SALEM — As part of a statewide rally, four organizations from the North Shore held a silent protest against the Israel-Hamas war on Thursday, with speakers asking for U.S. Rep. Seth Moulton to call for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip.
“We want hands off Rafah, and we are disgusted by the inaction by our elected officials, starting with Seth Moulton, but it’s all across the board,” Palestinian House of New England member Fawaz Abusharkh said. “They need to start taking action.”
Initially meeting in Lappin Park, the protesters silently walked to the beat of drums from the park to Moulton’s office at 21 Front St.
Sunny Robinson, a member of Massachusetts Peace Action and the North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice, addressed the crowd at the park, describing how little progress she has seen over the years as a human rights activist.
“For me, I’ve been involved in these efforts for more than 60 years, and it is certainly difficult to overcome the amount of disheartening-ness that I and others face, given how little progress we have made in all of that time,” Robinson said.
She called for a complete and permanent cease-fire in Gaza and a “genuine” movement toward peace.
Next, Jewish Voice for Peace Boston member Tirzah Mason spoke on behalf of the organization.
“Rabbi Hillel was asked, somewhat sarcastically, if he could explain the Torah while the questioner stood on one leg. Now then, Hillel said, ‘What is hateful to you, do not do to another, that is the whole Torah; all the rest is commentary,’” Mason said. “I’m here today because of Free Palestine, and the end to the genocide in Gaza is the moral imperative of our time; all the rest is commentary.”
Lynn United for Change Director Isaac Simon Hodes said that many people in Moulton’s district know what it is like to be hungry — either because they are immigrants or refugees who experienced it in their home countries, or due to food insecurity in cities like Salem and Lynn.
“And we look to Gaza. Children are dying of starvation,” Hodes said. “And we waited for months for you, Mr. Moulton, to speak out with courage, with moral clarity, to stop this attack that, again, is happening and is enabled by the government of our country where you sit to represent us, and we’re still waiting for you to speak out.”
Hodes said that more than 30,000 people, 10,000 of them children, have been killed in Gaza by weapons from the United States. He said Moulton should call for a permanent cease-fire in Gaza and an end to American arms shipments to Israel “to commit war crimes and ethnic cleansing.”
Sabrina Zemlyanzky, a member of Northshore for Palestine and president of Students for Justice in Palestine at Salem State University, said that the cries of the oppressed in this world are met with silence by the people who hold power.
“Among them stands Seth Moulton, who’s complicity with the genocide being committed in Gaza cannot go unnoticed,” Zemlyanzky said. “As a representative of the people, Congressman Moulton has failed to uphold the values of justice, human rights, and dignity. Instead, he has turned a blind eye to the suffering of innocent civilians, ignoring the illegal occupation, displacement, and violence inflicted upon the Palestinian people by the Israeli government.”
Zemlyanzky said it is time for Moulton to listen to the voices of the oppressed and his constituents.
Following the speeches, protesters were reminded that their goal was to participate in a “silent, mournful walk” to Moulton’s office. There, they laid down effigies of children who have been killed in Gaza, to represent the “presence of a mass grave.”
“Please keep doing what you are doing, please keep protesting, please keep your voices loud, please do not let Moulton rest unless he takes some action,” Abusharkh told the protesters.
The protest ended with those in attendance saying, “Free Palestine now,” in raised voices.
Additionally, a letter addressed to Moulton has been distributed around the area by the four groups that organized the protest — Northshore for Palestine, Palestinian House of New England, Massachusetts Peace Action, and Jewish Voice for Peace Boston.
The letter demands an “immediate cease-fire, with no more assault on Rafah, a complete halt to U.S. aid for Israel, removal of the Israeli blockade of aid to Gaza, and a resumption of U.S. funding for the United Nation Relief and Works Agency.”
Sydney Simon, Moulton’s director of communications, wrote in an email that Moulton has been vocal about “urging the Israelis to take more care when it comes to civilian deaths and humanitarian aid, and has warned that Israel is only likely to create a whole new generation of terrorists if they leave Gaza in a pile of rubble.”
She added that Moulton is in support of current negotiations that include a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, and is in favor of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
