One of the primary goals of the group is to build a broad coalition of people from different backgrounds and organizations to raise awareness about what is going on in Palestine, especially in light of the Israel-Hamas war.
“This latest flare up is opening a lot of eyes to the true reality of the situation on the ground and Israel’s aggression toward the Palestinian people,” Asad Shah, one of the founding members of the group, said. “It’s not this rosy picture anymore of ‘Israel is fighting the bad guys’ and so on and so forth. They are actually committing a genocide, an ethnic cleansing over there. Unfortunately, it’s perpetuated by our tax dollars and our state-of-the-art military and weapons.”
Shah, 38, a refugee from Afghanistan and a former Army combat medic, came to the U.S. when he was 10 years old. He said the same group helped organize a rally that occurred last Sunday in Dallas and drew over 1,000 attendees, according to some estimates. “Of course, that’s a sign of the dire situation that’s unfolding each day over there,” he said.
The group is expecting a good turnout at the upcoming rally as well. “For a lot of folks, especially people of Palestinian ties and heritage, this is an outlet for them to be among their people in solidarity,” Shah said.
Shah condemned the killing of civilians on both sides of the conflict. “One thing I want to make clear is that it is abominable when civilians get hurt, no matter what side. Women, children, elderly, you know, folks who are not involved in the militarily, they should not be targeted,” he said.
The Hamas attack on Israel killed 1,400 people and sparked the recent conflict in the area. Leaders in Dallas and around the world have condemned the attack. “The gruesome and evil acts of Hamas continue to be uncovered,” District 12 Council member Cara Mendelsohn wrote on X (formerly Twitter) after the attack on Israel. “This is not about land disputes or 'resistance' it is simply barbaric terrorism and Jew hatred. Just as society could not function with ISIS, society can't function with Hamas.”“For a lot of folks, especially people of Palestinian ties and heritage, this is an outlet for them to be among their people in solidarity. – Asad Shah, Dallas Palestine Coalition
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The city of Dallas passed a resolution in support of Israel in the aftermath. “The city of Dallas stands with Israel in its fight against Hamas, prays for those who have lost family members and friends, calls for the swift return of all hostages, and hopes for a lasting resolution,” the resolution states.
“What happened in Israel initially with the Hamas attack, it was very unfortunate,” Shah said. “But in order to understand that incident, you do have to kind of zoom out and look at it from their [Palestinians] perspective.” He said Hamas has been ruling Gaza, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, for some time now. “A lot of those folks are refugees from when Israel was founded and they were kicked out of their land, you know, the ones that survived,” he said. “Now, they’re crammed in Gaza and since 2007, Israel has blockaded that area.”
Israel has cut off water, fuel and electricity in Gaza since the Hamas attack, according to the Associated Press. “It’s unfortunate, but that’s the situation that we’re in,” Shah said.
The rally also comes just days after a hospital bombing in Gaza that killed hundreds of people. Shah put the blame on Israel, but there have been conflicting reports about who bombed the hospital. The Israeli and U.S. governments claim the bombing was actually a misfire by Palestinian fighters.
Asked about the general message behind the upcoming rally, Shah said, “We want an end to hostility, an end to fighting.”
Protesters and government officials from across the globe are calling for the same thing. Shah brought up a United Nations resolution to condemn violence against civilians in the Israel-Hamas war and to urge humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza that was vetoed by the U.S. According to the AP, U.S. Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield criticized the resolution for failing to underline Israel’s right to self-defense and said the U.N. security council needs to allow current diplomatic efforts to unfold and to obtain more information first.
The resolution had wide support, but the U.S. vetoed it, and Britain and Russia abstained. Shah criticized the veto by the U.S. That brought him back to the sort of awareness he hopes the rally will create.
“We are in fact complicit in war crimes as we speak, and an ethnic cleansing and genocide of a people over in Palestine,” he said. “Our main goal is to let everyday Americans know that this is where our tax dollars are going. We can’t take care of our veterans here at home. We have thousands of people that are homeless, jobless in the streets, but we have enough money to go and kill poor people in other countries.”
