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 that have taken place across the U.S. since Oct. 7.

However some within the crowd of about 50 folks wore sweatshirts with the brand of Mexico’s nationwide soccer group. An indication stated, “From Mexico to Palestine / Border Partitions Must 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 assist for Palestinians. Pals who’ve by no means been politically energetic at the moment are attending rallies in Boyle Heights, Santa Ana and different Latino-majority neighborhoods and cities. They’re decrying American help to Israel and denouncing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a butcher for the almost 33,000 Palestinians — lots of them girls and kids — who’ve been killed by Israeli airstrikes and army operations, in line with Gaza’s Well being Ministry.

Netanyahu has stated that Israel should obtain “complete victory” after Hamas-led attacks killed round 1,200 folks on Oct. 7, with round 200 taken hostage, in line with Israeli authorities. Over 100 U.S. cities have referred to 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 side by side on the Eastside for decades. They banded collectively in 1949 to make Edward Roybal the first Latino city council member in Los Angeles within the twentieth century, helped Tom Bradley become the city’s first Black mayor and propelled Antonio Villaraigosa’s 2005 mayoral victory. Teams just like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, commonly sponsor journeys to Israel for Latino legislators and have hosted outreach summits to foster the alliance.

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

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

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

A report released last year 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 technology of Latino leaders.”

A 2022 study by Fuente Latina, a nonprofit whose mission is to “present correct protection of Israel, the Center East and the Jewish world,” discovered that Latino assist for Israel has declined since 2010 and {that a} perceived “overwhelming and essentially unfair energy imbalance” between Israel and Palestinians was introduced up by research 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. army help to Israel and most frequently selected “strongly assist” as an choice 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 occurring 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 images of dead 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 prone to have contact with Arab of us. [Latinos] aren’t actually coming in touch 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 largely 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 finest identified for Taco Trucks at Every 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 dad and mom personal a house there, stated she started approaching council members to endorse cease-fires after grieving about what was occurring in Gaza. “I advised 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 provided receptive council members strategies on tips on how to write resolutions, assuaging any fears of blowback by stating that their constituents get it.

“After I discuss to vecinas [female neighbors], connections between Latin America and Palestine are straightforward,” 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 Must 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.

“Lots of points have occurred in Mexico and Central America that have an effect on folks right here, and it will get glossed over,” stated Primero, a knowledge entry clerk who wore a necklace with a appeal of Handala — a cartoon character of a barefoot, downtrodden boy embraced by Palestinians as a logo of their resilience. “Seeing this at the moment makes me very optimistic and pleased.”

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

(Gustavo Arellano / Los Angeles Occasions)

The group spilled out of the chambers throughout the council assembly, which nearly 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 got empathy. Let El Monte be on the facet 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 responsibility 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 girls and kids killed and what number of Palestinians have been displaced. “I feel it’s vital that we add these numbers,” Ancona said in a peaceful 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 advised the viewers, “however I can’t overlook the wails of Israeli households who additionally skilled a few of these atrocities.” Some folks groaned in response, as Ancona requested for silence and respect.

No different council member spoke. The vote was unanimous, 7-0. The group 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. Virtually no viewers members remained.