Pro-Palestinian rally draws in more than 100 protesters to Tampa's City Hall
TAMPA, Fla. - As Israel declares war on Hamas after the brutal execution of Israeli citizens, pro-Palestinian rallies and protests happened across the U.S. on Friday. In Tampa, more than 100 people gathered at the steps of City Hall for a rally and march in support of Palestinians.
It’s been nearly one week since Hamas infiltrated Israel, brutally executing Israeli civilians. Israel has declared war against Hamas, launching retaliatory airstrikes.
The conflict dates back decades.
"Israel occupied Gaza after the 1967 war, but then in 2005, left, basically pulled out of Gaza and even dismantled some Jewish settlements there," said Thomas Smith, a professor of political science at the University of South Florida.
Smith said Hamas has hung onto power since then. He called the conflict between Israel and Palestine rather intimate.
"They basically run Gaza Strip like they’re a mafia," Smith said. "They use violence and extortion. I think it’s important a lot of people in Gaza also live in fear of Hamas."
Israeli officials said more than 1,300 Israeli civilians have been killed by Hamas. Smith said the recent attacks are different in nature from previous conflict.
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"The element of surprise. Just the sheer number of fighters who crossed into Israel to carry this out," Smith said. "This was astounding."
Palestinian authorities said more than 1,500 Palestinian civilians have been killed by Israeli retaliatory airstrikes.
"We don’t want the loss of any civilian life," Abdullah Jaber, the chief executive officer of CAIR Florida said. "We want to protect everyone. But the narrative has to shift on the other side, that right now, there are more than a million children that are starving, they don’t have clean water, they’re under a blockade."
At Friday’s rally for Palestinians, participants expressed a growing fear and concern for the innocent Palestinians in Gaza.
"When you talk about Palestinian people, the conversation is always going to come down to, we condemn every immoral act," Jaber said. "We condemn the death of every innocent civilian."
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"Pro-Palestine is not anti-Jewish," a speaker at the rally said.
A lot of questions are coming from the Jewish community in regard to the timing and the messaging coming out of the rallies for Gaza and for Palestine. FOX 13 spoke to synagogues, rabbis, and other leaders in the Jewish community who said the demonstrations for Gaza do not clearly denounce the terror attacks carried out by Hamas in Israel.
The chair of the Tampa Jewish Community Relations Council said Palestinians have a chance to stand-up against Hamas in these protests, but based on the signs and the chants, that doesn’t seem to be the purpose.
"We’re surprised that there’s not an unequivocal denunciation of Hamas by the Palestinians within the United States or within the Tampa Bay area," said Jonathan Ellis, who is the chair of the Tampa Jewish Community Relations Council. "We’re surprised that the Palestinians that support these rallies, are not demanding a release of all hostages."
He said the Jewish community is surprised that there isn’t a focus on anti-terrorism or like he said, the denunciation of Hamas in these rallies. Nor do you hear much about the more than 1,200 people who were killed in the attack on October 7.
Leaders of the Jewish community said Palestinian voices are crucial right now as well and their concerns are legitimate, but they say Israeli hostages in Gaza need to be released, and there needs to be more condemnation of terrorism in the region from demonstrators.
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Israel has ordered Palestinian civilians to evacuate from the Gaza Strip, ahead of intensifying attacks.
"Here, you’re talking about a smalls strip of land that has more than two million people," Jaber said. "Where are they going to evacuate to? There’s the wall that surround them on one side, the blockade. And on the other side, there’s water."
Smith said due to the geography of Gaza, there is nowhere for Palestinian civilians to easily evacuate to.
However, Hamas has told Palestinians to ignore that order.
"This really is a different kind of war now, just in the massacres of civilians, and whatever happens in response, I think it’s really important to separate the bigger political struggle from the actual conduct of war," Smith said.
Smith said this conflict is an example of civilians bearing the brunt of war.