On the corner of State Street and Las Positas in Santa Barbara, Veronica Rios held a Palestinian flag and a sign that read, “Stop Genocide.”
She said she is a nurse, a mom, a Mexican immigrant and a human being.
“I need to stand up for people who don’t have a voice,” Rios said. “My duty as an American citizen is to hold my government accountable to what is happening and request a cease-fire to reduce the casualties.”
Rios was one of more than 150 people who demonstrated Thursday night in support of Palestinians and called for a cease-fire in Gaza.
Hamas terrorists launched thousands of missiles from Gaza while hundreds of heavily armed militants streamed into southern Israel, hunting down and killing more than 1,400 people and taking an estimated 150 people hostage on Oct. 7.
The attacks started just before dawn as the seven-day festival of Sukkot was wrapping up, and 50 years and one day after the start of the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
Israel immediately declared war on Hamas, and the military response has killed more than 3,000 Palestinians, including civilians and children, in Gaza during the past week. Hundreds more were killed in a deadly blast that ripped through Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza, although who is responsible for the blast is in dispute.
Humanitarian efforts in Gaza are underway, but the Los Angeles Times reported that civilians are down to one meal a day and are drinking dirty water to survive.
Thursday’s demonstration was put on by the Central Coast Antiwar Coalition Santa Barbara Chapter and the Santa Barbara chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace.
The group set up on the sidewalk corner diagonal from Loreto Plaza and waved signs and chanted, “Cease-fire now.”
“I am horrified at what I am witnessing right now, which is the onset of genocide in Gaza,” said Marcy Winograd of the group CODEPINK. “Not only are people sitting back, but some are actually cheering.”
Winograd said there’s no defending the killing of civilians by anyone.
“On the other hand, we cannot allow this collective punishment to be imposed on Gaza,” Winograd said.
Winograd said she is Jewish and was “raised in a Zionist household” with former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir books on the shelf. She visited Israel as a young adult.
As an adult, she said she came to an epiphany about how Palestinians were treated. She wants the violence to stop.
“We say stop, cease-fire,” Winograd said.
Fara Edayu held a sign high that read, “Stop the Genocide in Gaza.” She said she was there in support of the Palestine people and wants to stop the “ethnic cleansing.”
“Civilians are getting killed,” said Edayu, adding that she has been crying every night. “Children are getting killed. It’s horrifying, and we’re not doing enough. We have to stop this. What is the price tag of life in Gaza?”
A smaller group of counter-demonstrators carrying the Israel flag set up on Loreto Plaza corner. They put up a poster board showing Israelis who have been kidnapped.
“I am standing over here to protest against this demonstration,” said Itzik Ben-Sasson of the Jewish Federation of Greater Santa Barbara. “They have no right to tell me that what happened was OK.”
