Supporters of Palestine call the actions taken by Israel during the war an attempt at the genocide of the Palestinian people. During the conflict, the region of Gaza has almost been completely destroyed by Israeli artillery, and many innocent lives have been lost as a result.
“We saw, you know, obviously for the past 16 to 18 months, a genocide has been going on,” said Cody Cogdell, a member of the Party for Social Liberation and a speaker at that evening’s display. “It’s an active attempt at cleansing Gaza. A cease-fire was reached. There was an attempt to negotiate, to exchange prisoners, and yet, Monday night (March 17), the bombing started again. Israel broke the cease-fire using our money, right? Using our funds to kill Palestinians, to kill Palestinian children, men and women, to attempt to ethnically cleanse Gaza Strip for a luxury real estate project.”
Many who attended the protest in support of Palestine said they had grievances with Israel and its government’s actions.
As well as Israel pushing to construct settlements in the Gaza Strip, stating during an ultranationalist conference this should be done for reasons concerning security.
“Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who also attended the conference, endorsed the idea of rebuilding settlements in Gaza, stating on his way to the event that the Strip was ‘part of the Land of Israel’ and that ‘without settlements, there is no security,'” Jeremy Sharon of The Times of Israel said in a report on Oct. 24.
As a result of the pro-Palestine protest, a counter protest supporting Israel formed nearby. Many of the pro-Israel protesters were not willing to speak with journalists. David Moritz, who runs an Instagram account called Jewish History Daily, where he posts about issues concerning Jewish people including the Israel-Palestine conflict, shared his thoughts on the issue.
“We’re here to show support for Israel and the Jewish community because these anti-Semites are chanting genocidal chants against Jews and Israel,” Moritz said.
The rhetoric of the pro-Palestinians, to some of those who support Israel, is seen to be anti-Semitic.
“Israel is our ally and they provide us a lot of security. I’ve talked to a lot of people that work in anti-terrorism here. We get a lot of intelligence from Israel, because a lot of terrorism, or basically all of it, comes from Muslim countries. There’s been 40,000 terrorist attacks since 9/11 (worldwide). It’s under-reported,” Moritz said.
Some supporters of Israel say their advocating for Israel and its actions are justified because Israel provides America with some form of security and intelligence.
“This is a Muslim holy war. Obviously, you know, in 1948, the U.N. decided to split the land into two. The Jews agreed. The Arabs didn’t, and all the surrounding Arabs invaded Israel. For what reason? No reason at all. Now, Jews wanted to coexist there,” Moritz said.
To some, this is a religious conflict. Moritz and other Zionists who share his views see this war as being holy in nature. They say Hamas started this conflict and perpetuated it since, for reasons solely based on religion.
“They are saying it is holy Muslim land, which it’s not,” Moritz said.
To the religion Judaism, Israel is sacred and seen as the Holy Land. The land is also sacred to the Islamic religion as well, as it is the land in which Muhammad ascended to Heaven.
Melody Shank, a citizen of Asheville, recently spent time in Hebron, a Palestinian city located in the southern West Bank, which is a divided city that houses Israeli settlers; the only place in the West Bank with settlers inside a city. Most Israeli settlements or colonies are located outside of cities, and many of them are quite large. The settlement in Hebron is protected and surrounded by the Israeli military.
“The Palestinians, their movements are restricted. There is a checkpoint that is used by children, mostly boys, to go to school. When we were there, the checkpoint had been closed for a couple of days, and I just saw on social media that it’s now 30 days that that checkpoint has been closed,” Shank said.
She said the Israeli government is at liberty to restrict the travel and activities of Palestinians in their area. Restricting travel is not the only way in which Israel exercises its authority over Palestinians. Many Palestinians experience house raids, incarceration and detainment. Many arrests and raids have been shown to target those who are seen as activists.
“We talked to families whose houses had been raided for no cause. People are arrested. We talked to two young women who had been arrested and were in prison for, I think one of them (was in for) eight months and the other one (was in) for a year. For basically just being Palestinian. Oftentimes, the families that are targeted are activists,” Shank said.
Shank said many of those who support Palestine say they have empathy for those struggling to keep their land and understand the want to fight back.
“That’s the other thing Israel is doing is taking land that is Palestinian land. What would you do? You would fight for your land, and that’s what they are doing in all kinds of ways,” Shank said.
