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 on 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 Landsman. By hosting Landsman, the Athens County Democratic Party is dismissing and condoning genocide. We want our local Democratic Party to state clearly that it does not support genocide and it will not platform candidates and representatives who do.
Landsman has accepted large financial donations from pro-Israel contributors. In 2023-24, Landsman received $385,808 from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. His next biggest contributors were a property management company, the University of Cincinnati and Kroger Co.
Landsman 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. He banned 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. 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. 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, 2025, a United Nations commission confirmed what humanitarian organizations around the world have also said: “Israel is responsible for the commission of genocide in Gaza.”
Since October of 2023, Israel has killed at least 66,000 Palestinians, including at least 18,430 children. Almost two 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, “4,800 amputations of limbs had been documented since the beginning of the war in the Gaza Strip, with 76% of those affecting the upper limbs and 24% 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 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.
Democratic 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, including 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 the Democratic Party. Democrats do not support Israel’s war in 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 taking the following actions: disinvite Representative Landsman, publicly condemn the genocide in Gaza and 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 of 2024, the 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 Landsman.
In the final hours of gathering signatures for this letter, Eric LeMay and Loraine McCosker met on 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 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.
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
Eden Truax
Henry Turner
Dylan Vanover
Charlie Vieregge
Rees Wyant
Alexandra Yobe-Bowen
