Protests across American cities

A crowd of thousands spilled out of a park in Paterson, New Jersey, on Sunday as demonstrators in support of Palestine rallied through the city. Some of the protesters who could not find space on the ground emerged on the roof of an office building to wave the Palestinian flag.

“If we want to see a free Palestine,” said Rania Mustafa, the executive director of the Palestinian American Community Center. “Each and every single one of us has to think, what can I do to see a free Palestine?"

In West Palm Beach, Florida, about 30 people rallied last week on an interstate overpass as the evening rush hour began, flying Israeli flags, holding signs and singing Hebrew prayers. Many welling up with tears in their eyes, while those driving beneath the overpass sounded their car horns in support. It was one of many demonstrations in Palm Beach County over the course of the week.

“I have family members that were killed,"  Rabbi Leib Ezagui of the Jewish Community Synagogue in North Palm Beach said. "This is traumatic and a tragedy for Jewish people, Israel and the world.”

Americans nationwide, from Tempe to Memphis and Columbus, are taking to the streets to demand action, either urging for Israel's fight against Hamas or voicing support for the Palestinian people threatened by the bombardment. The demonstrations reveal the complex feelings Americans have about a foreign conflict. 

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