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Thousands Rally in North America in Solidarity with Palestinians

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest against the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestinian territories during a rally at the Washington Monument in Washington, US, May 15, 2021. (Reuters)
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest against the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestinian territories during a rally at the Washington Monument in Washington, US, May 15, 2021. (Reuters)
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Thousands Rally in North America in Solidarity with Palestinians

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest against the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestinian territories during a rally at the Washington Monument in Washington, US, May 15, 2021. (Reuters)
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest against the ongoing conflict in Israel and Palestinian territories during a rally at the Washington Monument in Washington, US, May 15, 2021. (Reuters)

Thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators rallied in cities across North America on Saturday, calling for an end to Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip.

Gatherings to show solidarity with Palestinians took place in cities including New York, Boston, Washington, Montreal and Dearborn, Michigan.

About two thousand people turned out in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, chanting "Free, free Palestine" and "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."

They waved Palestinian flags and held placards that read "End Israeli Apartheid" and "Freedom for Gaza."

Many protesters wore black and white, and red and white, keffiyeh scarves, while drivers sounded car horns and motorcyclists revved their engines as the sun beat down.

Several Jewish people attended, carrying placards that said "Not in my name" and "Solidarity with Palestine" as the protesters took over a street in the area which has a large Arab population.

A few dozen police officers looked on at the peaceful protest, dubbed "Defend Palestine.

"I'm here because I want a Palestinian life to equal an Israeli life and today it doesn't," said 35-year-old Emraan Khan, a corporate strategist from Manhattan, as he waved a Palestinian flag.

"When you have a nuclear-armed state and another state of villagers with rocks it is clear who is to blame," he added.

Throngs of people gathered in Copley Square in Boston, while a few hundred rallied on the Washington Monument grounds in the US capital.

Several thousand demonstrated in Montreal, calling for "the liberation of Palestine."

Protesters also denounced "war crimes" committed by Israel in Gaza and carried placards accusing Israel of violating international law during the protest in the center of the Canadian city.

Earlier, a caravan of cars sounded their horns and drove with Palestinian flags blowing in the wind as they protested outside the Israeli consulate in the western part of Montreal.

A protester was arrested for breaking a window, a police spokesperson said, but otherwise the demonstration was peaceful.

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Rubio Vows to Put State Dept at Core of Trump Foreign Policymaking

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as he meets with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi at the State Department in Washington, US, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as he meets with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi at the State Department in Washington, US, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
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Rubio Vows to Put State Dept at Core of Trump Foreign Policymaking

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as he meets with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi at the State Department in Washington, US, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio looks on as he meets with Indian External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong, and Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi at the State Department in Washington, US, January 21, 2025. (Reuters)

Secretary of State Marco Rubio began his tenure as the top US diplomat on Tuesday by pledging to keep his department at the heart of US foreign policymaking and execute what he said was President Donald Trump's aim of promoting peace through strength.

Ending Russia's war in Ukraine would be official US policy, the former US senator said earlier on Tuesday, before he addressed hundreds of clapping and cheering State Department staff filling the building's lobby.

"We want to be at the centerpiece, we want to be at the core of how we formulate foreign policy, because we're going to have the best ideas of any agency, and because we're going to execute it better and faster and more effectively than any other agency in our government," Rubio told State Department staff.

He was proud to lead "the most effective, the most talented, the most experienced" diplomatic corps in the history of the world, he said.

His flattering comments drew applause, but it remains to be seen whether Rubio can deliver on his promise to make the department instrumental in policymaking given Trump's unconventional style that often involves bypassing institutions and conducting personal diplomacy.

Trump aides since last week have asked dozens of senior career diplomats at the department to step down from their roles, replacing key bureaucratic and policy positions with officials that they deem more aligned with their agenda.

“There will be changes, but the changes are not meant to be destructive. They're not meant to be punitive," Rubio said. "The changes will be because we need to be a 21st century agency that can move ... at the speed of relevance."

Rubio, 53, a China hawk and staunch backer of Israel, was the first of Trump's cabinet nominees to be sworn into office on Tuesday, and pledged to carry out Trump's foreign policy of "furthering the national interest of this country."

Rubio was a long-time member of the Senate foreign relations and intelligence committees and is now the first Latino US secretary of state. The son of immigrants from Cuba, he has also pushed for tough measures against the Communist-ruled island and its allies, especially the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

'PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH'

During his confirmation hearing last week, the new top US diplomat said both Moscow and Kyiv would have to give concessions to end the war and suggested Ukraine would have to give up its goal of regaining all the territory Russia has taken in the last decade.

Rubio echoed those comments to NBC's "Today" show on Tuesday ahead of his swearing-in.

"It’s going to be the official policy of the United States that the war has to end and we’re going to do everything possible to bring that about," he said.

Former President Joe Biden, who sent billions of dollars of US weapons to Ukraine after Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, insisted it was up to Ukraine to decide if and when to enter peace talks with Russia.

Trump, while campaigning for president, said he would quickly end the war, without saying how he would do so.

Rubio said it would be "complicated ... because every side's going to have to give something."

"The only way conflicts like this end is ... not in public pronouncements," Rubio said. "They end in hard, vibrant diplomacy that the US seeks to engage in, in the hopes of bringing an end to this conflict that’s sustainable, in a way that assures the security of Ukraine and our partners in the region, but that stops the killing and the dying and the destruction that we’ve been seeing for quite a while now."

Speaking at the White House after he was sworn in, Rubio promised he would carry out Trump's foreign policy of "furthering the national interest of this country."

He added that another foreign policy goal under Trump will be "the promotion of peace. Of course, peace through strength, peace and always without abandoning our values."