“We’re here today after two years of genocide to the Palestinian people and hundreds of people in Boston have come out and said they will not tolerate our government being complicit in genocide,” said Lea Kayali, an organizer with the Palestinian Youth Movement, a pro-Palestinian advocacy organization.
Martina Chavarro, 29, was walking home downtown Sunday morning when she stopped to thank a counter-protestor wearing a white mask and holding a large Israeli flag across the street from the rally.
“I’m Colombian but my partner is Jewish and I feel there has been a rise in antisemitism here,” said Chavarro. “I think there’s good people on both sides and there’s a lot of innocent deaths on both sides. It’s very sad. I want the war to end. I didn’t realize [the protest] was going on so when I saw him standing by himself, I just wanted to say thank you for being there.”
The rally and Newton event took place two days before the two-year anniversary of Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted 251 people in their attack on southern Israel. Since then, Israel’s war in Gaza has killed more than 66,200 Palestinians and wounded nearly 170,000 others, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. The ministry does not differentiate between civilians and militants in its toll, but has said women and children make up around half the dead.
Approaching the anniversary, Israel and Hamas prepare for negotiations in Egypt on Monday, as hopes for a possible ceasefire in Gaza began to build after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a hostage release could be announced this week.
The sound of drums and “Free Palestine” chants filled the downtown protest. Passersby clapped and cars honked as protesters waved Palestinian flags and held signs that read “Stop the terror” and “Not another bomb” while marching from the Old State House to the Seaport office of the Boston Consulting Group, a firm that helped run a controversial Israeli-backed group that supplanted the work of delivering aid to Gaza.
Omama, a Palestinian woman, said “the world is finally waking up” to what is happening in Gaza and said she’ll continue protesting until a permanent ceasefire.
“I would like to see my country stop being bombed and I would like to see us standing with justice and humanity,” said the 38-year-old, who declined to share her last name.
Kristin Harris, who raised her fist in solidarity as she watched protesters march to Congress Street on Sunday, said she’s thrilled to see the protest gaining momentum and felt compelled to show her support from the sidelines.
“It’s been an issue that’s ongoing for decades and decades, and for me, I’m happy to see that people are not giving up the fight,” said Harris, 37. “You don’t often see protests in the Seaport area so this is a nice surprise.”
Dozens stood together at the park in Newton Centre, many holding laminated photos of Israeli hostages or hoisting Israeli flags above their heads.
“Two years have been too long,” said Sally Goldstein-Elkind, an organizer with Run For Their Lives, a hostage advocacy group. “It is now or never, and we must all believe that now is the final answer.”
Volunteers read the names of hostages into a microphone, each echoed back by the crowd. After participants joined together in prayer, Goldstein-Elkind told the group that on Friday Hamas “accepted the Trump peace plan.”
“I wish I could say with certainty that this deal will all go smoothly,” said Goldstein-Elkind, 38, of Needham. “Every single thing about the next few hours and days are fragile.”
As the pro-Palestinian rally marched to the Boston Consulting Group‘s office, they made periodic stops at some businesses, including Fidelity Investments, which activists criticized for its holdings in weapons manufacturers that supply the Israeli military, and the Capital One Café, citing the bank’s financial relationships with companies that activists say profit from Israel’s war in Gaza.
Demonstrators urged customers to boycott both companies, arguing that divesting from firms with such ties is a way to pressure Israel over its military campaign.
Four counter-protestors, including the one in a white mask, marched alongside the protestors. They carried Israeli flags and one wore a “Make America Great Again” hat.
By the end of the march near the Boston Consulting Group’s office, the crowd clamored as Kayali took the microphone.
“What was it that brought you out today? What is it that led you to march an hour to a place you didn’t even know you were going?” Kayali asked the crowd.
Various shouts of “Gaza,” “children,” and “genocide” rang out in the air.
“We are at war, and we have to start acting like it,” Kayali said.
During the Newton event, Asaf Rotem, a Newton resident who moved from Israel 16 years ago, said he has joined the gathering every week for more than a year as a way to heal, and to speak up for those who have no voice.
“We’ve been traumatized, pushed aside,” said Rotem, 55, who joined the crowd in a quiet march through the town center. “But with all the sadness and the tragedy, we’re also very encouraged, and this week, we’re a little bit more optimistic.”
Adina Troen-Krasnow, an artist from Natick, wore a shirt honoring her cousin and her cousin’s husband, who were killed in the Oct. 7 attack. She cried as she spoke of them, calling on the world to recognize that suffering continues.
“Do I think this little thing in Newton Centre is getting out to the world? It’s not, and I know that,” said Troen-Krasnow. “But I do believe putting out positive energy may be what’s getting people home.”
Materials from the Associated Press were used in this report.