Philly emergency rally to end the genocide
Philadelphia
A spirited and militant emergency rally and march in solidarity with Palestine and against the U.S./Israeli escalation of genocide in Gaza and the West Bank drew around 300 participants to Philadelphia City Hall on March 22. Organized by the Philadelphia Palestine Coalition, the event, which included a march to Rittenhouse Square and back to City Hall, received broad support all along the route.
March to end the genocide in Gaza. Philadelphia, March 22, 2025. WW Photo: Joe Piette
On March 18, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shattered the two-month-old ceasefire agreement with Hamas before it could advance to stage two, which included the withdrawal of Israel Occupation Forces from Gaza. Stage one involved the exchange of 33 Israeli hostages held by Hamas and hundreds of Palestinian men, women and children held in captivity by Israel. In addition, the agreement was supposed to allow 600 trucks of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza daily, including those carrying much-needed fuel. While Hamas upheld their side of the agreement, Israel did not.
Even before Israel resumed bombardment of Gaza on March 18, the Zionist state had severely restricted the agreed upon aid and cut access to electricity necessary for providing clean water. Israel’s deadly attack on Gaza killed over 400 people and injured hundreds more, including many women and children, and more attacks have followed. In addition to the horrific attacks, Israel has increased the IOF presence in Gaza with the intent of splitting the northern section from the rest.
Israel’s attack on Gaza took place just days after the Trump administration ordered intense bombing of civilian areas of Yemen on March 16 and increased U.S. threats against Iran. Both countries have supported the Palestinian Resistance.
Attacks on Palestinian student protesters
March to end the genocide in Gaza. Philadelphia, March 22, 2025.
WW Photo: Joe Piette
The Philadelphia rally follows over a week of protests opposing the Trump administration’s attacks on Palestinian students at several universities, including arrests and deportations of students at Columbia, Brown, Cornell and Georgetown. Just outside Philadelphia, 15 students at Swarthmore College were threatened with probation and suspensions. The sanctioned students are predominantly students of color, first-generation U.S.-born and low-income, with the most severe sanctions issued to Arab and Muslim students. Several Swarthmore students attended the rally.
Addressing the rally, Tarik, a faculty member at Haverford College, linked the attacks on Palestinian students with the U.S. police state’s targeting of the Black Lives Matter movement that grew out of protests over the police murders of Michael Brown in 2014 and George Floyd in 2020. Tarik noted that what is different for the Palestinian movement “is the extent that universities, including Columbia and Brown, are collaborating with the state.”
Tarik commented that while Israel is bad at propaganda that can compete with the truth, the universities, which are active sites of struggle, fill in by repressing knowledge and the voices and stories of anyone who shows solidarity with Palestine. They concluded: “We have to struggle to prevent the Zionists from taking over. Every major political movement led by students in this country has been vindicated, and this one will be too.”
A speaker representing Penn Against the Occupation described the University of Pennsylvania’s close ties with the military-industrial complex and the millions of dollars the school has received from weapons contractors like Lockheed Martin. They noted that Penn’s sponsorship of Ghost Robotics allows weaponized robots to kill children in Palestine and migrants at the U.S./Mexico border.
They said, “This is not about free speech or an attack on scientific studies. Penn is using Trump’s attacks on research as an excuse to better preserve the empire. Penn has blood on their hands.”.
Throughout the march, militant chants raised support for the forces in the broad resistance movement, including Yemen, for blocking shipments to Israel in the Red Sea; solidarity with Palestine demonstrated by Hezbollah in Lebanon and the government of Iran. Several chants addressed the right of Palestinians to return to their occupied homes and stated that Israeli settlers should leave. A popular chant was “There is only one solution;— the Intifada revolution.”
The march returned to City Hall where Joe Piette, a member of the Philadelphia Palestine Coalition and Workers World Party, opened his comments by recognizing an activist they worked with in the anti-apartheid movement for South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s who participated in today’s march.
Piette affirmed: “We are continuing the fight against apartheid, but this time against the Zionist state of Israel. People who are being deported today include Palestinian activists, but also migrant workers and refugees from Latin America, Haiti and around the world. We are all part of the same working class, fighting against imperialist domination. We should look for opportunities to show solidarity with all those facing the threat of deportation!”
