Local pro-Palestine organizations and Iowa City residents protested on the Pentacrest Tuesday afternoon in response to Israeli attacks in Lebanon. Speakers at the protest urged voters to consider candidates’ stances on the Israel-Hamas war when they cast their ballots in the upcoming election.
Targeting militant group Hezbollah, Israel bombed Lebanon on Monday, killing more than 500 people, according to the Lebanese Health Ministry. Monday was the deadliest day in Lebanon in nearly two decades, according to CNN. Israel and Hezbollah traded waves of strikes Tuesday, and thousands of people living in Lebanon have fled their homes.
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Roughly 50 protesters gathered in support of Lebanon and continued their call for a ceasefire and divestment of U.S. funds from Israel.
The U.S. released $3.5 billion to Israel to spend on U.S. weapons and military equipment in August. The Pentagon also announced the U.S. will send a small number of additional troops to the Middle East in response to the violence between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Protesters have gathered on the Pentacrest every Friday afternoon to call for a ceasefire and an end to U.S. military aid funding to Israel, since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack. Dan Phillips, a member of Iowans for Palestine, said Tuesday’s demonstration was an “emergency protest” in response to violence in Lebanon.
Phillips said sending soldiers would not solve the conflict, and he wants the U.S. to stop providing funds to Israel.
“The only solution is a political one, not a military one,” Phillips said. “We have our hands on the faucet — on the spigot. We can turn this off. We supply this.”
Phillips, a retired physician, said he protests because of the bombing of hospitals and the lack of sanitary, accessible medical care for Palestinians.
“I spent my life trying to help people live,” Phillips said. “I’m very familiar with the brutality of a wound and crush wound, wounds and head injuries and burns, massive burns because of these armaments that we’re supplying that are horrendous.”
Newman Abuissa, chair of the Arab American Caucus of the Iowa Democratic Party, said the genocide that happened in Gaza is now happening in Lebanon, and he wants the government to act on their calls for a ceasefire.
President Joe Biden has called for a ceasefire and is reportedly seeking a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal with Hamas while also de-escalating tensions at the Israel-Lebanon border. Biden is set to meet with world leaders in New York to work on a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza and avert a war in the Middle East, according to White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a Tuesday interview with MSNBC.
Abuissa said the Israel-Hamas war is very important to the majority of Iowans who want elected officials to speak on their position on the issue.
May polling from Data For Progress, a progressive think tank, revealed seven in 10 likely voters support the U.S. calling for a permanent ceasefire and a de-escalation of violence in Gaza.
Speakers at the protest urged voters to consider candidates’ positions on the Israel-Hamas war when they cast their ballot for local, state, and federal officials in this upcoming general election.
Deema Totah, an Iowa City resident who grew up in the West Bank, said she regrets voting for Biden in the 2020 election because of his handling of the Israel-Hamas war, and people should voice their concerns to local politicians.
Totah said she wants local politicians to voice their position on the Israel-Hamas war.
“We have Democrats trying to help get out the vote, but they have not spoken for ceasefire,” Totah said.
Mona Odeh, a Palestinian American, said she hopes protests like the one on Tuesday will continue and bring about change.
“I hope that this will bring out positive change, that the justice and the humanity that is shown upon the oppressed will be spread all over the world against the ones who do the oppression,” Odeh said.