Aurora AANHPI community members join statewide demand for Gaza ceasefire

AURORA | Leaders and community members in Colorado’s Asian American and Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander community are calling for a ceasefire in Palestine, a sentiment shared with many other world leaders. 

A coalition of AANHPI leaders presented a letter signed by over 200 community members – including from college students, educators and business owners – to Colorado congressional representatives. The letter demanded a call for a ceasefire in Palestine and to end military aid to Israel, according to a press statement the coalition released  Thursday. 

“As Asian Americans, many of us come from lineages of colonization and military conquest throughout Asia. We know what occupation looks like. That’s an important priority for our coalition, ending the occupation in Palestine,”  Daranee Teng, a Southeast Asian educational equity researcher-practitioner, said in the press statement. “Our diverse histories and experiences underscore our community’s commitment to advocating for justice, decolonization, and peace on a global scale.”

Leaders with the coalition had an in-person meeting with Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette, who represents Denver. They also spoke with a staff member who works with Democratic Rep. Yadira Caraveo, who represents the new Colorado’s 8th congressional district north of the metroplex. 

The press statement did not say when community leaders met with DeGette. However, they wrote that during the hour-long meeting with her, she “committed to releasing a comprehensive statement calling for a ceasefire.”

Degette released a statement on Dec. 5 calling for a new peace agreement between Israel and Hamas. The statement only includes seven bullet-pointed sentences about the ongoing conflict. 

The coalition leaders said that her statement “fell short” of calling for a ceasefire. 

They also met with Caraveo’s legislative director, Ben Harrison. 

Harrison told the coalition leaders that Caraveo was not interested in supporting a ceasefire, that she supported sending military aid to Israel and was supportive of “replenishing the Iron Dome.”

“Representative Caraveo campaigned last year on a platform centered on amplifying the

voices of working-class and marginalized communities,” the press statement said. “With a background as a pediatrician, the Representative has shared concerns over the challenges within our own medical system. Upon learning of the Congresswoman’s position, the coalition expressed disappointment over her unilateral support for Israel and lack of action regarding the public health crisis in Gaza.”

Coalition leaders are in the process of a scheduling a meeting with Democratic Rep. Brittany Pettersen, and have not received any response from Representative Joe Neguse “despite consistent outreach,” according to the press statement. 

Pettersen represents Colorado’s 7th Congressional District and Neguse represents the 2nd Congressional District. 

Their press statement was released the day before the United States vetoed a United Nations resolution demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza. 

Supporters called it a terrible day and warned of more civilian deaths and destruction as the war goes into its third month.

The vote in the 15-member council was 13-1, with the United Kingdom abstaining. The United States’ isolated stand reflects a growing fracture between Washington and some of its closest allies over Israel’s increasingly deadly bombardment of Gaza. France and Japan were among those supporting the resolution.

In a vain effort to press the Biden administration to drop its opposition to calling for a halt to the fighting, the foreign ministers of Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and Turkey were all in Washington on Friday. But their meeting with Secretary of State Antony Blinken took place only after the U.N. vote.

The vote also shifted responsibility more squarely onto the United States for protecting Israel from growing demands to stop the airstrikes that are killing thousands of Palestinian civilians.

“What is the message we are sending Palestinians if we cannot unite behind a call to halt the relentless bombardment of Gaza?” United Arab Emirates deputy ambassador Mohamed Abushaha asked after the vote. “Indeed, what is the message we are sending civilians across the world who may find themselves in similar situations?”

U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood criticized the council after the vote for its failure to condemn Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which the militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, or to acknowledge Israel’s right to defend itself. He declared that halting military action would allow Hamas to continue to rule Gaza and “only plant the seeds for the next war.”

“Hamas has no desire to see a durable peace, to see a two-state solution,” Wood said before the vote. “For that reason, while the United States strongly supports a durable peace, in which both Israelis and Palestinians can live in peace and security, we do not support calls for an immediate cease-fire.”

Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 17,400 people in Gaza — 70% of them women and children — and wounded more than 46,000, according to the Palestinian territory’s Health Ministry, which says many others are trapped under rubble. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.

Abushahab, the UAE diplomat, said before the vote that the resolution, which his country sponsored, had garnered nearly 100 co-sponsors in less than 24 hours, a reflection of global support for efforts to end the war and save Palestinian lives.

After the vote, he expressed deep disappointment at the U.S. veto and warned that the Security Council is growing isolated and “appears untethered” from its mandate to ensure international peace and security.

Russia’s deputy U.N. ambassador Dmitry Polyansky called the vote “one of the darkest days in the history of the Middle East” and accused the United States of issuing “a death sentence to thousands, if not tens of thousands more civilians in Palestine and Israel, including women and children.”

He said “history will judge Washington’s actions” in the face of what he called a “merciless Israeli bloodbath.”

The council called the emergency meeting to hear from Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who for the first time invoked Article 99 of the U.N. Charter, which enables a U.N. chief to raise threats he sees to international peace and security. He warned of an “humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza and urged the council to demand a humanitarian cease-fire.

“The AANHPI community in Colorado remains resolute in their pursuit of justice, peace, and international cooperation,” the press statement said. “We look forward to continued engagement with our state’s elected officials to champion the needs of our communities and fight for a future in which Palestine will be free.” 

— The Associated Press contributed to this report.