi Syed, a local physician who has been to Gaza, has said that the wounds of her patients would not heal due to chronic malnutrition. Now her colleagues working in the hospitals, the healthcare workers, are not eating for days at a time. One stated she is praying for death, not for help, but for death because that would be better than starving to death. Thousands of aid trucks are waiting outside of Gaza. UNRWA warehouses have enough to feed Gaza for several months, but Israel won’t let this food enter. The Israeli soldiers even confiscated cans of infant formula from the personal luggage of an American physician entering Gaza. A 6 week old child named Yousef is known to have starved to death in recent days. His mother was too malnourished to breastfeed, and infant formula is blocked from entering Gaza by Israel. The US has immense leverage over Israel. Our government could get food into Gaza with one phone call. We are here to urge Strickland to do the following:
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Our group – PASS (Palestine Action of South Sound) – has been supporting two local doctors in their efforts to meet with Rep. Strickland; Dr. Anton-Walsh, a pediatrician; and Dr. Syed, ER physician who has served in two medical missions to Gaza and at the time of this writing is on the Gazan border, having been denied entry for a third mission. We’re sad to report that Rep. Strickland has not agreed to meet with these two doctors who have much to share with her — vital information and a perspective that we think she very much needs to hear.
Much has been going on here in western WA, nationally and around the world, as the outrage and anguish is growing about the beyond-dire conditions in Gaza. 60,000+ people killed, including 16,500 children (sadly the number is likely higher) and 200 journalists who have been courageously trying to get the story out into the world. The vast number of injuries, including amputations that will alter lives beyond imagination. The starvation conditions imposed by the Israeli government, and abetted by the US government’s partnership with Israel. The growing infection rate in the hospitals, making recovery much, much more difficult. The anticipated long-term environmental hazards – endangered life among smoldering ruins and grotesquely impaired quality of air, soil and water. And on … and on. The doubt, the hesitancy is receding: international communities and official bodies at the UN have identified the Gazan crisis as a genocide (November 2024, the UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices) and a famine (August 2025, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification).
We want to share here some of our efforts, in hopes others will join us, through meetings, involvement in public vigils and protests, and urgently needed pressure on public officials. We struggle to find ways to make impacts. We do this in connection with regional, national and international organizations… such as the Rachel Corrie Foundation, American Friends Service Committee, Doctors Against Genocide, Jewish Voice for Peace, the Institute for Middle East Understanding. We grieve for the people of Gaza, for those Palestinians in the West Bank who are facing relentless attacks on their villages and farms, … and for those Israelis who try to mount a resistance, stop the assault, and bring sanity back to their lives.
Here are ways we have been trying to give voice to the anguish many of us are feeling
A committed PASS activist, who has created and sustained our website, passoly.org, Michelle Ryder offers this
| The Legislative Committee of PASS has an ongoing campaign to hold local Representative Strickland accountable. This campaign encompasses letter writing, legislative meetings, vigils and protests at her office in Lacey, and public awareness campaigns to challenger her pro-Zionist policies and refusal to recognize the Palestinian people’s inalienable human rights. We reject Rep.Strickland’s support of the Israeli government and its crimes against the Palestinian people. We demand that she explain her actions and change course. (visit our website for updates). |
We are approaching other legislators, including Senator Patty Murray.
Bill Dole shares this about an anticipated conversation with Senator Murray’s staff, a meeting requested by the Rachel Corrie Foundation:
| We’ll be thanking Senator Murray for her support on the JRDs (Joint Resolution Disapproval of foreign arms sales) – and other thank you’s like her support for investigation and accountability for Saif Mussalet’s killing. We’ll remind her of the upcoming anniversary of Aysenur’s killing. We’ll have several voices in the room, talking about the history of Zionism, and that the oppression of Palestinians began long before Netanyahu. Our overall purpose is to encourage Murray to move from statements to concrete actions on how she can help implement peace between Israelis and Palestinians. |
At the state level, PASS has reached out to legislators in the 22nd district. We’ve networked with WA for Peace & Justice on matters relating to Palestine, urging legislators to take decisive steps in support of justice and equity. We’ve called on elected officials to champion measures acknowledging the impacts of genocide, redirect state funding away from wars and toward the real needs of Washingtonians. State legislators were urged to call for an independent US investigation into the killing of human rights observer Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, state resident and 2024 UW graduate, who on September 6, 2024, was shot and killed by an Israeli military sniper near the West Bank village of Beita. The State House adopted House Resolution 4661 recognizing “the extraordinary life of Ayşenur Ezgi Eygi” and commending “her legacy of activism which continues to inspire other Washingtonians to fight for social and environmental justice and to work for a more equitable, sustainable world.” Alongside Ayşenur’s family, PASS members attended the April 23, 2025 House session during which Ayşenur was recognized.
Cindy Corrie noted,
| For those of us residing in Olympia and Thurston County, it was especially heartening to have co-sponsorship support for House Resolution 4661 and Senate Joint Memorial 8012 (calling for an independent U.S. investigation into Ayşenur’s killing) from our 22nd District state legislators. I am grateful to House members Beth Doglio and Lisa Parshley and Senator Jessica Bateman for their strong support of these legislative actions and for the warmth they personally extended to Ayşenur’s family. |
We are still hoping that our legislators in the 22nd and in the WA state legislature will build momentum for a resolution condemning genocide in Gaza and around the world… and use their influence to press Congress to do the same…. As soon as possible.
For ways that YOU can join us and others to build momentum against the genocide in Gaza, see Part 2 of this article in this issue of WIP.
Dr. Emily Antoon-Walsh is a pediatrician, a founder of the Institute for the Understanding of Anti-Palestinian Racism and a member of PASS.
Lin Nelson is a retired Evergreen teacher, a former board member of the Rachel Corrie Foundation and a member of PASS.
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