Local groups protests 60 Palestinians killed at Gaza border

SOUTH BEND, Ind. --- On Friday, the local group, Jewish Voices for Peace, hosted a vigil for close to 60 people killed in Gaza border protests.

Paul Mishler, one of the event organizers, said for many Palestinian refugees in Gaza it’s similar to an apartheid system.

“They’re denied access to all kinds of resources, they are oppressed because of who they are, and their religious faith doesn’t matter they are people on a land that Israel wants,” Mishler said.

Thousands of Palestinians returned to the Gaza-Israel border for their annual march, which prosts the right to return to land, held by Israel since 1948.

“The last two weeks 60 people have been shot by Israeli forces, unarmed civilians,” he said. “Children have been killed, parents have been killed.”

ABC News reported the Israeli government claims their actions are justified. However, the group of more than 30 people protesting on Jefferson and Main Street in downtown South Bend said otherwise.

“Palestinians are human beings the people in Gaza are non-violently protesting for basic human rights,” said Jonathan Brennemen. “Which is inspiring, yet they are being killed, massacred actually.”

Mishler said it’s important for people in the United States to know what’s happening on the Gaza Strip.

“Heartland people are watching, we are concerned with justice we’re concerned that those people who are being oppressed not be oppressed,” he said.

Mishler said this conflict is not an Arab or Jewish conflict. It is a conflict about justice and injustice, according to him.

“These moments, these places where there’s extreme injustice require a response,” he said.