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Local grassroots organizations announced a new San Antonio for Palestine Coalition at a rally in front of San Antonio’s City Hall on Saturday, nearly two years since Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the start of what coalition members deemed the “Gaza genocide.”
Members denounced the role of the United States, Texas, and San Antonio in Israel’s ongoing military campaign in Gaza that a United Nations independent commission, numerous Israeli and international human rights organizations, and the International Association of Genocide Scholars have declared a genocide. More than 66,000 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and women and children are said to make up around half the dead.
Israel has repeatedly denied accusations that it is committing a genocide and said that their response is justified by Hamas’ reported killing of 1,200 people in Israel and the taking of roughly 250 captives. The U.S. also denies that Israel is conducting a genocide in Gaza.
The coalition’s founding members are San Antonio for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace San Antonio, ACT4SA, San Antonio Students for Peace, the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel, and Democratic Socialists of America San Antonio.
Sara Masoud is a member of San Antonio for Justice in Palestine and spoke at the rally.
“The phrase that is often used when people are confronted with the grim realities of our world and want them to change is that a better world is possible,” she said. “The optimism of that slogan comes from a permanent belief that no matter how ghastly awful the cruelties are, it is always an option for everything to be different.”
Masoud detailed the role of members of Congress and the White House in supporting Israel over the past two years.
But she said local leaders also had a role.
“Former mayor Ron Nirenberg waited out pressure and punted the genocide question to a new mayor, placing long term political ambitions over his own humanity,” Masoud said.
Nirenberg did not respond to TPR’s request for comment.
The coalition will soon call on the San Antonio City Council to bring forward a new ceasefire resolution. An effort to hold a vote on such a resolution failed in 2024. Nirenberg said at the time it was not the job of local governments to tackle international political issues, saying considering a ceasefire resolution “could prove to be reckless.”
A press release from San Antonio for Justice in Palestine also called out the role of local companies and religious organizations in supporting Israel, including Valero, Chevron, and Caterpillar. The coalition plans to push the city council to sever ties with all three companies.
“The same corporations and politicians underwriting the past two years of mass killing abroad are the ones denying housing, health care and dignity, but turning up repression at home,” Masoud said.
Valero has long maintained contracts to supply Israeli military jets with fuel, Chevron recently agreed to a $600 million pipeline deal with Israel, and Caterpillar supplies Israel’s military with armored bulldozers.
Caterpillar and Chevron are on the international Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) list. A 2019 Texas law banned the implementation of BDS by local governments and any business with public contracts, though a lawsuit is ongoing.
Valero, Chevron, and Caterpillar did not respond to TPR’s request for comment.
San Antonio for Justice in Palestine has another rally scheduled for 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 7 at San Pedro Springs Park.
Judith Norman is a leader of Jewish Voice for Peace San Antonio and a professor at Trinity University.
“So in this, the High Holy Days of my Judaism, I'm here to say that Zionism is not my Judaism,” Norman said. “My Judaism has another vision of safety. It looks like one free Palestine from the river to the sea.”
The phrase “from the river to the sea” refers to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. While it is viewed by many activists as a peaceful call for the end of Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, many Jews and pro-Israel groups consider it to be antisemitic because it has been used as a call to violence and for the elimination of the Jewish state.
Norman said she rejected the latter view.
“It's the slogan of Palestinian liberation, which inspires, illuminates, provides guidance, and helps generate an image of Jewish safety as well,” she said. “Because it's an immensely just and generous image of liberation, an image of a world where safety is guaranteed, not by weapons but by relationships. It's not zero sum, but mutually supportive.”
Claire Lewis is the leader of San Antonio Students for Peace.
She said the new state law SB 2972 that has made protesting on campus more difficult will not stop her and her fellow students from speaking out about what’s going on in Gaza.
“Our students' compassion will not be boxed into specific time frames or be limited to certain patch of grass on our campuses,” Lewis said. “We do not fear the power held lingering above our heads. You cannot suppress the passion for peace.”
A lawsuit against SB 2972 is ongoing.
Masoud said she believed a better world was possible, but that it would not come on its own.
“Remember Dr. [Martin Luther] King, who reminded us all with another phrase of a vital and urgent lesson for the present, that love without power is, quote, ‘sentimental and anemic,’” she said. “Therefore, yes, a better world is possible, but we cannot be sentimental and anemic. A better world must be organized for.”
Coalition members said they would roll out their organizing process at City Hall in the coming weeks and months.
The White House announced a 20-point peace plan earlier this week that Israel and several Arab and Muslim nations have agreed to. Hamas subsequently agreed, at least in part.
President Donald Trump said Sunday that Israel had reduced its military strikes on Gaza and urged Hamas to "move quickly" to release the remaining hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped all of the hostages would be returned by Oct. 13 — the end of the Jewish holiday of Sukkot.
Local synagogues plan remembrances for the Oct. 7 victims and prayers for peace as part of their Sukkot services.
Craig Berkowitch is the interim CEO of the Jewish Federation of San Antonio, which is hosting an exhibition called "Humans of October 7th" featuring photos from that day.
"Two years ago, Hamas started this war. Today, they can choose to end it," said Berkowitch in a statement shared with TPR.
"We are deeply hopeful that peace is within reach. The Jewish Federation of San Antonio joins the urgent call for Hamas to release all remaining hostages without delay," read the statement. "Lasting peace depends on their safe return and an end to violence."
