As the Israeli government continues its assault on Gaza, the world protests.
Rebecca Cohen (NBC NEWS) notes Saturday:
Members of labor unions, including the United Auto Workers, rallied in Manhattan’s Herald Square today to protest Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza and to call for the U.S. to stop sending aid to Israel.
The group made its way down New York City's Sixth Avenue chanting and holding signs, some of which read, "END ALL U.S. AID TO ISRAEL!"
The protesters, who all appeared to be peaceful, chanted, "When people face genocide, resistance is justified," and, "Hey, hey, ho, ho, the occupation has got to go."
Friday? KABC reports, "Traffic near Los Angeles
International Airport was partially blocked Friday afternoon and evening
as dozens of protesters marched to bring attention to the Israel-Hamas
conflict" and that they were "calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, saying '." This followed by one day an action in Pennsylvania. CBS NEWS notes, "A protest calling for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza ended
after the group blocked traffic on I-76 westbound and the Spring Garden
Street Bridge in Philadelphia on Thursday evening. The protest, which
involved roughly 150 people, lasted about three hours." Amy Goodman (DEMOCRACY NOW!) noted a series of Thursday actions, "The peaceful actions in Seattle, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, Portland,
Washington, D.C., Chicago, Minneapolis and Atlanta came on the eighth
and final day of Hanukkah. In Portland, protesters blocked the Burnside
Bridge as they held a homemade nine-foot menorah and sang Hanukkah songs
and prayers."
Also on Thursday, Ethan Baron (EAST BY TIMES) reports:
Hundreds of protesters rallied in San Francisco this week against Google’s Project Nimbus cloud-computing contract with the Israeli government.
About a dozen protesters outside Google’s offices on Market Street laid down Thursday on the sidewalk under white shrouds marked with “Genocide” in Google’s trademark colors.
Marching to drums, protesters chanted, “Google, Google, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.”
Bay Area Google software engineer and protest organizer Rachel Westrick said a significant number of the activists were Google employees, but an exact number was not available. Workers at the Mountain View tech giant have been agitating against Project Nimbus since it was announced in 2021, gathering more than 1,000 signatures on an internal company petition demanding Google drop it, Westrick said.
What about Wednesday? Well that was a historic day. Maura Zurick (NEWSWEEK) reported:
More than three dozen people, most donning sunglasses and masks to conceal their identities, participated in the evening vigil, according to media reports.
Former State Department official turned activist Josh Paul, who resigned in October over the Biden administration's approach to the Israel-Hamas war, addressed the crowd during the demonstration in Washington, D.C.
Newsweek reached out via email on Wednesday night to Biden's representatives for comment.
"The temporary ceasefire ended 13 days ago, and we have been horrified to see the full resumption of killings, displacement and bombardment of Palestinian civilians in Gaza," Paul said during prepared remarks he made on behalf of the vigil attendees. "A temporary pause to this violence was never enough. We must move with urgency to save as many lives as possible and achieve an immediate, permanent ceasefire agreement and the return of all hostages."
The number of Palestinian civilian casualties has sparked accusations of Israeli war crimes. Numerous videos and images of suffering in Gaza, which is home to roughly 2.3 million people, have ignited demands by many for a ceasefire.
Protests for Palestine on Saturday were full of rage over Israeli crimes. But some were the smallest ones since 7 October—and there is a real danger the mobilisations stop for weeks over Christmas and New Year.
That’s far from inevitable. Watford saw its “biggest protest for many years” according to one protester. And 1,000 people gathered outside Downing Street. The protest was made up of health workers who had marched from St Thomas Hospital and a demonstration that had joined them from Lambeth and Southwark.
Probably the biggest protest was in Birmingham where more than 3,000 marched. “The anger over the Israel genocide has not gone away. We can’t have a lull in being on the streets,” said one protester.
The march included union banners from Unison and the UCU. In Bristol 800 took to the streets. Barclays bank shut its door for fear of an occupation over the bank’s involvement with arms companies that sell to Israel.
“Around 500 people rallied on the steps of Hackney Town Hall in east London,” reports Mike. “The event was focused on a series of music and poetry performances, led by Palestinian artists. This was followed by a march to Dalston for more performances.
“Saturday’s event follows a highly successful Assembly in the borough, where activists, Stop the War and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign agreed to step up the campaign ahead of the next national demo. It also follows a powerful vigil by health workers at the local Homerton hospital.”
Around 200 people gathered outside Tower Hamlets town hall, also in east London. Sophia, originally from Paris, told Socialist Worker that she was on holiday and saw the protest from her hotel window. “I had to join,” she said.
And, in Israel, THE WASHINGTON POST notes:
Thousands of Israelis demonstrated in Tel Aviv on Saturday after the Israeli military mistakenly killed three hostages carrying a white flag in Gaza, which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called a “terrible tragedy.” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin
has left for the Middle East, with planned stops in Bahrain and Qatar,
as well as Israel, where he will discuss “the next steps in the
conflict,” the Defense Department said.
