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Israel's Action in Gaza Spurs Anti-Israel Rallies
December 2008 Demonstrations
Posted: January 22, 2009
- December 28, 2008 - Chicago, IL: A protest took place at Water Tower Park. Participants shouted "Bomb, bomb, Israel!" and waved flags and held signs in support of Hamas. Some held signs calling Israel a racist and terrorist state and accusing Israel of committing ethnic cleansing, apartheid, genocide and war crimes.
 Others held signs equating the Star of David with a swastika, denying Israel's right to exist ("From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will Be Free"), and calling for boycotts against Israel. The demonstration was initiated by various local organizations.
- December 28, 2008 – New York, NY: A protest took place in Midtown that reportedly drew more than 3,000 demonstrators.
 The protestors held provocative signs, including "Don't Like Holocaust?? Don't Make Holocaust!!;" "Stop the Christmas Massacre in Gaza;" "All of Israel is Occupied Territory;" "Long live Resistance in Gaza" and "U.S. – Israeli Hands off Gaza." Some demonstrators chanted, "Palestine will be Free from the River to the Sea!" The rally was organized by Al-Awda; Arab Muslim American Federation; International Action Center (IAC); the General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS); Islamic Thinkers Society and others.
- December 28, 2008 – Phoenix, AZ: Approximately one hundred demonstrators rallied outside the Anti-Defamation League's regional office holding signs that read "Zionism = Racism = Terrorism;" "Israel is an Apartheid State;" and "No More Wars for Israel." Charles Carlson, a co-founder and director of We Hold These Truths (WHTT), an Arizona-based Christian anti-Semitic group, addressed the crowd and stated that "the lie that Hamas is a terrorist organization is untrue." He also charged that the media and "the Jewish Zionist Movement and places like this, Anti-Defamation League, is (sic) part of the problem." The rally was organized by the Phoenix chapters of CARAMA (the Coalition of Arabs and Muslims in America) and Al-Awda; the Arizona State University chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP); and the Almahdi Foundation/Tempe.
- December 28, 2008 – Anaheim, CA: A demonstration was held to "protest the massacres in Gaza," according to Al-Awda, the event's main organizer. A nearby car featured the slur, "[expletive] Israel" on its windshield. The demonstration was sponsored by numerous groups, including the Free Palestine Alliance, National Council of Arab Americans (NCA), Palestine American Congress, ANSWER Coalition, as well as several student groups, including the Students for Justice in Palestine chapters at UCLA and California State University at San Bernardino.
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