(cover image courtesy NBC10 Boston)
The war in Gaza, which has spawned sometimes violent protests across American college campuses and dueling counter-charges of “genocide” vs. “antisemitism,” is heading to Lowell later this month.
A group calling itself “Lowell for Palestine” has scheduled a rally at Boarding House Park on May 18th, while calling for the return of Palestinians to “the homes their families were expelled from in 1948.”
The announcement for the rally does not indicate what fate the group would like to see for the Israelis who have called that land home since 1948, when the State of Israel was formed following international outrage over the atrocities of the Jewish Holocaust at the hands of Adolph Hitler and Germany during World War II.
InsideLowell has also learned that a group using the same name, “Lowell for Palestine,” has sent a petition to the Lowell City Council asking the councilors to call for a cease-fire. Sources tells us it is signed by some recognizable Lowell names, although the petition to the Council does not call for a return to pre-1948 borders.
3 responses to “Gaza Conflict Comes to Lowell”
We want Palestine to return to a place where Palestinians, Israelis and whomever else can live together in peace. We don’t want to push out Israelis. We just want to come HOME. We just want to stop being afraid in our own houses. We won’t be quiet until these needs are actualized.
When a dog is Rabid, it must be put down.
In its founding charter, Hamas cites a particularly violent hadith as proof that Muslims need to fight and kill Jews:
The hour of judgment shall not come until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them, so that the Jews hide behind trees and stones, and each tree and stone will say: ‘Oh Muslim, oh servant of Allah, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him,’ except for the Gharqad tree, for it is the tree of the Jews. (Hamas Charter, Article 7).
Peace is not an option for Hamas, only violence:
There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad. (Hamas Charter, Article 13).
Hamas official, Hamad Al-Regeb in an April 2023 sermon prayed for “annihilation” and “paralysis” of the Jews whom he described as filthy animals: “[Allah] transformed them into filthy, ugly animals like apes and pigs because of the injustice and evil they had brought about.” Al-Regeb also prayed for the ability to “get to the necks of the Jews.”
Hamas Political Bureau Chairman Saleh Al-Arouri in an August 2023 interview: He expressed Hamas’ desire for “total war” with Israel: “Therefore, we are convinced that if a total conflict begins, the airspace and seaports of this entity will be shut down, and they will not be able to live without electricity, water, and communications.”
Ahmad Abd Al-Hadi (Hamas representative in Lebanon) in an October 12, 2023 TV show laid out Hamas’ expectation that it would be Israel that would sue for peace and indicated that a ceasefire is part of Hamas’ overall strategy, but said that he was not at liberty to say what exactly Hamas has planned for the next step after a ceasefire. He also stated that October 7 had achieved its intended purpose of landing “a blow to the normalization (of relations between Israel and Arab countries).”
Hamas member, Ghazi Hamad on October 24, 2023 vowed to repeat the October 7 attacks “time and again until Israel is annihilated,” and expressing a desire to “sacrifice martyrs” (referring to Gazan civilians) for Hamas’ ideological aim of destroying Israel.
In a speech before the International Union of Muslim Scholars in Doha on January 9, 2024, Ismaeel Haniyeh, chairman of Hamas’s political bureau, called the October 7 massacre the “advanced [battle] front of the Ummah.” Hamas senior leader Khaled Mashal stated on October 19, 2023 that he views the current loss of civilian life in Gaza – brought about by Hamas’ strategy of using human shields – as essential: “No nation is liberated without sacrifices… In all wars, there are some civilian victims. We are not responsible for them.”
Hamas senior leader Ismail Haniyeh, commenting on the loss of civilian life in Gaza on October 26, 2023: “The blood of the women, children and elderly […] we are the ones who need this blood, so it awakens within us the revolutionary spirit.”
Just like Nazism had to be rejected by the German people and rooted out of civilized society, Hamas must be destroyed by the people of Gaza and its violent ideology rooted out of its society. Launching a war that targeted civilians… using Rape as a weapon against the civilian population… taking hostages… burning children in ovens… This is the evil that must be punished and destroyed. These terrorists and their war crimes must face trial at The Hague.
The “sometimes violent” protests became violent ONLY when militarized police and counter-protesters became violent against peaceful protesters and peaceful encampments. And to “no peace through Hamas,” there is equally no peace through Israel’s terrorism of Palestinians for the last 76 years. Something has to change in those who hold power. I’m not ashamed to use my name to speak unlike some.