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Pro-Palestine rally at JFK airport

By Sharif Hall

Palestine solidarity protest at New York's JFK airport train stop. | Fight Back! News/staff

New York, NYC – On January 27, a National Day of Action for Palestine took place on the seventh anniversary of Trump’s Muslim Ban. The protest was called by Within Our Lifetime (WOL), a Palestinian-led organization that has been leading an incredible number of mass protests in NYC since October.

Around 100 people rallied at Jamaica train station, chanting, “Israel bombs! USA pays! How many kids did you kill today?”

To observe the anniversary of the Muslim Ban, WOL planned to protest at Terminal 4 at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). This is the same terminal where the protests took place in 2017. Protesters were originally supposed to be directly in front of Terminal 4, however, the New York City chief of patrol tweeted, “Don’t flood our highways…If you do, we will try to flood our jail cells with you and take your car!”

WOL slightly changed the course and rallied within sight and sound of the AirTrain, which takes passengers to Terminal 4, despite the threat of arrest and the obscene number of officers guarding the entrances.

The night before, Nerdeen Kiswani, founder of WOL, and several other protesters were arrested at a protest against AIPAC and Friends of the IDF. This came after WOL released a 60-page report of NYPD’s repression tactics and harassment against protesters who have been fighting for Palestine.

Kiswani and several other protesters have since been released, and at the protest she yelled, “It doesn’t matter how many times you try to beat us, arrest us, or harass us, the people of NYC will continue to demand for the people of Palestine to be free!”

Protest participants included members of Freedom Road Socialist Organization. As political repression and state violence continues, FRSO NYC will continue to stand in solidarity with the Palestinian people and attend future events led by WOL and other Palestinian organizations.

#NewYorkNYC #AntiWarMovement #International #Palestine #WOL #FRSO