Why many Latinos are calling for a ceasefire in Gaza

Keffiyehs. Palestinian flags. Indicators and chants. The rally in entrance of El Monte Metropolis Corridor on Tuesday night appeared at first look like many which have taken place throughout the U.S. since Oct. 7.

However some within the crowd of about 50 individuals wore sweatshirts with the emblem of Mexico’s nationwide soccer group. An indication stated, “From Mexico to Palestine / Border Partitions Need to Go.” A banner that includes a watermelon — a Palestinian solidarity image — additionally bore the phrase “Viva Palestina,” an homage to Frida Kahlo’s final portray.

The scene didn’t shock me. For the previous six months, my social media feeds have been flooded with Latinos expressing help for Palestinians. Buddies who’ve by no means been politically lively are actually attending rallies in Boyle Heights, Santa Ana and different Latino-majority neighborhoods and cities. They’re decrying American assist to Israel and denouncing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a butcher for the practically 33,000 Palestinians — a lot of them ladies and kids — who’ve been killed by Israeli airstrikes and navy operations, in line with Gaza’s Well being Ministry.

Netanyahu has stated that Israel should obtain “whole victory” after Hamas-led assaults killed round 1,200 individuals on Oct. 7, with round 200 taken hostage, in line with Israeli authorities. Over 100 U.S. cities have known as for a cease-fire in Gaza, from big-city progressive stalwarts like Seattle, Oakland and San Francisco to cities in Ohio and Vermont. In Southern California, nearly all of the cities which have joined the motion — Pomona, Cudahy, Bell, Bell Gardens, Montebello and Santa Ana — have been municipalities with Latino populations of over 65%.

On Tuesday, activists requested El Monte to affix the listing.

The visibility of so many Latinos at pro-Palestinian actions in Southern California represents a historic rupture within the longstanding political alliance between Latinos and Jews, who lived aspect by aspect on the Eastside for many years. They banded collectively in 1949 to make Edward Roybal the primary Latino metropolis council member in Los Angeles within the twentieth century, helped Tom Bradley turn out to be town’s first Black mayor and propelled Antonio Villaraigosa’s 2005 mayoral victory. Teams just like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, often sponsor journeys to Israel for Latino legislators and have hosted outreach summits to foster the alliance.

Spokesperson Marshall Wittman didn’t provide a lot once I requested for AIPAC’s ideas on Latino-majority cities passing cease-fire resolutions.

“There’s widespread help for Israel within the Latino neighborhood,” he replied by way of e mail, citing an AIPAC-affiliated political motion committee’s endorsement of “practically half of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus.”

Such a press release, nonetheless, belies fears amongst American Jewish leaders that they’re dropping Latinos over the Palestinian query.

A report launched final yr by the American Jewish Committee warned that the sympathies of younger Latinos for Palestinians have been “a generational problem” and a “potential obstacle” for Jewish-Latino relations and that “Israel being a fighter on behalf of the oppressed is clearly not the notion for this era of Latino leaders.”

A 2022 examine by Fuente Latina, a nonprofit whose mission is to “present correct protection of Israel, the Center East and the Jewish world,” discovered that Latino help for Israel has declined since 2010 and {that a} perceived “overwhelming and essentially unfair energy imbalance” between Israel and Palestinians was introduced up by examine respondents “again and again.”

In the meantime, a Public Coverage Institute of California survey discovered that Latinos within the state have been the ethnic group that almost all favored lowering U.S. navy assist to Israel and most frequently selected “strongly help” as an possibility on a query a couple of cease-fire in Gaza.

Anticolonialist Latin American intellectuals have lengthy sympathized with the Palestinian trigger. Chicano organizers have traveled to Gaza and the West Financial institution for many years in cross-cultural exchanges. However what’s taking place proper now in Southern California isn’t any of that, stated Cal State Fullerton Chicana and Chicano Research professor Alexandro Jose Gradilla.

“It’s not simply my radical college students. It’s my college students within the hoodie from Anaheim. It’s jolting for them to see as a result of it triggers ancestral tales of land theft, stolen assets and massacres,” Gradilla stated of the photos of lifeless our bodies and rubble popping out of Gaza.

“The Whittiers and Downeys aren’t doing something,” he continued. “It’s the blue-collar cities. There, you’re extra more likely to have contact with Arab of us. [Latinos] aren’t actually coming involved with the Jewish neighborhood such as you would see 50 years in the past. That’s gone. That has created a shift on Israel.”

Whereas the surge in Latino activism over Gaza is grassroots, the ceasefire resolutions from Latino-majority metropolis councils have unfold principally due to Rida Hamida, a longtime Orange County neighborhood activist who has additionally served as a staffer for state legislators and members of Congress. She’s the manager director of Latino & Muslim Unity, a nonprofit greatest identified for Taco Vehicles at Each Mosque, handing out free halal tacos at voter registration occasions and COVID-19 vaccine drives throughout the state.

Hamida, who has household within the West Financial institution and whose mother and father personal a house there, stated she started approaching council members to endorse cease-fires after grieving about what was taking place in Gaza. “I informed them, ‘You’re Latino-majority cities, however I’m Palestinian and I’ve labored in your cities. We have to serve each other and defend each other.’”

She has supplied receptive council members recommendations on tips on how to write resolutions, assuaging any fears of blowback by declaring that their constituents get it.

“After I speak to vecinas [female neighbors], connections between Latin America and Palestine are simple,” Hamida stated. “Now, there’s a shift, not due to the Palestinian motion. It’s due to the motion inside Latinos.”

On the El Monte rally, Kimberly Primero handed out stickers that learn, “How Many Need to Die?” and “Viva Viva Intifada.” A number of months in the past, the 27-year-old attended an identical protest in entrance of Rep. Grace Napolitano’s workplace in El Monte. Solely two others confirmed up.

“Numerous points have occurred in Mexico and Central America that have an effect on individuals right here, and it will get glossed over,” stated Primero, an information entry clerk who wore a necklace with a attraction of Handala — a cartoon character of a barefoot, downtrodden boy embraced by Palestinians as an emblem of their resilience. “Seeing this right now makes me very optimistic and comfortable.”

Supporters of a cease-fire in Gaza rally outdoors El Monte Metropolis Corridor.

(Gustavo Arellano / Los Angeles Occasions)

The gang spilled out of the chambers throughout the council assembly, which just about by no means occurs in El Monte. Hamida handed out falafel and shawarma sandwiches. Many snapped their fingers in approval as dozens of audio system — nearly all Latino — urged council members to vote for a cease-fire.

“Present us that you simply care,” stated 25-year-old El Monte resident Giselle Barbosa, who had held a “Cease the Genocide” signal on the rally whereas her 18-year-old sister Jasmin waved the Palestinian flag. “Present us that you’ve empathy. Let El Monte be on the aspect of historical past that advocated for justice.”

“I hope to be proud tomorrow of the nice metropolis of El Monte,” Rene Jimenez stated. “I do know you guys are going to do us proper.”

The one Latino who spoke in opposition to the proposed decision was former El Monte mayor Andre Quintero, who stated over boos and cries of “¡Fuera!” (Get out!) that he had visited Israel and that the nation has a proper to guard itself, “identical to you [council members] have the obligation to guard El Monte.”

After two hours of feedback, the council lastly mentioned the decision whereas viewers members recorded on their smartphones.

Mayor Jessica Ancona requested that the decision — per Hamida’s suggestion — name for a “everlasting” cease-fire and point out the variety of ladies and kids killed and what number of Palestinians have been displaced. “I believe it’s vital that we add these numbers,” Ancona said in a relaxed voice, “as to not dehumanize what’s going on within the Center East.”

Councilmember Victoria Martinez Muela requested a point out of Israelis killed by Hamas. “It speaks to my coronary heart and speaks to humanity,” she stated over snickers from the viewers.

Councilmember Martin Herrera disclosed that after Oct. 7, he and his colleagues had wrestled with whether or not to introduce a decision denouncing Hamas, finally deciding to not. The problems surrounding a cease-fire movement had “saved me up nights,” he stated.

“Your tales make me cry for Palestinians,” he informed the viewers, “however I can’t overlook the wails of Israeli households who additionally skilled a few of these atrocities.” Some individuals groaned in response, as Ancona requested for silence and respect.

No different council member spoke. The vote was unanimous, 7-0. The gang cheered, chanted “¡Viva Palestina!” and left the chambers.

After a five-minute recess, the El Monte Metropolis Council assembly resumed, again to its common enterprise. Nearly no viewers members remained.