Rockford residents gathered at the steps of city hall this week to mark one year since the Israel-Hamas War. Over 1,000 Israelis were killed in the surprise attack by Hamas. Since then, Israel’s military campaign has killed over 40,000 Palestinian civilians, many of them women and children.
Shawana Ahmed said she attended the vigil with her husband and children in solidarity with Palestinians, and because “it’s just the inhumanity that's going on and the ongoing genocide.” She added, “It's been a year of disaster and over hundreds of thousands of lives lost, people displaced. It's scary how nothing's being done about.”
She, like many in attendance, refer to estimates of Palestinians who have died in the conflict determined by an established British medical journal that includes indirect causes like starvation or lack of medical care.
Human rights organizations have condemned Israel’s attacks on hospitals and humanitarian aid seeking to reach civilians in need.
People at the Rockford protest mourned and shared their outrage about the U.S. involvement in the conflict as Israel’s main weapon supplier.
John Stassi echoed demands made by protestors throughout the year long conflict for an end to U.S. military aid to Israel as the conflict expands to Lebanon.
“Where is your red line, Genocide Joe? Rafah, is a wasteland. You could have stopped this with a snap of your fingers by simply saying, Look, either you'd cut this out, or we cut you off without a dime.”
A study by Brown University found that just in the last year over 17.9 billion U.S. tax dollars have been spent on military aid to Israel.
