Southern Arizona showing solidarity for Israelis and Palestinians
TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) - The southern Arizona community is coming together to stand in solidarity with the Israeli and Palestinian people.
People on both sides are calling for peace and an end to all the destruction and killing happening in both regions.
“We hope that this isn’t a justification, or an excuse of any of the actions that we saw recently, especially the viral videos that all happening recently,” Ahmed Al-Sharmari, who was at the protest, said “We do advocate for the freeing of the Palestinian people.”
On Monday, Oct. 9th, at the Federal Building in downtown Tucson, dozens of people were holding signs and chanting in support of the Palestinian people.
“We are here to send our messages to Israel and everybody in the world that we need the freedom for our people there in Palestine,” Khaled Dudu, who is Palestinian, said.
Khaled Dudu and Ola Zayed are both Palestinian. Together, they are raising their three children in Tucson. The family was one of the many who were calling for liberty, justice, and peace for the Palestinian people.
“We are here to send our messages to the world the whole world, to Israel and everybody in the world that we need the freedom for our people there in Palestine,” Dudu said.”
They say they feel helpless not being able to help any of their families in Gaza.
“When I saw the kids get killed in Gaza that broke my heart,” Zayed said. “I have kids and I know how it feels for women and men, that’s not easy.”
Dudu and Zayed believe understanding and reading about history is important.
“They keep killing them every day. Even if they warned them they don’t have time to leave the house,” Zayed tells 13 News. “They keep bombing their houses every day and at night. We have a lot of family over there, they can’t sleep at all. It’s just heartbreaking.”
Over at the Tucson Jewish Community Center, hundreds of people came together to pray for those in Israel.
“It’s hard our hearts are absolutely breaking for all those.” Rabi Sara Metz said. “We are hearts are in the east with our loved ones as we are in the west.”
Rabi Metz and many supporters believe it’s more important now than ever to show support for Israel.
" It’s important to me because my mom was actually born in Israel,” Adina Karp, a Tucson Resident, said. “So being here with my family supporting Israel, coming out to support the Jewish community with everything that has been going on has been so so very important for me to do.”
They tell 13 News they’re standing together with the people in Israel, sharing messages of hope and resilience.
" We hear a lot about this. There’s always kind of turbulence and things going on,” Ital Ironstone with Jewish Philanthropy of southern Arizona said. “This level of magnitude is unlike anything that’s ever happened in my life. I was in Israel in 2015 during many troubles sometimes, but this is really anything we’ve ever experienced.”
Members from both communities are demanding a stop to all the violence right away. They agree the killing of innocent people is wrong and not the way to move forward.
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