Thousands of demonstrators for Palestine return to the streets of Dallas
Dallas, TX – For the second straight weekend, thousands of Palestine supporters filled the streets of Dallas, October 22, to demand an end to the siege and occupation of Gaza. A small boy in the back of a truck led the marchers in chants of “Israel, Israel, what do you say? How many kids have you killed today?” and “Joe Biden, you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!” Smoke bombs billowed over the crowd in Palestinian colors of red, green and black. A sea of Palestinian flags stretched for blocks.
The rally at city hall opened with a prayer before starting speeches from over a dozen organizations, including the Dallas Palestine Coalition, the Dallas chapter of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, the Indian American Muslim Council, Dallas Anti-War Committee, and Palestinian Youth Movement.
Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss traveled from New York to give a fiery rejection of Zionism. “We plead with god! He should please with his compassion! Bring an end! A speedy end! A peaceful end to this occupation right now! We urge everybody though, until that time comes: We must stand up! We must speak out! We must help the people of Gaza, the people of Palestine, including the Jewish people there, by demanding the world to wake up and see the simple, base truth: You cannot occupy, you cannot steal, and you can’t masquerade in the name of Judaism!” He led the crowd in a passionate chant of “Judaism yes! Zionism no! The state of Israel must go!”
Ammar Hussein of Dallas chapter of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression spoke to the connection between oppressed people in Palestine and in the United States. “We know that this is not some religious war. We know that every tolerant Christian, Muslim, Jew and atheist with any heart at all opposes the Zionist project of an apartheid ethnostate. This war is a people's war, and in occupied Palestine and in the United States we are fighting against the same forces of capitalism and imperialism. This country thrives on imperialism, working to dig deeper inroads for the exploitation of and extraction of wealth from the people of the Middle East and around the world.”
Hundreds of the rally’s attendees signed up to receive updates about Dallas Anti-War Committee’s campaign to get a pro-Palestine resolution on the agenda of the Dallas City Council. Dallas City Council previously passed a pro-Israel resolution unanimously.