{"id":43439,"date":"2025-08-25T12:54:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T19:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=43439"},"modified":"2025-08-25T12:54:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T19:54:16","slug":"stop-the-genocide-thousands-of-israelis-rally-against-war-and-famine-in-gaza","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/08\/25\/stop-the-genocide-thousands-of-israelis-rally-against-war-and-famine-in-gaza\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Stop the Genocide’: Thousands of Israelis Rally Against War and Famine in Gaza"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"An<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A woman holds a sign calling for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza during an August 23, 2025 protest in Tel Aviv.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Itai Ron\/Middle East Images\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We stood proud and tall together because there is nothing that will stop the just civilian resistance to the genocide and occupation,” said one protester.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

BRETT WILKINS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aug 24, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thousands of Israelis took to the streets of Tel Aviv Saturday in multiple demonstrations demanding an end to their government’s genocidal war and engineered famine in Gaza<\/a> and a deal to free the remaining hostages held by Hamas since October 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Israelis\u2014both Arab and Jewish\u2014rallied in Habima Square holding signs reading “Stop the Genocide” and photos of some of the at least 115 Palestinian children who have starved to death in what the world’s leading authority on hunger has\u00a0officially declared<\/a>\u00a0a full-blown famine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Israeli newspaper\u00a0Haaretz<\/em>\u00a0reported<\/a>\u00a0that police initially prohibited protesters from holding photos of Gazan children or Israeli hostages and also banned use of the word “genocide,” but then allowed such displays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/x.com\/iddoelam\/status\/1959298862608257161?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1959298862608257161%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_c10&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2Fisraelis-protest-gaza-genocide<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The protest was organized by the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee\u2014an umbrella Arab Israeli advocacy group\u2014with the participation of the Arab political parties Hadash, Balad, and Ta’al, and activist organizations including Peace Now, Breaking the Silence, Looking the Occupation in the Eye, and the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Protesters implored the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to call off\u00a0Operation Gideon’s Chariots 2<\/a>, the nascent campaign to conquer and occupy Gaza and ethnically cleanse 1 million Palestinians\u2014approximately half the strip’s population\u2014and possibly confine them in a\u00a0proposed concentration camp<\/a>\u00a0that would be built over the ruins of Rafah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/embed.bsky.app\/embed\/did:plc:g7kxqt27egjyqaw4l7ugg4dv\/app.bsky.feed.post\/3lx3mqogf2s24?id=8256753746871472&ref_url=https%253A%252F%252Fwww.commondreams.org%252Fnews%252Fisraelis-protest-gaza-genocide&colorMode=system<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We only have a few days left to stop this, because if the invasion of Gaza begins there will be no deal,” Yotam Cohen, brother of hostage Nimrod Cohen, told<\/a> the crowd. “The invasion will blow up the negotiations and hostages and soldiers will die.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Instead of saving lives Netanyahu is sentencing the living hostages to death and causing the fallen to be lost forever,” Cohen added. “He is condemning us to a needless eternal war, sending solders to their death.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other demonstrators condemned Netanyahu for repeatedly sabotaging ceasefire deals in order to prolong the war and delay his criminal corruption trial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saturday’s protests followed last week’s massive nationwide demonstrations<\/a> in which an estimated 1 million Israelis took part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the demonstrations in Israel<\/a>, at least tens of thousands of people rallied and marched<\/a> in cities across Australia on Sunday to demand an end to the Gaza genocide and sanctions on Israel. The protests followed the Australian government’s decision<\/a> earlier this month to formally recognize Palestinian statehood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“With Israel’s announced ground invasion of Gaza, the call is clear: Australia must demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire, impose a two-way arms embargo, and act to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice,” said Amnesty International<\/a>, which backed the protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite Hamas’ acceptance<\/a> of a proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release, Netanyahu\u2014a fugitive from the International Criminal Court wanted<\/a> for alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes\u2014last week approved the invasion and occupation of Gaza City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, Israeli Settlement Minister Orit Strook suggested<\/a> that she and other Cabinet ministers “will vote to continue the war at the expense of the hostages’ lives” and said that she would personally assent to the invasion and occupation of Gaza “even if it is clear that Hamas will execute the hostages.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gaza Health Ministry (GHM) said Sunday that Israeli forces killed<\/a> scores more Palestinians across Gaza within the past 24 hours, including children and aid-seekers, as Operation Gideon’s Chariots 2 ramped up, with Israel Defense Forces (IDF) tanks advancing into the Sabra neighborhood of Gaza City.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to those killed by IDF bombs and bullets, health authorities said that eight more Palestinians, including two children, starved to death, bringing the famine death toll to at least 289, including 115 children. All told, the GHM says Israel’s 688-day assault and siege on Gaza\u2014which is the subject of an ongoing International Court of Justice\u00a0genocide case<\/a>\u2014has left at least 229,000 Palestinians dead, maimed, or missing, with no end to the slaughter in sight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BRETT WILKINS<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brett Wilkins is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A woman holds a sign calling for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza during an August 23, 2025 protest in Tel Aviv. \u00a0(Photo by Itai Ron\/Middle East Images\/AFP via Getty Images) “We stood proud and tall together because there is nothing that will stop the just civilian resistance to… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43439"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43439"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43441,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43439\/revisions\/43441"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}