GARDEN CITY, Idaho — Editor's Note: Names of protestors in this story were removed following safety concerns.
Local pro-Palestinian group, Boise to Palestine, hosted a rally on Saturday asking for a ceasefire, immediate humanitarian aid and investigations into war crimes. The rally occurred on a snowy day in the Treasure Valley and saw a turnout of more than 100 people.
"We are a grassroots coalition of Idahoans of all faiths and backgrounds – led by Palestinian Americans in Boise," the organization said in a news release. "We are very worried about our families and friends in Gaza and across Palestine and horrified by the genocide that is unfolding before our eyes. We are the majority. In recent polling, 66% of Americans believe the US should push for a ceasefire."
This is the sixth rally held by the organization since the Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas forces that killed around 1,200 people. According to the Associated Press, over 22,400 people have been killed in Gaza since the attack and over two-thirds of them have been women and children.
The organizers of Saturday's march in Garden City all have ties to Palestine.
"I think it's really important that the people open their eyes to what's happening … This has been going on for a long time, and I think it's really important that people really take the time to learn about it," one group organizer said. "The more people actually really dive into it go down the rabbit hole of what's actually happened, they start to really realize the problems where everything started, why we're here today, and it's not because of Oct. 7."
Another rally organizer said they have been protesting for three months, calling for a ceasefire and are urging Idaho lawmakers like Sen. Jim Risch to also call for one.
"We're not going to stop until Palestine is free. So, we're calling on Idahoans today, here on Chinden Boulevard, we're calling on you guys to help because the people of Gaza – they need awareness," the protestor said. "They need to know what our tax dollars are funding. We're funding this whole genocide with U.S. money and it has to end it you're tired of us just like we're tired. Call your representatives and demand a ceasefire."
The group said they want the killing of innocents in Gaza to end immediately.
"We want Idahoans to know that their tax dollars are funding the genocide in Gaza, Palestine … We need us to stop funding Israel immediately, and it's been like over three months of an agenda of killing innocent children, women, men, and we urge it to stop immediately, and we urge senators to stop immediately," one group organizer said.
Boise to Palestine issued the following list of demands:
- An end to the criminal Israeli assault on Gaza.
- Immediate humanitarian aid access to the Gaza Strip.
- Investigations into Israeli war crimes, and an end to the 75-year Israeli occupation of Palestine.
- An end to the illegal Israeli occupation and colonization, and the return of native Palestinians to their home lands currently occupied by the “State of Israel."
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