On Easter Sunday, March 31, 2024, from 10am to 5pm, at the White House, active-duty Air Force Senior Airman Larry Hebert will begin a hunger strike to highlight the plight of the starving children of Gaza.
He will be at the White House on Monday, April 1, 2024, for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll to remind parents and their children that while they are playing with Easter eggs on the White House lawn, children all over Gaza need eggs to stave off starvation.
Hebert will be at the White House all next week, April 1-7. Beginning Monday, April 8, when Congress returns from recess, he will be outside the houses of the U.S. Congress.
In mid-March, Senior Airman Larry Hebert, age 26, from rural New Hampshire and a member of Veterans For Peace, took authorized leave from his assignment at Naval Station Rota, Spain to participate in demonstrations demanding a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and to visit Congressional offices to press for stopping weapons shipments to Israel, which violate several U.S. laws.
Hebert said, “I was deeply touched when I saw that Aaron Bushnell took his own life at the Israeli Embassy for the people of Gaza and knew that I had to raise my voice in opposition to the U.S. government supplying Israel the bombs and rockets to commit genocide in Gaza. Active-duty members are afraid to speak out and I hope that my example and that of others, like Aaron, can change that.”
With six years in the Air Force, Hebert joins many hundreds of current and retired military and civilian government officials urging U.S. leaders to stop fueling Israel’s war that has killed well over 32,000 Palestinians, most of whom are children. Starvation and disease are rapidly becoming as deadly as the war itself in the area Israel has bombed to rubble.
Hebert is available for interviews.
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Following is a summary of the laws currently being violated by U.S. State Department and other officials every time weapons shipments to Israel are authorized. This summary is included in a letter Veterans For Peace sent to the State Dept. Inspector-General Feb. 12.
• The Foreign Assistance Act, which forbids the provision of assistance to a
government which "engages in a consistent pattern of gross violations of
internationally recognized human rights.”
• Arms Export Control Act, which says countries that receive US military aid
can only use weapons for legitimate self-defense and internal
security. Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza goes way beyond self
defense and internal security.
• The U.S. War Crimes Act, which forbids grave breaches of the Geneva
Conventions, including willful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, willfully
causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, and unlawful
deportation or transfer, perpetrated by the Israeli Occupying Forces.
• The Leahy Law, which prohibits the U.S. Government from using funds for
assistance to units of foreign security forces where there is credible
information implicating that unit in the commission of gross violations of human
rights.
• The Genocide Convention Implementation Act, which was enacted to
implement U.S. obligations under the Genocide Convention, provides for
criminal penalties for individuals who commit or incite others to commit
genocide.
Contact: Larry Hebert, 571-220-9099
Mike Ferner, 314-940-2316 mike@veteransforpeace.org
