Rhode Island Muslims rally for Palestine

"What we are witnessing is not normal and should never be normalized - and we should never become desensitized."

“I can’t believe it’s been 90 days,” said Sterk Zaza, a Muslim-American mother and grandmother on the south steps of the Rhode Island State House, speaking to a crowd of over 400 people. “22,000 people killed, of which over 8000 are children… and if you include the people under the rubble, the number is most likely more than 30,000! And at least 57,000 people have been injured. What we are witnessing is not normal and should never be normalized - and we should never become desensitized.

“The settler colonial State of Israel is relying on our fatigue and hopelessness - so let’s show them that we will never tire and we will never stop speaking up and resisting until Palestine is free!”

Zaza was speaking at a pro-Palestine rally, organized by and for the Muslim community. Imam Abdullatif Sackor from the Islamic Center of Rhode Island wrote in a press release that:

“Muslims in Rhode Island, who come from numerous backgrounds and have an additional bond of religious kinship with the people of Palestine, stand together with the millions at home and hundreds of millions around the world in calling upon our elected officials to speak up and demand an immediate end to Israel's campaign of slaughter and destruction in the Gaza Strip and its deadly aggression on lives and holy sites in the West Bank.

“The death toll, when estimated for those still under the rubble, has easily surpassed 30,000 civilians, including over 10,000 children, yet the Biden administration, United States senators, and others who can exert effective influence have, with no notable exception, abetted the murderous campaign in word and deed or else stood in cowardly silence. Our top elected officials respond to our outreach with platitudes and boilerplate. For example, Senator Jack Reed [Democrat, Rhode Island], in recent correspondence responding to community members, stated that he had met with President Biden to "discuss the mid-East" and asked him to "address increases in settler violence in the West Bank." In the face of such unremitting slaughter, alongside the stated intent to cleanse the Gaza Strip of Palestinians, this reluctance is outrageous and an abdication of human decency. Senators Reed and Whitehouse must at minimum publicly condemn Israel's military aggression and call for a ceasefire. If our senators are too compromised by donor support to make so much as this statement, they are not fit to serve in office.

“Our use of the word genocide is not driven by emotion. South Africa has instituted proceedings against Israel before the International Court of Justice under the Genocide Convention, to which Israel and the United States are parties. Its brief includes some twelve pages with quotes by top Israeli officials expressing genocidal intent. Given the capacity of the United States to stop the genocide by stopping the flow of aid, any further silence by its government officials amounts to complicity and brings further shame to this country, which stands at odds with most of its people and with the international community.”

Here’s the video, followed by direct links to the speakers:

00:00:00 Farah 00:03:16 Imam Abdulmoneim - Quran recitation 00:05:51 Imam Hafiz Shahbaz 00:06:54 Imam 00:08:30 Sterk Zaza 00:10:51 Farah 00:12:22 Imam Abdul-Latif 00:19:55 Providence City Councilmember Miguel Sanchez 00:31:41 Brown University Professor Naoko Shibusawa 00:34:35 Poetry from Keville Kouraj 00:49:58 Student Omar Muhammad Akhtar 00:54:14 Saleh Fabre - The Betrayal of our politicians 01:00:28 Reem Said - The Power and Struggle of Women in Gaza 01:10:25 Phone call from Gaza 01:17:41 Dr. Ben Cooley Hall - Showing Up for Racial Justice [SURJ] 01:26:07 Brother Khalil 01:31:29 Closing with Dua'a