Open letter to the Athens County Democratic Party

Note: In the final hours of gathering signatures for this letter, Eric LeMay and Loraine McCosker met Monday, Sept. 30, with the current Athens County Democratic Party Chair, Lauren Dikis, who has the final decision about whether to host Landsman. Dikis stated that the Athens County Democratic Party currently still intends to hold the event with Landsman. We hope that the additional voices of the signatories below will change her and the ACDP’s decision. Dikis also voiced her interest in hearing from our community. You can reach her through the ACDP email at info@athensdems.org.

To the Athens County Democratic Party,

We are Athens County community members and/or Athens Democrats. We have recently learned that the keynote speaker for the Athens County Democratic Party’s fall dinner Oct. 3 is Congressman Greg Landsman. Landsman is an active supporter of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, actions that amount to a genocide of the Palestinian people according to a recent United Nations commission and multiple international human rights organizations.

We are urging the Athens County Democratic Party and its Chair Lauren Dikis to disinvite Rep. Landsman. By hosting Landsman, the Athens County Democratic Party is dismissing and condoning genocide. Moreover, we want our local Democratic party to state clearly that it does not support genocide and that it will not platform candidates and representative who do.

Greg Landsman’s Support of Israel and Genocide

* Landsman has accepted large financial donations from pro-Israel contributors: In 2023-24, Landsman received approximately $415,657 from pro-Israel lobbies, including $385,808 from American Israel Public Affairs Committee. His next biggest contributors were a property management company ($46,200), the University of Cincinnati ($37,624), and Kroger ($33,941).

* Landsman has repeatedly voted to send aid — specifically military aid — to Israel: In November 2023, Landsman voted to cut the IRS budget in order to send $14 billion in unconditional aid to Israel. In February 2024, he voted to send another $17.6 billion. In April 2024, he voted to send another $14 billion in weapons to Israel. In July 2025, he also voted against cutting $500M for Israeli missile military programs. 

* Landsman has repeatedly voted to suppress voices supporting Palestinians: Landsman voted to condemn pro-Palestine college students. He voted to allow the Trump administration to revoke non-profit tax status from pro-Palestine organizations. He also voted to ban representatives of the Palestine Liberation Organization — internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian territories — from entering the U.S. 

* Landsman has repeatedly given Israel and its leaders diplomatic cover for their crimes: Landsman voted to ban the State Department from citing Palestinian death tolls from the Gaza Health Ministry. He voted for a pro-Israel resolution declaring that Israel is not a racist or apartheid nation. (It is, according to Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the International Court of Justice.) He has travelled to Israel multiple times since being elected and met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and then Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, who both have arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court for war crimes. Instead of respecting international law, Landsman voted to sanction the ICC for Netanyahu’s arrest warrant. 

* Landsman has directly prevented humanitarian aid from reaching Palestinians: Landsman has undermined support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, the primary relief agency through which Palestinians receive life-saving support, through his public statements and legislative action. He has also not cosponsored recent Democratic efforts to restore funding to UNWRA and deliver aid to people in Gaza. 

To find out more information about Landsman as well as the sources for this information, go to Athens Against Genocide.

Israel is illegally committing genocide against Palestinians

On Sept. 16, a United Nations commission confirmed what humanitarian organizations around the world have also stated: “Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza.” These organizations include Amnesty International, Doctors Without Borders, Human Rights Watch, The International Association of Genocide Scholars, The International Federation for Human Rights, The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, and the Israeli organizations B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights in Israel.  

What does this genocide look like? Since October 2023, Israel has killed at least 66,000 Palestinians, including at least 18,430 children. Almost 2 million Palestinians are facing an intentionally man-made famine because Israel refuses to allow humanitarian aid to enter Gaza. 90% of those people have been displaced and deprived of life-saving shelter, food, medical services, electricity, and clean water. Israel has destroyed most of Gaza’s infrastructure, and its soldiers have targeted doctors, journalists, and other humanitarian aid workers. 

To give one glimpse into the horrors currently taking place, a recent United Nations report states that “4,800 amputations of limbs had been documented since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, with 76 per cent of those affecting the upper limbs and 24 per cent the lower limbs. Ten children were losing one or both legs every day. Gaza had become home to the largest group of child amputees in modern history, according to rights organizations.” This is the violence that Israel is enacting against the Palestinian people. It is the crime of genocide, as defined by international law in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Democrats voters do not support genocide 

The majority of American Democrats disapprove of Israel’s military action in Gaza. In a recent Gallup poll taken in July 2025, only 8% of Democrats expressed approval of Israel’s military actions in Gaza. Moreover, only 38% of all Americans — Democrats, Republicans, and independents — approve of Israel’s actions. Another poll shows Democrats disapprove by 75% of sending more military aid to Israel. Democratic officials who support Israel’s genocide of Palestinians are not representing the people in Democratic party. Democrats do not support Israel’s war on Gaza, and the Democratic Party should represent this view of its Democratic voters.

In the face of this global atrocity, the moral and the political choice are the same: The Democratic Party should fight to end in genocide in Gaza.

We call on the Athens County Democratic Party to be a leader in our community and a light for the Democratic National Committee by doing the following actions:

• Disinvite Representative Landsman.
• Publicly condemn the genocide in Gaza.
• Refuse to support Democratic candidates or representatives who support genocide.

Our community in Athens has a long history of fighting for and upholding human rights. In February 2024, Athens City Council passed a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. So, too, did Athens’ neighbors in Chauncey, which passed a resolution for a ceasefire in May 2024. 

Let us continue to advocate for universal human rights, including the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza. These are everyday people, people like us, and they are suffering unimaginable violence from the Israeli state through the direct support of U.S. politicians, like Greg Landsman.

Sincerely,

Eric LeMay and Loraine McCosker on behalf of: 

Mizan Ali

Gene Ammarell

Alisha Bicknell

Jessica Bodimer

Dianne Bouvier

Heather Cantino

Phil Cantino

Noah Clouse

Micky Dale

Ash Dasuqi

Frans H. Doppen

Bonnie Edwards

Elizabeth Elrod

Nancy Epling

Susan Erlewine

Ari Faber

Mara Giglio

Peggy Gish

Felicity Gunn

Ellie Hamrick

Alex Hearne

Christine Hughes

Natalie Johnson

Laura Kington

Suzanne Knauerhase

Melissa Link

Emma Loam

Claudia Lyon

Jeff Lyons

Al Maloney

Emory Mathy

Joe McLaughlin

Davey McNelly

Susan McNish

Mimi Morrison

Zella Nisley

El Pelfrey

Jerah Pettibone

Kelsey Prater

Andrea Reik

Michael Rohs

Jax Scally

Debra Spangler

Anne Sparks

Brian Stephens

Sophie Stockum

Anna Teske

Eden Truax

Henry Turner

Dylan Vanover

Charlie Vieregge

Rees Wyant

Alexandra Yobe-Bowen

Note: Davey McNelly and Al Maloney, signatories on this letter, is a columnist and an employee of the Athens County Independent, respectively. Their views do not represent or reflect views of the publication.