A broad coalition of Palestinian solidarity activists gathered in Beverly Hills on Monday to protest a planned fundraiser for Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton organized by notorious Zionist financier Haim Saban, who is the largest single donor to the Clinton campaign to date. Haim has described himself aptly as, "a one issue man and that issue is Israel."
Clinton has responded to Saban in a letter promising her unwavering support for Israel and her commitment in particular to eliminating the Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions movement in the United States. The BDS movement has been under sharp attack across the country with the introduction and passage through state legislatures of countless laws aimed at banning BDS altogether. In fact, as protesters gathered the California Assembly was busy passing their own anti-BDS legislation that will now go on to Gov. Jerry Brown's desk. The attempt to criminalize solidarity with Palestine, particularly in the form of BDS, demonstrates how effective this growing tactic has become in deligitimizing apartheid Israel in the eyes of the world.
ANSWER Coalition joined Al-Awda - Palestinian Right of Return Coalition, Jews for the Palestinian Right of Return, Black Lives Matter - Los Angeles, HP Boycott Campaign, BDS - LA, Party for Socialism and Liberation, and many students involved in their campus solidarity efforts at Will Rogers Memorial Park for a rally and speak out followed by a march into the community of Beverly Hills where attendees of the fundraiser drove past. Protesters chanted, "Hands off BDS!" and "Justice is our demand! No peace on stolen land!" while waving the Palestinian flag and holding signs against the attacks on BDS and Palestine solidarity.
Eman Khaleq of the ANSWER Coalition spoke about Hillary's long-standing record, "She supported the massacres in Gaza in 2008 and 2014, she stood by as Israel expanded settlements in the West Bank, and she said nothing when a young boy in East Jerusalem was burned alive. We will continue to fight her and the apartheid state of Israel until all of Palestine is free - and it will be called Palestine."
Nana Gyamfi, an attorney in Los Angeles, spoke about the solidarity between Pan-Africanist revolutionaries and Palestinian revolutionaries in the fight against imperialism. Jasmine Abdullah of Black Lives Matter drew many connections between the treatment of Palestinians and Black people in America - mass incarceration, occupation of communities and much more.
Activists pledged to stay in the struggle for Palestine and continue the fight no matter who is elected President in November.