Nov. 9, Harvey, Louisiana – the Palestinian Youth Movement New Orleans and Masjid Omar held a press conference under the heading, “Our children are speaking.” Taking place outside Masjid Omar – a mosque on New Orleans West Bank, where many of the area’s 10,000 Palestinian community members live – kids from as young as five years old to 18 took to the mic to speak out against the Washington-backed and directed genocide being carried out by Israeli occupation forces in Palestine.
These children and youths expressed themselves in many ways: sharp political analysis, poetry, songs, and chants. The younger ones had to stand on a step ladder to reach the mic. Some described personal loss, naming family and friends murdered by the Zionist occupiers with weapons supplied by Washington and paid for with the tax dollars of U.S. workers who can’t afford rent and groceries.
Chants included “Biden, Trump, can’t you see? Palestine will be free!” and “We want justice, you say how? Justice for Tawfic now!”
Tawfic Abdel Jabbar was a 17-year-old Palestinian born and raised in Gretna, Louisiana. He was shot to death by an off-duty Israeli police officer, an IOF soldier, and an Israeli settler on Jan. 19, 2024, while visiting the West Bank of Palestine. President Joe Biden and local governments in the New Orleans area – including Gretna – have been totally silent about this crime; this echoes their silence about police killings of Black people.
Louisiana governor and friend to billionaires Jeff Landry (who tried to prevent hungry Louisiana kids from receiving school lunch this past summer) has ignored this crime just as he ignores every other kind of human suffering in the state.
One six-year-old boy at the press conference said, “Why should you support Palestine? Because you are human.” This cuts to the core. Going along with genocide means forsaking our own humanity.
One young woman said:
“How can someone be treated so poorly when they’re in their own land? Just visiting family members can be an impossible task due to the checkpoints and walls built to permanently isolate the community.
“Children come home worried whether their parents are still alive and well. No child should feel this way. Innocent lives are taken away day by day just for being Palestinian.
“The situation is not just a political issue. It is a human issue. Every person regardless of their nationality has the right to live in peace and security. We cannot turn a blind eye to the suffering of Palestinians or ignore their struggle for justice.”
Another young woman with autism spoke about Mohammad Bhar, a 24-year-old Palestinian man with Down syndrome and autism murdered in Gaza by Israeli military personnel who separated him from his family and allowed their dogs to maul him to death. She said:
“Mohammad would have been my friend if he was not left to die a painful and lonely death by the IDF. They let loose their dogs on him and forced his mom, brother, and sisters to leave. Mohammad Bhar could have been my friend. Mohammad Bhar could have been me.”
This writer did not see any local news stations present at the event, even though they covered the recent Taylor Swift concert in minute detail.
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