BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Tara Knight is neither Jewish nor Palestinian.
What this 38-year-old who took a day off from work and drove 2 ½ hours from her central Pennsylvania home is, is troubled.
Knight sat alone in standing-room-only Sayre Hall at the Cathedral of the Nativity awaiting the start of a pro-Palestine/end the Israel/Hamas war program.
“I won’t lie to you, I’ve been depressed about this conflict/genocide since it started last year,” Knight said of the 14-month war.
“I’m horrified and just unbelievably disgusted at what’s going on. I just can’t believe it’s still going on and no one’s doing anything to stop it.”
"I needed to be around people who care."Tara Knight of Williamsport
Knight learned of the event online. She traveled 2 ½ hours from her home in Williamsport to spend 2 ½ hours hoping to feel comforted by the emotions and knowledge of those who share her sadness and anger.
“I needed to be around people who care,” Knight said.
The Lehigh Valley Palestine Coalition hosted the teach-in program in an effort to educate and engage the community in thoughtful conversation and learning about the history of Palestine, the Israeli occupation and contemporary Palestinian lives.
The teach-in program featured talks by local experts, including Palestinian, Muslim and Jewish scholars from the Lehigh Valley, as well as from local anti-war organizers.
Within hours of Hamas' attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel began airstrikes across the Gaza Strip.
Three weeks later, Israel's ground invasion of Gaza began, and within a few days the Israeli military had encircled Gaza City.
In the months since then, the war in Gaza has continued unabated and has yielded one of the most devastating humanitarian crises in recent decades, as almost 2 million residents have fled the onslaught of bombardment, demolition and warfare.
Last year's Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack killed around 1,200 people, and about 250 individuals were taken hostage, according to Israeli authorities. Israel's military response since then in Gaza has killed more than 43,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. The risk of famine in Gaza is widespread.
From grass roots to academia
The teach-in panel discussion comprised various voices from academia, activism, and the Palestinian-American community.
Cory Fischer-Hoffman, a local organizer and member of Jewish Voice for Peace, moderated the panel discussion.
“For over one year, the Israeli military has committed genocide on Palestine that has been fully supported by the US government,” she told the gathering of more than 200 while wearing a ‘Jewish Mothers Against War Crimes’ T-shirt.
“Look around the room at all the people here and know you’re not alone.”
Allison Mickel is an assistant professor of anthropology at Lehigh University. An archaeologist and an anthropologist who works in the Middle East, Mickel hosted an archaeology slide presentation to refute claims by pro-Israel factions that the land first belonged to Israelis.
Mickel showed an Internet story of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said the goal of war is “to defeat the murderous enemy and ensure our existence in our land.”
“If we don’t widen our lens, how will we know how we got to this moment?"Iran native Faramarz Farbod
The program included tables with Palestinian cultural displays and informational literature from area organizations involved in the effort.
Naji Latefa, a Palestinian-American, native of Gaza and Lehigh Valley political activist, knows all too painfully what the war has wrought.
Many cousins and other relatives have been killed in Gaza while trying to find food for their families, he said.
“My mother was 83 years old and wheelchair-bound,” Latefa said. “At the beginning of the war, the Israelis stopped (the water supply) and began bombing hospitals. My mom drank contaminated water, developed an infection and was left in a hospital corridor for three days to die a slow death.
“Gaza has been going through this for 407 days and nobody cares. Nobody cares. Imagine if this was your mom or sister, what would you do? Why aren’t we moved? Why aren’t we outraged?
“A year ago when war started, we were hopeful that if we educated people, things would change. We had rallies, wrote to our Congressmen. Nothing. This means our government does not care, from the top down.”
Delivering his words with passion, Latefa told the gathering that “We pay for these 2,000-pound bombs,” that the U.S. has provided to Israel.
“We can all sit here and say, ‘do something,’” he said. “But we have not done much. We are all complicit.”
Faramarz Farbod, a native of Iran and political science teacher at Moravian University, implored the gathering to widen their lens of how they view the war.
“If we don’t widen our lens, how will we know how we got to this moment,” he said. “We have to look at the horrors that preceded Oct. 7, then ask ‘what is the tap root of the problem?’ I’d like to say it’s Zionism.
“What the Palestinians want is simple: Citizenship. If you give them that, if you give them that from the river to the sea, the problem is solved.”
Raya Abdelaal, a Palestinian-American community organizer in the Lehigh Valley, underscored the importance of organizing and voicing opposition to those who seek to muffle dissent.
“University students are taking over halls and protesting a genocide,” she said. “And universities were doing everything to shut them down. Lehigh University put a warning on one of the organizations to stop protesting against Palestine.
“Every time we take a step forward, we’re getting pushed back. I’m getting tired of it. Our institutions believe we are powerless. I believe revolutions began in rooms smaller than this room. We could end genocide tomorrow.”
Following a question and answer session, Fischer-Hoffman led the attendees in song.
Palestine will be free.
Palestine will be free.
We will not avert our eyes.
Palestine will be free.
