Fast for Gaza Hits 20-Day Mark

As Israel detains the Freedom Flotilla’s Madleen sailboat, Veterans and Allies Fast for Gaza at the U.N. reaches its halfway point.

New York, June 9, 2025 – The international peace movement is not waiting on governments to stop the genocide in Gaza. Tomorrow, a coalition of military veterans, religious and humanitarian organizations reaches the halfway mark in their 40-day Veterans & Allies Fast for Gaza; the Freedom Flotilla boat, “Madleen” has been seized by Israelis the same day they kill 145 in Gaza; and the Global March To Gaza will walk in solidarity to the Rafah border crossing to demand the entry of aid trucks halted by Israel.

The demands of the Veterans & Allies Fast for Gaza are:

Full humanitarian aid to Gaza under UN authority and
No more U.S. weapons to Israel.

From May 22, several of the fasters have stood in front of the U.S. Mission to the U.N., on First Avenue, from 9:30 a.m. until 3 p.m. They limit themselves to 250 calories per day, an amount reported to be the average available to Gazans. They are joined by over 700 people, fasting for various lengths of time in the U.S., including people in Italy, Germany, Ireland, Canada and Hong Kong. The fast is organized by Veterans For Peace and is sponsored by 45 peace and justice organizations, led by Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA).

Joy Metzler, VFP member and recent graduate of the Air Force Academy, joined the fast saying, “My entire military education focused on how and why to wage war. I was being prepared to become a military professional. Now, I am watching as our government unconditionally supports the very violations of international law I was trained to recognize. I was trained to uphold the values of justice, and that is why I am speaking out and condemning our government’s complicity in the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.”

Russell Brown, VFP member and Viet Nam combat veteran, said, “Israel’s genocide in Palestine gives me the same sleepless nights and stress-filled days I experienced after Viet Nam, which opened my eyes to the horrors of war. Marine Corps General Smedley Butler said he was a ‘Gangster for Capitalism.’ Since Viet Nam, I have always thought of myself as having been a terrorist for the USMC and have spent my life trying to make up for it by opposing the war mongers in government, the corporate weapons manufacturers and the media covering up for them.” He added, “When I tell people I am going to eat only 250 calories a day for 40 days, many tell me I might destroy my health. But that is all most Palestinians eat every day, month after month. I ask why they don’t have the same concern for the People of Gaza. The U.S. and Israel don’t even try to hide the atrocities they commit every day. The genocidal Zionists want them gone, exterminated, and the US keeps supplying Israel with the tools to do it.”

Phil Tottenham, a Marine Corps veteran fasting in New York for the duration said, “I used to believe the U.S.-Israeli narrative my entire life until I began researching during the 2014 Gaza ‘War’ and saw the cruelty inflicted on innocent civilians.” The VFP member added, “when I finally was able to visit the West Bank prior to Oct. 7th, I saw with my own eyes and felt with my heart how genuine and generous the Palestinians are and how they love all people, Jewish, Christian, or Muslim. But they do not love their occupiers – who would? I also learned how vile racism towards Palestinians is intentionally taught in Israeli homes and schools and how Israel strategically separates the two peoples from each other.”

Kathy Kelly, board president of World BEYOND War, also in NY for the fast, said, “The midpoint of our fast comes at a dire time for besieged Palestinians, where Israel has begun the final phase of its genocide. The lives of millions are at stake. To protect the Palestinian people, the UN General Assembly must demand a complete military embargo and a ceasefire. It should also convene under the Uniting for Peace Mandate to suspend Israel from the General Assembly if it continues to flout international law. We implore the mainstream media to fully cover the Palestinians’ dire plight.”

Ken Ashe, VFP member and Viet Nam combat veteran, said, “After two years in Viet Nam I questioned what all the death and destruction was for and the only conclusion I could come to was the war industry made tons of money while career officers got promotions. Herman Goering, prior to his war crimes trial at Nuremberg, explained it is easy to take people to war – just tell them there is an enemy out there and we are going to save you. I learned there is nothing in it for the average person while the rich profit greatly.”

Mike Ferner, former National Director of Veterans For Peace, also in NY for the fast, said, “Seeing hundreds of people maimed, burned, and killed every day drives me crazy – just as it did when I nursed wounded G.I.s returning from Viet Nam.” He went on to say, “we simply must open humanitarian aid under UN authority and stop U.S. weapons that fuel the genocide. But beyond that, I say to the CEOs who truly govern our country: Beware! We not only condemn the slaughter of innocents in Palestine, we also condemn this system that gives your corporations the same rights as people – those Bill of Rights protections you use to shred every remnant of democracy and govern America for your benefit.’”

Bios and more quotes from NYC Fasters

Joy Metzler, 23, Cocoa FL, VFP member, co-founder of Serivcemembers For Ceasefire, USAF Academy ‘23 graduate, discharged as a conscientious objector citing “US aggression in the Middle East and the murderous ethnic cleansing in Palestine.”

Russell Brown, 77, Buffalo NY, joined the Marines in 1966; served with the 3rd Marine Division, 1stst Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment in Viet Nam 1966-67 and left the military extremely anti-war. “I joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War trying to end that horror and am now a lifetime member of Veterans For Peace, working for the justice needed for peace.”

Phil Tottenham, 47, Toledo OH, Marine Corps veteran, VFP member, descendant of “Old 300” original Texas settlers; took a sledgehammer to the apartheid wall in the West Bank.

Kathy Kelly, 72, Geneva, IL, defied economic sanctions against Iraq by delivering medicines there twenty-seven times; lived in Iraq throughout the “Shock and Awe” bombing; lived with families in Gaza, Jenin, and Lebanon during U.S.- supported Israeli operations. Helped coordinate the Merchants of Death War Crimes Tribunal.

Ken Ashe, 75, Asheville NC, raised in Arizona, joined the Army in January 1969; sent to Viet Nam as a helicopter mechanic and crew chief on a Dustoff (Medevac) chopper. After struggling to reintegrate into society, got married and had two children; became politically active “When I heard George Bush talking about how Sadam Hussein needed to be stopped.”

Mike Ferner, 74, Toledo OH, Navy corpsman 1969-73; former member of Toledo City Council; participated in a 35-day water-only fast with Kathy Kelly to protest the 2003 Iraq invasion; author of “Inside the Red Zone: A Veteran For Peace Reports from Iraq.” Mike is a Lifetime Member of VFP and is currently under treatment for Gleason-10 prostate cancer.

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