Protesters take to Dearborn streets to oppose Israel, Trump
Dearborn — Hundreds of protesters took to the streets of Dearborn on Thursday afternoon to stand against U.S. support for Israel, days after violence reignited in Gaza following a monthslong cease-fire.
The march in Dearborn, from Ford Field Park on Cherry Hill Street to an empty lot at the corner of Military Street, came after news broke Tuesday that Israeli airstrikes had killed hundreds of Palestinians, including women and children, the Associated Press reported.
"The cease-fire in the Gaza Strip was the first time in over a year that children could go to sleep without drones buzzing in the sky," said Vincent Coakley from Engineers Against Apartheid, during the protest. "Though the deal wasn't perfect, it allowed for crucial aid to get into the Gaza Strip, and there was a sense of hope that peace was on the horizon."
Coakley now feels that as long as Israel continues to occupy Palestinian territories, there's no hope for peace.
But Doron Levin, an Israeli-American, defended the Israeli government's latest actions.
"The military conflict in Gaza resumed for only one reason: The Hamas refuses to return the hostages. Once they do so and surrender — since their military capability has been degraded to nearly nothing — they can negotiate safe passage for themselves out of Gaza," said Levin, an Israeli-American journalist from Metro Detroit who has covered the Middle East.
"Continuing to use non-combatants as human shields while Hamas fighters hide in tunnels will only prolong the misery and bloodshed."
The surprise, early morning attack by Israel brought an abrupt end to a cease-fire that had been in place since January. The AP reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered the strikes after Hamas refused demands to free half of the remaining hostages as a precondition for extending the cease-fire.
Israeli strikes killed at least 85 Palestinians across the Gaza Strip overnight and into Thursday, according to local health officials. Hours later, Hamas fired three rockets at Israel without causing casualties, in the first such attack since Israel broke their cease-fire, the AP reported.
Protesters repeated the call for the U.S. to end intervention in the war and to divest from entities that support Israel, while chanting their support for the Palestinian people.
Coakley said the conflict is "enabled fully by the United States, by our own tax dollars, with no regard for the human cost," while another event organizer, Jackson Robak of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization termed it "Trump's genocide."
"We all need to look at the collective bravery of people fighting for freedom and fighting for justice and stand with them," Robak said.
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages. Most of the hostages have been freed in cease-fire agreements or other deals. Israeli forces have rescued eight living hostages and recovered the bodies of dozens more. Hamas holds 59 hostages, 24 of whom are believed alive.
Israel's retaliatory offensive since the war began has killed more than 49,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. It does not say how many were militants, but says more than half of those killed were women and children. Israel says it has killed around 20,000 militants.
During his presidential campaign, Trump promised to end Middle East conflicts involving Israel without laying out a firm plan. He went on to win a plurality of votes Dearborn and Dearborn Heights, two of the region's largest concentrations of Arab American residents, en route to winning swing state Michigan 49.7%-48.3%.
Several participants in Thursday's march, including protesters of Middle Eastern descent, told The Detroit News that they didn't vote for Trump and didn't know anyone who did. Some held signs reading "Fight Trump AND the Liberals."
Protesters also pointed to the case of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who is threatened by the Trump administration with deportation following his arrest stemming from a campus protests against Israel.
Khalil maintains that his detention is indicative of “anti-Palestinian racism” on the part of the Trump and Biden administrations.
One Dearborn woman, who declined to provide her name, said her sister voted for Trump and the two are no longer on speaking terms. Asked what she would say to members of her community who voted for Trump, she said, "Do your research."
"I think people nowadays are reading subtitles for Instagram videos and getting their news information from that," she said. "People are not actually looking into who they're voting for. They're hopping (on) the bandwagon."
mreinhart@detroitnews.com