Pro-Palestine supporters hold rally outside Israeli Consulate in San Francisco
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Thousands of pro-Palestine supporters gathered outside the Israeli Consulate General's office in San Francisco Sunday to protest Israel's settlements in the West Band and occupation of the Gaza Strip.
The supporters chanted "Free, free, free Palestine" as they made their way through the Financial District calling for Israel to end its occupation of Gaza, where they said conditions have deteriorated in recent years.
"What's happening in Gaza, in particular, is cruel," said Wael Buhissy, a Gaza native.
Buhissy still has many family and friends in Gaza and doesn't know how they're doing after the most recent counter attacks by Israel.
A good reason
The protesters said the Hamas attacks on Israel are retaliation for Israel's increased military assaults on Palestinians for conditions in Gaza, which some describe as an open-air prison.
"The Palestinian people, just like all occupied people, we have the right to resist by any and all means allowed, and violence is one of them," Buhissy spoke.
They took their protest directly to the Israeli Consulate General's Office, hoping their large numbers and loud voices will make them seen and heard.
Organizers chose this location for good reason. The Consulate General's Office represents the nation of Israel in the Bay Area, a nation that they said has attacked Palestinian neighborhoods again and again over the past 16 years.
Israel supporters shouted back
They also want the U.S. to stop sending military aid to Israel as they said billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars are being used to carry out those attacks.
"They give them $3.8 billion of taxpayer money a year. We say that taxpayer money should go towards housing...Towards health care," said Waseem Hajj of the Arab Resource Organzing Center.
Hajj says Palestinians in Gaza have been denied medical care, water and electricity by the Israeli government.
"You cannot keep two million people in a cage and expect them to stay in that cage," Hajj explained.
A smaller group of about a hundred Israel supporters shouted back, calling Hamas "terrorists." At one point, some threw eggs and water bottles at the pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
But San Francisco police kept the two sides separated and there were no physical altercations.
