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May 13, 2023
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Speakers At Raleigh, NC Demonstration Salute Rocket Attacks On Israel; Transgender Activist Claire Clark: The Palestinians, Muslims Are No Enemies Of The LGBTQ Community – My Enemies Are In Israel, The White House, Congress, Supreme Court

#10300 | 04:50
Source: Online Platforms - "DART Video on YouTube"

At a May 13, 2023 Nakba Day rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, Lebanese-American environmental organizer Rania Masri said that Israel has no right to exist and the Palestinians have the right to armed resistance. She saluted the armed fighters in Palestine and the rockets launched from Gaza. Dana Al-Hasan, an American activist who is also a postdoctoral Fellow at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), said that the fighters in Gaza are coordinating with "freedom-fighters" in Jenin and in Al-Aqsa, and she praised the unity between the various armed Palestinian factions. American transgender rights activist Claire Clark of the Party for Socialism and Liberation said that claims that she should support Israel because of the "supposed LGBTQ-friendly policies of the Zionist government and the supposed enmity of the Muslims and Palestinian people" are a "bold-faced lie." She added: "There is not one enemy of mine among the Palestinian people fighting for their freedom." Clark also said that her enemies, who are the enemies of the entire LGBTQ community, are in the United States. Another activist named Iyad spoke in Arabic and said that the Palestinian and Muslim people, as well as the "free people of the world", say to the resistance in Palestine: "Go fight, we are fighting with you." Footage of the rally was uploaded to DART VIDEO channel on YouTube. For more about rallies held on Nakba Day 2023, see MEMRI TV clips 10292, 10299, and 10296.

Rania Masri: "It is Gaza that has proven time and again that it is the heartbeat of the resistance, the heartbeat of Palestinian unity. And we say it just as strongly as we say that Israel has no right to exist – we say just as strongly – every Palestinian man, woman, and child have the legal right to defend themselves by any means they choose.

"Say it again: We support the armed resistance. We support the armed movement. We support every single armed fighter in the land of Palestine that is standing up right now. I salute 300 rockets that have managed to come out of Gaza.

[...]

"The Israelis have been calling for a ceasefire, and the fighters in Gaza have been calling for a conditional ceasefire, proving again that Palestinians are not to be broken."

[...]

Dana Al-Hasan: "Gaza is leading the way. We are seeing parties from all factions uniting together and resisting and fighting for Palestine. We have fighters in Gaza coordinating, not just within Gaza, but coordinating with freedom-fighters in Jenin, Al-Aqsa, and beyond.

"We see Al-Nasser Salah al-Deen Brigades, the Joint Operations Room, 'Night Confusion', the Lion's Den, the Martyr Izz Al-Din Al-Qasam Brigades, the Martyr Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, and the list goes on and on."

[...]

Claire Clark: "I come to you today, as a transgender woman, as a queer woman, as a member of the LGBTQ community. I come to you today to denounce the duplicitous and divisive propaganda spread by the occupation regime.

[...]

"Them telling [me] that I should support the occupation, I should support the settlers, I should support the apartheid regime, and I should oppose the resistance of Palestinians. And why? Because of the allegedly LGBTQ-friendly policies of the Zionist government and the supposed enmity of the Muslims and Palestinian people. But I am here to tell you, that is a bold-faced lie. It doesn't matter how many times the politicians and the talking heads repeat it, or how cleverly they tell it – it is a lie!

"I have no friends in the Zionist regime. I have no friends among the settlers. 

"I have no friends in the White House, in the halls of Congress, the chambers of the Supreme Court, or the corporate boardrooms where exploitation is turned into profit through the malign sorcery of capitalism, and there is not one enemy of mine among the Palestinian people fighting for their freedom.

"My enemies, the enemies, the enemies of the LGBTQ people, are right here, in these United States.


 

[...]

"They say that Palestinians are my enemy, but that is a lie. The commitment of the Palestinian people to justice is legendary, it is a proven fact, and it is sealed in the blood of martyrs."

[...]

Iyad: "Peace be upon you, oh Gaza. Peace be upon you, oh Mujahideen. Peace be upon you, oh righteous martyrs. Peace be upon you, who have resisted this Zionist occupation. Peace be upon the honorable people of this Islamic nation. Lastly, I will say – and I will not make it long – what I have said before: we will never be like the Israelites who said to Moses [in the Quran]: 'Go, you and your Lord, and fight. Indeed we are remaining right here.'  We, the Palestinian people and Muslim people, as well as the free people of the world, say to the resistance in Palestine: 'Go fight, we are fighting with you.'"

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