A massive rally in the northern Israeli Arab town of Sakhnin drew nearly 100,000 protesters against the continuing war on the Gaza Strip, making it the largest protest by Israel’s Arab minority in over a decade. Thousands of Israeli police were also deployed, though no clashes have been reported.
The protesters condemned the Israeli attack, and called several of the high ranking Israeli officials responsible for it war criminals. Several Israeli Arab politicians spoke at the rally, calling for an end to the strikes, and Sakhnin’s mayor urged the attendees to donate food, money, and blood to help ease the humanitarian crisis in the strip.
Around 100 pro-war demonstrators were also reported, chanting “no citizenship rights without loyalty.” As the bulk of the opposition to the ongoing war, Israeli Arabs are often accused of being traitors. Speaking of the rally Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Lieberman, always willing to speak out in favor of war and against Israeli Arabs, declared “just as the Israeli government knows the operation in Gaza can’t be stopped until Hamas is defeated, so must we act against those citizens of Israel not loyal to the State.”