Dec. 29 (UPI) — While protests against Israel’s war in Gaza made news for months after the war, the headlines on them have slowed. But demonstrations against the war continue undeterred more than 14 months after hostilities between Palestinians and Israelis escalated.
Demonstrators continue to call for an end to the violence in Gaza and increased support for Palestinian rights. In major European capitals, protests still draw thousands even as countries like Germany crack down on criticism of Israel.
Protesters have also called for more robust intervention from the United Nations and other global bodies, criticizing what they see as a lack of accountability for civilian casualties.
Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan, a major political party in Pakistan, organized a major demonstration Sunday in Islamabad to support Palestinians. The JIP claimed that “millions” had gathered, while video showed at least tens of thousands attended the rally.
Dozens of protesters were seen on a video posted to social media on Saturday waving Palestinian flags and wearing traditional keffiyeh headscarves through the busy entertainment district of Bukit Bintang in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Halfway across the globe, demonstrators in the Swedish city of Uppsala carried dolls covered in red-stained shrouds on Saturday to denounce the killing of children in Gaza.
And in Chicago, Mennonite Christians held a vigil on Saturday to commemorate the Feast of the Holy Innocents, a Christian holiday that remembers the Biblical account of King Herod attempting to kill Jesus as a baby in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.
“Considering there are millions more Christian Zionists than the entire population of Israel, it is imperative for Christians who actually believe in the liberatory teachings of Jesus — a Palestinian born into a poor refugee family living under Roman occupation — to speak out vocally against Zionism, the genocide in Gaza, and the brutal Israeli occupation of Palestine,” Mennonite Action Chicago said on social media.
Last week, in the Welsh capital of Cardiff, protesters dressed in funeral black and pushed empty baby strollers to protest the deaths of Palestinian children in Gaza. The organizers vowed to protest again on New Year’s Eve.
“Each empty seat represents a future unfulfilled, a voice silenced,” the Cardiff group said in a statement on social media. “We stand in solidarity, grieving with those who have lost so much and demanding justice for those still waiting for peace.”
