Comment on this storyComment
Pro-Palestinian demonstrations erupted around the world on Friday after a former Hamas leader called for a global “Day of Rage” following a Hamas attack in Israel that sparked the worst conflict in the region in 50 years.
Across the United States, pro-Palestinian rallies were planned for Friday and throughout the weekend in cities including New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Portland and Pittsburgh. Law enforcement agencies across the country said they would increase their presence around synagogues, other places of worship and Israeli diplomatic posts, authorities said.
A large rally was expected in Times Square in New York on Friday afternoon, along with protests in other cities, on the American Jewish community’s first Sabbath since it woke up last Saturday to news of Hamas’s invasion of Israel, in which at least 1,300 people were killed People were killed and there were retaliatory strikes on the ground and preparations for a ground war in Gaza.
As Palestinian supporters gathered around the world, chanting and waving the region’s red, black and green flag, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians fled the northern Gaza Strip in cars, pedestrians and donkey carts on Friday after Israel ordered an evacuation of more than a million people had. which the United Nations described as potentially “catastrophic” given the deteriorating security situation in the region. According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, the bombing has already killed more than 1,500 people, a third of them children, and injured another 6,600.
Former Hamas leader Khaled Mashal called for Friday to be made a global day of protest against Israel’s retaliation against Hamas, using the militant group’s standard call for demonstrations and urging his supporters to send a “message of anger to the… Zionists and to America”.
In New York, Mayor Eric Adams (D) said at a security briefing Thursday evening that there were no credible threats to the city but urged people to “remain vigilant” during planned demonstrations. “New York City will do everything we can to ensure the safety of our people,” Adams said. The New York Police Department on Thursday canceled all training for officers and ordered police to wear uniforms and go on patrol, NBC News reported.
In Washington and neighboring Montgomery County, police said Thursday that there were no credible threats to the area but that increased law enforcement visibility was expected “to ensure the safety of our community.” Capitol Police said they would “increase security” at the Capitol complex. On Friday evening, a coalition of organizations planned an “All Out For Gaza” rally in Franklin Park in downtown Washington to “call for an end to the illegal blockade of Gaza, the immediate and uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian aid, and an end to all U.S. actions.” “demand military funding to Israel,” the announcement said.
In Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican presidential candidate, issued a state of emergency order on Thursday that sharply criticized President Biden and gave DeSantis the authority to alert the National Guard and the Florida State Guard, a new security force that responds directly to him. The emergency order detailed plans to increase security around pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrations, including on campus.
Oren Segal, vice president of the Anti-Defamation League’s Center on Extremism, said the group has tracked at least 140 protests across the United States since last Saturday’s attack, with some protesters glorifying violence and attacks on civilians. So far, the protests have otherwise been peaceful, he said.
Online threats against Jewish people have increased 400 percent since last Saturday, Segal said, after a year where the group recorded the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents in 40 years. “This is happening at a time when the Jewish community already feels vulnerable,” he said. “The way the community is unsettled by what they see in Israel only adds to this.”
In response to the call for Friday demonstrations, police issued heightened vigilance notices or patrols in most major cities in Texas, including Austin, Dallas and Houston. Austin police said they sent patrols to certain parts of the city on Friday and put officers on “tactical alert.” “We have increased visibility around houses of worship and will respond whenever additional police presence is necessary,” Dallas police said in a statement, adding that the chief and commanders have been in contact with faith leaders and have not received any ” credible threats” to the area.
North Texas has seen tense armed protests outside mosques in the past, but also attacks by Muslim extremists, including last year at a synagogue and in 2015 at an art exhibit featuring images of the Prophet Mohammed, when two extremists injured a security guard before being injured themselves killed in a police shootout. The Dallas Palestine Coalition has organized several protests downtown since the attacks, most recently on Sunday, because unlike the Middle East on Friday, many are still working and dealing with increased traffic, said Faizan Syed, a nonprofit consultant with the group heard.
“Ultimately, we want to make sure that when we have a protest, as many members of our community as possible can come out,” Syed said, adding that he had heard of protests planned for this weekend in Chicago, Houston and St. Louis. “There will definitely be protests across the country this weekend,” he said.
Syed, 35, said his group had contacted police before their protest and had “internal security arrangements in place to ensure there was no confrontation”. Syed said their protest last Sunday was “very peaceful,” with police patrolling between them and a half-dozen pro-Israel counter-protesters who “hurled insults” and tried to cut off their speeches from across the street. “There is a lot of tension,” he said.
Syed this week opposed a Dallas City Council resolution supporting Israel’s war against Hamas and spoke about it along with several others at the council meeting on Wednesday. While the council passed the resolution unanimously, Syed said the Dallas mayor agreed to meet with his group to discuss a resolution “that is more balanced and fair and recognizes the plight and suffering of the people living in this War caught in between.” ”
Both sides reported an increasing number of threats, online or otherwise. An alarming phone call Friday left Shaimaa Zayan, community relations coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Austin, in turmoil.
“He says all Muslims deserve to die, and I have no pity for any Muslim,” Zayan said Friday morning, shortly after receiving the call from a man she did not know. “He was so calm. He wasn’t angry or anything. I said ‘Thank you very much’ and he hung up.”
Zayan said others had called her about the attacks and were concerned about whether it was safe to send their children to school on Friday. “There is fear,” she said. Zayan said she reached out to Austin police to request additional patrols outside mosques during Friday prayers, but was unable to reach anyone and had to leave a message.