One year ago, on Feb. 25, 2024, 25-year-old Aaron Bushnell, an active-duty member of the U.S. Air Force, self-immolated in front of the Zionist Embassy in Washington, D.C., to protest against the genocide of tens of thousands of Palestinians. He said that he refused to be “complicit in genocide,” and as his body burned in flames, he cried out six times, “Free Palestine.”

In Los Angeles, Palestine solidarity activists gathered in front of the Zionist consulate to honor Bushnell. Organizers from the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, Code Pink, Justice 4 Palestine, and many individuals worked together to organize the action.

Trump’s proposal to kick out 2 million Palestinians from Gaza was met with stiff resistance in two recent New York City demonstrations. Both actions were called by the Shut It Down 4 Palestine Coalition.

On Feb.12, Palestinian supporters gathered in front of the great reference library on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. Speeches and chants attacked the genocidal tag team of Trump and Netanyahu, as well as Biden.

People marched through Times Square and then went to the New York Times headquarters. Speakers denounced the capitalist media for covering up the war crimes committed against the Palestinian people.

On Feb. 15, a rally was held in Manhattan’s Dag Hammarskjold Park near the United Nations. Next to the park is the UN mission of the “Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.” Its dictatorial King Abdullah II bin Al-Hussein — like his predecessors — is a long-time lap dog for U.S. and British imperialism.

Speakers demanded that the Jordanian and Egyptian regimes end collaboration with the U.S. and Zionist regime and reject Trump’s ethnic cleansing plan.

Hundreds of people then marched through midtown Manhattan to Pershing Square. A short rally was held there, in front of Grand Central Terminal on 42nd Street. 

The world is with Palestine!

Activists gathered outside the Zionist consulate in Los Angeles on Feb. 6 to denounce war criminal Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s White House visit and the continued U.S. imperialist escalation against the people of Gaza, the West Bank, and all of Palestine. 

Organizers from several organizations participated in the demonstration, including the Harriet Tubman Center for Social Justice, Al-Awda – The Right to Return Coalition, Code Pink, and Justice 4 Palestine.

During the event, alleged reports of a possible shooter in a building across the street brought out the police and fire department. John Parker of the Harriet Tubman Center addressed the crowd:

“This is not going to scare us away. We know that police and the state will try to discourage protests with fear and sometimes intentional provocations.  I don’t know if this was them or a fascist Zionist trying to scare us, but the point is, it will not stop us. It will just encourage us to do more.” 

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

Lev Koufax is an anti-Zionist Jewish activist.

🟢 Hamas condemned Trump’s statements “in the strongest terms.” “We affirm that these statements are hostile to our people and our cause and will not serve stability in the region. Rather, they will pour oil on the fire. We will not allow any country in the world to occupy our land or impose guardianship over our great Palestinian people who have offered rivers of blood to liberate our land from occupation and to establish our Palestinian state with Al-Quds as its capital.”Hamas called on Trump to retract his statements, which they deemed irresponsible and at odds with international law. They called on the Arab League and UN to address these comments.

⚫️ Palestinian Islamic Jihad considered that Trump’s comments, made while receiving the wanted Netanyahu, “are nothing more than a new version of the ill-fated Balfour Promise—where those who have nothing are promised to those who do not deserve it.”

They called the event “a meeting between the war criminal and the arrogant real estate mogul, which epitomized the reality of the American-zionist project in our region.” This project works through intimidation, brute force, and genocide, “flouting all laws, regulations, and the will of our peoples.”

PIJ affirmed that these statements leave no doubt that the US is leading a war of genocide, displacement, and the expansion of occupation. They considered Trump’s plans, from ending UNRWA to seizing land, are a dangerous escalation that threatens regional security.

PIJ concluded: “Our Palestinian people, who have been resisting for over a hundred years, will not succumb to the dictates of Trump or anyone else. His foolish statements will only serve as motivation for us to reinforce our resistance until we achieve our objectives of liberating our land and ending the occupation. Our Palestinian people and their resistance forces are more determined and resolute than ever in confronting these conspiracies, and we call on the Arab and Islamic peoples to stand against this conspiratorial project, which targets all the peoples of our region and portends serious impending threats.”

🔴 The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine was similarly direct: Gaza is not a real estate project.

They considered the statements “nothing but an extension of the genocide war waged by the Zionist enemy under the direct American cover, and an attempt to establish a new colonial project based on ethnic cleansing and the uprooting of our people from their land.”

They added: “Gaza is not a commodity in the hands of a war merchant like Trump or anyone else; rather, it is an integral part of historical Palestine, which stretches from Ras al-Naqoura to Rafah, and it is the gateway upon which the forces of colonialism have repeatedly crashed throughout history.”

“Any dream of controlling Gaza is merely an illusion that will shatter against the rock of the steadfastness and resistance of our people, and the fate of any American occupation force in the Strip will be no different from that of the zionist enemy; our people will confront it with all their strength and determination, just as they repelled the zionist aggression.”

“Gaza will forever remain a graveyard for invaders and an oasis of steadfastness and resistance for its free and dignified people.”

The PFLP called on all people to “confront this colonial scheme.” “We especially urge the active forces in the United States to take to the streets and declare their rejection of this new crime, which reflects the true face of American imperialism that colludes with the zionist occupation. Our struggle against this colonial, extirpatory project is the battle of all free peoples who reject colonialism, displacement, and the uprooting of a free people from their land.”

⚪️ Similarly, the Mujahideen Movement strongly condemned the statements of Trump and those around him. They considered the statements to reflect a determination to continue aggression against the Palestinian people. They noted that attempts to obstruct reconstruction serve the zionist agenda. They affirmed that Trump will not achieve what Biden was not able to. “The genocide committed by the Nazi zionists with American weaponry failed to displace our people, and Trump’s threats will not succeed in what their criminal arms failed to achieve.

The Deputy Secretary-General, Dr. Salem Attallah, suggested moving zionist settlers to an American state, as “no zionist invader will ever have our security and safety on our land as long as there’s a people and the determines resistance committed to reclaiming all its legitimate rights.” He noted that the international system has become a tool of American-zionist hegemony and arrogance.

The Movement also noted that Trump’s reception of the criminal Netanyahu represents contempt for ICC decisions, and they rejected his statements that “expose the ugly face of the United States.” They stated, like other factions, that Trump’s plans are a serious threat to the region and world. Yet, they noted that a people who faced American weapons for 15 months will not kneel to American words: “his plans will fail due to the steadfast resistance of our people.”

⚔️ The Popular Resistance Committees saw the statements as embodying American values. They considered Trump’s reception of Netanyahu as a reward for his “fascist entity’s genocide against women, children, and the elderly…with American support.”
They called for popular action rejecting Trump’s statements globally to confront their danger.

Abu Mujahid affirmed that the Palestinian people and their resistance will thwart the goals of the zionist enemy, remaining steadfast and again foiling displacement plans.

“The plan to displace and eradicate our people has fallen and failed under the feet of our displaced people who returned to their land from which they were displaced under the bombing, destruction and war of zionist-American genocide.”

He added that “Egypt and Jordan will not allow the existence of an alternative homeland for the Palestinians…” and that American administrations have not broken the will of the Palestinian people despite their unlimited resources.

Abu Mujahid noted: “If Arab countries refuse to normalize with the zionist entity and submit to the American decision biased towards the criminal zionist entity, and stop paying the billions of dollars with which America finances its aggression against our peoples, then the criminal Trump will not be able to implement his malicious criminal plans.”

“It is time for us, as a Palestinian people, to put aside all our differences and adhere to our unity on the basis of protecting the constants and legitimate Palestinian national rights.”

Via Resistance News Network

https://t.me/PalestineResist/72992

https://t.me/PalestineResist/72993

—

In recent weeks, a series of prisoner swaps has unfolded between Palestinian resistance groups and Israel, stemming from the Jan. 19 ceasefire deal. While the media spotlight has primarily centered on the zionist captives, those held by Palestinian resistance are most accurately described as prisoners of war, not hostages. In stark contrast, over 9,000 Palestinians remain incarcerated in Zionist prisons, including many elders and minors. 

Since the ceasefire, hundreds of Palestinian prisoners have been released from Zionist prisons. This is a major victory for the resistance and all the families who can finally welcome their loved ones home. 

High-profile leader released

Several newly released Palestinian prisoners were high-profile leaders in the various resistance groups. This includes Khalida Jarrar, a 62-year-old woman and leading member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. The Zionists held Jarrar in solitary confinement for six months under “administrative detention” — a legal mechanism that allows them to hold any Palestinian indefinitely without charge or trial. Jarrar was freed along with 69 other women and 21 teenage boys, some as young as 12. 

After six years in a maximum security prison, Al Aqsa Martyrs’ commander Zakaria Zubeidi was finally released as part of the ceasefire exchanges. Zubeidi was a crucial figure in the Second Intifada and was set to serve a life sentence before his release. 

Mohammed Abu Warda, a Hamas commander active in the Second Intifada, was serving 48 terms of lifetime imprisonment before his release. Prominent Fatah political activist Mohammed al-Tous was also released after 39 years in a Zionist prison. 

However, it is not only prominent fighters or political leaders who are finally free from Zionist detention. The vast majority of those held in Zionist prisons are everyday people detained solely because they are Palestinian.

For example, Ali Nazzal from Qalqilya finally returned home after 17 years to meet his teenage son for the first time. That’s right. Ali had been in a Zionist prison for so long that he had never met his son. However, due to the Palestinian people’s steadfast resistance, Ali is now reunited with his family. 

Another prisoner who will see the light of freedom after 20 years in a Zionist prison is Palestinian scholar Hussam Shahin. While incarcerated, Shahin wrote two novels about the occupation. Upon his release, he was immediately transferred to a hospital for emergency care as the Zionist occupiers had performed surgery on him without anesthesia while in jail. Shahin is currently resting in a local hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. 

Harsh conditions in Zionist prisons

It should be noted that the released Palestinian prisoners nearly universally described the horrific conditions they experienced in various Zionist prisons and detention centers — reports of starvation, torture, and psychological abuse were common. 

This stands in stark contrast to the accounts of the Zionist captives held by Hamas, who described being treated with respect and kindness. 

The return of the Palestinian prisoners has justifiably filled the people of Gaza with pride and joy. This has been on full display in recent weeks as resistance groups and Palestinian police have marched through the streets of Gaza City alongside the newly released prisoners. 

This pride did not go unnoticed by the fascist war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu and his accomplices. After images of Al-Qassam Brigade fighters marching through the streets surfaced on social media, Netanyahu immediately took to the airwaves to spread hateful anti-Palestinian bile. Netanyahu denounced the Al-Qassam processions as “horrifying” and “shocking.” In fact, Netanyahu briefly halted the entire prisoner exchange, creating chaos and confusion among the ranks of the Red Cross and even the Zionist authorities. 

The enduring spirit of Palestinian resistance

One question for the war criminal: Is it common for a nation not to celebrate its victories in war and the return of its prisoners? Why should the Palestinian people cower in silence at the feet of occupiers and U.S. imperialists? For Netanyahu to attack the very spirit of the Palestinian people — while an individual cannot walk down the street anywhere in “Israel” without seeing IDF propaganda — is the height of colonial arrogance. 

In reality, Netanyahu is simply embarrassed because the prisoner exchanges demonstrate the falsehood of the Zionist assertion that the occupation forces destroyed Hamas. The fact remains that anti-colonial resistance cannot be destroyed, whatever its form. As long as U.S. imperialist-backed occupiers seek to steal Palestine, the people will fight to keep it. 

These prisoner exchanges represent a positive development for the Palestinian liberation struggle and are certainly a victory. With that said, any resistance group will say that the struggle is not over until every part of Palestine is returned to its people – from Gaza to the Jordan River. 

Long live Palestine. 

Lev Koufax is an anti-Zionist Jewish activist.

Los Angeles activists remain a strong presence outside the Zionist consulate. Their signs pay tribute to 5-year-old Palestinian martyr Hind Rajab, who, along with her family, was murdered by the U.S.-backed Zionist military in Gaza on January 29, one year ago.

Following is a talk from the Jan.18 Honor Dr. King Jr. Rally and March, organized by the Peoples Power Assembly in Baltimore, launching the new Peoples Fightback Network. Those gathered stand in solidarity with Baltimore’s sanitation workers, for union rights and worker safety, and against war and genocide. The rally took place at McKeldin Plaza with the march ending at City Hall. Colby Boyd is an organizer with the Peoples Power Assembly. 

Good afternoon sisters, brothers, and siblings in the struggle. 

The fourth most dangerous job in the United States is sanitation work. And how does the leadership of the city of Baltimore treat the brave workers of sanitation and the overall Department of Public Works? They force them to work in unsafe trucks, force them to work without proper uniform items and protective equipment. They force them to work and drive through cramped spaces and unsafe alleys. They even force them to go out there in the blistering heat or freezing cold to handle all forms of waste and hazardous materials. All without a livable or comparable wage.

And focus on that word FORCE, in all of its hideous meanings. The workers of DPW work to keep the city safe with a whip to their back.

I could spend the entirety of my time up here recounting horror stories I have been told. How they have been mugged, maimed, or murdered on the job. Abandoned by their superiors during times of crisis or denied basic necessities or life-saving care.

But instead I want to talk to you all, my family, about how we can help our brothers and sisters at DPW. We all know it starts at being kind. Ensuring you properly dispose of your trash, slow down in work zones and be friendly to the DPW workers you may cross paths with. After that, we know to call our respective city officials to voice our complaints into the void of the countless other ones. We even know to make our individual feelings on the issue be known and voice it to any who listen, to spread the word. And after all that we all know that we must do more.

Many of us here have organized and mobilized for other crises befalling oppressed communities all around the world. From Palestine to the Philippines, we have collectively analyzed the systems that keep the people down and have committed to ending them. I would like to specifically raise the Palestinian struggle here today. The harmony between the people driven to action around the world and the Resistance battling the enemy within the heart of the Entity is the specific layer of the struggle I am raising. Through to this day, as the Resistance has called on us, we have answered however we can. When the people of Palestine were forced and bombed into tents, students turned campuses into encampments. As the Resistance attacked the occupiers’ bases, students occupied campus buildings. As the Houthis attacked Maersk in the Red Sea, we unmasked them in our ports. When they escalated overseas, we never failed at escalating here.

Let us remind the world that it was Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. who said, “I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!” Let us remind the world that he also told us “the price that America must pay for the continued oppression of the Negro and other minority groups is the price of its own destruction.” He knew that America in its current form was in no way accepting of the oppressed peoples of the world, and died fighting to change it. 

After the assassination of Dr. King, the government made sure to bomb that mountain and the promised land. COINTELPRO, the war on drugs, mass incarceration, and police brutality forced us to find a new way to these ideals. Here in Baltimore, following the deaths of Ronald Silver II and Timothy Cartwell, it has been made crystal clear that the City Council and the mayor, Brandon Scott, would rather follow in the footsteps of the Memphis City Council and Mayor Henry Loeb of 1968 then work to achieve the vision of Dr. Martin Luther King. The government, to no surprise, would rather try to cover up these problems than actually fix them. 

In fact, I would go so far to say that the city government is actively using these deaths and all of the mistreatment of the workers to quietly strip more rights and protections from the workers. Do not forget that they brought in the anti-worker and reactionary law firm of Conn Maciel Carey LLP out of Washington D.C. to “conduct a thorough review of DPW’s safety policies, practices, and procedures.” The city is doing everything it can to keep the workers divided and away from community-based solutions in order to continue this suffocating oppression.

The resistance in Palestine calls its ability to communicate through spatial differences and any barriers imposed by the occupier “the unity of the fields.” This constant communication through signals and actions allows the many different factions within the resistance to stay unified through the highs and lows of the campaign for liberation and never fall victim to cooperating with countering forces.

Bringing it back to Baltimore DPW, I hope you all understand what I am trying to get at. With the workers in a constant daily battle for their survival, they are forced into positions where they are taken advantage of by the city. This is not to say that they have not escalated the struggle; in fact, the DPW workers have been and continue to signal to the community, awaiting a signal in return to show that we see them and are ready to weather the storm with them – in other words, escalate.

It was Fredrick Douglass who said that “if there is no struggle, there is no progress.”

We must not let the city continue to choke the voices of our class siblings at the Department of Public Works any longer. We must adopt the unity of the fields strategy and free the workers of DPW by showing them that the community, their fellow workers, and fellow human beings will not stand idly by while they suffer at the hands of the city. Here in 2025 I say we learn from the Palestinian people and resistance. We dig into that mountain and make it ours; we tunnel our way to the Promised Land unapologetically, and we fight for those we have lost. We organize and fight together through any barriers imposed by the city, and together with the workers, we can smash the culture of oppression here in Baltimore.

Long live the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Long live the hard-working and brave workers of Baltimore DPW

Long live the Palestinian people and the resistance
Long live international solidarity

Jan. 16 — Cold weather didn’t stop a thousand people from coming to  New York City’s Times Square tonight to demand an end to the genocide in Gaza. The bold action was called by the Shut It Down 4 Palestine Coalition.

Speakers emphasized that it was the courageous resistance by the people of Palestine, Lebanon, and Yemen that forced Netanyahu and Biden to agree to a ceasefire. Among those who spoke were those from The People’s Forum; Nodutdol for Korean Community Development; PAL-Al Awda, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition; and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

The billions that Biden spent killing Palestinians go right back into the pocket of the warmakers. “Even the jet fuel used by the planes bombing Gaza is shipped daily from Texas by the Valero Corporation,” said Bill Dores of PAL-Awda. 

People marched north from Times Square before coming down Fifth Avenue. Everywhere, drivers and truckers honked their horns in support. Palestine will be free!

Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine:

Gaza Resists the zionist Holocaust While Netanyahu Drowns in His Failures and Defeats

The brutal massacres committed by the zionist enemy in recent hours (https://t.me/PalestineResist/71567) across wide areas (https://t.me/PalestineResist/71561), resulting in the martyrdom of dozens of innocent civilians — most of them women and children — are a living testament to the ongoing zionist holocaust in Gaza, carried out with U.S. support and partnership.

The extensive zionist escalation (https://t.me/PalestineResist/71567) witnessed in the past hours reaffirms that this enemy knows only the language of blood and genocide. It reflects a blatant disregard for all humanitarian values and underscores, once again, the urgency of stopping this holocaust against our people and denying the occupation further cover to continue its crimes.

Amid this continued aggression, Palestinian resistance factions are intensifying their efforts to halt this aggression as soon as possible. War criminal Benjamin Netanyahu, mired in his failures and defeats, will ultimately find himself and his fascist government compelled to agree to a ceasefire (https://t.me/PalestineResist/71612) after their catastrophic failure to achieve any of their objectives (https://t.me/PalestineResist/71528) beyond inflicting death and destruction on unarmed civilians.

We reaffirm that the blood of the martyrs will not be spilled in vain, and the response will come through greater resilience, escalating resistance, and broadening its scope.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine
Central Media Department
January 15, 2025

https://t.me/PalestineResist/71613

New York, Jan. 1 — A thousand people came to Times Square in Manhattan on New Year’s Day to stop the genocide in Palestine and Lebanon. The latest atrocity is the Zionist regime’s attack on Kamal Adwan Hospital, the last remaining hospital in northern Gaza.

Biden and Trump were denounced for supporting Netanyahu’s Pentagon-supplied mass murder. Chants echoed off the gaudy flashing billboards surrounding Times Square.

The militant action was called by the Shut It Down 4 Palestine Coalition. Speakers represented the Palestinian Youth Movement; Mamas For a Free Palestine; Healthcare Workers for Palestine; PAL-AWDA NY/NJ; The People’s Forum; and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

People marched uptown and then across 54th Street, past Broadway theatres and the Rockefeller dynasty’s Museum of Modern Art. Window shoppers gawking at the fancy stores on Fifth Avenue showed support, as did visitors on a tourist bus on 42nd Street.

Coming back to Times Square, marchers held a brief rally. Palestinian supporters are determined to start a New Year of struggle. The people of the world are demanding a ceasefire to the U.S. / Zionist genocide.