World Courant
It is a crisp, sunny Saturday morning as our crew prepares the automobile for the drive from Jerusalem to Haifa to cowl an anti-war rally. Spirits are excessive as I place my digicam gear within the trunk of the automobile. Then we focus on footwear.
Stefanie, our correspondent, has chosen to put on comfy white sneakers as a result of she expects the danger of violence to be small. However Luke, who we employed to supply safety, and I opted for sturdy boots in case issues acquired too heated.
That is the primary anti-war protest to happen in Israel because the nation started its struggle towards Gaza following the October 7 Hamas assaults.
Since then, it has not been straightforward for the anti-war voice to be heard. The organizers of this assembly, Hadash, a left-wing socialist celebration that helps a two-state answer, have been initially banned from gatherings and needed to take their request to the Supreme Court docket.
A protester shouts right into a megaphone throughout the anti-war rally (Alasdair Brenard/Al Jazeera)
Even discovering the protest location proves troublesome for us. As we strategy the sq. in Haifa, our GPS begins sending us in circles. We ultimately park at a mosque the place an area resident explains that the Israeli military has scrambled the GPS sign in northern Israel because of safety issues.
Authorities have been seemingly eager to carry the protest on a Saturday when there isn’t a public transport, making it tougher for folks to succeed in the sq..
As we stroll in direction of the sq. we move a big contingent of police in blue uniforms and what seem like border guards in darkish inexperienced. It appears to be like like they’re giving a final minute pep discuss earlier than the protest.
They’re undoubtedly anxious about what is going to occur subsequent. They’re armed with rifles and pistols, they usually have utility autos, the notorious “skunk water truck” and officers on horseback.
I am beginning to really feel vindicated by my shoe selection.
About 500 folks confirmed up on the rally on Saturday (Alasdair Brenard/Al Jazeera)
Round midday we look forward to the rally to begin. Police create a metal ring across the space, organising steel barricades and blocking the close by street with vehicles. They’ve additionally positioned an armed spotter on a roof overlooking the sq..
A neighborhood photographer explains to me that the police will not be pleased that the protest goes forward, and that the anti-war message just isn’t able to be heard.
“They’re going to provoke violence from the demonstrators to show that it mustn’t have occurred,” he warns me solemnly.
Our guard is now up. We start to survey the coming demonstrators for indicators of bother or potential counter-protesters that will have been planted to impress confrontation.
Luke sees a person reaching into the within pocket of his jacket in a really suspicious method. The person appears to be like round and takes out… a pack of cigarettes. False alarm, however you’ll be able to’t be too cautious.
Increasingly more individuals are exhibiting up – about 500, a lot of them younger – and a few will not be carrying footwear. I am unable to assist however really feel that the police might have overestimated the hazard posed by this explicit group of protesters.
They beat drums, shout slogans by loudspeakers and provides speeches in regards to the significance of reconciliation and the shortcoming of struggle to deliver lasting safety.
Protesters wave flags and beat drums (Alasdair Brenard/Al Jazeera)
It’s refreshing to listen to an alternate message in Israel and to see Israelis and Palestinian Israelis standing collectively in hope for a peaceable future.
One of many audio system, Maoz Inon, whose mother and father have been killed by Hamas fighters throughout the October 7 assaults, speaks about forgiveness: “My father labored the land. He grew wheat and he additionally raised me to consider in a superb future.
“My message to the world is: don’t select sides, Israel or Palestine, however please select humanity.”
In the meantime, the police have gotten more and more nervous. They rush into the gang, select a person, then lead him away to a close-by automobile because the protesters, police and press transfer forwards and backwards within the confusion.
Fortuitously, the state of affairs doesn’t escalate and issues quickly settle down.
However there are much more occasions. At one level, whereas I am filming Stefanie speaking to the digicam, a Palestinian-Israeli man and his teenage daughter strategy us. He apologizes for interrupting us earlier than telling us that he was pushed within the again by a police officer whereas watching the assembly. He’s upset and annoyed, and feels attacked for merely exhibiting up on the assembly.
In the direction of the top of the protest, the police take one other motion. This time the supply of their anger is a papier-mâché fighter airplane with cardboard bombs beneath. It is a quick struggle earlier than the mannequin airplane is snatched away.
Regardless of the airplane incident, protesters stay optimistic.
When the assembly is over and folks begin transferring in several instructions, Stefanie stays just a little longer to speak to Maoz. In the meantime, a counter-protester movies him after which tries to argue with the folks left behind.
For now, these protesting right here at the moment are within the minority. Based on latest polls, the vast majority of Israelis nonetheless assist the struggle in Gaza.
Reporter’s Pocket book: Protection of an Anti-Conflict Protest in Israel | Israeli struggle towards Gaza
Africa Area Information ,Subsequent Massive Factor in Public Knowledg
