Pro-Palestinian demonstrators rally in Mineola week after Hamas invasion of Israel

At least 1,500 people gathered in Mineola on Sunday for a pro-Palestinian rally, waving flags and placards and calling for an end to Israeli attacks against the Gaza Strip.

The protest took place a week after the militant group Hamas invaded Israel and killed at least 1,400 people in the worst one-day loss of life in Israel since its founding in 1948.

Many of the speakers and rallygoers condemned the violence by Hamas, but others framed it as part of a “resistance” to Israel’s occupation of Gaza and the West Bank and what they described as decades of human rights abuses.

Some protesters draped Palestinian flags around their shoulders, while others waved signs declaring “Free Palestine,” “End the Occupation. End the Genocide,” and “No Water. No Food. No Humanity” — a reference to Israel cutting off supplies to Gaza following the attack in apparent preparation for a major counteroffensive.

Israel has argued that its moves against Gaza are justified after hundreds of civilians including babies and concertgoers were murdered.

The protest in front of the Theodore Roosevelt Executive and Legislative Building on Franklin Avenue drew a heavy police presence, but there were no reported incidents.

Abdul Aziz Bhuiyan, one of the main organizers of the event, told the boisterous crowd, “We mourn and pray for the innocent lives lost, children and elderly, injured and displaced people in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.”

He noted that nearly 2,700 Palestinians have now been killed by the Israeli bombings.

Bhuiyan, a leader of the Hillside Islamic Center mosque in New Hyde Park, called on President Joe Biden and the United States to intervene to stop the bombing “and protect the lives of innocent civilians in Gaza.” The bombings, the displacement of civilians and the ongoing Israeli blockade of Gaza have turned it “into an open-air prison,” he said.

“We stand in solidarity with the Palestinians in their quest for freedom, dignity and human rights,” he said. “We stand against any form of hatred, antisemitism, or Islamophobia.”

Dr. Isma Chaudry, a leader of the Westbury-based Islamic Center of Long Island mosque, said she condemned the violence by Hamas but noted that the Palestinians have suffered decades of oppression by Israel.

“The loss of one human life is a shame of all humanity,” she said. But “at this time the U.S. position is very one-sided,” in focusing on the suffering of Israel but not the Palestinians.

While she criticized Hamas’ violence, others seemed to suggest it was an open question. One speaker led a chant, “Resistance is justified when people are occupied.”

Laurice Abdelhalim, 46, a resident of Brentwood who said she is of Palestinian descent, said she came to the rally to support to the Palestinian cause and call for an end to the violence.

“It’s really sad what is going on and I hope it ends,” she said. “We want to end the occupation. We just want our country back.”

The rally also attracted non-Muslims who said they wanted to support the Palestinians.

Nia Adams, a community activist, condemned Hamas’ violence but also said she saw parallels between Blacks in the United States and Palestinians, whom she believes are living in a type of “apartheid.”

“I feel a deep sorrow for the atrocities that are happening to thousands of innocent people … within occupied Palestine,” she said. “And I feel that the liberation of Palestinians and that of Black people are intricately connected and I cannot be complicit and stand by as innocent people are murdered.”

“What I see is oppressed people experiencing apartheid ... and being motivated by that,” she said.