Mideast reaction in Bay Area: Blue ribbons for Israel, protest signs for Palestine
More than 7,000 miles away from Gaza and Israel, emotions ran high on Sunday afternoon in the Bay Area as local residents took part in pro-Palestine and por-Jewish demonstrations as the Israel-Hamas war entered its ninth day.
The death toll continues to climb with Israel saying more than 1,300 have been killed from bombings by Hamas, while the health ministry in Gaza said more than 2,600 have been killed by Israeli air strikes.
In the South Bay, hundreds of pro-Palestinian protesters lined the intersection of Stevens Creek and Winchester boulevards in San Jose, waving the flag of Palestine as cars passing by honked their horns. The throngs of demonstrators then proceeded to march through the main thoroughfare of Santana Row, shutting down traffic as they chanted “free, free Palestine” and held signs inscribed with phrases like “end U.S. funding to Israel apartheid” and “let Gaza live.”
Dr. Yusra Hussain of San Jose was among the hundreds standing in solidarity with Palestine on Sunday afternoon. She said she feels the United States is being “complicit in supporting a regime that is an apartheid that’s committing genocide right now on people who are completely trapped.”
“I’m a physician,” she said. “My tax dollars, the money that I work hard for that I give to the government to provide necessary goods for our country are being sent to Israel to support their apartheid, their genocide, their unbelievable actions in Gaza and Palestine. This has to stop. There has to be a diplomatic solution.”
On the Peninsula, over a hundred students at Stanford University placed blue ribbons around campus to commemorate the lives lost during Hamas’ attack last week and refocus the conversation on the Israelis who have been kidnapped.
Rabbi Jessica Kirschner, the executive director of Hillel at Stanford, said students moved forward with the demonstration in part because they felt that the campus community seemed to be ignoring the tragedy or were “actively sympathetic to Hamas.”
“There was a lot of chalking and banners advocating a pro-Hamas perspective, which made our Jewish students feel really unsafe,” Kirschner said. “This was conceived as an effort to keep people’s focus where it belongs.”
According to Kirschner, students placed the blue ribbons in visible locations around campus, such as White Plaza. After a week spent mourning, it was the first major action taken by the group. For many, the attacks were deeply personal. Kirschner said many students had friends or family members who were kidnapped, knew people who were being called up into reserve duty, or were being called up themselves.
“This type of tragedy has enormous implications including here,” Kirschner said. “This felt like a meaningful first step to do something peaceful, and ideally keeps the focus in a really important place — the people whose fate can get lost in these geopolitical questions.”