SPOKANE, Wash. – “Israel has dropped a bomb every 90 seconds since the siege started,” Zach McGuckin said. McGuckin helped organize a Free Palestine event with his organization, the Party for Socialism and Liberation. They hosted about 50 people on Monday afternoon, protesting City Council’s unanimous resolution passed last week which condemned Hamas and showed support for Israel.“Them vocalizing support for Israel does nothing but emboldens that siege and emboldens hate crimes against people of Middle Eastern descent and people who practice the Muslim faith in our community,” McGuckin said. “They need to retract their racist statement and instead pass a statement that is condemning U.S. military aid to Israel.”The event lasted about 45 minutes and ended with several members heading to Spokane City Council Chambers to speak at the council’s weekly meeting. While Council Member Jonathan Bingle, who wrote the resolution PSL wants denounced, wasn’t present at the rally and attended the Council meeting remotely, he still had several thoughts on the event. Bingle primarily took offense to the event’s Facebook description, which said in part: “Under the backdrop of this historic moment in the Palestinian resistance, Spokane City Council unanimously voted in favor of a statement in support of the genocidal apartheid state of Israel.”“It’s a disgusting event description,” Bingle said. “There is no moral equivalence between Israel and the atrocities that happened against Israel and anybody who wants to do so I think is either a fool or morally bankrupt.”He also had strong thoughts on the rally ending with the chant “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” a chant which the Anti-Defamation League says “can be understood as a call for a Palestinian state extending from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, territory that includes the State of Israel, implying the dismantling of the Jewish state.”“That is racist, genocidal language,” Bingle said. “That is talking about eliminating Jews from the map. In (Hamas’) charter it talks about ‘Judaism exists until Islam obliterates it.’ It’s a horribly genocidal government in place there that wants to eliminate Jews.”The Federation of American Scientists have translated that part of Hamas’ charter to read “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.McGuckin declined to comment on the chant, while giving a long-winded explanation of the Facebook event description. “A lot of people want to say that a war started Oct. 7, but that’s simply not true if you know the history of the region,” McGuckin said when asked about the description. “While no one likes seeing this violence, while no one is condoning it, you need to understand the context. This war isn’t a week old, this war started decades ago when the Zionist project and the historic homeland and ancestral homeland of Palestinians.”When asked if him or the PSL condemns or supports Hamas, McGuckin said, “Like I said, this war is not something that started a week ago and it’s something that has been ongoing and we need to be sure that we’re not just here to witness suffering and feel bad about ourselves but that we need to stand with Palestine for a fight for freedom. So that’s why we’re out here, to support a free and liberated Palestine and we want an end to U.S. military aid and an end to U.S. occupation of Palestine’s ancestral homelands.”
