Big Pro-Palestinian Protest Planned at Biden’s San Francisco Fundraiser

Images via PYM and Department of Defense

The whole world is watching in horror as Israel’s far right government prepares to send the Israeli military into Rafah. It is guaranteed to be another bloodbath of annihilation that will kill thousands of civilians. I don’t know how Netanyahu and his ghouls think destroying Gaza won’t also kill the hostages they want to get back. While the history of Israel and Palestine deserves a long, nuanced conversation (I recommend My Promised Land by Ari Shavit as a starting place), there is nothing complicated about what’s happening in Gaza. This is a horrendous humanitarian disaster beyond what any of us can imagine. I don’t know how anyone can not be heartbroken anytime they read about it.

And while the United States has the power to stop it – by tying future aid packages to a peace deal or by directly negotiating the release of the hostages that Hamas took when they viciously attacked Israel on October 7th – Biden and the government continue to offer no more than tepid words.

So if you’re sad, angry, frustrated, and want your voice heard by the President himself, tonight is your chance. President Joe Biden will be attending a fundraiser tonight, Wednesday, February 21st in Pacific Heights. And a big protest is planned for it

Here’s the information from the press release I received:

What: Protest, rally and march
When: Wednesday, Feb 21, 5:00pm
Where: Alta Plaza Park, San Francisco

President Biden will be attending a fundraiser in Pacific Heights on Wednesday evening, and will be met with protestors from all over the Bay Area demanding an immediate ceasefire and an end to US support of the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza. 

“While Biden charges donors $100,000 for a ticket to his cocktail party, bombs labeled ‘Made in the USA’ are raining down on civilians in Gaza for the fourth consecutive month, killing over 13,000 Palestinian children and counting. How dare he visit San Francisco only to rake in cash, ignoring residents of a city which passed a ceasefire resolution with a supermajority,” says Suzanne Ali with the Palestinian Youth Movement. “Biden must be held accountable for supplying the weapons for this genocide. We demand that he call for a ceasefire and stop sending arms to Israel immediately.”

Over 100,000 Palestinians have been killed, injured, or are missing since Israel intensified its military siege on Gaza in October. The Israeli military has killed over 35,000 people, including over 12,000 children – 1 in every 10 children killed did not celebrate their first birthday. Dehydration and famine are a reality for nearly every family in the Gaza strip due to Israel’s 17-year blockade and current restriction of humanitarian aid. According to the UN, 4 in 5 of the hungriest people in the world reside in the Gaza strip. 

Israel is reportedly preparing a ground assault on Rafah, where over 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering following their forced displacement by the Israeli military. While the UN and the US have warned repeatedly that such an assault would be catastrophic, the Biden administration has signaled that it will not apply leverage to prevent Israel’s attack. 

Biden is now the lowest polling incumbent president going into an election year, with the majority of Americans disapproving of his handling of the Gaza war. Over 70% of Democrats want to see the US push for a ceasefire in Gaza.