Palestine Is A Climate Issue
Palestine Is A Climate Issue
Speech given by Trent Fast at the Climate Justice Committee protest at Senator Klobuchar’s office on 2/20/2025
In the past thirty days we have witnessed attacks on every front by Donald Trump and his new administration. Attacks on immigrants, the trans and LGBTQ community, the climate, and the reproductive rights movement. It seems no one is safe from the disgusting, reactionary policies that Trump and his cronies are determined to force upon us for the next four years. But tonight I’d like to talk about what’s shaping up to be an especially reprehensible policy he’s laid out for Palestine.
Recently, President Trump made the claim that he is committed to “taking and owning” the Gaza strip, and that it should be thought of as “a big real estate site”. He also claimed that there is “nothing to move back to” because “the place is a demolition site”. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m thinking there’s some people he forgot to ask before coming to a conclusion on the matter.
The heroic people of Palestine have been refusing to leave their homeland for the past 77 years, in the face of a racist and violent occupation and ethnic cleansing. But there’s an often overlooked aspect to the situation, and that’s the environmental impact. Northern Gaza, which once was two thirds agricultural land, has been completely decimated. Strawberry fields, olive trees, and lemon trees have been wiped out by 80,000 tons of Israeli bombs. Israel’s use of white phosphorus has led to respiratory diseases and cancer in civilian populations due to prolonged exposure. Nearly all water in Gaza is unfit to drink and desalination plants have been destroyed, leaving the population dependent on unsafe water sources.
On top of that, Israel has a history of using greenwashing to justify their ethnic cleansing. In 2022 a state sponsored “forestation” project led to the violent arrest of families and children since its true aim was to remove Palestinians from their native land. This further paved the way for the destruction of Palestinian farmland in order to quote unquote “make the desert bloom”.
And so even after all this, Palestinians refuse to give up, and we commend them for it. But somehow Trump thinks he’s gonna be the one to finally make them leave? What does he mean when he says he plans on the US taking and owning the Gaza strip? Does he plan to send US troops to do the job that Israel couldn’t do? Are any of you excited at the thought of sending your kids to do the US empire’s dirty work?
It is now more obvious than ever that what we need to do is to stand together and fight back. In the Anti-War Committee we stand with our friends in the Climate Justice Committee. We also stand with our friends fighting for immigrant rights, trans and LGBTQ rights, and reproductive rights. We stand with our friends fighting against police crimes and for black liberation from a racist and white supremacist system. It’s not immigrants or trans people we need to be mad at. We need to be mad as hell at Donald Trump and his attacks on everyday working people here at home– and those in Palestine. We all have more in common with everyday Palestinians than we ever will with people like Donald Trump. Solidarity across movements is our sharpest weapon against his presidency. Because when we stand together, there’s way more of us than there are of them!
Money for schools (not for war)
Money for housing (not for war)
Money for healthcare (not for war)
Money for the climate (not for war)
