Prayers4Peace: Art Laffin’s Faithful Witness for Peace

on November 18, 2024

Art Laffin’s Faithful Witness for Peace

By: Art Laffin

A note from CMEP Executive Director Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon:

When I received this communication from Art in my inbox, I immediately asked if we might share it with all of you as a part of our Prayers for Peace (P4P) community at Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP). He graciously responded and gave permission – all the while asking for others to receive credit and acknowledgment. Art and Kathy were arrested for nonviolently protesting the war in Gaza during a pray-in on U.S. Federal Property at the Russell Senate Office Building Rotunda on March 21, 2024. Here are Art’s words, used with permission:

When Kathy and I appeared in court for our October 7th trial date, along with our legal team of Frank Panopoulos and Mark Goldstone, our two witnesses, Josh Paul and Philip Farah, and the many friends who were present, Prosecutor Roberts requested that Magistrate Judge Berkower grant a continuance as several government witnesses who were to testify were not available. The request was granted and we were given an October 23rd trial date. (see below report regarding the background of the case, pre-hearing prayer service outside the courthouse, and the court hearing). Also please see this short video about the witness and court case by TRT World that was posted on Instagram on October 7, 2024.

Yesterday, a notice was sent to Mark and Frank from Mr. Roberts stating that the charges against Kathy and me are being dismissed. The Notice of Dismissal reads:

Pursuant to Rule 48 (a)(1) of the Superior Court Rules of Criminal Procedure, the District of Columbia, by and through its attorney, the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, hereby informs the Court that it is dismissing the information in this matter.

Respectfully submitted, John A. Roberts, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Section.

Kathy and I are deeply grateful to Mark (and his interns) and Frank for all their help in this case, and for Josh and Philip’s willingness to testify at trial. We are also thankful for everyone who came to court to offer their prayerful support, as well as those who were not able to be at court and who expressed their prayerful solidarity.

On March 21, the date of the Christians 4 Ceasefire “Pray-In for a Ceasefire in Gaza” witness, the official Palestinian death toll in Gaza was over 32,000. Additionally, relief agencies reported that a vast majority of Gazans faced famine conditions due to lack of food and Israel’s prevention of crucial humanitarian aid shipments to be delivered. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, as of the first week of October, an estimated 42,000 people have died in Gaza, including 17,000 children, and over 100,000 have been injured as a direct result of Israeli bombing and siege. Nearly 2 million Palestinians have been displaced. As Israel has blocked critical food and aid to enter into Gaza, Gazans are experiencing famine conditions. Cases of polio have been reported. Most of Gaza is virtually uninhabitable.

The accumulative effects of Israel’s war on Gaza could mean the true death toll could reach more than 186,000 people, according to a study published in the Lancet medical journal in July 2024. The study points out that the death toll is higher because the official toll does not take into account thousands of dead buried under rubble and indirect deaths due to destruction of health facilities, food distribution systems and other public infrastructure.

Just think, over 10,000 Palestinians have been killed since our March 21st witness. On March 21st, the 13 of us who were arrested in the Russell Senate Rotunda were in fact engaging in an act of crime prevention. We should never have been arrested for this nonviolent witness. If the U.S. Senate would have listened to our prayerful plea, and that of so many more across the U.S. and called for a permanent ceasefire on the day of our pray-in, and authorized an arms embargo on Israel in accordance with the Leahy Law, over 10,000 lives could have been saved. Israel’s genocidal war now continues in Gaza and has expanded into Lebanon. Settler violence and Israeli attacks have increased in the West Bank. And the Israeli government, with U.S. backing, is now threatening to attack Iran.

Today, the Japanese group Nihon Hidankyo, a grassroots organization of atomic bomb survivors (Hibakusha) from Hiroshima and Nagasaki, received the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize for their “efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.” After the prize was announced, the co-chair of Nihon Hidankyo, Toshiyuki Mimaki, spoke to reporters in Tokyo and said, “In Gaza, bleeding children are being held [by their parents]. It’s like in Japan 80 years ago.”

I conclude with a portion of a Prayer of Lament that was offered last Friday, Oct. 4, outside the White House, during a prayer service for Peace in Gaza and the Middle East to mark St. Francis’s Feast Day.

For our nation’s role in the deaths of more than 42,000 Palestinians, including more than 17,000 children, each one of them a precious and irreplaceable life. Our leaders knowingly sent to Israel the weapons that killed them. For this we repent…