Disclaimer: Due to the ongoing nature of conflict between Israel and the Palestinian territories some sources either chose not to disclose their full names or asked to be kept anonymous. In light of recent doxxing efforts to disclose personal information to universities, employers or cause harm to people with opposing views, sources were granted their anonymity requests for safety and security reasons.
Thousands gathered to march down Wilshire Boulevard Saturday calling for an end to U.S. aid to Israel. The protesters carried signs saying “Save Gaza’s Children” “Stop the Genocide” and “Save Palestine” in front of the Israeli Consulate in West Los Angeles.
A coalition of Jewish, Palestinian and local activist groups came together to organize this collective action in support of Gaza and its residents. The Palestinian Youth Movement, the ANSWER coalition, Jewish Voices for Peace, Palestinian American Women’s Association, Al-Awda: The Palestine Right to Return Coalition and other groups either helped plan or had speakers showing support and solidarity with the Palestinian civilians under the siege and blockade of Gaza.
Those at the protest maintain that the current Israeli-Hamas War is a byproduct of years of tension and conflict. Some context of Hamas’ attack and Israel’s retaliation between October 7 to the day of the protest October 13, is listed below to give insight to events at the top of protesters’ minds at this rally:
Israel formally declared war on Hamas, a militant group that the U.S. government has designated a terrorist organization, on October 8, in response to the October 7 attack, when Hamas took hostages and launched 2,200 rockets into Israel. This was the largest attack against Israel since the country’s formation 75 years ago.
After declaring war, Israel’s Defense Minister Yoav Gallant ordered a “complete siege” of Gaza, which is home to 2.3 million Palestinians, on October 9, cutting off electricity, food, water and fuel. The blockade and prohibiting civilians or humanitarian aid from entering or exiting the territory coincided with Israel dropping 6,000 bombs in six days according to the Israeli Air Force with the Wall Street Journal noting extensive collateral damage as of the day of the protest.
Dozens of fighter jets and helicopters attacked a series of terrorist targets of the Hamas terrorist organization throughout the Gaza Strip.
— Israeli Air Force (@IAFsite) October 12, 2023
So far, the IAF has dropped about 6,000 bombs against Hamas targets. pic.twitter.com/3Xm1vxvq7D
In an NPR article the Gaza Strip is described as one of the most densely populated places in the world, considered to be an open air prison since 2007, due to Israel’s closure policy of restricting movement for Palestinians according to the Human Rights Network.
One protester came to the protest to support freedom from “this restrictive system.”
“Every human being born freely, they should live freely… [it’s the] biggest open prison,” they said. “And that is [why] we are here to support all these people, here for one reason — to liberate those people.”
As of October 13, Stéphane Dujarric, a United Nations spokesperson for the Secretary-General gave a briefing that “423,000 people have already been displaced,” within Gaza and an Israeli military order was given for the “entire population of Gaza north of Wadi Gaza [to] relocate to southern Gaza within 24 hours.”
This order would apply to 1.1 million people.
“Impossible for such a movement to take place without devastating humanitarian consequences,” Dujarric said.
Mahmud Gibani marched in protest of the situation, calling the past week a “nightmare.”
“People died and fell, children, infants, hospitals, buildings, they’ve been demolished because [of] what happened with whatever Hamas — you know, started,” Gibani said. “That’s not the right war. The right war [goes] out in the empty land, two military, two armies fight each other for an issue; for the case. Don’t kill children.”
Gibani has had issues getting in contact with friends he has in Gaza.
“A lot of friends from Palestine that I contact every month, every week — now in Gaza, I cannot contact them due to the connection of the phones.”
In limiting power, fuel and internet access in Gaza, the Israeli government has made it difficult, if not impossible, for many civilians and journalists to charge their phones, make calls and send messages outside the blockade, CNN has reported.
Eman Ismaiel, another protester at the demonstration, echoed her reasons for coming out to the protest.
“This is not about religion. It’s about human rights. It’s the right of children to have safety and water, to be able to sleep,” Ismaiel said. “We couldn’t sleep at night knowing that there are children who are under rubble, are being terrorized and the entire world is silent about it.”
Ismaiel said that even though she is an American citizen, being Arab American and Egyptian American she has felt isolated.
“Everywhere I look on social media, including my professional network, everybody is in direct support of Israel,” she said. “We feel very isolated. Our entire professional networks are not there to stand up for us. We cannot talk to our employer. We are getting messages from our kids’ schools endorsing Israel. There is no avenue for us to speak out… We feel isolated. We feel alone. We feel sad. And we have nowhere to go.”
Osama Ellahib made his outfit, a tattered blood and dirt stained dress-shirt with a slit across the stomach, with his mother’s childhood suffering in mind.
“Back in Lebanon when my mom was a kid, she got a metal piece of a rocket, that hit near their building,… really [close to] her heart,” Ellahib said. “The only way back then was to cut all the way through her stomach to take that metal piece out, so she does not die.”
He described the attacks on civilian children as terrorism — an unlawful use of violence and intimidation especially against civilians for political objectives — and as morally and ethically wrong.
“What happened to her [his mother], was not ethical, was extremely violent. It was an act of terrorism,” Ellahib said. “And what’s happening to the Palestinian kids, nowadays, live on TV is an act of terrorism that the world is not speaking about… we all deserve the right to live.”
Although the demonstration was largely peaceful, confrontation and shoving arose between the two groups with a counter protester using pepper spray on pro-Palestinian protesters. Footage from the scene shows a group of men, some wearing Israeli flags around their necks, deploying pepper spray in this confrontation before withdrawing from the scene.
Mohammad, a protester who declined to give his last name, doesn’t see how people can accept the killing of civilians happening in Gaza.
“I don’t understand how people can’t come out to the protest [when] you see what’s going on in Gaza,” he said. “Totally unacceptable. Civilians, children, men, women [who] have nothing to do with what is going on, you know, politically between whether it’s Hamas or whether it’s the IDF. It’s not right. It’s complete genocide to bomb 2 million people.”
Mohammad has family friends in Gaza and family in the Palestinian territories, and the only and quickest way to get updates he says is when they post the news online as soon as they get an internet connection. Other than that he hasn’t been able to connect as, “it’s so hard for us to get in contact with them,” Mohammad said.
For the latest statistics and updates from the Associated Press see here.