Minneapolis, MN – On October 2, over 100 people protested outside the office of U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar. The MN Anti-War Committee called the protest to bring attention to the recent Israeli ground offensive into Lebanon which is leaving many Lebanese civilians dead in its wake.

Senator Klobuchar was targeted for the protest because her policy decisions have repeatedly put Israel first, and its victims last; and that the people of Minnesota stand with the Lebanese people and against U.S. military support for an Israeli led large-scale regional war.

Anna Madison, the co-founder of Families Against Military Madness told protesters, “In fact, our morally corrupt senator here had a front row seat to clap her hands and give the war criminal Netanyahu a standing ovation just months ago. And what has she done since? Continued to ignore her constituents’ cries and pleas for her to use whatever power she has to stop the genocide in Palestine. So, it should surprise none of us that we are where we are today. Israel told the world they would invade Lebanon, and they are doing just that. We watch in horror as they outline their plans for ‘Greater Israel’ and advertise homes in Southern Lebanon featuring their white-washed, colonial architecture. And although they will attempt to colonize our lands, they will never colonize our minds.”

On September 18, Israel engaged in acts of terrorism, intercepting a shipment of pagers and other devices, rigging them with explosives and shipping them to Lebanon, where the Israeli occupation forces detonated thousands of pagers and walkie-talkies, killing hundreds, possibly tens of hundreds, of people, and wounded thousands more. Israel claims the victims were “Hezbollah affiliated” but provided no evidence to support this.

This was followed by a series of missile volleys on Beirut and other key cities in Lebanon, killing hundreds more civilians, including women and children. After two weeks of nonstop acts of terror and missiles, now Israel has begun a cross-border ground offensive campaign. On September 29 Israel again bombed Yemen again. On October 2 Iran responded to Israel’s attacks on Gaza, Yemen and now Lebanon with 180 missiles.

NBC news reports that “an apocalyptic” situation is mounting across Lebanon, as health care workers warned and with some 1.2 million people displaced and many sleeping on the streets of Beirut. More than 1300 have been killed, according to Lebanese health officials, including one U.S. Green Card holder, as the U.S., U.K. and other countries evacuate their citizens.” And people across the world are terrified Israel is provoking an even larger conflict.

The speakers at the protest addressed the growing regional war. Magdi Hazaa, a Yemeni American activist with the MN Anti-War Committee, said to the crowd, “When Israel continues enacting a genocide on Palestinians, invades Lebanon, bombs the ports of Yemen, launches airstrikes on Syria, and assassinates political rivals on Iranian soul, all with no repercussions, for a whole calendar year, it is not—by any stretched definition of the phrase— acting in self-defense. What it is, is a colonial project unhinging into something entirely erratic; an implosive tantrum insisting on taking everyone out with it, both rival and ally.”

Naveen Borojerdi, an Iranian American activist with the MN Peace Action Coalition, addressed the media’s portrayal of Iran “attacking Israel” on the day of the protest, “What Netanyahu is telling the Iranian people is look at what happens to the countries that defy us. Look at Lebanon and look at Gaza. You’re next in our line of sight if you continue on this path. That’s why he followed up that threat with ‘there is nowhere in the Middle East Israel cannot reach.’

“Unfortunate for Benjamin Netanyahu, we, the Iranian people, don’t bow down to anyone. I think we made that very clear when yesterday we sent 400 missiles to fly over the skies of Tel Aviv destroying military bases. It’s safe to say that at this point a ceasefire is a thing of the past. But what most people don’t know is that the event caused by Israel that triggered an Iranian response is what caused it to get to this point. Two months ago, Hamas’ chief negotiator for the ceasefire deal, Ismael Haniyeh, was visiting Tehran for the inauguration of Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. While he was there; he was assassinated by the Mossad. Immediately following his death Iran vowed retaliation if Israel and the U.S. didn’t stop this genocide.” Borojerdi put the responsibility on Israel for the outbreak of a regional conflict not on Iran.

At the same time as the world has its eyes on the Middle East, people in the U.S. are in shock at the results of Hurricane Helene which has already killed 200 people and has affected communities traditionally not affected by hurricanes. Whitney Wildman, member of the Climate Justice Committee, “The U.S.’s financial support for Israel also impacts our climate resilience here at home. Environmental destruction unleashes more extreme weather disasters on us year after year. In Hurricane Helene’s aftermath, Americans in the South have lost their homes; some literally watching their houses wash away; entire towns destroyed, and a death toll of at least 130 people. This horrifying scene is made more painful because we know the U.S. government could afford to send emergency aid if it wanted to. The U.S. has made clear that it will always prioritize economic and political control of other nations at the expense of our safety and wellbeing and the planet we need to survive.”

Lina Jebra, a Lebanese American activist with the MN Anti War Committee, closed out the protest, stating, “The fact of the matter is that after enough has been lost – and enough has been lost, not just in Lebanon but in Palestine, in Yemen, in Syria, in Iran, in Iraq – the understanding that resistance is the only way to stop these terror campaigns ultimately prevails over the fear of those conducting them and only acts to strengthen the resolve of the resistance. The U.S. knows this. Israel knows this. That’s why even before the pager attacks, Israel had been working hard to spread propaganda throughout south Lebanon, to try to turn the people against the resistance group that’s been fighting to protect them against imperialist violence, and that’s widely acknowledged to be the only reason southern Lebanon is not currently under Israeli occupation, which is again, a ridiculous strategy. So long as U.S. imperialism continues to violently murder people in their homes, people absolutely have every right to resist it.”

At the end of the rally, protesters were encouraged to come out on October 6 to protest the one-year anniversary of resistance to genocide. The protest is being organized by the Free Palestine Coalition and has been called for 1:30 p.m. at Hennepin and Washington Avenues in Minneapolis.

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