By Simon Albaugh – Yemeni American News
Dearborn, Mich. – Sparked by Biden’s support for Israel in recent escalations of violence, Arab Americans showed up in the thousands to express their frustration during Biden’s visit to Ford Motor Company’s headquarters.
Over the past weeks, escalating tensions between the Israeli military and Palestinian Militants in Gaza have resulted in a humanitarian disaster for Gazan civilians. Facing heavy bombardment from the Israeli military, essential civilian infrastructure in Gaza has been destroyed, leaving medical systems in the Palestinian enclave further overwhelmed and media infrastructure offline.
Although President Joe Biden has maintained his support for Israel, today he began making small steps to quell the violence, calling for “a significant de-escalation today.” Meanwhile, progressive democratic congressmembers have introduced a resolution attempting to block $735 million arms sale to Israel that Biden himself approved just days ago.
Leaders in Dearborn, including Palestinian-American Comedian Amer Zahr and Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News, organized a rally at the Dearborn Police Station. The rally, which was within eyesight of the Ford Company’s Dearborn Headquarters, called for Biden to take stronger action against what Palestinian Americans perceive to be an asymmetrical force against their people in Gaza.
Dearborn Police estimated 3,000 demonstrators protested at President Biden’s Tuesday visit.
So far, more than 200 people have lost their life in the escalation of the conflict, with the vast majority being Palestinians.
Protesters marched in 80 degree heat down Michigan Avenue, chanting for an end to the asymmetrical violence. Some, like Mohammad – who asked not to include his last name – came out in support of family overseas.
“When they’re overseas, they’re getting bombed and getting attacked,” Mohammad said. “Nothing’s changing. The least we could do here, living comfortably in our homes and living in our cared for environment is come out here and say something, try to make a change in whatever way we can.”
Others, like Sannid Saleh have taken a more direct approach to quelling the conflict. Saleh says that he’s worked as a medic for the Red Crescent Society in past protests in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Sannid Saleh worked as a medic at many protests inside the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
He recalls horrifying images of protests that happened in the West Bank, where protesters are often shot at with live rounds. On his first assignment with the Red Crescent Society, he recalls going to a protest and having to stack bodies in ambulances.
“So when we got there, and the first thing I saw was people with signs chanting, marching, making their voices heard,” Sannid said. “The moment they hit a certain point – which is an invisible line for the Israelis that they’ve made up within their own heads that the average person will not know – gunfire pretty much erupted. Within a few moments, there was 30 injured and multiple people who were unconscious from tear gas.”
Saleh says he’s been told never to come back by the Israeli military, that he’s been branded on his arm by the heated barrel of a rifle, and that he’s been beaten over and over on his trips overseas. But he says this won’t stop him from speaking out. In fact, he says it didn’t stop him from protesting the next day of his trip in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
“The next day I was out, and I said ‘if I was if I’m to die today, I’m dying in a cause I believe,’” Saleh said. “That’s why a lot of these people [in Dearborn] are doing the same thing. They come here while their own families have died overseas, their own families are suffering. So the least we can do in a safe environment is let our voices be heard.”
The protest organized for Biden’s visit was just one of a series of protests that have erupted over the past week. Organizers from all over the world have rallied hundreds of thousands of people – if not millions – to speak out against Israel’s force against Gaza and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
