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Protests In Chicago Against Netanyahu Visit
by Dina Rashed
CHICAGO, May 24 (IslamOnline) - Over 300 demonstrators gathered in downtown Chicago on Tuesday in the late afternoon to protest the visit of former Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the Windy City and his support for the escalation of excessive Israeli military force against Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.
Facing the entrance of the Hilton Hotel and Towers where the former premier was to be the guest speaker at a fundraising event benefiting the Israeli University of Haifa, members of the Jewish organization "Not In My Name", which opposes the Israeli occupation and supports the Palestinian right to an independent state, held a press conference for over half an hour answering questions fielded from the press.
The progressive Jewish group showed solidarity with Palestinians towards their rights and defended their struggle to regain their independence as a result of the Israeli occupation.
Palestinians will stop violent acts only when Israel would give them their land back, said Cindy Levitt, a group member.
In four filled buses, members from the Arab and Islamic community centers from the south side of Chicago, where the majority of Arab and Muslims in the city reside, joined other groups of progressive Americans and human rights activists who flocked into the assembly site holding Palestinian flags and banners in protest of the use American weapons and military F-16 airplanes in killing Palestinians.
One banner read "Money for education, not occupation."
Chanting peacefully for nearly two hours, demonstrators protested against the use of American tax-payer money in aid to the Israeli government, accusing the current Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, of carrying out policies of genocide against the Palestinians, and protested the spread of illegal Israeli settlements in Palestinian land during Netanyahu's government.
"We wanted to send a strong message to the Israeli government and the American government that Palestinians will resist the occupation till we get our freedom," said Hatem Abudayyeh, the Youth Program director of the Arab American Action Network.
Several organizations sponsored the demonstration, including Not In My Name, al-Awda-Chicago, the Arab American Action Network, the American Friends Service Committee, the Arab American Media Guild, the Arab Community Center, the Chicago Islamic Center, the Committee for a Democratic Palestine, the Islamic Community Center of Illinois, the Jerusalem Community Center, the Palestinian-American Community Center, and the Muslim Community Center.
During his visit to Chicago, Netanyahu defended Sharon's policies, especially the use of warplanes hitting Palestinian targets, saying that Israel so far has showed enormous responsibility and restraint in dealing with the conflict.
In the May 21st edition of the Jerusalem Post, Netanyahu applauded the Israeli use of U.S.-supplied F-16 fighter jets against Palestinians, saying Israel's "response to terror must be disproportionate."
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