Bay Area residents gathered in front of San José City Hall on Saturday evening to protest and call for a ceasefire in Palestine after the Flour massacre.
The Flour massacre occurred last Thursday on the southwestern side of Gaza in a region where food aid deliveries have been heavily insufficient, according to a Thursday article by AP News.
The Flour massacre in Gaza resulted in 112 Palestinian deaths and 750 people injured, according to the same article.
“Israeli (soldiers) indiscriminately murdered Palestinians (who were) only seeking aid after being continuously starved out,” said Uriel Magdaleno, a member of San José Against War.
Magdaleno said San José Against War is an anti-war grassroots movement started in San José to fight against war in the U.S.
He said topics and issues related to the Israel-Hamas conflict are brought up during many of their meetings.
“It's all community based, we’re shocked and distraught to see what's going on in Gaza,” Magdaleno said.
He said at an unprecedented time like this for the Israel-Hamas conflict, it’s important to keep the local community aware, engaged and active because one protest is not enough to discuss the severity of the conflict.
Protesting in San José and the Flour massacre
The Flour massacre unraveled when Palestinians congregated around aid trucks, unpacking boxes of flour and other canned foods when Israeli forces opened fire on them leading to a stampede of people trying to flee the chaotic scene, according to the same article from AP News.
Marwa Sabry, a San José resident and freelance journalist, said she wanted to attend the protest and show her support as an activist but collect information and personal perspectives as a journalist to be able to add context to any future articles.
Sabry said she doesn’t understand how anyone can watch or hear about this massacre and just stay at home doing business as usual, regardless if they are a journalist or not.
“They starve people and they lure them with flour and (other things) for basic needs,” Sabry said. “They don't have water, children are dying from starvation, newborns are dying from starvation and hospitals (are not accessible). How can we see something like this and know something like this and just sit at home and take whatever the mainstream media is giving us?”
Lisa Adhikari, a San José resident and former high school teacher, said since the October 7 attack happened, she’s continuously thought about a previous student she had 10 years ago.
Adhikari said her student was Palestinian and had just lost a young cousin when he was shot by an Israeli soldier on his way to a bakery.
She said she recalled that at the time, the school she worked at in Oregon discouraged teachers from talking about topics related to Israel and Palestine because it was too big and too uncomfortable of a conversation to bring into classrooms, especially since there were Israeli students to consider.
She said even though it was one of the scariest and dangerous conversations she's ever had, it was important and necessary to air out underlying pain and tension.
“We need to talk, we desperately need to talk and we need to confront our issues, our biases and prejudices,” Adhikari said.
She said reminiscing on this past experience with this student and conversation has encouraged her to come out, protest and connect with people in her local community during this difficult time.
“I feel like things have been very silent in San José,” Adhikari said. “It's hard going into San Francisco all the time so it was nice to have a protest where I could stand up and make my voice heard locally, near my house, in my own community, not just traveling to the nearest large-city demonstration.”
Adhikari said after the many incidents since October 7, like the Flour massacre, she’s been at a loss for words at the in-depth ramifications of the conflict and she believes it is going to be a defining issue to play into the upcoming elections.
The role of the American government and the election
Marwa Sabry said when she attends these large protests she meets people of all backgrounds and ethnicities who are proof that no one is alone in standing up against genocide.
Sabry said as a protester, it gives her hope that so many people are showing up and supporting the cause.
She said as a journalist who writes in both Arabic and English, she feels an obligation to tell the Arab world that the American people and the American politicians are not in the same boat when it comes to political stances and support.
“If anything happens in the future, I want people to know that the American people have stood up and disagreed with the injustice that is happening,” Sabry said. “I want them to know that we're protesting for Palestine and for Gaza and we're calling on (our) politicians and representatives to tell them not in our name.”
Adhikari said with the Israel-Hamas conflict being a defining issue in the upcoming elections she is not looking forward to looking at the ballot or viewing the outcome.
“I am horrified and disgusted with the Republican Party,” Adhikari said. “I am appalled that Biden is on the ticket. I see this election as a choice between monsters and there is no good outcome. This election is going to be devastating no matter what.”
She said she thinks President Joe Biden and his entire administration is indeed complacent in genocide and need to acknowledge the situation.
Explaining Occupation and what Free Palestine would look like
A Palestinian immigrant who wanted to remain anonymous for safety reasons, said he feels lucky to be alive and be able to leave Palestine after having been arrested in Palestine six times for resisting occupation.
The Palestinian immigrant said he has been part of the resistance his whole life in the region of the West Bank where his family lived, and he feels that all Palestinians have the right to dignity and a right to defend themselves.
“These rights actually put us in a situation where you're not alive,” he said. “So why should I be alive if I'm not alive? If I don't have these rights? What makes me alive if I don't have the rights?”
The Palestinian immigrant said in reality people cannot understand occupation without going through the oppression, pain and uncertainty of not knowing if you’ll have a future.
He said Palestinians can’t worry about a future right now when they have no control, and have to worry about keeping their children and themselves alive and finding basic needs resources.
“Explaining occupation to someone (is) sometimes the same thing (as) trying to explain sweetness (to) someone who never tasted sweet or sugar,” he said.
Donna Wallach, a Jewish anti-Zionist protester, said a clear path needs to be set as to what a cease-fire and a free Palestine is among the chaos of protests in the U.S. and attacks in Palestine.
Wallach said people need to open their eyes and hearts to the truth, tear the apartheid walls down and let Palestinians return to their indigenous homeland of Palestine.
“Free Palestine means all the Palestinian refugees who want to go back home can because according to International Law, all refugees have the right to go back not only to their homeland, but to their homes to their land where they live,” Wallach said.
