Stand with Palestine on the 74th Anniversary of Al Nakba
Speech given by Autumn Lake, member of the Anti-War Committee, at our Al Nakba protest in Minneapolis on 5/14/22
Today is a solemn day for those of us who stand with the Palestinian freedom struggle. Today marks 74 years since the ethnic cleansing of over 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and lands. We are also here to commemorate 74 years of resistance to this ongoing catastrophe, the ongoing brutal system of occupation, apartheid, displacement, political repression, and outright violence inflicted by the Israeli occupying state.
At least 47 Palestinians have been killed by Israelis since the start of 2022. This past week, Israeli occupying forces violently raided the Jenin refugee camp, killing 18 year-old Ahmad Fathi Masad and 20 year-old Ahmad Ibrahim Owaidat.
However the death that has caught the most news coverage this week is the deliberate murder of Al-Jazeera journalist Shireen Abu Akleh by an Israeli sniper. Israeli occupying forces would go on to raid her home, confiscating Palestinian flags and preventing “the playing of nationalistic songs.” Yesterday these same forces attacked her funeral procession, denying her dignity and rest even in death.
The United States gives the Israeli apartheid state around $4 billion in military aid every single year. Aid that is used to raid refugee camps. Aid that is used to hold Palestinian political prisoners. Aid that is used to seize homes and land. Aid that is used to kill journalists. Aid that props up apartheid and genocide. President Joe Biden is on record saying “America’s support for Israel’s security is unshakable, period.”
The US has made it clear that occupation and political repression is one of its highest values. Not just in Palestine, but here as well. Not only did our government cut $14 billion in COVID relief from the budget in favor of sending $40 billion of weapons like javelin missiles to Ukraine, the Biden administration is also urging states and cities to use unspent money from last year’s $1.9T Covid relief package to fund police departments. The US never seems to have money for human needs, but it always has money for occupation, repression, and war.
It’s for this reason that the Anti-War Committee, our friends in American Muslims for Palestine, and the other progressive groups fighting for justice are here today. It is up to us to take the streets and apply pressure until justice is served. demand and end to US military aid to Israel, We’re going to keep taking a stand against the U.S.’s continued political and economic support of a devastatingly brutal apartheid state. We’re going to continue to demand the right of return for all Palestinian refugees. The movement will not stop until all of Palestine is free, from the river to the sea!