Reports from around the world on Saturday as popular opposition explodes against Israel’s war and Western support for it it.
Paris, France
Huge crowds of protesters filled the streets of Washington, D.C. and other U.S. cities on Saturday joining hundreds of thousands around the world to demand a cease-fire in Israel’s war on Hamas, which has killed and wounded more than 40,000 Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip in just one month.
“We came here to let our voices be heard and our hearts and hoping we’ll change the way people see this conflict,” 70-year-old Manar Ghanayem told The Washington Post in the nation’s capitol, where demonstrators gathered in and around Freedom Plaza.
“Every human is entitled to basic human rights, not killing kids, not torturing people,” added Ghanayem, who traveled from North Carolina to march in D.C. with more than a dozen friends and family members, including young grandchildren.
Ghanayem also said that she voted for U.S. President Joe Biden in 2020 but was outraged by his response to the war. As she put it, “I can’t believe Biden is turning a blind eye to this and gave Israel the green light.”
This has to be the biggest pro-Palestinian march in U.S. history https://t.co/m9k6JV7U6v
— Ryan Grim (@ryangrim) November 4, 2023
Rather than advocating for a cease-fire, the Biden administration has pushed for “humanitarian pauses” in what critics are calling Israel’s “genocidal” air and ground assault of Gaza—launched after a Hamas-led surprise attack on Israel on October 7.
After speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the beginning of the war, Biden said that “my administration’s support for Israel’s security is rock solid and unwavering.” He quickly asked Congress for $14.3 billion for the Israeli war effort, on top of the typical $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid.
“Americans do not support the genocide in Palestine, we do not support the occupation, yet we are being robbed of our own resources in order to fund this oppression,” said CodePink organizer Nour Jaghama earlier this week. Her anti-war group is a part of a broad coalition that supported Saturday’s demonstrations in the United States.
“We need to show our government that we are outraged at them for forcing us to participate in such a disgusting and devastating attack on humanity,” Jaghama continued. “As Americans, we have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters in Palestine to fight for them however we can.”
We are witnessing the largest U.S. anti-war protests since the #Iraq war. pic.twitter.com/3rRxViWF1P
— Rula Jebreal (@rulajebreal) November 4, 2023
Jaghama also delivered a speech on Saturday. According to CodePink:
“One of the most prominent questions we need to ask ourselves is: Why we can hear these words and firsthand accounts from Gaza yet the genocide still continues? Why do only 18 representatives and ONLY ONE senator support a cease-fire? And why does President Biden insist on funding Netanyahu’s genocide?” she asked the crowd…
She then aimed her questions directly at President Biden: “Is this how you want to be remembered? A genocidal, destructive, warmonger? Shame! Look at this crowd, clearly the American people do not agree with your genocidal plans. You must call for a cease-fire now or solidify your position as one of the most inhumane presidents in American history. The American people demand a cease-fire, an end to the occupation, and the full liberation of Palestine.”
Demonstrators in D.C. carried signs with messages like “Stop U.S.-funded genocide,” “Cease-Fire Now,” and “Let Gaza Live!”
Sharing a photo from the D.C. gathering on social media, Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said: “Solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of people nationwide who marched in support of a #CeasefireNOW. Our pro-peace, pro-humanity movement is strong and it is growing daily.”
St. Louis
DC
South Korea
Germany
Norway
South Africa
Puerto Rico
England
Japan
& so many more placesMillions of people marched today showing solidarity with the Palestinian people.#CeasefireForGazaNow#EndTheOccupation#EndTheSiege
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) November 5, 2023
The Saturday actions followed weeks of protests at places including congressional offices and major transit stations. Jewish Voice for Peace noted Monday that “Jewish people all throughout the United States are protesting in unprecedented numbers against Israel’s destruction of Gaza and the United States’ unwavering support.”
Protesters, supporters, and journalists shared updates on social media.
New York, New York:
Close to a thousand marching east on 34th for Palestine and #CeasefireNOW. pic.twitter.com/HfujUA5pNj
— PRO_NYC (@protest_nyc) November 4, 2023
Minneapolis, Minnesota:
Look at who is leading a march for Palestine in Minneapolis #settlercolonialism #ceasefirenowpic.twitter.com/YWNjkc5mvS
— Professor Kamel Hawwash ???????? ???? ???? ?????? (@kamelhawwash) November 4, 2023
Olympia, Washington:
Really incredible turnout in Olympia, WA today. It was POURING all morning. Some of the streets leaving Seattle looked like literal lakes. Didn’t matter. The people are here, demanding a #ceasefireNOW. #FreePestine #ceasefire pic.twitter.com/q7oFXzJaqW
— Kristina Beverlin (@krisbeverlin) November 4, 2023
San Francisco, California:
(Photo: Brett Wilkins/Common Dreams)
(Photo: Brett Wilkins/Common Dreams)
(Photo: Brett Wilkins/Common Dreams)
The Associated Press reported that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Saturday “met with Arab foreign ministers in Jordan a day after talks in Israel with… Netanyahu, who insisted there could be no temporary cease-fire until all hostages held by Hamas are released.”
Officials in Israel say Palestinian militants are holding around 240 hostages and more than 1,500 Israelis have been killed over the past four weeks. According to the Gaza Health Ministry, Israel’s war on the besieged enclave has killed over 9,400 Palestinians. Amid a surge in settler violence, 133 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank.
Israel has faced global criticism for cutting off the people of Gaza from food, water, fuel, and medicine as well as bombing homes, schools, medical facilities, religious buildings, and a refugee camp. Some citizens of Israel have joined in worldwide demands for International Criminal Court action on “escalating Israeli war crimes and genocide.”
Pro-Palestinian protests were also held around the world on Saturday, including in Berlin, Germany; Dhaka, Bangladesh; London, England; Paris, France; Milan, Italy; Santiago, Chile; and Tokyo, Japan. Scientist and organizer Lucky Tran said on social media that “we are witnessing the biggest global anti-war protests since the Iraq War in 2003.”
Montreal, Canada
Tens of thousands at a rally supporting Palestine in Montreal, Canada.pic.twitter.com/W6ErjeZtx3
— Dr. Lucky Tran (@luckytran) November 4, 2023
London, England
In the United Kingdom, tens of thousands of people blocked London’s Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus, then marched to Trafalgar Square. Al Jazeera reported that “protesters held ‘Freedom for Palestine’ placards and chanted ‘cease-fire now’ and ‘in our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians.'”
CN Live!‘s Cathy Vogan filmed this report from Sydney, Australia three weeks ago, which ended in the Murdoch press attacking it as a “March of Madness”.
“Security is often used as justification for oppression.” Ta-Nehisi Coates
“Civilization – Colonization – Extermination” – Raoul Peck, “Exterminate All The Brutes” HBO documentary series. Americans need to watch this in order to understand how our own brutal history is being replayed in Palestine.
Settler-Colonialism – project to replace the native population. The US practiced all three methods – Apartheid, Ethnic Cleansing, and Extermination. Will Israel be allowed to do the same?
A moral question to ask – Does the colonizer have the right to defend itself during colonization?
Who has the right to use violence in a conflict between oppressor and the oppressed?
“And the source of the violence is a certain ideology, a certain racist ideology, a Zionist ideology, that at its very basic is the elimination of the native.” Ilan Pappe
hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=1OcjOP8iUCU
“I’m not interested in anybody’s guilt. Guilt is a luxury that we can no longer afford. I know you didn’t do it, and I didn’t do it either, but I am responsible for it because I am a man and a citizen of this country and you are responsible for it, too, for the very same reason… Anyone who is trying to be conscious must begin to dismiss the vocabulary which we’ve used so long to cover it up, to lie about the way things are.” – James Baldwin
“I imagine that one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, that they will be forced to deal with pain.” – James Baldwin
“It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have.” – James Baldwin
“The state of Israel was not created for the salvation of the Jews; it was created for the salvation of the Western interests. … The Palestinians have been paying for the British colonial policy of ‘divide and rule’ and for Europe’s guilty Christian conscience for more than thirty years.” – James Baldwin
The US lost 1.1 million of 330 million or about 0.3% of the population to Covid in 3 1/2 years.
Since October 7 Gaza has lost at least 10,000 of 2 million or over 0.5% of their population to collective punishment by Israel for the Hamas attack.
At least Covid largely spared the children.
Let’s hope that a “global religious war” doesn’t happen. Religion, whatever form it has held onto in it’s ever-changing forms over untold centuries, isn’t really worth a blood-bath. The big-end of the egg versus the little-end of the egg isn’t really worth genocide. The egg itself has only a few meaningful perspectives, none of which are worth murder, or even less, political revolution. We are looking at the leader of a small, disheveled country relying on us for continued money to keep power, while he stays out of jail just barely for fraud and dishonesty. He had to stay in power or go to jail. Why would he care about which of those outside his country, or even those inside his country, pay the price for keeping him out of jail? Egocentric maniacs don’t ask for permission to impose their will. Little Bibi is just one of many of those who shall follow, all of them seeking the golden light which they hope can outshine the darkness they have unleashed.
Israel is among the top 20 Global Economies GDP
per Capita in the world.A rich country.
Why is USA a debt ridden nation supporting this middle eastern catastrophe at all?
All by design? Intentional? Why?
I don’t know how far $4 billion would go in the US, but that is the amount given to Israel every year from the US. So coupled with all the weaponry they acquire with which to kill people/animals/plants/trees etc i suppose they could pay off a lot of their debt Maura. But of course we both know that will not happen.
Shahid Bolsen put it best when he said that Israel is not a real country, it’s a policy instrument of the US. Others have called it our unsinkable aircraft carrier in the Middle East.
I think rather that the U.S. is a policy instrument of Israel after reading Whitney Webb’s One Nation Under Blackmail.
When I look at Blinkin’s face I am reminded of the mask of Dorian Gray.
How true! That’s how i’ll always see him from now on.
I know exactly what you mean, but it isn’t only Guardrails. Kissinger, Soros, McConnell, Pelosi, Schumer, Biden, on and on and on, it is quite clear that these people DO NOT HAVE a portrait in their attic. Their evil is writ upon their visages.
Do not waste time on Protest, your politicians will not listen. THE SOLUTION IS BDS.
If you can link a business to Israel then refuse to deal with it.
If you find your bank is linked to Israel, withdraw all deposits.
If you see a politician supporting Israel, vote for anyone else.
This is the only strategy that frightens Israel.
We need a lot more of that, and a lot more besides. Everything we can do.
hxxps://en.irna.ir/news/85281863/Iran-FM-lauds-major-pro-Palestinian-gathering-in-Indonesia
And then some.
My wife took a bus with a large group of activists from the Chicago/Wisconsin area. She said the turnout was incredible.
Photo in front of City Hall in San Francisco shows half the crowd. On the other side of those trees on the right is the whole other half of City Hall Plaza and it was packed. I know because I was there. There is an excellent video, taken by a drone, from Turkiye. hxxps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmbvbcTaCNc
Unfortunately, as recent history shows, mass anti-war protests don’t have much of an impact. Certainly, protests helped end the Vietnam war, but this was mostly due to the financial costs and American body bags, especially the body bags. Until Americans and Europeans die in large numbers due to the ever expanding new Middle East crisis, Israel will continue its current American-supported path to expand its “promised land” territory, even if it means wiping out Palestinians. However, I have faith that brave Independent Jewish Voices will gradually prevail, and along with their equally brave Muslim counterparts, end this horrendous escalation towards what at present appears to be heading towards a global religious war between Muslim and Christians which will see hundreds of millions of us die.
CNN: “Netanyahu suspends far-right cabinet minister who appeared to suggest use of nuclear weapons in Gaza”
Of course, Israel has never admitted having nuclear weapons. Now the cat is out of the bag, and we see what lunatics are in that government. And Blinken, spineless diplomat extraordinaire, continues to refuse even to consider a ceasefire. How do these people sleep at night?
They sleep totally at peace because they are devoid of decency, humanity, conscience. And in most cases even a grain of intelligence.
Thank you for this reporting, including the photos and videos. That we must beg our ‘leaders’ to act in the interests of peace says it all, really. But these protests bring a glimmer of hope that their relentless and naked war propaganda is losing its power, at least on this issue.
75 consecutive years of conflict without a resolution. Who is at the negotiations table? Always includes a representative of the United States as a key “negotiator”. Until the parties at the table change there will be no resolution. The key negotiator claims to want resolution but really wants the chaos and war to continue.
Only possibility for resolution is for the United Nations to actually fulfill its role and bring in outside parties that actually prefer peace. Therefore, in with the UN and China. Out with the USA. And out with the USA means keep Biden Administration people a million miles away.