Why many Latinos are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza

(Gustavo Arellano)

Why many Latinos are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza

Israel-Hamas

Gustavo Arellano

April 4, 2024

Keffiyehs. Palestinian flags. Signs and chants. The meeting outside El Monte City Hall on Tuesday evening seemed at first glance like many that have taken place across the U.S. since October. 7.

But someone in the crowd of about 50 people was wearing sweatshirts with the logo of the Mexican national soccer team. One sign read: “From Mexico to Palestine / Border walls must go.” A banner featuring a watermelon, a Palestinian solidarity symbol, also featured the phrase “Viva Palestina,” a tribute to Frida Kahlo’s last painting.

The scene didn’t surprise me. Over the past six months, my social media feeds have been flooded with Latinos expressing their support for the Palestinians. Friends who have never been politically active now attend meetings in Boyle Heights, Santa Ana and other Latino-majority neighborhoods and cities. They denounce U.S. aid to Israel and cast Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a butcher for the nearly 33,000 Palestinians, including many women and children, killed by Israeli airstrikes and military operations, Gaza’s health ministry said.

Netanyahu has said Israel must achieve a “total victory” after Hamas-led attacks killed around 1,200 people in October. Israeli authorities say about 200 have been taken hostage. More than a hundred American cities have called for a ceasefire in Gaza, from progressive powerhouses like Seattle, Oakland and San Francisco to cities in Ohio and Vermont. In Southern California, almost all of the cities that joined the movement, Pomona, Cudahy, Bell, Bell Gardens, Montebello and Santa Ana, are municipalities with a Latino population of more than 65%.

On Tuesday, activists asked El Monte to join the list.

The visibility of so many Latinos in pro-Palestinian actions in Southern California represents a historic rupture in the longstanding political alliance between Latinos and Jews, who lived side by side on the East Side for decades. They united in 1949 to make Edward Roybal the first Latino city council member in Los Angeles in the 20th century, helped Tom Bradley become the city’s first black mayor and secured Antonio Villaraigosa’s mayoral victory in 2005. Groups such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, regularly sponsors trips to Israel for Latino lawmakers and has organized outreach summits to promote the alliance.

Spokesman Marshall Wittman didn’t say much when I asked about AIPAC’s views on Latino-majority cities passing ceasefire resolutions.

There is broad support for Israel in the Latino community, he responded via email, citing an AIPAC-affiliated political action committee’s support for “nearly half of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.”

Such an explanation, however, lies in the fear among American Jewish leaders that they will lose Latinos over the Palestinian issue.

A report released last year by the American Jewish Committee warned that young Latinos’ sympathies for Palestinians posed a generational challenge and potential barrier to Jewish-Latino relations and that Israel as a fighter on behalf of the oppressed was clearly not the perception for this. generation of Latino leaders.

A 2022 survey by Fuente Latina, a nonprofit whose mission is to provide accurate reporting on Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, found that Latino support for Israel has declined since 2010 and that there is of an overwhelming and fundamentally unfair power imbalance between Israel and Israel. Palestinians were raised again and again by survey respondents.

Meanwhile, a study by the Public Policy Institute of California found that Latinos are up in the state

California

were the ethnic group most in favor of reducing U.S. military aid to Israel and most likely to choose “strong support” as an option on a Gaza ceasefire issue.

Anti-colonialist Latin American intellectuals have long sympathized with the Palestinian cause. Chicano organizers have traveled to Gaza and the West Bank for cross-cultural exchanges for decades. But what’s happening now in Southern California is none of those things, said Cal State Fullerton Chicana and Chicano Studies professors.

Alexandro José Gradilla.

“It’s not just my radical students. They’re my students in the hoodie from Anaheim. It is shocking for them to see because it brings back ancestral stories of land theft, stolen resources and massacres,” Gradilla said of the images of dead bodies and debris that emerged. of Gaza.

“The Whittiers and Downeys do nothing,” he continued. ‘They are the working-class towns. There you have more chance to have contact with Arab people. [Latinos] You don’t really come into contact with the Jewish community like you would have fifty years ago. That’s gone. That has caused a shift in Israel.

While the wave of Latino activism over Gaza is grassroots, ceasefire resolutions from Latino-majority city councils have spread largely thanks to Rida Hamida, a longtime Orange County community activist who has also served as staff member for

stands

legislators and

Congress

members

of Congress

. She is the executive director of

Latino and Muslim unity

a nonprofit best known for Taco Trucks at Every Mosque, which hands out free halal tacos at voter registration events and COVID-19 vaccination drives across the state.

Hamida, who has family in the West Bank and whose parents own a house there, said she began approaching council members

subscribepass

to hold up

burning after mourning what happened in Gaza. “I told them, ‘You are Latino-majority cities, but I am Palestinian and I have worked in your cities. We must serve each other and defend each other.’”

She has given receptive council members suggestions on how to write resolutions, allaying fears of a backlash by pointing out that their constituents understand.

‘When I talk

vecinas

[female neighbors]“The connections between Latin America and Palestine are easy,” Hamida said. “Now there is a shift, not because of the Palestinian movement. It’s because of the movement within Latinos.”

During the meeting in El Monte, Kimberly Primero handed out stickers that read: “How Many Must Die?” and “Viva Viva Intifada.” A few months ago, the 27-year-old attended a similar protest in front of Rep. Grace Napolitano’s office in El Monte. Only two others showed up.

“A lot of problems have happened in Mexico and Central America that affect people here, and they are being covered up,” said Primero, a data typist who wore a necklace with a charm of Handala, a cartoon character of a barefoot, downtrodden boy who was embraced. by the Palestinians as a symbol of their resilience. “Seeing this today makes me very optimistic and happy.”

During the council meeting, the crowd poured out of the chambers, which almost never happened in El Monte. Hamida handed out falafel and shawarma sandwiches. Many snapped their fingers in approval as dozens of speakers (almost all Latino) urged council members to vote for a ceasefire.

“Show us you care,” said the 25-year-old El Monte resident

Giselle Barbosa

who had been holding a “Stop the Genocide” sign at the rally while her 18-year-old sister

jasmine

waved the Palestinian flag. “Show us you have empathy. Let El Monte stand on the side of history that advocates for justice.”

“I hope to be proud of the great city of El Monte tomorrow,” said Rene Jimenez. “I know you’ll do us good.”

The only Latino to speak out against the proposed resolution was former El Monte Mayor Andre Quintero, who said of boos and shouts of “

For a!

“(

Out!

) that he had visited Israel and that the country has the right to protect itself, ‘just like you [council members] have a duty to protect El Monte.”

After two hours of comments, the council finally discussed the resolution as audience members recorded on their smartphones.

mayor

Jessica Ancona

asked that the resolution, at Hamida’s proposal, call for a “permanent” ceasefire and state how many women and children have been killed and how many Palestinians have been displaced. “I think it is important that we add these numbers,” Ancona said in a calm voice, “so as not to dehumanize what is happening in the Middle East.”

Councilor Victoria Martinez Muela requested mention of the Israelis killed by Hamas. “It speaks to my heart and to humanity,” she said over the audience’s snickers.

Councilor Martin Herrera announced this after October 1. On September 7, he and his colleagues had wrestled with whether to introduce a resolution denouncing Hamas, but ultimately decided against it. The issues surrounding a ceasefire motion had “kept me awake at night,” he said.

“Your stories make me cry for the Palestinians,” he told the audience, “but I cannot forget the wails of Israeli families who also experienced some of these atrocities.” Some people groaned in response, while Ancona asked for silence and respect.

No other council member spoke. The vote was unanimous: 7-0. The crowd cheered, sang

“Viva Palestine!”

and left the rooms.

After a five-minute break, the El Monte City Council meeting resumed and resumed normal operations. There were almost no spectators left.

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

spot_imgspot_img

Hot Topics

Related Articles