Jacksonville demands an end to the siege on Gaza
Jacksonville, FL – On July 24, the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network and over 30 community members mobilized to City Hall at noon, demanding an end to the siege on Gaza. The call to action, made by Palestinian journalist Bisan Owda, was to disrupt business as usual in front of embassies, government buildings and companies perpetuating the starvation of Gaza.
Jacksonville answered that call and, with less than 12 hours’ notice, the reverberations of clanging pots and pans were bouncing off the steps of City Hall – the same site where the Jacksonville city council passed a pro-“Israel” resolution almost two years before.
This call to action comes after months of little to no aid coming into Gaza, the destruction of 400-plus legacy international aid distribution sites, and the installation of four “aid” sites from the misnamed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. That foundation’s primarily functions as a U.S. mercenary force and has killed over 1054 men, women and children who risked their lives to feed their families.
At the entrance of City Hall and directly opposite a popular park with food trucks and casual dining, protesters chanted, “End the siege on Gaza now!” and “Open Rafah Crossing now,” knowing well that time is of the essence. The contents of thousands of aid trucks are rotting at the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border, while approximately 85% of Gaza's population has entered Stage 5 famine, known to cause irreversible epigenetic damage and a high chance of fatal refeeding syndrome, caused when starving people begin eating without health supervision.
If the cacophony of kitchenware caught the attention of workers, the speeches from organizers kept heads turned, including city hall employees on their way to and from their lunch break. For all those in the city center, the man-made starvation of Gaza was made unavoidable along with the unifying message that city, state, and federal officials have viciously slashed domestic services while continually sending billions in military aid to the Zionist entity.
Sara Mahmoud of the Jacksonville Palestine Solidarity Network stated, “While they [families in Gaza] starve, our communities die!” Mahmoud then talked about how chronic government divestment in local infrastructure sharply contradicts the ramping up of federal investment in genocide.
Mahmoud addressed the “inconvenience” to onlookers, stating, “there can be no business as usual” while our tax dollars bankroll genocide and sharpen acute starvation in Gaza.
Fellow organizer and member of JPSN, Ryan Delaney demanded, “We will not accept genocide on our dime!”