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    'This is not a pro-Hamas protest': Palestinian Americans fight charges of antisemitism

    LOS ANGELES — Roy Alnashef walked into the crowd around Los Angeles City Hall clutching a poster in each hand. As a Palestinian American, he was heartened that pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country were drawing hundreds of thousands of people. But he was also alarmed that some protesters were celebrating Hamas and the militant group's Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel or chanting ...
    by Jaweed Kaleem, Los Angeles Times Dec 24, 2023 7 minutes
    Demonstrators wave Palestinian flags from atop a car during an Oct. 28 protest for cease-fire that took place near Los Angeles City Hall.

    LOS ANGELES — Roy Alnashef walked into the crowd around Los Angeles City Hall clutching a poster in each hand.

    As a Palestinian American, he was heartened that pro-Palestinian demonstrations across the country were drawing hundreds of thousands of people. But he was also alarmed that some protesters were celebrating Hamas and the militant group's Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel or chanting slogans that many Jews viewed as antisemitic.

    So he brought two messages to his first rally in late October.

    "This is not a pro-Hamas protest," said one of his homemade signs.

    The other read: "Hey Jews. If you were here, you'd be safe. We don't hate you."

    Around him, other activists were accusing Israel of being an "apartheid state" whose bombardment of the Gaza Strip was nothing short of "genocide." Some held signs comparing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler.

    Alnashef said he believed those criticisms were accurate.

    "But I don't know if those words help right now," he said.

    The Palestinian cause has never received as much attention or support in the United States as it has in the last two months: the massive protests, the debates roiling college campuses, the support from Black, Latino and LGBTQ+ groups.

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