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A lively rally outside Palo Alto City Hall, calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war, attracted hundreds of people on Saturday.
The event, organized by a local group named Vigil4Gaza, was co-sponsored by three social justice advocacy groups — the Jewish Voice for Peace – South Bay Chapter; the Council on American–Islamic Relations – Bay Area; and the Islamic Circle of North America Council for Social Justice.
It and other protests locally and globally, including a more than 100-day sit-in at Stanford, have come in response to the start of the Israel-Hamas war. Violence erupted on Oct. 7 when Hamas-led fighters crossed from Gaza into Israel, taking hundreds hostage and killing Israelis living in border settlements. Afterward, Israel launched airstrikes and a ground invasion seeking to wipe out Hamas. Health officials on the ground say Israel’s subsequent assault has killed more than 31,000 Gaza residents.
Protesters gathered around 1 p.m. to sing songs and give speeches denouncing the role of the United States in the Israel-Hamas war and to appeal for a ceasefire in Gaza. They then proceeded to march around the block, drumming and chanting slogans like “Free Palestine,” eliciting both cheers and jeers from bystanders, drivers and people eating at cafes and restaurants along the way.
In his speech, Talha Baqar, one of the organizers of the rally, criticized U.S. Rep. Anna Eshoo for pledging U.S. support for Israel.
“She unfortunately has bought into the idea that Palestinian lives are disposable, that they don’t have the same value as Israeli lives and that she can simply write a blank check and not have to think about the consequences,” he said.
Dr. Mohammad Subeh, a Palestinian-American ER doctor at El Camino Hospital in Mountain View and Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Gatos, who recently returned from Gaza after spending five weeks treating injured civilians, compared the scenes there to “an apocalyptic horror movie.”
“As I entered our field hospital that we opened in the North of Rafah, I was bewildered as to how I would be able to do my job as an emergency physician,” he said. “I trained on the south side of Chicago, so penetrating trauma wasn’t something foreign to me, but this is magnitudes worse in terms of the severity of injuries that I was seeing and the demographic of the population that I was seeing.”
Born in Kuwait, Subeh said he came to the United States as a war refugee in 1990 during the Persian Gulf war. He called the situation in Gaza “a genocide.”
In her speech, Emer Martin, an Irish-American novelist, artist and teacher, and Palo Alto resident, called mainstream American media “stenographers for the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) and the state department” and lauded local Palestinian journalism for reporting ground reality through their phones. “They showed us the truth that our media was actively trying to hide,” said Martin.
Ayelet Marinovich, an educator, who identifies as an American Jew, spoke about her choice to reject Zionism, which she called “a movement that doubles down on isolation and separation,” and her choice to, instead, embrace “solidarity, relationship building and collective liberation for all.”
Marinovich is a member of the Jewish Voice for Peace, one of the groups that sponsored the event. “What we are advocating for in a call for ceasefire is a call to the end of all the violence — the entire cycle of it,” she said.
Ninety-one-year-old Lucy Janjigian, artist, author and Palestinian-Armenian Christian, said, “I can’t believe how people can kill so many people. We have to learn to live and let live. We are all human.”
She was born in Jerusalem in 1932 and spoke about her memories of the region through good and bad times. “I believe peace is possible,” Janjigian said.
Not everyone present shared her sense of hope, though.
“The horror blurs for me,” an 82-year-old protestor told the Weekly, preferring to remain anonymous. She said she has been to Gaza three times in the past, to visit the Anglican hospital there. “I’ve seen every aspect of this horror — I was there in the chapel, I’ve seen the hole in the ceiling caused by Israeli bombs.”
At this rally, she was carrying an old poster created for a different rally in the past. It had the image of a child lying in rubble. “Nothing has changed,” she said.
Another protestor, connected to the cause because her daughter is half Palestinian, said to the Weekly, “I am so sad. I go to bed every night wanting to cry. I’ve had dreams that I’m in Gaza, and that I’m in a tent, and that I have nothing. What is happening is a crime and nobody is doing anything about it. It’s really up to the US to stop this.” She too chose not to be named.
She was married to a Palestinian for 19 years and recalls visiting the region twice in the early 1990s. “I dove into that culture,” she said. “People need to step forward and speak up.”
Vigil4Gaza, the group that organized this protest, gets together to reflect, remember those who have died and raise community awareness for the children of Gaza every Sunday at the corner of Town & Country and also participates in the city’s weekly council meetings during public comment, demanding that a ceasefire resolution be passed.
Editor’s note: This version corrects the nature of Vigil4Gaza’s Sunday gatherings.
First Palestine, you need to free yourself of HAMAS RULE….. Just a very
stupid ruling party. I know, is beyond difficult/dangerous.
That is step one though. While I agree that Israel may have gone too far
in retaliation. Hamas has been sheltering and hiding in hospitals. Hiding behind cilvilens. Just a terrible process by cowards IMHO.
I would agree, that Israel keeping Palestine in poverty, behind fences for the past 20 years, is just a dumb long term strategy. In the end each mistake and terrible events by Israel have been perpatrated/started by a Palestine stoked aggressive event. I think you should protest in front of a Palestine Embassy and get rid of Hamas, become more democratic, and capitalist style nation.
Yes, written from safety of midtown Palo Alto with semi limited true knowledge of the entire situation. Reminds me of a dog chasing its tail. Round and round. Who is at fault, dog or tail?
III
Very misleading and biased start-to-end reporting by PAO on this. I hope it gets corrected. Here are only some of the issues:
“Hamas-led fighters crossed from Gaza into Israel, taking hundreds hostage and killing Israelis living in border settlements.”
Hamas terrorists murdered over 1000 Israeli civilians. They came with instructions from their radical Islamists religious leaders to “murder, maim, torture, rape” by what they had time for. They tortured and cut body parts of parents before their young children and vice versa. They raped before murdering young girls. They were bred for intolerance and hate by the Hamas education system.
The Israelis were living in town and villages in their homeland. These are not settlement any more than most of Gaza is a “settlement”. The term “settlement” here is misleading and purposely so.
“Health officials on the ground…. killed more than 31,000 Gaza residents” Really? These are Hamas officials. The same entity that committed the pre-meditated atrocities. A third to half of those killed are Hamas terrorists. The civilians were killed because Hamas embedded itself among civilians, hospitals, and schools, using that population as human shields.
“Protesters… sing songs and gave speeches” They also had some genocidal calls by people with masks and buttons and violated city codes.
“She… into the idea that Palestinian lives are disposable” The entity that made Palestinian lives disposable is Hamas, their government, with indoctrination for martyrdom and extreme intolerance and using children and civilians as human shields.
You fail to mention that the calls to “free Palestine” are calls for the elimination of the Jewish state (and the only liberal democracy in the Middle East) in disguise. Gaza was free. It was under Palestinian control since 2005 with borders to Egypt and Israel that were closing up because of their choice of elected government — terrorist Hamas and population that was radicalized and intolerant. In 2005, Israel evicted all Jews living in Gaza from their homes and left everything including agriculture facilities. Gaza residents could have turned the autonomy to a Singapore. Instead, they voted for Hamas. Hamas cleaned base (murdering opposition, LGBTQ, etc) stole aid money since and built a terror machine. Hundreds and miles of tunnels and missiles sent to kill Israeli civilians.
This article was not about the Hamas attack, it was about a rally in Palo Alto and about the people at that rally expressing their viewpoints. There were zero calls for genocide at the rally, only calls to stop the current genocide being committed by Israel with US weapons, funding and political support.
thank you for describing the rally accurately
Highly misleading and biased start-to-end reporting by PAO on this.
“Hamas-led fighters crossed from Gaza into Israel, taking hundreds hostage and killing Israelis living in border settlements.”
Hamas terrorists murdered over 1000 Israeli civilians. They came with instructions from their radical Islamists religious leaders to “murder, maim, torture, rape” by what they had time for. They tortured and cut body parts of parents before their young children and vice versa. They raped before murdering young girls. They were bred for intolerance and hate by the Hamas education system.
The Israelis were living in town and villages in their homeland. These are not settlement any more than most of Gaza is a “settlement”. The term “settlement” here is misleading and purposely so.
“Health officials on the ground…. killed more than 31,000 Gaza residents” Really? These are Hamas officials. The same entity that committed the pre-meditated atrocities. A third to half of those killed are Hamas terrorists. The civilians were killed because Hamas embedded itself among civilians, hospitals, and schools, using that population as human shields.
“Protesters… sing songs and gave speeches” They also had some genocidal calls by people with masks and buttons and violated city codes.
“She… into the idea that Palestinian lives are disposable” The entity that made lives disposable is Hamas, their government, with indoctrination for martyrdom and extreme intolerance and using the populations as human shields.
You fail to mention that the calls to “free Palestine” are calls for the elimination of the Jewish state (and the only liberal democracy in the Middle East) in disguise. Gaza was free. It was under Palestinian control since 2005 with borders to Egypt and Israel that were closing up because of their choice of elected government — terrorist Hamas and population that was radicalized and intolerant. In 2005, Israel evicted all Jews living in Gaza from their homes and left everything including agriculture facilities. Gaza residents could have turned the autonomy to a Singapore. Instead, they voted for Hamas. Hamas cleaned base (murdering opposition, LGBTQ, etc) stole aid money since and built a terror machine. Hundreds and miles of tunnels and missiles sent to kill Israeli civilians.
If you want to at least pretend to do honest reporting, you should add the following to your article:
1. In addition to the hostages taken, over 1200 Israelis were viciously murdered on October 7, and that is the reason for the current war, which could end if the hostages are freed and Hamas surrenders.
2. The protest violated the permit rules by hoisting the Palestinian flag on the US, CA, and Palo Alto flagpoles and marching without a permit. Mayor Stone condemned these violations and apologized to the community.
3. One of the event co sponsors is CAIR, a vehemently antisemitic organization, which has been denounced by the Biden Administration.
CAIR is not “a vehemently antisemitic organization” and the Biden Administration also claimed falsely that 40 babies were beheaded by Hamas. CAIR is a civil rights organization struggling to protect the American Arab and Muslim population from the torrents of islamophobic rhetoric generated by those seeking to demonize Muslims and Arabs so as to minimize the criticism of Israel’s brutality towards Palestinians and the ongoing theft of their lands.
thank you for making that clear, Noel
Sadly, these protestors once again violated the norms of behavior in Palo Alto and damaged the belonging and unity our city is trying to hard to achieve. The mayor condemned the protestors’ illegal activities, which include hoisted the Palestine flag on the city flagpoles and and marching illegally around city streets blocking pedestrian access to sidewalks. There were also two armed and masked protestors masquerading as security guards. Unacceptable!
Was this article cut-off? I’m missing the other half of the story. The part where it tells readers that one of the protesters was openly carrying a deadly weapon, that the protesters illegally hoisted their flags on the city flag poles, that they illegally blocked a city street, and that Mayor Stone condemned these criminal acts and apologized to his community. I also can’t find the part of the article that quotes any of the counter protesters, for example condemning Hamas’ atrocities, noting that Hamas has repeatedly rejected calls for a ceasefire and calls to release the men, women, children, and babies they’re holding hostage, and noting that while civilian casualties are tragic, the moral responsibility for them falls on Hamas for starting this war, fo continuing it, and for fighting and hiding among civilians, not on Israel who has a moral responsibility to protect and defend her people against the further antisemitic genocidal attacks Hamas has promised.
It’s a sad story for all involved. Nobody suffering, but war is what the people of Gaza chose when they decided on Hamas as their government and when Hamas attacked Israel. (Hamas still hold hostages, they still call for Israel’s destruction, and Hamas’ backers (Iran) are killing Americans and trying to destabilize the ME for their benefit. They are calculating they will get what they want through violence. If Hamas wins at getting a ceasefire without first committing to peace, be sure they will continue this mayhem. Hamas has the fate of Gaza in its hands.
Excellent factual article. It’s nice to see direct quotes from people actually in attendance, most especially quotes from people who have actually been in Gaza who can give us useful perspective.
Let’s also keep in mind that this protest is concerning a GENOCIDE enabled by a constant flow of American weapons paid for with our money and authorized by our elected officials despite the majority of Americans of all faiths calling for a ceasefire. American complicity includes cutting off funding for UNRWA while Palestinians are starving to death.
This is not about Israeli self-defense or even about eliminating Hamas, it is about driving as many Palestinians as possible out of Gaza so Israel can take the land. Israel has made Gaza uninhabitable and is deliberately blocking food shipments and targeting aid convoys and workers so as to impose starvation. These are war crimes on a massive, massive scale, enabled and funded with our tax dollars, with the war criminals protected from prosecution by our elected officials.
This conflict did not begin on October 7th. Some 80% of Gaza residents are refugees or descendants of refugee from the 1947-48 violent ethnic cleansing of much of Palestine by Zionist militias seeking to create a state exclusively for themselves on lands they did not own. Gaza has been under blockade since 2007 and Israel has conducted numerous attacks upon Gaza during that time period, killing more than 5000 Gazans prior to October 7th, 2023. Israel was also on a killing spree in the West Bank, taking the lives of more than 200 Palestinians there in the first 9 months of 2023.
Yes, we all can (and should) condemn the war crimes committed by Hamas on October 7th. But we equally must stop ignoring the war crimes committed by Israel and must get our own government to stop its complicity in the horrific war crimes we see daily on our screens. I am saddened and appalled that we have not long since united as a community to say “Not in our name! Never again!” and insisted that our government at all levels force an end to this carnage.
This was far from appropriate. These protesters were in blatant violation of city rules and behave aggressively. Why is Palo Alto Online neglecting to mention mayor Greer Stone’s condemnation of their unlawful, unpraceful, far from “lively” protests. violating city rules should not be celebrated, rather hold them accountable and write about the whole story!
Curtis Emerson LeMay (November 15, 1906 – October 1, 1990) was an American Air Force general who implemented an effective but controversial strategic bombing campaign in the Pacific theater of World War II.
All wars are controversial, but when terrorists attack a country, rape women, beheads people according to their religion which encourages them to cut the Jews at their necks, hides behind human shields, doesn’t fight like or wear traditional army uniforms, doesn’t officially declare war and engage in tradition battles, Israel has no choice but to engage in a controversial but effective war against terror. Its like Truman said, about bombing Japan, its either their boys or ours…
Women who protest are suffering Stockholm syndrome, you know the type. They marry serial killers in prisons etc…
Israel needs to put an end to the Palestinian culture that educates their children to become terrorists. Its the religion… they want to die fighting the infidels on the Islamic battlefield. And so give them the battle they so desire and the path to 72 virgins.
Thanks to Silicon Valley, looks’ like we have H1 Visa employees and students that sympathize in kind with terrorism. Put on a uniform and fight the Israelis like men instead of targeting innocent civilians.
If it was up to Lemay, he would carpet bomb and fire bomb the entire Gaza Strip… then the victor goes in and sets up a Palestinian Culture that teaches normal life and economic prosperity instead of teaching children to be martyrs.
How do you who condemn the acts of civil disobedience know what happened at the event? There were no pro-war counter protesters to be seen. Was it your personal assignment to attend in order to find things to complain about the demonstrators? Curious.
This was not a “lively” demonstration bur rather total violation of city rules! Thank you Palo Alto for standing with civility. In the words of NYT “It isn’t enough for them [pro-palestinian demonstrators] to speak out; they must shut other voices down. It isn’t enough for them to make a strong or clear argument; they also aim to instill a palpable sense of fear in their opponents.”