May 17, 2021
In response to the barbarity being committed by Israel against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank, a massive march was held this Monday towards the Zionist embassy in Buenos Aires, called by the Federation of Argentine Palestinian Entities. Several social and political organizations joined the mobilization, as well as members of the Argentine Committee of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and many members of the local Muslim community. As a sign of the special treatment given by the government to the Israeli embassy, a strong police operation covered practically the whole area, fencing and closing streets as if preparing for a war.
At the beginning of the demonstration, the declaration of the Federation was read highlighting paragraphs of a communiqué sent by the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel, “Faced with this injustice and the advance of the colonial and racist position, which goes as far as ethnic cleansing, violating all international norms, we call on the governments and peoples of the world to stop this colonial advance in the 21st century. We cannot consider this implementation of a terrorist war as a confrontation, directed by a nuclear-armed power against an unarmed population.”
Immediately, the voice of the Shaykh and representative of the House of Islam, Mosen Ali, could be heard, who emphatically pointed out: “There is no conflict, there is no war, what is happening is genocide by the terrorist state of Israel, which attacks daily with unconventional weapons, such as the phosphorous bomb. It is a genocide against civilian populations, that destroy buildings where news agencies that do not agree with Israel operate. Then he pointed out: “Today in Argentina, standing in our human dignity and as believing Muslims, we announce the end of this terrorist state”.
He was followed by the poet Vicente Zito Lema spoke, who emotionally said, “How can we deny it, we are sad. Our body and soul ache, but how can we deny it if life is like that, sadness and joy. Our heart is filled by the beautiful courage with which the Palestinian people defend life in times of death. Life must be defended always and respectfully to many comrades of the Jewish community, to those who remain silent, did they not know in their flesh and soul the suffering of Nazism? Did they not ask for love when they received hatred, did they not ask for justice when they were massacred? Because those who felt death cannot now cause death to the Palestinian people, if they do not lie and they lie”.
Journalist Carlos Aznárez, on behalf of the PLO-Resist and Fight, described the barbaric actions that the Israeli bombs and missiles are producing on Gaza and how in spite of this, the international community, the hegemonic media and many who look aside, continue talking about war, as if there were two equal sides. And he asked: “How many tanks do the Palestinian people have, how many planes, how many ships? The answer is simple: not a single one. The greatest weapon the Palestinian people have is their dignity as a people, their clinging to the land, their defense of homes and olive groves, despite the fact that they are destroyed time and again. And they have the enormous strength and the example of a united resistance that this time they are not willing to turn the other cheek.”
A Palestinian Youth activist, who has relatives in the Gaza Strip, denounced the attacks as an attempt to destabilize the Palestinian people. “They are targeting our children. This is not a side effect,” he said. “They want to break our hearts and the resistance in the world, to make us feel that we have been defeated.”She then recounted that every time she talks to her family (one of her cousins had her home bombed and destroyed) they say goodbye by sadly telling me, “hopefully tomorrow we will be here and we can continue talking.”
Special words were pronounced by Lautaro Brosky, from “Anti-Zionist Argentine Jews”, who reiterated that, “Israel is committing an atrocious genocide against the Palestinian people”, pointing out that Zionism is fascism and that is why it is necessary to denounce and fight it.
The harshly critical voices of representatives of Asambleas del Pueblo, Encuentro Cachito Fukman, Pañuelos en Rebeldía and Convergencia Socialista could also be heard. Miguel Altamira, of the Partido Obrero-Tendencia, evoked previous mobilizations against this same embassy, to which it is now necessary to return because of the same crimes committed by the Zionists. He then made an analysis of international politics in the current framework of Israeli aggression, and of the reactions that are taking place in various countries condemning the genocide.
Héctor “Chino” Heberling, of the New MAS, thanked the Argentine-Palestinian Federation and its president Tilda Rabi for having promoted “this necessary response to the murders being committed by Zionism against the Palestinian people”. He also congratulated “the unity that we put this protest together with the speed that the moment we are living in demanded”. He concluded by calling for more mobilizations to defend occupied and attacked Palestine.
Finally, two members of the Che Adelita Cultural Front sang songs in support of Palestinian identity and the Palestinian struggle for self-determination.
In the activity multiple Palestinian flags were waved and banners were read calling for the “boycott of Israel” and others demanding that the Argentine government not use the language of “the two demons” and firmly condemn the aggressor.
Source: Resumen Latinoamericano, translation Resumen – English