Music drifted out of St. James Cathedral and despite the already crowded room, people continued to arrive on April 16. By the time the event started around 7 p.m., the pews were packed and there was hardly room left to stand.
It was not a church service which attracted these people to St. James but the chance to hear Dr. Norman Finkeltsein give a lecture about Israel’s invasion of Gaza last December.
The evening began with one of the organizers acknowledging the people and groups which helped sponsor the event. The list consisted primarily of Student for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapters from varying Chicago universities, including NEIU.
Lowkey, a well-known British rap artist, then took the stage and spoke briefly about himself and why he was against Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories. “When there is something in the law called the grandfather clause, which allows any person with one Jewish grandparent citizenship but the indigenous people [are not], there is something very wrong with this picture,” said Lowkey.
Lowkey was followed by Jodi McIntyre, a human rights activist who, despite being confined to a wheel chair, has spent many months in Gaza. McIntyre told the audience about his experiences, speaking about the families he met and the bonds that developed between them.
Some of McIntyre’s stories included tales of people being forced out of their homes and other stories were of the resilience of people who had little left to lose. McIntyre went on for the better part of an hour telling his stories accompanied by photos on a projector. When McIntyre finished he exited the stage to a standing ovation.
Lowkey then returned to the stage to perform two of his poems about the effects of war and a rap about the Palestine-Israel conflict. Lowkey had most of the audience on their feet, waving peace signs as he rapped.
The main speaker of the event walked on stage next. Finkelstein introduced himself and what had drawn him to the cause of the Palestinian people. Finkelstein said that although he was a Jew, his loyalty to his people did not stop him from seeing what Israel had done during its 22-day siege on Gaza and knowing that it had gone too far.
“Gaza does not go away, it is a ghost that refuses to be buried,” Finkelstein said of his feelings about the events today. Finkelstein, the author of the book “This Time We Went Too Far,” came armed with facts and testimonials from reliable sources including Amnesty International, the United Nations and the Goldstone Report, all who corroborate in saying that Israel repeatedly targeted innocent people and caused the deaths of hundreds in Gaza.
Using these sources, Finkelstein traced the events which led up to Israel’s invasion of Gaza, beginning with the Gaza elections of 2006 and through the breakdown of peace talks in 2009.
Finkeltsein concluded his lecture by saying, “We should all be sensitive to the fact that our aim is not to vilify [Israel], our aim is to settle the conflict.” He stressed the importance of not just talking about what had, and continues to happen, but to find a solution.