A group of activists gathered on the Pentacrest in an “emergency protest” on Tuesday. The demonstration was organized to object to the recent Israeli airstrikes touching down in Lebanon.
Signs and flags lined the street as speakers shared personal stories and statistics about the conflict in Israel and Palestine with the rest of the crowd. Newman Abuissa, chair of the Arab-American Caucus of the Iowa Democratic Party, took the megaphone to speak out. “We have been protesting for the last year about how Israel has been using genocide and food as weapons, and now they are trying to expand the war into Lebanon, and they are trying to get the United States to fight with them,” said Abuissa. “We are against our government’s support, supplying weapons, supplying money for the extremist government in Israel.”
The protest concluded within two hours, and another is scheduled for Friday.
