Rallying for Palestine, Israel
The following is a report on local reactions to international events, and is not reflective of the beliefs and opinions of Anton Media Group and Jennifer Corr.
It’s been a difficult couple of weeks for people all around the world, as life is supposed to continue on as normal as footage of violence and carnage plays on the news and social media.
On Saturday, Oct. 7, as reported by the Associated Press, Hamas militants stormed from the blockaded Gaza Strip into nearby Israeli towns, killing and abducting civilians in an unprecedented surprise attack during a major Jewish holiday.
Israeli media, citing rescue service officials, said over a thousand were killed and wounded in the attack, making it the deadliest in Israel in decades.
As a result, Israel declared war. According to a report from CNN, Israel has been striking what it says are Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets in Gaza, while also blocking supply lines of basic necessities to the Gaza population, including fuel and water. The Israel Defense Forces on Oct. 13 told civilians of Northern Gaza, 1.1 million people, to evacuate their homes. But many say, because of the blockade that has kept the Gazan people in what some call “an open air prison” since Hamas seized control in 2007, that there is nowhere to go. As of press time, over 3,000 Palestinians have been killed.
Not only has the latest in the conflict between Israel and Palestine divided Americans, it’s also led to a lot of confusion as conflicting statements have been made by both sides. For example, Aljazeera reported that Gaza’s sole border crossing with Egypt has been hit by Israel air raids multiple times, striking people who were following the IDF’s orders to evacuate. However, Reuters reported that Israel says Hamas is preventing people from leaving “in order to use them as human shields,” which Hamas denies. As of press time, the latest devastating news coming out of Gaza is the bombing of the Al-Ahli al-Arabi hospital, which Palestinian officials say killed 471 people. The Palestinian officials say it was an Israeli airstrike that targeted the hospital, however President Joe Biden, who visited Israel on Oct. 18, said he saw information from the U.S. Department of Defense that caused him to believe that the strike came from Gaza.
On Sunday, Oct. 15, many Long Islanders took what is likely their day off to rally support for either Palestine or Israel.
At 1 p.m., the Muslim Community of Nassau County held a rally for Palestine at the Nassau County Executive Building in Mineola. Hundreds of people showed up, waving the Palestine flag and signs.
Mufti Mohammad Farhan, PhD., the executive director of the Islamic Center of Long Island, said that in the eyes of their faith, every life is sacred.
“Let us remember that peace and justice will be saved, and that everything will be okay, but at this moment, we are not okay,” Dr. Farhan said. “We are not okay with the oppression. We are not okay with the genocide. We are not okay with the occupation. We are not okay with apartheid. We are not okay with the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. We are not okay with the killing of innocent civilian and children. We are not okay with cutting the water for two million people. We are not okay with cutting the electricity for millions. We are not okay with the bombing of hospitals. We are not okay with the displacement of Palestinian people. We are not okay with the bombing of civilians, and we are not okay with our leaders not standing with the Palestinians. We are not okay with our school superintendents giving one sided views… Our faith teaches us, brothers and sisters, to be the beacon of hope, the agents of change and champions of justice.”
Najla El-Temawi Khass, a New York City resident who is from Gaza originally, said she wasn’t sure if her family there was going to survive this.
“Israel told my family, and many Palestinian families, to evacuate and then bombed them while they tried to evacuate,” Khass said. “It is impossible for Palestinians to evacuate, because Israel closed the borders… They have no place to go while being bombed… They are not bombing Hamas, they are bombing my family and other Palestinian civilians.”
The crowd erupted, yelling “shame!” A woman in the crowd began screaming. She was told that while her frustration was valid, she needed to show respect to the voice of a Palestinian.
“My family has no access to water, electricity, food or medicine because of the Israel blockade,” Khass said.
Later that evening, a community gathering to support Israel took place at Congregation Tifereth Israel in Glen Cove. The keynote speaker was Israel Nitzan, the former Consul General of Israel in New York. A young person was selling baked goods, candy and t-shirts to support the IDF at the gathering. It was one of many gatherings across Long Island to support Israel that week, as many local and state politicians have shown support for Israel during this time.
(Photo by Jennifer Corr)
“Many of us for the last eight days have been sitting in front of the television in our household thinking of someone that we love,” said Rabbi Irwin Huberman of Congregation Tifereth Israel. “We just don’t know what to do, what to think, how to process all of what happened this past week. This is a complicated situation… One of the reasons I decided to do this, [is that so we can] provide each other comfort and to provide a place to gather together. The people who are really suffering are the people in the Middle East, in particular the Israelis who lost loved ones in this heinous crime that took place eight days ago and continues to be more painful…”
Rabbi Huberman called the attack on women, children, seniors and even Holocaust survivors, that were committed with abandon, sadistic and barbaric.
“So tonight we stand as one with the people of Israel who have lost loved ones, ones who await word about those taken as hostages, for babies and elderly Holocaust survivors,” Rabbi Huberman said. “To be clear, Israel did not ask for this war. And we as Jews have tremendous sympathy for all those caught in the crossfire.”
Attendees sang together and listened to speakers, including Nitzan, New York State Assemblymember Charles Lavine and North Country Reform Temple Rabbi Michael S. Churgel.
“We have gathered together as one community in solidarity to support one another and the entire community of Israel, the Jewish people, and those who believe in the dream, the hope, that Israel will find peace among all the nations of the world,” Rabbi Churgel said. “Though this week, and likely many weeks to come, will not be a time of peace. We as a community are here to offer our prayers and supports, our voices and our actions, our concern and our love, so that we might inch a little closer to that vision.”
Nitzan said he’s still shocked at the images coming out of Israel.
“Israel has changed,” Nitzan said. “Israel will never be the same. The people in Israel will never be the same and the Jewish people will never be the same. What happened before Oct. 7 is a different world compared to the one we live in today.”
Nitzan said this war is about the future of the state of Israel and the future of Zionism.
“Israel is also facing a long and painful process… in an effort to identify the bodies of the victims, many of them were burned, intentionally, to make it difficult to identify the bodies and to know who survived,” Nitzan said. “This is a national trauma…”