By Ida Mojadad,ReporterUpdated July 27, 2024 (SFChronicle.com)
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators march Saturday in an “Arrest Netanyahu” protest outside the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in San Francisco in response to the Israeli prime minister’s visit to Washington this week.
Hundreds of pro-Palestinian demonstrators marched Saturday in San Francisco to call for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu days after his appearance before Congress.
The “Arrest Netanyahu” protest, backed by local groups including the Arab Resource and Organizing Center and Jewish Voice for Peace Bay Area, also called for immediate action by the Biden administration to stop sending weapons to Israel so the prime minister can reach a cease-fire in the war with Hamas.
Roughly 1,000 protesters gathered at the Nancy Pelosi Federal Building in the South of Market neighborhood before heading along Seventh Street and down Market Street, then turning on Kearny Street en route to the Israeli Consulate on Montgomery Street, with many chanting “Netanyahu, you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide.” The consulate was barricaded by police officers in preparation.
Muni buses and the F-Market streetcar stopped as the crowd passed, with one bus passenger giving a thumbs-up out the window. Onlookers on Market Street took photos as they stopped to watch the protesters, who later marched to the Embarcadero.
“The rhetoric (politicians) are employing is simply not enough,” said Wassim Hage, an organizer with the Arab Resource and Organizing Center. “The cease-fire needs to be forced through a complete cessation of arms to Israel.”
Netanyahu sparked an uproar Wednesday when he spoke before Congress to defend the war in Gaza in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas militants, who killed an estimated 1,200 Israelis and took about 250 people hostage. Israel’s subsequent military response has killed at least 39,000 Palestinians, health authorities say.
Academics estimated in a Lancet article from July that, even if the bombs stopped, the number of indirect deaths caused by factors such as malnutrition, disease and medicine shortages could reach 186,000.
Suzanne Ali of San Francisco, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, has family members in Gaza who are sheltering in tents.
“They’re just trying to survive,” Ali said. “Seeing what’s being done to them … it’s being done to all these people. It’s been 10 months now. It’s unconscionable.”
In his speech, Netanyahu falsely claimed that there were essentially no civilian deaths in Rafah, home to many displaced Palestinians, and that Israel is not blocking food and aid into Gaza, according to analyses by ABC News and CNN.
“Israel will fight until we destroy Hamas’ military capabilities and its rule in Gaza and bring all our hostages home,” Netanyahu told Congress. “That’s what total victory means. And we will settle for nothing less.”
Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi called it “by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing Congress of the United States.” She had skipped the appearance so she could meet with the families of Israeli hostages.
“These families are asking for a ceasefire deal that will bring the hostages home,” Pelosi said on X, “and we hope the prime minister would spend his time achieving that goal.”
Netanyahu’s appearance was met with thousands of protesters in Washington, D.C., including some from the Bay Area, who called for his arrest. The International Criminal Court — an intergovernmental organization that prosecutes those accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide — sought arrest warrants in May for Netanyahu, his defense chief and three leaders of Hamas. The warrants followed a March report from a United Nations human rights expert who concluded that Israel met the threshold for genocidal acts, which the country denied.
Ariel Koren, an organizer with the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, expressed anger toward Vice President Kamala Harris for meeting with Netanyahu and condemning protesters who burned the U.S. flag. President Joe Biden, who withdrew from the presidential race last weekend, has endorsed Harris as the Democratic nominee to run against former President Donald Trump.
Most in the crowd erupted into a loud boo when speaker Rosa Astra, a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation, mentioned Harris, who drew pro-Palestinian protesters last month during a fundraiser in the Mission District. Astra denounced Harris’ history as San Francisco district attorney and California attorney general, adding that the vice president has been hand-in-hand with the Biden administration’s response to Gaza.
Koren echoed demands for further action to secure a permanent cease-fire.
“Anything short of that is handing the election to Trump,” Koren said. Netanyahu “wouldn’t be able to continue doing this if we weren’t arming him. When will it be enough?”
Reach Ida Mojadad: ida.mojadad@sfchronicle.com
July 27, 2024|Updated July 27, 2024 6:06 p.m.
REPORTER
Ida Mojadad is a San Francisco journalist who has reported enterprise, investigative and daily news coverage focused on schools, youth and families. She previously covered housing, health care and city politics, among other topics, for SF Weekly and the San Francisco Examiner. While at the San Francisco Standard, she published a series of revelations about hidden school sexual misconduct. Ida is a graduate of San Francisco State University and serves as Vice President of the Society of Professional Journalists Northern California chapter.
