FARAAN: By gathering in front of the White House, a number of Jews commemorated the Palestinian martyrs of the Rafah massacre in the south of the Gaza Strip last Sunday – in which at least 45 people were martyred and 200 others were injured, most of them women and children – and lit candles for them.
The participants in the event held placards with the theme of calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, with the words “Stop the massacre”, “Not in our name”, “Peace, not War”, “Stop the Massacre”, “Stop Killing Children With Our Money,” written on them.
The participants wore black clothes with slogans such as: “Not in our name” and “The Jews are saying stop the shooting now”. A woman also held a placard on which was written: “My Jewish family wants Palestinian families to be free and safe.” The participants prayed for the souls of the Palestinian victims and read some poems by Palestinian poets.
Thomas, a spokesperson for the event and a volunteer for the “If Not Now” movement – the American Jewish movement that calls for an end to the apartheid system and equality and justice for all Palestinians and Israelis – said: “We are here because the Israeli army bombed in the past days, 2,000-pound bombs were dropped on the human safe zone in Rafah, and these bombs killed more than 40 people, most of whom were children, women, and elderly. And we as Jews here are against it because we reject the Rafah massacre.”
In an exclusive interview with al-Arabi al-Jadeed, he said: “The participants in this ceremony sent a message to the US President Joe Biden that he has crossed the red line he set because he said that the attack on Rafah is a red line and indicates the end of sending military weapons to Israel.”
He added: “Rafah is now under attack and 45 people were killed in the past few days, and we ask Biden to immediately stop sending weapons to Israel.”
One of the participants said in his speech: “It is difficult to find words to express the suffering caused by Israel’s bombing, starvation, genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza, and we must continue to end the occupation and the apartheid system.” The participants attacked the AIPAC organization (a pro-Zionist pressure group in America) and emphasized that this group and the war lobby are benefiting from the genocide in Gaza.
