Minneapolis, MN- Al-Nakba, meaning “The Catastrophe,” is a day of remembrance when communities grieve the over 15,000 Palestinians the Israeli occupation murdered in 1948 and the over 750,000 Palestinians displaced from their homeland. After the Anti-War Action Network called for their third annual day of action commemorating Al-Nakba, the Twin Cities hosted two protests to mark the importance of resisting U.S. funding for Israel.
On Friday, May 15, Women Against Military Madness held their weekly protest at the Summit and Snelling intersection in Saint Paul with a specific focus on the Nakba. Speaker Wyatt Miller from the Minnesota Anti-War Committee (AWC) said, “I’ve given plenty of speeches like this on past Nakba Days. I usually say something about how Palestinians are the bravest people on Earth. I still believe that, but let’s have this year’s Nakba Day be the one where we say, the Palestinians have been brave enough. They have made enough sacrifices. The world can no longer deny the injustice of the occupation. It’s time for the rest of us to learn to find that bravery in ourselves. The Palestinians have taught the world that dignity doesn’t mean mere politeness or etiquette; true dignity means standing up for what is just and refusing to tolerate anything less than justice.”
On Sunday, May 17, over 30 cyclists gathered at Minnehaha Falls for the Gaza Sunbirds solidarity ride in commemoration of Al-Nakba. The Great Ride of Return global bike rides are organized in support of the Gaza Sunbirds, a Palestinian para-cycling team bringing awareness to the ongoing Israeli siege on Gaza and its production of disability under occupation. The cyclists biked through Minneapolis with Palestinian flags attached to their bikes, chanting “Free, free Palestine” over their bullhorns.
The bikers joined hundreds of activists and community members gathered at Chute Square to march along the Mississippi River in protest of 78 years of Israeli occupation in Palestine. The Nakba Day march was organized by the Minnesota chapter of American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) and the AWC.
Nadiyah Salawdeh, co-chair of the U.S. Palestinian Community Network’s Minnesota chapter stated, “Palestinians had been rebelling against British and Zionist forces for decades,” they said. “Every time a fascist settler murders a Palestinian, it’s a catastrophe. Every time a Palestinian is illegally detained, it is a catastrophe. Every time a child starves to death, it is a catastrophe. Home demolition, poisoned water, burning olive trees—these are all catastrophes. Just as the Nakba was not confined to 1948, it is not confined to the borders of historic Palestine. The Lebanese people and the Lebanese resistance have been on the front lines defending their land from Israeli settler expansion. Since the U.S.-Israeli war was launched on Iran and Lebanon, thousands have been murdered, and over a million have been displaced. That is a catastrophe.”
Joe Yamine of the AWC told the crowd, “Today, the Zionist entity is more callous, more destructive, more depraved, and more afraid than it has ever been.”
Yamine continued, “The Western regimes [that] back it have revealed their utter contempt for their people, who turn out in the streets demanding justice and liberation for Palestine now. In Minnesota, we’re confronting our municipal governments as they try to sign contracts with Israeli tech companies like Zencity and Waterfall. We are fighting for an end to our state’s complicity in Israeli apartheid and the ongoing Nakba by pressuring the State Board of Investment to divest.”
Alissa Washington of the Twin Cities Coalition for Justice and the Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over-sentenced Families Council expanded on the theme of state detention as she discussed the Palestinian right of return.
“The right to resist oppression, occupation and dehumanization is rooted in the struggle of oppressed people across the world,” Washington affirmed. “That is why we also demand freedom for Salah Sarsour and all people targeted, criminalized, or punished for standing with Palestine and speaking out against injustice.” Sarsour, the Islamic Society of Milwaukee’s president and an AMP board member, has been held in ICE detention since March 30.
Washington contined, “Today, let us remember: They want us divided because united people are dangerous to systems built on oppression. From Minneapolis to Palestine, our struggles are connected. From the prison walls to the refugee camps, our people are connected. From the streets demanding accountability to the marches demanding liberation, our resistance is connected. And as long as oppressed people continue to rise together, there will always be hope for freedom.”
Before the protesters flooded the streets to express their grief, hope and rage, Taher Herzallah of AMP articulated Israel’s commitment to dehumanization, breaching international law and fostering a culture of settler violence, concluding, “Israel has absolved itself of its right to exist.” In this spirit, the crowd marched down to the Mississippi River and disrupted business as usual to demand an end to the ongoing Nakba, Sarsour’s release, and a free Palestine.
After two and a half years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its continued annexation of the West Bank and southern Lebanon, people of conscience know that the Nakba is an ongoing ethnic cleansing project that the U.S. government has funded for over three-quarters of a century. Indeed, Minnesota state pensions are currently funding Israel’s crimes to the tune of $5.5 billion in SBI investments. The SBI canceled two of its quarterly public meetings in 2025, and on Wednesday, May 13, it deleted the details of its previously announced meeting scheduled for June 3 from its website.
The MN Anti-War Committee will demand answers at the 2026 DFL State Convention, taking place in Rochester, Minnesota on May 29.
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