Pro-Palestine rally voices concerns over islamophobia, misinformation
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) — As the war in the middle east continues with no sign of ending soon, The Lexington-Palestinian community and those in support making their way to the Courthouse Plaza on Tuesday to make their voices heard.
“As Muslims specifically, there is no room in Islam for violence specifically for violence against civilian populist. We understand that there is conflict and conflict naturally has disastrous consequences. However, we here as pro Palestinians are advocating for the freedom of the Palestinian people,” says Ahmad Shalash, who was in attendance at the rally, raising awareness.
“They have been living in an open air prison. Parents do not, they don’t know if their child is going to come home safe that day. They have had vital resources blockaded, things that they need to survive and that’s not acceptable,” added Jessie, with the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
Shalash adds that, “we want people to understand the history, we want people to educate themselves. So really our purpose here, our primary goal is education is for people to understand what’s going on what’s the context of the situation and specifically what Israel is doing to the Palestinians and how we as Americans are responsible for the U.S. aid to Israel.”
Shalash also voiced concerns over an incident in Illinois that left a six-year-old dead after he was stabbed, the Department of Justice has opened a federal hate crimes investigation into the events leading to the tragic death.
“We all fear that Islamophobia. Right now, the media is pushing this idea that the Muslims are, you know, they’re kind of painting us in a picture. And I think right now we’re all fearful that people would act upon the picture that they’re given by the media, which we believe is not an accurate picture,” he says.
Meantime, Jessie says, “if you are Pro-Palestinian liberation, that does not make you Anti-Semitic. I really want to challenge Jewish people who have grown up feeling like Israel is an inherent part of their Jewishness to really separate themselves from the Israeli regime, and recognize that there was a time when Jewish people and Palestinians lived in relative harmony in occupied Palestine.”
