Marking Nakba Day, US federal workers protest Washington’s support for Israel

By Servet Gunerigok

WASHINGTON (AA) - A group of US federal employees gathered outside the White House on Wednesday to protest the Biden administration’s support for Israel.

The event was organized by Feds United for Peace to mark the 76th year since the Nakba, or Catastrophe, when hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were expelled in 1948.

The protestors, including current and former federal government employees, said the US is "very directly complicit in part” because it “continues to provide absolutely unconditional support.”

"This is why we see actions by (Israeli) settlers, for example, burning food intended" for Gaza, said an employee who read out a press release.

Pua Ali K. Lum, a retired US military veteran, said she "wholly" rejects the Biden administration's "choices about Palestinian lives.”

"I am Jewish, living peacefully with Palestinians. We see Palestinians. We hear Palestinians. We believe Palestinians. May we continue to uphold the values and care that has brought us to do, to unite," said Lum.

The Nakba is marked by Palestinians on May 15 to remember the expulsion of hundreds of thousands from their homes and lands in 1948 after the founding of Israel.

The global Palestinian population reached 14.63 million as of the end of last year, marking a tenfold increase since the events of the Nakba in 1948, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

This year's anniversary comes amid Israel’s ongoing devastating onslaught against the Gaza Strip that has been taking place since Oct. 7 of last year, as well as intensified assaults by illegal Israeli settlers and violence against Palestinians across the West Bank.

Israel has waged a brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for an Oct. 7 attack last year by the Palestinian group Hamas which killed around 1,200 people.

More than 35,100 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and over 79,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

In the West Bank, nearly 500 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7 and thousands of people wounded amid daily arrest campaigns by the Israeli army.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which has ordered Tel Aviv to ensure that its forces do not commit acts of genocide and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.