About 450 people from various ethnic and religious backgrounds assembled on the steps of Dearborn City Hall on Tuesday, June 1 in solidarity with protesters from countries across the world to demonstrate against Israel’s raid on aid ships heading to Gaza in international waters that killed at least 9 and injured dozens.                                     PHOTO: Nafeh AbuNab/American Elite Studios

At least nine people were killed, including one American, and dozens wounded on Monday, May 31 after Israeli naval commandos attacked a humanitarian aid flotilla in international waters on a mission to bring much-needed supplies into the besieged and blockaded territory of Gaza.The death toll was expected to rise with some websites reporting as many as 20 deaths from the raids.An Al Jazeera correspondent on board the “Mavi Marmara”, the ship that was shown being raided by Israeli troops on live Turkish TV, said the boats were fired upon by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and organizers of the flotilla backed up that claim, saying that they fired as soon as they boarded the ship.The flotilla included more than 700 people from 40 different countries including 85-year-old former Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein, 35 parliamentarians, and several journalists.Israeli officials said that the IDF forces were acting in self-defense after being attacked by objects such as pipes and chairs, but international condemnation of the attacks has been strong with North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member and American ally Turkey leading the way and protests erupting worldwide. Eight Turks and one Turkish American were among those who were killed in the raids.An Irish-owned aid ship named the “MV Rachel Corrie” after an American activist who was crushed by an American-manufactured Israeli bulldozer in Gaza, was expected to make another attempt to deliver aid to Gaza with plans to defy potential orders to stop by the IDF.In response to the flotilla attack, members of the local Arab Americans and members of other metro Detroit gathered for a series of protests that mirrored those of citizens from various countries across the world.The Congress of Arab American Organizations (CAAO) organized a three-part series of events beginning with a passionate protest of hundreds of people at the steps of Dearborn City Hall on Tuesday, June 1. Demonstrators and speakers waved Palestinian, Turkish, and American flags and held up signs with  messages like “Stop Israeli Piracy; Stop Israeli Terror Now” and “Our Tax Dollars Should Not Support Genocide” while participating in familiar chants of “1,2,3,4, Stop the Killing, Stop the War” and “Free, free Palestine!” with perhaps more fervor than ever before. Speakers including Hassan Newash of the Michigan Palestine Office and Osama Siblani, publisher of the Arab American News, condemned the attacks while calling for the United States to do the same.“The Israelis are liars, they have lost credibility in front of the world and they have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, caught with their pants down committing crimes against humanity,” Siblani said.With humanitarian conditions worsening in Gaza, many activists and leaders including Siblani believe that time is of the essence when it comes to ending the blockade, occupation, and siege against the battered territory.“We’re here to say that yes, we believe in the Holocaust, but we’re here to protest another one. So we tell our Jewish brothers and sisters, our cousins, to protect against the Holocaust by the Zionists against the Palestinians.” Siblani also called for Egypt to open the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt and thanked the support the Palestinian cause has received from Turkey, Turkish Americans and Jewish supporters as well.On Monday, May 31, the day of the attack, a strong Jewish contingent of protestors led by the Jewish Witnesses for Peace (JWP) organization  along with citizens of various other backgrounds led a demonstration on a rainy day in downtown Ann Arbor attended by about 40 people.JWP member Henry Herskovitz was among those who came out to show support for Palestine. “The human rights violations will continue to happen until the world develops the (will) necessary to stand up to Israel,” he said.“Here in America with our free speech, or our supposed free speech, it is incumbent for us to take them to task as a Jewish state, especially for us as Jews.”Turkish American Aysel Loucks of Ann Arbor, who visits her former home country every other year, said she was proud of her country’s support for the Free Palestine movement.“I’m really upset, this is just a horrible killing of innocent people in international waters, a piracy,” she said.“It’s disgusting and it’s a horrible scene in Gaza, but it’s a good thing that Turkey is standing up and fighting against Zionism which is the basically same as racism. I’m proud of my country.” CAAO Protests Continue in DetroitOn Wednesday, June 2, the CAAO series of protests continued in Detroit as about 200 people of a wide variety of ethnic and racial backgrounds rallied at the McNamara Federal Building in Detroit. Detroit Coalition Against Police Brutality Spokesperson Ron Scott joined CAAO leaders in addressing the crowd  while showing his support as did members of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and the Detroit-based Michigan Emergency Coalition Against War & Injustice (MECAWI) among other local organizations. Activists stressed the importance of staying solution-oriented and using the momentum garnered by the international protests and condemnations of the flotilla raid attack to affect real change toward ending the end of the siege.MECAWI member Mike Shane re-iterated the importance of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement (BDS). He saw first-hand the impact it had on bringing about the end of South African apartheid, the cause he worked on in during the 1980’s. “Now is an absolutely great time with the crisis in the Middle East and Israel’s criminal nature exposed to the world to pick up the BDS movement,” he said. “It was a major contributor to the overthrowing of the South African apartheid regime and it’s a great way of opening a dialogue with someone by saying ‘Will you divest?’ and then telling them about American funding of the Israeli military.”Barbara Barefield, one of the founding members of the JVP and its corresponding secretary, said that writing letters and calling politicians and media members is also extremely important in the fight against the siege on Gaza.“We need to visit, call and write our local legislators all the way up to President Obama and we need to tell the media to follow the lead of the rest of the world in recognizing that these ships were delivering aid on a peaceful mission to civilians and that the bigger picture is about ending the occupation and the siege,” she said. “To stop the funding is the most important message because without it, Israel can’t do what they’re doing right now.” Activists Preach Persistence in Ending Siege Another message many of the activists had during week was to remain persistent and to continue protesting in order to make change a reality. Herskovitz said at Monday’s Ann Arbor protest that many of the demonstrators planned to be back all week long if not longer in the city’s downtown area.A demonstration and vigil for the victims of the attack was also held at Dearborn City Hall on Thursday, June 3, and CAAO announced that it will hold its third event, a commemoration of the victims’ sacrifices, at the Islamic Institute of Knowledge in Dearborn on Sunday, June 7 at 5 p.m until 7 p.m. CAAO later announced that Mother of the Savior Lutheran Church in Dearborn will also hold a memorial at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Another Ann Arbor protestor, Blaine Coleman, said that he planned to propose that the Ann Arbor city boycott Israeli companies on Monday, June 7th at 7 p.m. and invited supporters of the BDS cause to join him. Those who wish to speak were encouraged to call the city council in advance at 734.994.2725. He also said he hoped that Dearborn residents would push for a similar divestment resolution of their own as soon as possible.While the initial responses to Israel’s attack on the humanitarian aid convoy were strong and effective, many activists including Herskovitz know the battle is just beginning.“Reactionary protests are necessary, but where are these people going to be next week?” Herskovitz said. “We need to keep the pressure on until we see real change. Now is the time to take unprecedented actions to break the illegal siege on Gaza.”