Hannah Kotler, Contributing Photographer

As Israel escalated its attacks on Gaza over the weekend, New Haven politicians and community leaders gathered across the greater New Haven area to share divergent opinions on the unfolding war between Israel and Hamas. 

At events on Friday and Sunday, New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, Representative Rosa DeLauro and Senator Richard Blumenthal all reiterated their support for Israel; this support comes as Israel has killed at least 2,800 civilians in Gaza in response to Hamas militants’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which Hamas killed at least 1,400 civilians. 

United Nations officials have described Israel’s attacks on Gaza as “collective punishment” in violation of international law. Israeli officials have also said that a ground invasion of Gaza is “imminent.” The Connecticut elected officials also expressed concern about deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

“I am proud that the President has exemplified strong support for Israel,” DeLauro said at an event Sunday evening. “Israel needs to know and to understand that they do not stand alone.” 

At a Sunday afternoon event at the Palestine Museum in Woodbridge, Palestinian supporters condemned Israeli retaliation against Gaza. 

Francesca Maria, a pro-Palestine organizer in New Haven who was not at the event at the museum, told the News she believes elected officials backing aid to Israel are on the “wrong side of history.” 

“The only way to end human suffering is to end US military funding to Israel,” Maria said. 

Maria asked to be identified by her middle name instead of her last, citing safety concerns tied to the News’ publication of an opinion column, in which she said “organizers for Palestine were smeared as a hate group,” and that the News also allowed a student to “justify writing a genocidal message unchallenged,” which put her at “personal risk.”

City and state officials reiterate government support for Israel

Members of Connecticut’s Jewish community gathered outside City Hall on Friday afternoon to commemorate Israeli lives lost due to Hamas’s attacks. Speakers recited prayers and shared the stories of individuals who were killed, missing or held hostage after the attacks.

“We stand together as a community against terrorism,” New Haven Mayor Justin Elicker, who spoke at the event, said. “Hamas is a terrorist organization, and I think that that is something we have to be absolutely clear about in our community.”

At the event, Elicker expressed solidarity with the Jewish community. He said that in recent years, city officials have condemned events, including hate crimes against Asian-Americans during the COVID-19 pandemic, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the distribution of antisemitic flyers in New Haven and Hamden.

He also acknowledged the impact of Israel’s attacks on Palestinian civilians in Gaza, which garnered a small round of applause among attendees. 

“As Israel’s conflict with Hamas escalates and a ground war appears to be eminent, it is my hope that innocent Palestinian civilians too are spared from violence and suffering,” he said. “We can speak out against terrorism, we can speak out against terror inflicted on innocent people and continue to speak in favor of a lasting peace.”

On Sunday, Senator Richard Blumenthal, Representative Rosa DeLauro and Elicker gathered at The Anderson Mansion on Orange Street and reaffirmed their support for the Israeli government.

DeLauro, who serves on the House Committee on Appropriations, said she regularly communicates with the Israeli ambassador and receives classified information about the needs of the Israeli government. DeLauro also expressed appreciation for President Joe Biden’s response to Hamas’s attack. 

DeLauro spoke about existing, ongoing bipartisan support for Israel in Congress. 

After the event, DeLauro declined to comment further to the News.

“Peace must also be our goal. And that means we need to understand that the war is against Hamas, and not against the Palestinian people,” she said during the event. “We cannot allow this to become an even bigger humanitarian crisis.”

Maria criticized DeLauro and compared politicians supporting Israel to politicians who supported South African apartheid. 

She said pro-Palestine New Haveners are engaging with representatives in Congress to express their views on the issue.

“It is ordinary people like us who have the power to challenge the status quo [in Palestine],” Maria said. “What we do is not just wait for our politicians to have a change of hearts. We are organizing the public to work and to change the policy.” 

She criticized DeLauro for releasing a video praising United States aid to Israel, in which she posed in front of a picture of anti-apartheid leader and former South African president Nelson Mandela. 

Senator Richard Blumenthal, who also spoke at the event on Sunday, condemned Hamas’ attack on Israel. 

Blumenthal, who serves on the Senate Armed Services Committee, promised to put together an aid package to Israel this week, in addition to the $3.8 billion that the U.S. government gives Israel every year as a part of the Memoranda of Understanding between the two countries. According to Blumenthal, the package will include interceptors in the Iron Dome, precision-guided munitions for Israeli planes, artillery and humanitarian aid.

“Israel will prevail,” he said. “But it needs more than words… It needs real support.”

Blumenthal said that the funding would allow Israel to better target attackers in Gaza, arguing that Israel’s goal is to minimize civilian casualties. 

He echoed DeLauro’s argument that Israel’s war was a “moral one” against Hamas, not against Palestinian civilians.

Maria said that war in the Middle East is an issue that should matter to Connecticut residents, as every year, Connecticut taxpayers send millions of dollars in military funding “for the Israeli apartheid regime … to support the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.” 

Pro-Palestinian groups call for the United States to end support for Israel

On Sunday, the Palestine Museum in Woodbridge, CT hosted an open house to present a Palestinian perspective on the ongoing war in Gaza. Approximately 200 people attended the event, both in person and over Zoom. The event included a commemoration of Palestinians killed by Israel.

Faisal Saleh, a Palestinian resident of New Haven, founded the museum and led the event. 

During his presentation, Saleh said that the violence between Israel and Palestine is the result of a long and complex history. He shared an animated map that showed the destruction and occupation of Palestinian towns over the course of 1948, before and after the creation of the Israeli state and the displacement of 80 percent of the Palestinian population in the region. Saleh also said that Palestinians were expelled from their land and just want “to return home.”

“The State of Israel was based on aggression, conviction and violence [and] is an illegitimate state,” Saleh said. “The people that stole our land and stole our homes and kicked us out — we need to go after them, … we’re entitled to fight them and get our land back.”

After the event, Saleh told the News that by “go after them,” he meant Palestinians should sue Israel in court. 

While Saleh told the News he cannot speak for Hamas and their actions, he said that he understands “why they’re doing what they’re doing.” Saleh claimed that Israel kills and kidnaps civilians, just as Hamas does. 

Christa Bruhn, who co-led the event through Zoom, said that the only difference between Hamas and Israel is that the latter is a state and has the power to make their actions legal, referring to Israel detaining Palestinians without trial. “But is it okay?” she questioned.

Saleh said that the Israeli government feels empowered by Biden, who ordered two US aircraft carrier groups to move to the region to assist Israel. He said he believes that all the countries who provide support to Israel are complicit in war crimes. 

On Friday, Israel ordered the evacuation of approximately 1.1 million civilians from Northern Gaza. Saleh spoke about the suffering that the evacuation order imposed on Palestinians — not only the able-bodied population but also people who are disabled or nursing, without access to food, water, electricity and medical shipments. Because of the destruction of buildings and roads caused by Israel’s bombing in Gaza, first responders often do not have access to people in need, Saleh said. 

Bruhn shared that many people in the Zoom chat wrote about the importance of speaking with local elected officials, who, she said, largely remain staunchly in support of the aid to Israel. She said that the Palestinian community in the U.S. has a voice and that politicians need to hear it. 

Randa Alzubi, who attended the event in person, said that using federal funds to support Israel is a misallocation of resources.

“Why [does] our tax money [go] for war, instead of having a better health system, and instead of having a better life for veterans? Why don’t we have a good education system?” Alzubi asked. 

Blumenthal, DeLauro and Elicker also spoke about minimizing civilian loss and Elicker mentioned goals of building a “just and lasting peace.” 

Maria, the pro-Palestine organizer, told the News that she believes the mention of Palestinians is because the electeds saw people come out to the streets in support of Palestine in the past week. 

The Palestinian Museum in Woodbridge opened in 2018.

Hannah Kotler contributed reporting.