The Christmas period is a particularly appropriate time for citizens to be protesting against Israel’s genocide in Gaza and to demand a permanent ceasefire and international peace conference. Last night, the In Our Lifetime group, a pro-Palestinian community-led organization, hosted a two-hour interfaith protest of a few hundred people outside the News Corp building in New York City, a few blocks from Rockefeller Center, where the annual Christmas Tree lighting was taking place. Carrying Palestinian flags and demanding “ceasefire now,” the noisy group had wanted to reach Rockefeller Center; however, they were blocked by police from doing so, resulting in several arrests, [The Guardian] (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/nov/30/we-stand-against-genocide-gaza-peace-protesters-target-new-york-christmas-tree-lighting) reported.
Muslims, Christians, and Jews, who gathered to honor the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, protested the use of U.S. tax dollars to fund Israel’s genocidal war against Palestinians. Nerdeen Kiswani, a leader and co-founder of In Our Lifetime, reminded onlookers that the Bethlehem municipality has called for suspending Christmas celebrations to mourn the ongoing genocide in Gaza. “So, we’ve joined with Muslim, Christian and Jewish groups and community organizations … to say that we’re against our tax dollars being used to fund genocide.”
