Salinas Palestine Solidarity group continues their weekly anti-Israel protests as Gaza faces growing hunger

Almost two years into the bombardment and blockade of Gaza, people in Salinas are continuing to protest each week, Showing support for the Palestinian people, as things continue to grow more dire.

Ata Shaheen heard from folks with Salinas Palestine Solidarity at their demonstration today.

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“Criminal, horrendous, shameful, criminal what’s going on in Gaza right now and what has been going on in what are called the occupied territories since they became the occupied territories," said Robin Cohen, a Jewish Anti-Zionist

She's one of a dozen or so peace activists that have been spending a couple hours every Friday evening on the corner of Blanco Road and Main Street for the past 18 months.

“It's not like I'm naive enough to think that, our protest here in front of theStar Market is going to tip the scale, but it does build community and it does build connection, and it does create conversations.”

Some come for the community and conversations, but others because they say they feel a need to do something - anything -while their government continues to send money and weapons to what they view as a state focused on ethnic-cleansing.

"What is happening is a crime against humanity. It has been condemned by every human rights organization, every international court. And if we want to save the un, we have to stop sending weapons to Israel," said MacGregor Eddy, a 76-year-old retired nurse.

"I think what brought a lot of us out here, too, is the connection of our tax dollars being used to bomb Gaza… Not only is it bad to murder, innocent civilians, but we don't want our tax dollars used, in that way for war and murder. We want it for health care and lifting people up and education," said Lauren X, an organizer with Salinas Palestine Solidarity.

A new report by the United Nations' human right’s office concludes that Israel has killed over a thousand Palestinians while they were waiting in line for food in just the past three months.
And in late July, images started to circulate online of Palestinians dying of hunger.

"If shooting starving people doesn't cause people to feel horror, and this needs to be stopped, then what is going to move them? This must stop," said Eddy.

Lots of drivers signaled their support with honking, but not everybody was on board with the protest.

"You guys are terrible terrible people. Every single week you guys do this, and you sat out here like, you’re just okay. If you did this over there, they’d chop your head off,” said a man who walked up to them during the protest.

The organizers said they’re used to dealing with hecklers, and told each other not to engage the man.

However, they’ve seen over the past year and half growing support and fewer folks trying to shut them down.

"If they just took a moment to, like, scream less at us and be a little more curious, they might learn like we're out here because we want peace for everybody, and we want to make sure, like everybody has basic rights," said Lauren.

August 1 was the group’s 78th or so consecutive Friday on the corner, and they have no plans of stopping.

"We'll definitely be out here until Palestine free and there's no more genocide."

Salinas Palestine Solidarity says protesting is just one aspect of what they do. They also hold educational events, where they focus on the intersectionality of the Palestinian struggle and advocate for things like indigenous rights and immigration rights here on the Central Coast.