Hundreds in Times Square declare: Nakba was a crime! Palestine will win!

New York City’s Times Square was filled with protesters on May 14. They marked the 75th anniversary of the Nakba – meaning “catastrophe” in Arabic – that was the founding of the apartheid regime that occupies Palestine.

“Israel” was founded in 1948 upon the massacres of hundreds of people at Deir Yassin and other villages. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled from their homes.

As a notice for the protest explained, “Israel” means “75 years of occupation, of apartheid, of settler colonialism, of massacres, of ethnic cleansing.”

The rally was called by NY4Palestine, which includes Al-Awda NY, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition; American Muslims for Palestine; Palestinian Youth Movement; and Students for Justice in Palestine.

Other organizations endorsing the rally were the December 12th Movement; ANSWER Coalition; Bronx Greens; Brooklyn for Peace; Neturei Karta (Orthodox Jews who denounce
Zionism); Party for Socialism and Liberation; Socialist Unity Party; Veterans for Peace; and Workers World Party.

Colorful banners and loud chants attracted onlookers. Speakers reminded people that it’s the $158 billion that the U.S. has given to the Zionist regime that keeps it alive.

Bill Dores from Struggle-La Lucha newspaper linked the lynching of Jordan Neely by a white supremacist on the New York subway to the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank. “They claim they don’t have any money for the homeless or for food stamps … but they can spend billions for Israel.”

People marched through the streets to Grand Central Station. The cavernous train station echoed with “Apartheid has to go!” and “Money for jobs and education, not for occupation!”

Palestine will win!