Butterfly effect: can the Palestine protest movement turn the tide?https://en.majalla.com/node/327380/politics/butterfly-effect-can-palestine-protest-movement-turn-tide
Butterfly effect: can the Palestine protest movement turn the tide?
For nearly two years, protests around the world calling for an end to Israel's war on Gaza haven't fizzled out, but grown. Their geographic reach and longevity appear to have no precedent in history.
Lina Jaradat
Butterfly effect: can the Palestine protest movement turn the tide?
As I write, there is a flotilla of boats heading for Gaza. One of the passengers is Greta Thunberg. Intense publicity accompanied the climate activist’s departure from Spain. In Tunisia last week, the flotilla had been attacked a second time by a drone, but it barely made the news because of the mind-boggling Israeli attack on Doha.
The last time Greta Thunberg went with supplies of food and medical equipment, she was arrested. Israel Katz, the Minister of Defence, called her ‘antisemitic’ and ordered that her crew be shown the propaganda film ‘Bearing Witness to the October 7th Massacre’.
They refused.
The conversion of current affairs into history never happened with greater speed. The pace of events condemns the task of recording what happens to instant obsolescence. Every communication is like a disappearing message on the world’s iPhone. If you blinked, well, you missed it.
So, the attack on Greta Thunberg’s flotilla has to compete with Donald Tusk telling the Polish parliament that we are closer to conflict than at any time since the Second World War. Or with the friendship Peter Mandelson, Britain’s most important ambassador, had with his ‘best pal’ Jeffrey Epstein.
Or with a protest outside a hotel in Park Lane, London, over the arrival of the Israeli president, Isaac Herzog. He was once in favour of a two-state solution to the conflict in his country. However, soon after the Hamas attacks of October 7, Herzog declared that there were ‘no innocent civilians’ in Gaza. It was the kind of statement that smacked of genocidal intent. Throughout the protracted agony that has followed, the actions and anger of many of his countrymen and women have echoed that pitiless assessment.
No historical precedent
Actually, though, a protest in Park Lane is unlikely to occupy our collective attention for long. Protests have become so routine, after all. Uncontacted tribes may be the only humans not to have heard about them. Across the world, there have been sustained and even growing demonstrations calling for an end to Israel's war on Gaza and accountability for those prosecuting said war and complicity in it.
Elsewhere, there have been conspicuous protests on the campuses of Israel’s staunchest ally, the United States. But, without the same visibility, there have been demonstrations on every continent except Antarctica. Only a full-length book could do this phenomenon justice.
In fact, it might well be the case that the sheer geographic reach of protests against the war has no precedent in history. They make the revolutions of 1848 look parochial. These shouts in the street have varied according to the place and occasion. In a short article, it is only possible to look at certain examples which have particular significance for the countries that hosted them. Because the war has not simply divided opinion; it has had a distorting effect on entire societies, way beyond the actual scene of conflict. Israel's war on Gaza has reverberated across the entire planet.
Israel's war on Gaza has reverberated across the entire planet
Self-immolation
So, for instance, when Aaron Bushnell, a member of the United States Air Force, set light to himself in protest against the complicity of his country in Israel's war on Gaza, he shouted "Free Palestine!" as he burned to death. It didn't attract the same attention when a street was named after him in Jericho. Yet, as a ripple from a hugely visible event, the street name has the potential to outlast the memory of Bushnell's horrific self-immolation. By its nature, protest is transitory.
Who recalls, or even noticed at the time, a small group of children in Rafah protesting in advance of a planned offensive there in February 2024, holding signs in English that read "We refuse to die" and "Save us from this genocide"? Or, again in Rafah, children protesting against famine and holding a banner reading "Stop our daily death"?
Who, even in Mexico, remembers that on the 5 November 2023, thousands marched through Mexico City chanting "Break, break ties with Israel" and "it is not a war, it is a genocide"? Or that, in January, anti-war protesters hit piñatas with the faces of Joe Biden and Netanyahu?
It's doubtful that many people outside Bangladesh even noticed when, on 12 April 2024, the country witnessed the largest ever pro-Palestine protest, numbering over one million participants, in Suhrawardy Udyan, Dhaka.
Or that on 19 November 2023, protests were held in Tangier in support of Palestine, demanding an end to the normalisation of ties between Morocco and Israel. A similar protest was held in Casablanca on 26 November. Protesters in February 2024 called for the end of normalisation with Israel. Demonstrations were also held in Fez, Meknes, Kenitra, Agadir, Berkane, Oujda and Jerada.
In China, students who had just finished the 2024 Gaokao (China's national undergraduate admission exam) were interviewed. Some students expressed solidarity with Palestine. Videos posted online showed students displaying the Palestinian flag or stating in interviews that "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." By the last day of the exam, many of the original interview clips had been taken down, but clips that were later reposted by individuals were not deleted.
In Indonesia, more than two million people participated in the pro-Palestinian rally organised by the Indonesian People's Alliance to Defend Palestine on 5 November.
In Nepal, on 10 October 2023, demonstrators outside the prime minister's office called for the evacuation of Nepalis in Israel. On 30 October, protesters in Patan Durbar Square in Kathmandu called for a ceasefire, holding banners reading 'Indigenous People of Nepal are with Palestine' and 'South-South Solidarity.'
Even in Taiwan, there have been protests in support of Palestine since the start of the war. On one occasion, demonstrators marched to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and called on the government to defend human rights and freedom, and to issue an official statement condemning Israel's actions, demanding that all cooperation be terminated and that the provision of technology and materials to Israel cease.
Protesters in Taiwan commemorate Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old active duty member of the US Air Force who set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington, in protest of his country's support for Israel's war on Gaza.
In Bosnia and Herzegovina, on 7 July 2024, demonstrations were held in Mostar, denouncing the genocide in Gaza. Demonstrators draped a Palestinian flag over the Stari Most.
Crackdowns in the West
On 12 October 2023, in response to former Hamas leader Khaled Mashal calling Muslims worldwide to stage protests in support of Palestinians in a 'day of rage' on Friday, 13 October, the French Interior Minister imposed a ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations because he expected such rallies to "disrupt public order." The same day, the Representative Council of French Jewish Institutions organised a pro-Israel rally. Following the ban on pro-Palestinian demonstrations, French President Emmanuel Macron, in a televised national address, urged his country's Muslims and Jews to show restraint and to refrain from bringing the conflict to France.
In Germany, the authorities banned a pro-Palestinian rally from being held in Berlin. A number of spontaneous demonstrations protesting against the bombing of Gaza took place across the country, but were broken up by police. Germany banned fundraising, the displaying of the Palestinian flag and the wearing of the keffiyeh.
On 22 October, a pro-Israel rally was held at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. President Frank-Walter Steinmeier was present at the demonstration, as well as representatives from the German-Israeli Society, most mainstream political parties, the Council of the Protestant Church in Germany, the German Bishops' Conference, the Central Council of Jews in Germany, the Federation of German Industries, the German Trade Union Confederation and the Israeli ambassador. Later, in Neukölln, a neighbourhood of Berlin, pro-Palestinian protesters described the police crackdown as "shocking and violent."
In Greece, on 22 July 2025, more than 300 people on the island of Syros protested against the docking of the MS Crown Iris, which is owned by the Israeli cruise company Mano Maritime. The ship, which was carrying more than 1,600 passengers, was later rerouted to Cyprus due to 'safety concerns.'
In Italy, on 17 November 2023, a long Palestinian flag was hung from the Leaning Tower of Pisa during a pro-Palestinian protest. On 5 June 2024, a 15-metre Palestinian flag was unfurled on top of Milan Cathedral by former Italian MP Stefano Apuzzo. And on 5 October 2024, a Pro-Palestine protest turned violent when thousands of protesters clashed with local police, resulting in 37 people being injured. Chants of "Free Palestine," "Criminal Israel", and "Now Intifada" rang out during the event.
In the Netherlands, during January 2024, a billboard campaign displayed messages regarding the war, such as "every ten minutes one Palestinian child dies." On 13 January, a protest organised by the Plant an Olive Tree Foundation was held in Amsterdam, honouring the slain children of Gaza by placing around 10,000 pairs of children's shoes in Dam Square, each pair representing one Palestinian child killed by Israeli air strikes.
During Isaac Herzog's visit to the National Holocaust Museum, Jewish protesters at a square nearby chanted "Never again is now" and held signs that said "Jews against genocide." Later, more than 100,000 people marched through The Hague wearing red clothing to demand that the country 'draw a red line' against Israel's blockade.
And then there was the infamous visit to Amsterdam of the Maccabi Tel Aviv football supporters. On 7 November 2024, they were involved in violent clashes with the locals after the Israeli football team was filmed making anti-Palestinian and anti-Arab chants, tearing down Palestinian flags from homes and attacking Moroccan taxi drivers. Benjamin Netanyahu and Israeli commentators said the attacks on Israeli fans were antisemitic and compared them to a pogrom. Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof and Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema agreed and issued a three-day ban on protests in the city. In contrast, the actions of the Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were described as racist 'hooliganism' by the local authorities.
In Britain, there have been numerous pro-Palestine marches in the capital and elsewhere. They have mostly passed off peacefully. However, the picture has been complicated by Home Secretary Yvette Cooper's decision to proscribe one organisation as a terrorist organisation.
On 20 June 2025, pro-Palestinian activists led by Palestine Action managed to enter the Brize Norton Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire. They damaged two Voyager aircraft with crowbars and used a repurposed fire extinguisher to spray red paint onto the planes and the runway before being detained in the base. No one was injured.
The Home Secretary's vagueness as to why the organisation was to be lumped together with Islamic State (IS), say, or Al-Qaeda has led to an absurd chain of events, with hundreds of people arrested for carrying banners in support of Palestine Action and opposing the repression of their right to protest. The protesters are predominantly elderly. Some are disabled.
To counter the police, they have taken to 'flopping' (going limp, thus making it necessary for members of the Metropolitan Police to carry them bodily away from the scene) and refusing to give their personal details, which means they cannot be bailed in the street. Instead, they have to be taken in large numbers to police stations.
Because their placards amount to a terrorist offence, the protesters face a possible 14-year prison sentence at a time when the courts are still dealing with a backlog after Covid, and there is such an overcrowding issue in Britain's prisons that petty criminals are being released early.
This particular farce looks set to run and run. But nothing stays the same for long. With the resignation of his deputy, the prime minister has reshuffled his cabinet, and Yvette Cooper has been moved to the Foreign Office. Her replacement, Shabana Mahmud, is known for her tough approach after a spell as Justice Secretary.
However, she is also Muslim, and less than a decade ago was involved in a peaceful protest at her local branch of Sainsbury's. Her reason: she was upset that the supermarket was selling goods produced in the occupied West Bank.
There seems every likelihood that events over in Gaza will continue to have such ramifications across the world. Specifically in Britain, their effect will no doubt be further encroachments on the liberties of ordinary people, including aggrieved pensioners. It will be the usual British mixture of the Kafkaesque with end-of-the-pier comedy. Perhaps, unlike more ephemeral types of protest, these demonstrations will have an enduring effect on the rights of disgruntled citizens.
For the Global Sumud Flotilla heading towards the eye of the storm, things are not likely to have the same admixture of inadvertent humour. This is not the first time a flotilla has tried to break Israel's illegal siege on Gaza. In the past, it has killed people in the very same attempt. But this doesn't seem to be deterring the activists, who hope that maybe this time, despite the threat to their lives, they just might succeed.
