Demonstrators call on U.S. to rein in Israel amid attacks on Iran

Several dozen activists marched from the JFK Federal Building to the Israeli consulate in Park Square Friday, calling on U.S. lawmakers to push for a de-escalation of hostilities after Israel bombed Iran Thursday evening, hitting nuclear enrichment facilities and apartment buildings in the suburbs of Tehran.

Iranian officials say 78 people were killed, including six nuclear scientists and two military leaders, and 320 were wounded in the attacks.

Israel’s aggression came as U.S. diplomats were preparing to meet with Iranian government representatives to nuclear treaty negotiations aimed at dissuading the country from developing nuclear weapons. An Iranian spokesman said Saturday that the talks would be “meaningless” as the U.S. has allowed its ally Israel to attack.

The bombing raised fears in the international community of an all-out war between Israel and Iran that could draw in the United States — a staunch ally of Israel — and others. Israel is widely acknowledged to possess nuclear warheads and has repeatedly bombed Iranian nuclear sites in recent years to stop the nation from enriching uranium.

By Friday night, Iran had retaliated with missile attacks that targeted sites across Israel, injuring 40. Iranian leaders called Israel’s attack “an act of war.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday the attacks on Iran would continue “as long as necessary” and Saturday launched new attacks on Iran.

In Boston Friday, activists at the rally and march called on the U.S. rein in Israel.

Ziba Cranmer, an Iranian American said U.S. military aid to Israel has made the attacks on Iran possible.

“We have given Israel $300 billion in aid since 1948 including $53 billion in weapons sales and $18 billion in the last year of the Biden administration,” she said. “It is this aid that has allowed Israel to operate with complete impunity, to carry out its genocide in Gaza, to bomb Lebanon or Syria and Iran with zero checks from its patron; the United States with our tax dollars.”

Richard Solomon, a member of MIT Coalition for Palestine, said the United States’ transfer of arms to Israel violates the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, of which the U.S. is a signatory, which bans member states from transferring arms to countries which possess nuclear weapons but have not signed the treaty. Israel is not a signatory and has not allowed international inspections of its nuclear facilities. It is believed to possess more than 90 nuclear warheads.

Activists called on the Massachusetts congressional delegation to prevent President Trump from going to war on behalf of Israel.

“We need our legislators, our leaders and every person of conscience to speak up to oppose this war, to oppose the United States getting involved in another massive boondoggle in the Middle East,” said Joseph Gerson, director of programs at the New England Region of the American Friends Services Committee. “We must remember the war in Iraq and remember that the Bush administration told us it would only take three to six months and cost very little. Instead, it expanded and the United States was trapped in a generation-long quagmire that killed thousands of our soldiers and cost trillions of dollars.”

“We need voices here and everywhere demanding diplomacy, not destruction — negotiation, not annihilation — cooperation, not catastrophe — and we need all voices to be part of this diplomacy,” said Michal Fux, an Israeli peace activist speaking in front of the JFK building. “No more deaths in Iran. No more deaths in Israel-Palestine. We deserve better. We demand better.”

Activists called on the Massachusetts lawmakers to pass legislation that would divest state pension funds from Israel’s military. House bill 2984, sponsored by Rep. Erika Uyterhoeven of Somerville and Sam Montaño of Jamaica Plain, would divest state pension funds from companies providing military equipment to Israel.

Senate bill 767, sponsored by Sen. Pat Jehlen of Somerville, would divest state pension funds from entities which manufacture, produce, promote, sell, or distribute weapons of mass destruction.