Thousands of people continued to gather downtown Saturday in solidarity for Palestinians facing atrocities, agony and suffering worlds away.
A large, boisterous demonstration in the Loop was one of several in the city in recent weeks, as groups of people speak up against violence in the escalating war between Israel and Hamas, a terrorist organization. Protesters clashed with police and stood on the tops of charter buses waving banners and yelling messages of desperation.
Illinois is home to one of the fastest-growing Muslim communities in the nation, and several high-profile crimes have occurred in those communities over the past few weeks. Last Saturday, a 6-year-old Palestinian American Wadea al-Fayoume was stabbed to death. On Tuesday, a Lombard man allegedly threatened to shoot two Muslim men outside his apartment. Two days later, the principal of a Muslim school in Bridgeview announced to parents that students would work from home on Friday after the school received “a threatening hate letter.”
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On the Friday following an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas in Israel that left about 1,400 Israelis dead and almost 200 taken hostage, the City Council approved a symbolic resolution backing Israel. It did not nod to brutalities that Palestinians faced from the Israeli government, as requested by progressive Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez, 33rd.
The alderwoman spoke to the loud crowd Saturday afternoon at Michigan Avenue and Ida B. Wells Drive.
“As I pay attention to what’s happening in Gaza, every time that I see a child dead or dismembered or desperately calling for their mother, I see my own child,” Rodriquez-Sanchez said through a megaphone, her voice shaking with emotion.
Medhat, a Palestinian American and 10-year-old from the South Side stood in the middle of a circle of relatives nearby, shouting “Palestine will be free!” and holding up a doll to represent the thousands of children who have died in airstrikes on Gaza. He stepped out of the circle to watch a motorcade of cars mounted with Palestinian flags drive by, honking and revving their engines.
“I’m here to stand with my country. I want Israel to stop the occupation,” he said.
His mother Rehan Suleiman, 32, said dozens of their family members of Palestinian descent came to the protest together. Her sister-in-law’s brother died in the conflict, and she knows many others who have been deeply affected.
Saturday morning, the border between Egypt and Gaza opened for the first time since Israel closed it following the Oct. 7 infiltration by Hamas fighters. Just 20 trucks were allowed in of more than 200 trucks that have been waiting outside the Rafah crossing for days. It is the sole route for aid to enter Gaza from outside Israel.
Mona Elgindy, 46, an Egyptian American who lives in the Southwest suburbs, stood at the back of the crowd gathered in downtown Chicago with her 10-year-old stepdaughter. She said she felt Israel’s decision to close the border is an act of genocide and terrorism.
She had attended a suicide walk in honor of her brother that morning, and wore a shirt with his face on the front and a quote from the Quran on the back: “...And whoever saves the life of one person, it is as if he saved the life of all humanity.”
Elgindy said the message of the crowd Saturday afternoon was the same.
“Saving one human life is like saving all of humanity. And turning your back on one human life is like turning your back on all of humanity,” she said.
The day after returning from a trip to Israel, President Biden told Americans in a speech Thursday night he was planning to send $14 billion to the country, while also raising concern about the tragedies in Palestine. Biden has a history of showing public support for Israel while privately expressing consternations to the Israelis about their behavior.
Crowds who gathered downtown expressed strong opposition to federal aid for Israel.
“Long live Palestine!” they shouted. Then: “Biden, Biden, you can’t hide! You are funding genocide!”
Later in the evening at Foster Beach in Uptown, about 40 people wearing knit hats and holding plastic candles hugged each other and huddled together to stay out of the wind that whipped off Lake Michigan. “Free Gaza,” read a sign in string lights propped up against the field house.
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Rabbi Brant Rosen held the Jewish vigil, calling on those who gathered to engage in a Jewish fast for Gaza on a weekly basis, donating the money that would have been spent on food to direct aid organizations in Gaza. He said after the Hamas attacks, many in his congregation were mourning. But he said members of his congregation are not on the same page about the war.
“Jews are weaponizing our grief, adding more pain,” he said to the Tribune before the vigil.
[ Chicagoans tied to Israel and Palestine react to Hamas attacks, brace for war ]
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry said Friday that 4,137 Palestinians have been killed and more than 13,000 others wounded.
At the vigil, people stood up at a microphone and read messages and updates from Gaza — of sleepless nights, collapsed buildings, endless bombings. They asked for help in the form of aid, protests and prayer.
Adam Gottlieb, 33, strummed on his guitar and sang a prayer of peace into the microphone.
“Oseh shalom bimromav. Hu ya’aseh shalom aleinu. V’al kol Yisrael v’Yishmael, v’al kol yoshvei teyvel, v’imru: Ameyn.” (”They who make peace in their high places, may they bring peace upon us, and upon all Israel and Ishmael, and on the whole world, and we say: Amen.”)
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Jerry Schenwar, 78, of Lincolnwood, who came to Foster Beach with his wife and daughter, said he wouldn’t be able to participate in the fasting for health reasons, but he was there in solidarity.
“The way Israel is acting is way beyond self-defense,” he said. “The idea of Judaism is to respect everybody. Not to be killing people.”
His daughter Maya Schenwar, 40, spoke into the microphone.
“Grief can do beautiful things,” she said. “We are here tonight to take back our grief.”
The Associated Press contributed.
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