Pro-Palestinian protestors on Saturday held a demonstration in London, Berlin, and Rome to call for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire…reports Asian Lite News
Pro-Palestinian protestors on Saturday held a demonstration in London, Berlin, and Rome to call for an Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
At least 7,000 pro-Palestinian protesters held a march over the Brooklyn Bridge in the US’ New York on Saturday. The protesters holding banners, Palestinian flags and signs raised slogans like “Free Palestine.” The demonstrators held signs with slogans like “Stop Killing Children”, “Freedom for Palestine” and “Stop bombing Gaza.”
One of the protesters in London said, “My fear is that there will be no more Palestine. At the moment, it’s not free Palestine, it’s save Palestine. That is my fear that they would be wiped off existence.”
The three-mile Flood Brooklyn for Gaza march began at 3 pm (local time) in front of the Brooklyn Museum in Crown Height. During the march through the borough, the protesters openly cheered for Hamas’s terrorists’ attacks on Israel.
Durion, a 24-year-old protester from Queens, said, “Freedom by any means, land back by any means.” He said, “I believe the settler state of Israel must be taken down.”
The demonstrators held signs with slogans like “From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free. The protesters headed north along Flatbush Avenue to the Barclays Center and then converged on the Brooklyn Bridge, disrupting the traffic on the Manhattan-bound side around 6 pm (local time) as some of them scaled metal barriers and waved Palestinian flags.
Police personnel shut down traffic movement on the Brooklyn-bound side as a precautionary measure. Earlier, another protester Marie Edward accused Israelis of being the real “killers” and defended Hamas’s action on October 7.
One counter-protester carrying a US and Israeli flag shouted the slogan, “I stand with life, peace and love.” Marchers then called him a terrorist.
Prior to the rally, former City Councilman David Greenfield, a Brooklyn Democrat who now heads the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, slammed protests’ sponsors for holding an anti-Israel protest on Shabbat in Crown Heights, which has a sizable population of Hasidic Jews.
Notably, Israel launched a counter-offensive against Hamas after the latter launched an attack on the former on October 7. Israel has vowed to destroy the Hamas.
Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday said that the second stage of the war against Hamas started with the entrance of more ground forces into Gaza on Friday night.
He said that Israel’s goal is to “defeat the murderous enemy and to ensure our existence in our land. His statement comes after the Israel Defence Forces chief has said that the military is carrying out ground operations in the Gaza Strip at present which serve to achieve all the war’s objectives.
Netanyahu said that the soldiers are part of a legacy of Jewish warriors that he stressed goes back 3000 years. He said that they have one goal, “To defeat the murderous enemy, and to ensure our existence in our land.”
While addressing a press conference in Tel Aviv, he stressed that Israel’s war aims are clear – “destruction of Hamas’s military and governing capabilities; and returning the hostages home.”He said that the decision to start the ground incursion was made unanimously by the war cabinet and the security cabinet.
He stated, “Our commanders and soldiers fighting in enemy territory know that the nation and the national leadership stand behind them.” He said that the soldiers he has met in the field are determined to make Hamas pay for its actions on October 7.
‘Israel in a war it did not start’
The Israel Defence Force (IDF) on Sunday said that they were heading towards a new phase of the ongoing war on Hamas and will launch an assault from land, sea and air in Gaza.
“The Israel Defence Forces is expanding its operations. We are moving to the next phase of our war against Hamas, Gaza from the air, land and Sea. On October 7, the Hamas committed a crime against humanity. Israel is in a war it did not start and it did not seek. Hamas is attacking Israeli civilians while firing from among dozens of civilians. These are both war crimes,” IDF spokesperson RAdm. Daniel Hagari, said in a personalised video message.
Reiterating the claim that the Hamas terrorists were using civilians as human shields in the ongoing conflict, Hagari urged the latter to move towards the south of Gaza.
“Our fight is with Hamas, not with the people of Gaza. Hamas uses the people of Gaza as human shields by embedding itself among them in schools, masks and hospitals. As we have revealed. Hamas terrorists operate inside and under civilian buildings precisely because they know the IDF distinguishes between terrorists and civilians. This is why the IDF has been warning Gazans for over two weeks through multiple means of communication to move away from Hamas strongholds,” the IDF spokesperson said.