Activists chain themselves to consulate to protest Israeli war crimes

San Francisco

A crowd of 150 protesters shut down the Israeli consulate in San Francisco on April 18. They denounced the military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip and demanded respect for the human and national rights of the Palestinian people.

The day’s protest began when a group of 20, wearing “75 years of Israeli war crimes” on their T-shirts, chained themselves to each other and to the consulate doors.

So far in 2023, some 90 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces. Sharif Zakout of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center stated: “For too long, the U.S. has played an active role in the military occupation and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.”

Speaking from a flatbed truck, Zakout condemned the U.S. government for providing over $3.8 billion annually “in direct military aid to the Israeli occupation.”

This May marks the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, the forcible displacement of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homelands during the 1940s; today there are over 2 million Palestinian refugees.