Minneapolis, MN – On July 8, Palestine solidarity protesters will gather in Loring Park, at 4:30 p.m., and march through Uptown Minneapolis to mark the one-year anniversary of Israel’s 51-day bombing campaign against Gaza. They will demand an end to U.S. aid to Israel.

The July 8 action will also launch the Anti-War Committee’s social media campaign #51DaysinGaza, that has the goal of educating and mobilizing people to take action through 51 days of online posts.

From July 8 to August 26, 2014, Israel committed many atrocities, not the least of which include killing 2200 Palestinians (519 children), bombing seven United Nations shelters, displacing over 108,000 people through systematically targeting multistory family homes and deliberately damaging Gaza's only power plant.

Top Israeli officials circulated clear incitements to genocide during the escalation of the war against Gaza. The U.S. is directly complicit in these war crimes, providing $3 billion in foreign aid to Israel every year.

Meredith Aby-Keirstad, of the Anti-War Committee states, “Last summer we had the largest Palestine solidarity protests we've ever had in Minnesota against the war on Gaza. With this protest, we hope to mark the horrific events of last summer and continue to build the movement to take a stand against U.S. aid to Israel.”

The Twin Cities based Anti-War Committee is organizing the July 8 protest, with the backing of Women Against Military Madness (WAMM), Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP UMN), Veterans for Peace Chapter 27 Minneapolis, Minnesota Peace Action Coalition, Welfare Rights Committee, Minnesota Immigrant Rights Action Committee (MIRAC), U.S. Palestinian Community Network-Minnesota Chapter (USPCN-MN), Minnesota Break the Bonds Campaign (BBC), American Muslims for Palestine – Minnesota (AMP-MN).

#MinneapolisMN #AntiwarMovement #GazaUnderAttack #FreePalestine #AntiWarCommittee

Savannah, GA – More than 100 people assembled in downtown here, Aug. 16, to stand in solidarity with the besieged people of Gaza. The demonstration garnered much attention from locals and tourists alike. Some Georgian residents came from as far away as Milledgeville and Brunswick to support Palestinians facing Israel’s siege.

Representatives from Veterans For Peace, Occupy Savannah and The Revolutionary Peoples’ Union, as well as people from the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities, stood side by side calling for peace in the Middle East and an end to Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestine. The demonstration lasted for nearly two hours. Many passers-by honked their horns and waved showing their support for the protesters and the people of Gaza.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, out of the approximately 1975 Palestinians killed in the month-long onslaught, 1417 unarmed civilians have been killed; the affiliation of 328 of those killed are unknown and 230 of those killed were armed combatants. In contrast, Israel has lost three civilians and 64 military personnel in “Operation Protective Edge.”

About 77 out of the 170 facilities belonging to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East have been damaged. The international community condemned Israel’s deliberate bombing of a U.N. school on July 24.

The Savannah Peace Coalition will continue to promote the cause of Palestine. There will be a viewing of the 2006 film Occupation 101 on Aug. 28. After Savannah’s first ever solidarity with Palestine event, more people are mobilized and motivated to keep up the momentum and continue the people’s struggle in Savannah.

#SavannahGA #AntiwarMovement #Gaza #Palestine #GazaUnderAttack

Grand Rapids, MI – Israel began air strikes, shelling and attacking Gaza with tanks on Aug. 8, after the end of a 72-hour ceasefire. Israel hit 150 targets and killed 15 more Palestinians. Palestinian freedom fighters are again defending the people against the invaders. The U.S. continues to call for talks while arming and supplying the Israeli military.

As part of a worldwide call for solidarity protests, 70 people rallied and marched for Gaza, Aug. 8, at the Gerald R. Ford Federal Building here. After sign waving on the corner, protesters slowly marched around the Federal Building and then downtown, passing the Rosa Parks statue as rush hour drivers looked on. One crazed pro-Israel man chased the march from across the street shouting and yelling, but the pro-Palestine march easily drowned him out.

As the Grand Rapidians passed the Union Soldier Civil War monument, they chanted, “Free, free Palestine!” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” Scores of students and workers hurried to see what was happening, as the march passed corporate offices, apartment buildings and sidewalk cafes. One older woman amongst a group of friends nodded approvingly, and called out, “It’s apartheid!”

The march returned to the rally point at the Federal Building in high spirits and with a plan to honor the more than 1800 Palestinians killed by Zionist attacks over the past month.

Burton Kroes, one of the students leading the march said, “By rallying and marching we are reaching people who will not see us on the local corporate news shows. We are organizing people to oppose U.S. aid to Israel and end U.S. wars and adventures in the Middle East. As part of a huge global anti-war movement, we are having an impact!”

#GrandRapidsMI #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #GazaUnderAttack

Chicago, IL – Chicago’s supporters of Israel must have mistaken West Madison Avenue for the West Bank, say activists opposed to Israel’s assault on Gaza, because they harassed and assaulted counter-protesters with impunity at a pro-bombing rally, July 23.

Eventually, one pro-Israel supporter was arrested for bringing a handgun to the “Stand With Israel’’ rally. “If this had been a supporter of Palestine, his arrest would have been headline news,” say Palestinian supporters.

Hundreds of opponents of Israel’s bombardment and invasion of Gaza counter-protested at the July 23 pro-Israel rally, which featured an extreme racist view of the loss of Palestinian life in Gaza over the last two weeks. Palestinian supporters expressed frustration at the treatment they received at the hands of Chicago police.

The Chicago Tribune reported that police searched those attending the pro-Israel rally, but they missed at least one pro-Israel individual packing a handgun, who was later arrested. Andrew Glatz, who was ultimately the lone arrest at the rally, sells real estate, including in Trump Towers, and is an ardent supporter of Israel’s violent assault on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.

“The Zionists at Wednesday’s rally believe that the lives of invading Israeli soldiers in Gaza are of more value than the lives of over 600 Palestinian civilians who’ve been killed in Israel’s latest onslaught, including over 130 children,” says Hatem Abudayyeh of the Chicago Coalition for Justice in Palestine (CJP) and the U.S. Palestinian Community Network. “At the same time, our counter-protest was corralled and policed like a criminal enterprise, when it was the pro-Israel protesters who harassed and assaulted us. Chicago police commanders need to learn from our community’s experience and stop giving a privileged place to the other side, which is advocating an agenda of dispossession and murder.”

That bias – and the impunity that pro-Israel protesters were afforded at the July 23 action, mirrors the treatment of Israeli settlers and security forces across Palestine, say activists. A number of pro-Israel protesters crossed the street to the Palestinian protest to taunt and threaten protesters, who included American Jews opposed to Israel’s war on Gaza and hundreds of Palestinian American youth. Yet the Chicago police sent their mounted police and others to face off not with the approaching mob from the Israeli side but against the Palestinians and their allies.

CJP leader Senan Shaqdeh says the reverse would have been unthinkable. “If our side had done that – gone across the street to disrupt the Israeli demonstration – the police would’ve been all over us,” he says.

One Turkish American was among the pro-Palestine supporters who was harassed by racists at the protest – but does not want to be named for fear of retaliation from Zionist extremists. Pro-Israel protesters called him a “terrorist” and used other racial slurs, then put their hands on him and tried to grab him. The pro-Palestine supporter chose not to press battery charges. “There was definitely something extreme going on,” he said, of pro-Israel protesters.

Glatz, wrapped in an Israeli flag, acted so aggressively that the police detained him – and when they searched him, discovered he was carrying a concealed weapon. He’s been charged with a misdemeanor.

Kristin Szremski of the American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), says the double standard on Chicago’s streets reflects the daily reality on the ground for Palestinians at home. “We’re not surprised by the violence of the Israeli Occupation Forces and the Israeli settlers and racists they support,” she says. “Palestinian teen Mohammed Abu Khdeir’s torture and killing is just one example of this kind of atrocity that Palestinians routinely experience.”

Palestinian teenager Abu Khdeir was tortured and burned alive by right-wing Israeli settlers.

“Glatz brought a handgun to a protest!” adds Szremski. “In Chicago, we expect that the violent offender who threatened the young people in our community will be dealt with the full force of the law, unlike the impunity with which Israel deals with the settlers on Palestinian land.”

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #Palestine #GazaUnderAttack

Dallas, TX – About 700 people gathered on the Grassy Knoll in 100-degree weather to denounce the Israeli assault on Gaza, July 13. Protesters chanted “Free, free Palestine,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and other slogans. The protest lasted about two hours, from 5 p.m. until 7 p.m.

Although the demonstration began in the usual spot on the north side of Elm Street, by 5:30 the crowd had grown too large and the demonstrators had spread across Elm. Protesters thus occupied the spot that would usually have been taken by counterdemonstrators, but none were visible.

Dozens of passing cars honked in solidarity.

The [Committee to Stop FBI Repression](http://www.stopfbi.net) circulated a petition among the crowd calling for the federal government to [drop the charges on Rasmea Odeh](/tags/rasmea-odeh) and dozens signed.

#DallasTX #AntiwarMovement #Gaza #Palestine #RasmeaOdeh #GazaUnderAttack

Chicago, IL – As the Israeli military continued its assault on the Palestinians of Gaza, people marched through the streets of Chicago again, July 12, for the third time in a week. Around 1500 people chanted, “End the siege of Gaza, now,” and “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!” By the end of the day, the week’s death toll in Gaza went over 150, more than half of them women and children.

#ChicagoIL #AntiwarMovement #Gaza #Palestine #GazaUnderAttack