Pro-Hamas activists argue ‘justified’ resistance against Israel in Tallahassee protest

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Several Tallahassee groups held a protest at Cascades park against the state of Israel, arguing for “justified resistance” against the state Wednesday.

Organizers included the Tallahassee Community Action Committee, Students for a Democratic Society and Freedom Road Socialist Organization.

“Resistance is justified when people are occupied,” the protestors shouted.

“If your country has a genocide, Israel is training you,” said a member of Students for a Democratic Society.

“And the cause of Palestine is not just for the Palestinians and the Arabs, it’s for the entire world,” he said. “Because if Israel is erased and the crimes of Israel are erased, the people of the entire world will prosper.”

The activist claimed that they are witnessing a “Holocaust” and “ethnic cleansing” of the Palestinian people and that the other side is on the side of the “Nazis.”

The crowd also participated in chants such as “hey hey, ho ho, Israel has got to go,” directly calling to end the country’s existence.

Tallahassee Community Action Committee President Regina Joseph led the protestors on a “black lives matter” chant, and then spoke on issues related police brutality and civil rights.

“The liberation of black people in this country can not exist until Palestine is free,” Joseph said.

“We are in the belly of the beast,” she added. “United States, which has continued to prop up Israel, which has continued to oppress people here in this country.”

“We need to connect the issue of police brutality to the issue of the Palestinian cause,” she said.

Joseph added that their “enemy” is the police officers who train with the Israeli Defense Force and attack protestors.

She added how in Tallahassee, Eddie Gallagher, a “war criminal,” helped train Tallahassee Police Officers.

Gallagher is a former Navy SEAL who was acquitted in 2019 by former President Donald Trump after being found guilty of posing with an ISIS corpse that he had killed in Iraq.

He posted a video on his social media showing him training members of the Tallahassee Police Department on Aug. 7, 2022.

Students for a Democratic Society posted photos and videos of the evening’s event.

“Yesterday 300+ joined us to stand with Palestine & demand NO US aid to ‘Israel,’” they said.

“Thanks to @frso_tally for hosting the event! The people of the world have and always will stand with Palestine,” they added.

The Freedom Road Socialist Organization’s national chapter produced a statement standing with Palestinians and against the “oppression, humiliation and callous cruelty” of Israeli “occupiers.”

“Israel is a torture state. Thousands of Palestinians languish in Israeli jails, jails where prisoners face every sort of sick brutality,” the group said.

“It is no surprise that the Palestinian resistance groups want to exchange the soldiers and settlers they have taken prisoner for their people who have suffered so much in the fight for liberation,” they added.

The organization explained that Hamas, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine and many other Islamic extremist groups represent the “aspirations of a free people.”

Students for a Democratic Society held a protest on Florida State University’s campus on Oct. 11.

Pro-Israel counter-protestors formed on the campus during the demonstration, unlike Wednesday’s event which only consisted of Pro-Palestinian activists.

The State University System warned schools about Florida law that prohibits anti-semitic activities.

The system’s Chancellor Ray Rodrigues said any anti#semitic rhetoric is “criminal activity” and that the crimes will “not be tolerated.”

“At the end of the day, all of the violence in Israel is a direct result of the occupation,” organization president Joel Nunez told Florida’s Voice.

“Negotiations haven’t worked and Israel continues to depress Palestine,” he said. “It is a justified response to want to fight back against them.”

Florida State University has denounced the attacks that Hamas has carried out on Israeli civilians, but has not produced a statement in response to that specific protest.

Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., condemned the activists “pathetic use of the first amendment.”

“These silver-spooned snowflakes don’t represent the Garnet & Gold or the Red, White, & Blue,” he said. “They represent the scum in our society.”