Pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets across the world in honor of 'Nakba Day' on Thursday, many calling for armed resistance and praising the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.
Nakba Day is the day of commemoration for what Palestinians see as the 'catastrophe': the destruction of their society and homeland in 1948. The date chosen was 15 May, which is the day after the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 14 May 1948.
In North America, Within Our Lifetime organized an "all out for Gaza" event in New York City, calling for "an end to the ongoing genocide, and full liberation from the river to the sea." WOL announced it was joining Palestinians around the world in "uplifting our people's resistance to genocide, Zionism and settler colonialism since 1948." It was joined by the local branches of Students for Justice in Palestine as well as Cuny4Palestine.
The American Friends Service Committee, alongside If Not Now and American Muslims for Palestine, organized a Nakba event featuring guest speakers Rashida Tlaib and Ilan Pappé.
Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) held an “International Day of Action” including a rally next to the MIT campus, under the slogan "Zionism is not welcome in Boston!”
In Toronto, PYM Toronto, CODEPINK Ontario, and SJP held a “Nakba 77 Day of Action.”
The flyer read, "As the Zionist genocide on Gaza continues, as the Palestinian resistance in Gaza and the West Bank heroically defend the land against the occupiers, as Palestinian prisoners lead us to victory, let us join the people of Palestine, Yemen, Lebanon, and every person of conscience with our Palestinian flags held high on the streets!”
Samidoun, which is a designated terrorist organization in Israel, the US, Canada, and the Netherlands, released a statement praising the Hamas attacks on October 7 and endorsing rallies across Europe, including a mass action event in Berlin.
"On 7 October 2023, the heroic fighters who undertook the great crossing were marching forward and advancing against the occupier on their own lands denied them by force for over 77 years," wrote Samidoun. "The Zionist entity has no future on the land of Palestine."
In the UK, Palestine Action spray-painted "Happy Nakba Day" and threw red paint across Rico House in Prestwich – a building housing Jewish businesses in north Manchester's Jewish community.
Additionally, multiple Palestine Action protesters positioned themselves on top of a modified ambulance, blocking the entrance to an Elbit Systems factory.
"The Nakba never stopped, and has intensified into the current genocide, committed with weaponry made by Elbit Systems which is marketed as "battle-tested" on Palestinians."
Among the protesters was orthopaedic NHS doctor Rahmeh Aladwan, who wore her scrubs and a stethoscope under her keffiyeh despite the UK's Health Secretary recently saying that NHS workers are banned from wearing uniforms to protests. A source told the Jerusalem Post that she is already under investigation by the General Medical Council.
Palestinian Solidarity UK also announced a national Nakba demonstration at Embankment Tube station in London. It also announced a week of action, calling on supporters to take "9 actions in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle." These included lobbying parliament, contacting FIFA to urge it to ban Israel, and asking supermarket members to vote to end trade with Israel.
Pals for Palestine Ireland called on protesters to "descend on media" outlets and demand them to "end the bias," specifically BBC and RTE offices in Dublin, Derry, Belfast, Cork and Galway.
On the 15 and 16 May, the UN's Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People also met to discuss “International Action Towards Ending the Nakba and Realising the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People”, on the margins of the 77th commemoration of the Palestinian Nakba.
Global Nakba protests
Elsewhere in the world, there were also Nakba protests occurring in at least 13 Australian cities.
A coalition of the biggest Swiss pro-Palestine groups under the leadership of BDS Geneva organized a mass demonstration in the city to "commemorate the Nakba and demand a Palestine free from apartheid from the sea to the Jordan River."
"Because the Zionist colonization of Palestine is a European project, we have a responsibility to carry this voice in Europe," said the statement.
Basque and Navarre BDS groups organized rallies in four cities across the Spanish region.
Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also posted in honor of Nakba Day, saying, "If anyone in the world knows the reality of the events in Palestine, they will confront the usurping Zionist regime."
