St. Paul vigil shows solidarity with Palestine as Israel bombs Gaza
St. Paul, MN – On Friday, October 13, 70 Palestine solidarity activists answered the Palestinian Resistance’s call for a global day of action by attending the weekly Justice for Palestine vigil hosted by Women Against Military Madness (WAMM) on a busy intersection near Macalester College. The pouring rain did not stop protesters from coming to express their outrage at the U.S. funding and unconditional support for the horrific, genocidal war being waged by Israel on Gaza, Palestine.
With the Palestinian flag flying, activists held banners and signs such as “End to U.S. aid to Israel,” “Stop bombing Gaza,” “Stop killing Palestinians” and “Let Palestine live!”
The demonstrators chanted loudly, “Resistance is justified when Palestine is occupied,” “Netanyahu you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide”, and “Gaza, Gaza don’t you cry, Palestine will never die!” The response from drivers passing by was overwhelmingly positive and frequently the honks and thumbs up were nonstop.
Sara Olson, a regular at the weekly vigil said, “What can we do here in the United States to help the people in Gaza in any way? While we may wish to condemn the Israeli settler government and its military, the IDF, for its genocidal slaughter of innocent civilians, we are better off condemning those of our leaders who support this mass murder with pure political exploitative glee. These politicians, clergy persons, military automatons, media propagandists must not be allowed to skate criticism for their bloodthirstiness.”
“What is happening in Palestine is settler colonialism, military occupation, land theft and ethnic cleansing since 1948 on a daily basis,“ said Noor Shami, a Palestinian who drove up from Eau Claire, Wisconsin to attend the bannering.
“Israel is turning Gaza into rubble. Israel has bombed Gaza more in six days than the U.S. did in Afghanistan in a year. People in Gaza have nowhere to go. And when people try to flee into Egypt they are bombed. It’s disgusting that the Biden administration keeps demanding we stand with Israel, while he remains quiet while Israel commits more and more war crimes. We need to be loud in our opposition to the U.S. support for Israel’s war,” said Meredith Aby from the Anti-war Committee with righteous anger.
The fifth event this week in the Twin Cities to Stand with Palestine, will be a rally and march at 3 p.m. at Bryant Avenue S and E 31st Street in Minneapolis on Sunday, organized by the Anti-war Committee, American Muslims for Palestine, and Students for Justice in Palestine.