Hundreds of demonstrators gathered outside a government building on Long Island on Sunday to show support for the rights of Palestinians and plead with Israel not to inflict more harm on innocent civilians.
The protesters quietly observed the afternoon call to prayer from the grass outside the Nassau County Executive Building in Mineola before listening to speeches about the abysmal conditions inside the besieged Gaza Strip.
“At this time, hospitals in Gaza have no electricity, no light, no aid,” Dr. Isma Chaudhry, a Long Island doctor and interfaith advocate who spoke at the rally, told The Post.
“Human rights and dignity need to be respected.”
The Israeli military has launched intense strikes against Gaza — and the 2.2 million people who live there — since Hamas gunmen launched a devastating attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
“We don’t hate Israelis,” Ayman Helo, a 52-year-old Sea Cliff resident who was born in the West Bank, told The Post. “We don’t hate Jews. I’ve lived in Tel Aviv, I speak Hebrew. I have friends in Israel.”
Many carried Palestinian flags and signs with slogans such as, “I stand with Palestine” and “The World is Watching.”
The rally was organized by the Muslim Community of Nassau County and the Islamic Circle of North America and attracted many whose relatives remain overseas.
“My family has no access to water, electricity, food or medicine because of the Israeli blockade,” Najla El-Temawi Khass, a Gaza-born New Yorker, told The Post.
Afterward, organizers gave out water bottles and samosas, a pastry-wrapped, potato-filled South Asian delicacy.
Helo, who has lived in the United States for nearly 20 years, told The Post that he’s dreamed of peace in the Palestinian territories for his entire adult life.
But now, he’s not sure if that day will ever come.
“There’s too much pain,” he said. “I feel like I’m about to leave this earth without seeing the dream I grew up with.”
