At least 3,000 people marched through Santana Row on Sunday, chanting in support of the Palestinian people after Israeli airstrikes in the Gaza Strip killed 2,750 Palestinians and injured 9,700 since Oct. 7, according to statistics published in a Monday article by Reuters.
Israeli airstrikes have intensified in the region, with Israeli military officials ordering the evacuation of North Gaza, forcing the population of 1.1 million to move south in less than 24 hours, according to an Oct. 12 AP News article.
Sunday’s protest was co-organized by a collective local group of organizations.
Groups including Freedom Road Socialist Organization, an organization fighting for socialism in the U.S., according to its website, along with the Party of Liberation and Socialism Bay Area.
Other local groups included HERO Tent and the Palestinian Youth Movement, a group advocating for Palestinian liberation, according to their website.
Drusie Kazanova, an organizer with the San José chapter of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, said in an email organizers from various groups planned the protest for about a week in response to Israel’s attacks against the Palestinian people.
“Over 2,200 Gazans have already been killed since Israel’s latest bombing began Oct. 8, and that number increases every day,” Kazanova said, “One third of those killed so far have been children. Half of Gaza’s population are children. Over a million Gazans have been displaced, entire neighborhoods turned to rubble.”
Kazanova said other reasons for the protest include the U.S.'s support of Israel in billions of dollars in weapons and military funding.
“This issue is not far removed from our local San José community - our tax dollars help pay for this genocide,” she said. “We have a duty as human beings to stand up to our own government and demand an end to U.S. military and financial aid to Israel.”
The U.S. committed about $3.3 billion in aid towards Israel in 2022, the most to any country in foreign aid, 99.7% of which directly went to the Israeli military, according to an Oct. 12 article by USA facts, a statistical website dedicated to sharing facts about the U.S. government.
Other groups which co-organized the protest with the organization were the Party of Liberation and Socialism Bay Area, other local groups including HERO Tent and the Palestinian Youth Movement, a group advocating for Palestinian liberation, according to their website.
Luna Osleger-Montañez, an organizer with the Party of Liberation and Socialism Bay Area, said the reason the protest is happening is to end the occupation of Palestine by the Israeli government.
“The reason we're marching here is to free Palestine and end the genocidal occupation of Palestine by the Israeli government and who is supported by the US government who direct military funding,” Osleger-Montañez said.
Shelling from the Israeli military has targeted residential buildings, hospitals and schools since Saturday, with humanitarian workers warning that there is no “safe place” in Gaza, according to a Tuesday Guardian News article.
The humanitarian crisis has been exacerbated by the cut-off of water, electricity and fuel to the Gaza Strip by Israel, with the World Health Organization warning that there is only 24 hours left of any resources needed in the besieged strip, according to a Sunday PBS NewsHour article.
Elia Khoury, a San José State alumnus and Palestinian community member, said he came to the protest to speak out against the bombing by the Israeli government.
“This has gone on for 75 years, sadly, the West only pays attention when there are Israeli casualties,” Khoury said. “Now, civilian deaths are horrific on both sides, but we have been through this for 75 years,” Khoury said. “The support of the West needs to stop now. Because if we’re supporting human rights worldwide, why not Palestine?”
The protest began at the intersection of Winchester and Stevens Creek Boulevards, marching through Santana Row.
Dorah Rosen, a community member and member with Jewish Voice for Peace, said as a Jewish U.S. citizen, she is totally offended by what Israel has been doing in Palestine for a long time.
“Their (Israel’s) military attacks, the occupation, that’s why I came out today to help support the Palestinian people, not only the Palestinians but of course the Israelis,” Rosen said. “Jewish Israelis who also want peace and are shocked and stunned.”
Jewish Voice for Peace is the largest progressive Jewish anti-Zionist organization in the world, according to its about page.
Zionism is a nationalist movement which sought out to create a Jewish national state in Palestine, according to a Apr. 29, 2016 BBC News article.
Wendy Greenfield, a member of the organization and a speaker at the protest, said like everyone at the protest, she’s here to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people.
“I think it’s mostly a lot of grief for all of the victims, all of the victims, whether they be the Israeli victims from that first day, a week ago that were killed so terribly,” Greenfield said. “ … Or the Palestinian victims, who then you know, with this whole revenge attack have been killed and now it's many times more than the original amount of people and it's just horrendous what's going on.”
Greenfield said statements by the Israeli government and officials calling Palestinians “animals” and how they’re going to treat them have been horrifying.
“It (Gaza) was already the most crowded living situation in the world and now to suddenly expect them (Palestinians) under the situation with no electricity, water (or) food to be able to move south is just asking the impossible, and they (Palestinians) know that,” she said. “In fact some people have been killed on the supposedly secure route to go down south. So it's just a horrendous situation.”
The humanitarian routes which Gazans have been told to pass through have been bombed by the Israeli military, according to a Monday Reuters article.
Akubundu Amazu, former African American studies adjunct professor at SJSU and organizer with All-African People's Revolutionary Party, said it’s not about religion, but about imperialism.
“It's about an imperialist movement, it's called Zionism. If anybody studies (the) history, they will see that they connected themselves to British imperialism, and the Balfour Declaration and on and on, and we understand that part of history,” Amazu said.
The Balfour Declaration was a statement declared by the British government on Nov. 2, 1917 turned the aims of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine into a reality when Britain publicly pledged to establish a “national home for the Jewish people,” according to an Oct. 11 article by Britannica encyclopedia.
“So it's unjust what they've done to the Palestinian people. It's unjust, and if we don't stand up now, in the face of the the media onset, they will allow, they being the US government and Western powers, will allow Zionist Israel to commit genocide,” Amazu said.
Nana Barakat, a community member who marched during the protest, said what she hopes to gain from people marching across the country is peace for all.
“The reason we're here, it's just seeing the buildings (destroyed), the people dying, the little kids. It's about humanity from this point on, and this is why we're here,” Barakat said. “We want to support the people that are being killed and bombed, so basically, we're here for the general idea. That humanity is above all.”
Drusie Kazanova said she hopes to see Americans recognize the truth about the atrocities being currently committed.
“I hope to see an end to U.S. support for Israel's genocide against Palestinians, in the form of military and financial aid, as well as in the form of government and media propaganda.” Kazanova said. “I hope for our city, our country, and the world to rise up to demand an end to Israel's oppression of Palestine.”
