Thousands of Palestinian supporters gathered in San Francisco’s Financial District Sunday to protest Israel’s settlements in the West Bank.
Demonstrators called for Israel to end its occupation of the Gaza Strip, where they say conditions have deteriorated in recent years.
“What’s happening in Gaza, in particular, is cruel,” said Gaza native Wael Buhissy.
Buhissy still has many families and friends in Gaza and doesn’t know how they’re doing after the most recent counterattacks by Israel.
Protesters say the Hamas attacks on Israel are retaliation for Israel’s increased military assaults on Palestinians for conditions in Gaza, which some describe as an "open-air prison."
The Palestinian people, just like all occupied people, we have the right to resist by any and all means allowed, and violence is one of them,” Buhissy said.
Demonstrators took their protest directly to the Israeli consulate general’s office, hoping their large numbers and loud voices will make them seen and heard.
The consulate general’s office represents the nation of Israel in the Bay Area, a nation that they say has attacked Palestinian neighborhoods again and again over the past 16 years.
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Demonstrators added they want the U.S. to stop sending military aid to Israel. They say billions of taxpayer dollars are being used to carry out those attacks.
“They give them $3.8 billion of taxpayer money a year. We say that taxpayer money should go towards housing, towards health care,” said Waseem Hajj with the Arab Resource Organizing Center.
A smaller group of Israeli supporters shouted back, calling Hamas “terrorists”. At one point, some threw eggs and water bottles at the demonstrators.
But San Francisco police kept the two sides separated and there were no physical altercations.
