Families from Jordan, Palestine, Egypt and Lebanon residing in Guadalajara staged a small demonstration on Sunday, October 22 to express their solidarity with the Palestinian people amid Israel’s ongoing bombardment of Gaza.
Dozens of pro-Palestine demonstrations have taken place in cities worldwide after the Israeli government blockaded the Gaza Strip and launched airstrikes in the wake of Hamas’ brutal incursion into Israel on October 7.
Many of the protestors at Guadalajara’s Minerva Glorieta, who numbered no more than 30 and included a handful of children, carried Palestinian flags and placards alluding to Israel’s policies in Gaza as “genocide.” A few displayed images of children killed during the bombings. Other cardboard signs contained slogans such as “Israel war criminal” and “Free Palestine.”
One participant interviewed by a local media outlet said that of the 5,000 civilian deaths caused so far by the bombings, half have been children. He thanked the people of Guadalajara for supporting Palestine and expressed gratitude to Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador for his “pacifist” and “neutral” stance on the conflict, which was criticized by the Israeli ambassador for not sufficiently condemning Hamas’ atrocities.
Leaving the Minerva Glorieta, the protestors marched to the U.S. Consulate General, where they joined other demonstrators who had daubed anti-U.S. and Israel slogans on the street surface.
Pro-Palestinian protests were also held in other Mexican cities last Sunday, including Mexico City and Tijuana.
For many people, there is no “moral equivalence” between the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) targeting Hamas operational bases in Gaza and the intentional murder of Israeli families in their homes. Others prefer to point to the “false equivalence” between the powerful state of Israel and the scattered population groupings that make up the Palestinian people. Whatever spin analysts choose to debate, the sad fact remains that the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has divided opinions for decades is further away from a solution than ever before. This polarization has taken on a global characteristic since the October 7 atrocities, with pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian rallies and protests springing up all over the world.
Mexico has seen demonstrations of support for both sides with manifestations taking place in Guadalajara, Mexico City and other urban areas.
A rally held outside the Israeli embassy in the capital last weekend attracted several hundred supporters, while a pro-Palestinian protest in Guadalajara on Sunday drew around 30 people.