More than 100 protestors braved the rain and cold not just to call for an end to the fighting in Gaza, but for a free Palestine. With a single truck leading the way, the group slowly marched up Broadway waving signs and chanting the loaded slogan, “from the river to the sea.” The Anti-Defamation League has labeled the phrase antisemitic, but pro-Palestinian activists have described it as an aspirational call for freedom for Palestinians.
In the crowd were activists from the Mid-Hudson Valley Democratic Socialists of America, Jewish Voice for Peace, and Bard College’s Students for Justice in Palestine — but there were also young families and members of Orange County’s Muslim community. Dr. Quazi al-Tariq is with the Mid-Hudson Islamic Community, a coalition of mosques in Newburgh and Middletown.
“We all want peace, we don’t want war. A ceasefire should immediately start, and a two-nation theory should start," said Tariq. "Palestine should be a separate, independent country. Long live Palestine.”
Protests have erupted across the U.S. ever since the terrorist organization Hamas killed more than 1,200 Israeli citizens on October 7. Israeli forces have responded with devastating airstrikes that have leveled much of Gaza’s infrastructure. According to Palestinian health officials, more than 16,000 Palestinians have been killed, and millions more have been displaced. A temporary ceasefire to exchange hostages between both sides and provide humanitarian aid ended last week. Israel has resumed bombing alongside a ground offensive in southern Gaza.
Mie Inouye, one of the event’s organizers and an associate professor of political studies at Bard, says Israel is now committing genocide after decades of colonization in Palestine. By providing military aid to Israel, she and the other protesters contend, the U.S. is complicit in that genocide. Sunday’s march specifically targeted 18th District Congressman Pat Ryan, who Inouye says not only voted to help Israel, but voted to censure Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian American in Congress, for her comments on the war.
“He behaved really badly in this really important moment," Inouye explained. "And we’re just here to tell him that we’re not going to vote for him — his constituents are not going to vote for him again — if he does not demand a permanent ceasefire.”
About halfway into the march down Broadway, Newburgh and State Police arrived to move protestors off the roadway. Asked if they had obtained a permit for the event, Inouye said organizers did not communicate with city police ahead of time, opting instead to have their own volunteers stop traffic. The group was ultimately ordered to stick to city sidewalks, prompting a single-file trek toward Ryan’s office. Once there, protestors covered the windows with signs reading “Stop the U.S. War Machine,” and “Pat Ryan for Genocide.”
Ryan’s Newburgh office is closed on Sundays, and the Democrat did not respond to a request for comment from WAMC in time for broadcast. In a statement on the social media platform X, the Army veteran praised the temporary ceasefire to release hostages, adding “I will continue pushing for the safe return of all hostages and a recommitment to a two-state solution that recognizes both Israel’s right to exist and the Palestinians’ right to their own state, free from Hamas.”
The New York City Mayor’s Office says the city is home to the second-largest Jewish population in the world after Israel, and that extends into its neighboring counties. Ryan says some Hudson Valley residents were among those killed or taken hostage by Hamas on October 7. Last week on the House floor, he spoke in memory of Gadi Haggai and his wife, Judih, of Goshen, who went missing outside Kibbutz Nir Oz.
“Judih and [Gadi] are not combatants or soldiers, they are a schoolteacher and a musician. They are peace-loving people whose only crime was being Jewish," said Ryan. "Their niece, Ofri, took a one-way flight to the United States, came to my office, and made two powerful requests: never allow our country to forget her aunt and her uncle, and to fight with everything that we have to bring them back.”
Israeli officials say Hamas still has more than 130 hostages.
On Tuesday, Ryan was one of 92 House Democrats to vote “present” on a resolution that would condemn any criticism of Israel and the nationalist movement, Zionism, as antisemitism. In a statement, Ryan said he refused to take a stance on the measure because it “attempts to label tens of thousands of faithful Jewish people in my district as antisemitic. This is wrong, and I will not support it.” The measure passed 311-14.
Other lawmakers targeted by the protesters Sunday included Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a fellow New York Democrat, and President Biden. New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand sits on the Senate’s Armed Services Committee. In a recent interview with WAMC, the Democrat explained her reasoning for not supporting a permanent ceasefire.
“The death and destruction of innocent Palestinians, the death and destruction of hostages, the death and destruction of innocent Israeli civilians — we want that to stop," said Gillibrand. "The problem is you have a terrorist organization called Hamas running Gaza, and using the Palestinian people as human shields in their war, in their terrorism.”
Like Ryan, Gillibrand has said she supports continued “humanitarian pauses” to facilitate the release of hostages and bring in aid for civilians.
Heartbreak and frustration were common themes of Sunday’s march — over the death toll in Gaza, the taking of hostages, the decades of conflict between Israel and Palestine, and the resulting spikes in antisemitism and Islamophobia across the U.S.
Imam Azzedine Sarii of Middletown Islamic Center said the latest war is a threat to the dignity of all humanity, including Americans.
“We are in danger today because we cannot walk or travel around the world and claim that we stand for justice," said Sarii. "We are kidding ourselves.”
