Thousands around the world protest Israeli raids

Thousands of people around the world gathered in street protests on July 22 to demand an end to Israel's offensive in Lebanon and Gaza. The biggest rally took place in London where thousands of demonstrators urged Tony Blair, the British prime minister, to stop what they described as his refusal to condemn Israel's actions and join international calls for an immediate cease-fire. Police said around 7,000 people joined the London protest as it snaked from the banks of the Thames to Hyde Park, first in brilliant sunshine and then in torrential rain. Many carried red and white Lebanese flags and placards condemning "Israeli crimes in Lebanon." "We are all Hezbollah. Boycott Israel," read one. "Axis of Evil: Bush, Blair, Olmert," read another, referring to the political leaders of the United States, Britain and Israel. Hundreds more protesters took to the streets of Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow, Newcastle and Sheffield. In the United States, several hundred demonstrators gathered in downtown Chicago for a rally to protest Israeli military actions in Lebanon and Gaza. Protesters carried banners proclaiming "The Right to Fight Or The Might to Smite," or "Not with our money, not in our name." "I'm outraged as an American, I'm outraged as a human being at what is happening to the people of Lebanon," said Dale Lehman, a 60-year-old Jewish resident of Chicago. Nader Ismail, a computer engineer of Palestinian origin living in Chicago for a decade, said he had come to protest the "collective punishment inflicted on the Lebanese civilian population by Israel." Some 10,000 people rallied in the center of metro Detroit's Arab-American community in Dearborn on July 18, demanding that the US government put pressure on Israel to halt attacks in Lebanon. Saying that Israel is killing children and bombing innocent citizens, one of the speakers, Osama Siblani, of the Congress of Arab-American Organizations, said, "We know that the president is being bought by the Zionist lobby. We know that the [US] Congress is being bought by the Zionist lobby. But "we know that the American people are great people," he said. Rana Abbas-Chami, deputy director of the Michigan Chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said: "The sad reality is that the United States and Israel have decided that they are at liberty to determine the value of human life based on what side of the border you fall. The US is just as guilty as Israel is. History will not forgive, nor will it ever forget, these crimes." All of the speakers at the rally condemned the corporate media coverage of the current escalation in the fighting. They all agreed that the news reporting was slanted heavily in support of Israel in an attempt to justify Israeli and US military policy towards the Palestinians and Lebanese. About 300 people demonstrated outside the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco on July 17. Samantha Liapes, a member of Jews for a Free Palestine and one of the organizers of the demonstration, said that as the situation in the Middle East becomes more dire, an increasing number of Jews in the US are beginning to openly question Israel's actions. "Since the founding of Israel, there have been large numbers of Jews who have been critical of Israel's policies," said Liapes. "If Israel was concerned with the safety of Israelis, they wouldn't be using these tactics as a first resort. This is going to lead to the death of more innocents." More than 2,500 people marched from Tel Aviv's Rabin Square to a rally at the Cinemateque plaza on July 22. The rally was the first of its kind protesting the Israeli military's offensive in Lebanon. Unlike previous anti-war protests in Israel, major Arab organizations in Israel–among them Hadash and Balad–participated in the event in large numbers. They were joined by the left flank of the Zionist Left–former Meretz leader Shulamit Aloni and Prof. Galia Golan, alongside the radical left of Gush Shalom, the refusal to serve movement Yesh Gvul, Anarchists Against the Wall, Coalition of Women for Peace, Taayush and others. Beside the usual calls for the prime minister and defense minister to resign, it was a distinctly anti-US protest. Alongside chants of "We will not kill, we will not die in the name of Zionism" there were chants of "We will not die and will not kill in the service of the United States," and slogans condemning President Bush. Though currently locked in a sectarian civil war, Iraqis across the political and religious spectrum have voiced support for Lebanon and condemned Israel. Hundreds of radical Shiite Muslims, some wielding assault rifles and rocket launchers, marched on July 21 in support of the Hezbollah movement and its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, in the capital's Sadr City district, home to loyalists of Shiite fundamentalist cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. "Here we are, ready for your orders, oh Moqtada and Nasrallah," they chanted before Friday prayers, while holding up posters depicting both Shiite militia leaders as well as flags of Lebanon. "Woe to you, Israel! We will strike you!" Fights broke out at the gate of al-Azhar mosque in Cairo on July 21, when plainclothes security men stopped demonstrators taking to the streets in a protest against Israeli attacks. Many thousands of people rallied inside the courtyard of the 10th century mosque after prayers, waving Lebanese and Palestinian flags and chanting in support of Hezbollah, Israel's main target in south Lebanon. But when some tried to break through a cordon onto the street, plainclothes men blocked their way. In Sydney, a 10,000-strong crowd waved Australian and Lebanese flags and carried coffins and placards saying "No War" as they made their way through the city center, escorted by about 400 police. Former Guantánamo Bay detainee Mamdouh Habib and the Australian Muslim community's spiritual leader Sheik Taj Aldin Alhilali joined the demonstration, which police said was conducted peacefully. In Stockholm, Sweden, where 2,000 marched to the Israeli embassy, several hundred protesters clashed with police, throwing stones and objects at police officers. Two people were arrested. Other demonstrations took place in Geneva, Paris, Strasbourg, Warsaw, and Amsterdam. In Geneva, Switzerland, 500 people marched in silence behind a coffin meant to symbolize the death of the conscience of the United Nations. Anouar Gharbi, the president of the Rights For All Association that organized the protest, said: "We have chosen a silent march to show that there is no word to qualify the unqualifiable." Shops and schools closed in the main city of Indian Kashmir in protest of Israel's continuing air strikes on southern Lebanon. In Moscow, Palestinians and Lebanese demonstrators held Hezbollah and Lebanese flags and anti-war posters and shouted anti-Israel slogans as they picketed the Israeli Embassy. Hundreds of demonstrators in Malaysia burned Israeli flags. In Indonesia they accused Israel of atrocities against civilians. In Bangladesh marchers shouted "Down with Israel."