7 protesters sentenced to jail over Gaza protest

Last week in San Francisco, seven activists were sentenced to 30 days in jail and six months of probation over a 2024 action on the Golden Gate Bridge, in which 26 protesters stopped traffic to protest Israel’s genocide in Gaza.

Additionally, they’ve been ordered to pay a $1,000 fine, restitution, and court fees.

Last month, a jury failed to reach a consensus on felony conspiracy charges that could have landed the defendants in prison for up to 15 years. San Francisco’s District Attorney’s office says it will not retry them on the charge.

“Throughout history, civil disobedience has mostly involved accepting legal consequences,” said Superior Court Judge Teresa Caffese before reading the sentences. “In that spirit, those who blocked the bridge and disrupted the lives of hundreds of commuters should be treated respectfully, but should also be prepared to accept the consequences of their actions.”

The Golden Gate 26 Solidarity Committee put out a statement celebrating the ruling.

“The government’s attempts to scare and silence the people will never work,” it read. “It is a privilege and sacred duty to stand in solidarity with Palestinians fighting for liberation from the occupation.”

The organization’s website summarized the trial testimony of multiple defendants.

This is part of the entry for defendant Sara Cantor, a freelance paralegal and 15-year Bay Area resident:

After Israel’s ongoing escalations turned into an outright genocide in Gaza in October 2023, Sara knew “it was happening in my name as both an American and a Jew.” The genocide was being supported by her government, and she was living in the heart of the empire enabling this genocide. In response to ADA Roze’s now predictable objection, Judge Caffese recounted to the jury the limiting instruction that parts of Sara’s testimony related to what she had learnt from other sources was hearsay and wasn’t to be considered evidence in the facts of the matter at hand.

Sara continued her testimony. She kept herself informed of the unfolding genocide in Gaza through social media accounts of journalists in Gaza and US outlets such as the New York Times and The Washington Post. She followed updates from Motaz Azaiza, Plestia Alaqad, and Bisan Owda, as they live-streamed the genocide of their own people. Sara shared that Bisan was living in Gaza City and was a part of the mass exodus of Palestinians on foot from the North to the South. The bombings of Al-Shifa Hospital stuck with Sara, and she felt like ‘every second, it was all I could think about.’ She thought of the people dying, and the people still alive that could be saved. Sara testified that even though she had seen horrible things happen to people before, what she was witnessing in Gaza felt extremely different. As a child raised with Holocaust education, she would ponder over the question, “who would I have been if I had lived during that time…would I have gone on with my everyday life or would I have resisted?” Sara promised herself as a child that she would do everything that she could. The genocide in Gaza was history repeating itself and she couldn’t look away.

Here’s part of the summary for Conrad De Jesus, a Filipino immigrant, father, and architect:

Conrad testified that his participation in open rescues was based on the belief he has held for more than ten years: that he had a right to do so. Conrad’s advocacy for Palestinian human rights stems from an understanding of the Palestinian cause from his childhood in Saudi Arabia and from staying in touch with friends from the region. This advocacy took shape with the assasination of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh as she reported from the West Bank. Conrad sought organizations that would allow him to go to Palestine for humanitarian work but with the start of the ongoing genocide in Gaza and escalating miliary and settler violence across Palestine he wasn’t able to actualize this goal. He attended a march in San Francisco attended by over 50,000 Bay Area residents demanding a ceasefire in Gaza. He attended a public hearing in Oakland calling for a ceasefire. Conrad recounted the story of Hind Rajab, a 6 year old child shot over 300 times by the Israeli military as she waited to be rescued from a car with her murdered family. Palestinian rescue workers seeking to save Hind were also murdered by the Israeli military.

All seven defendants will remain free while their attorneys appeal the ruling.

Cornell students launch new campaign

Student activists at Cornell University have launched a new campaign calling for the school to divest from weapons manufacturers.

“Cornell is complicit in genocide,” reads a statement put out by the Students Not Bombs campaign. “Through its endowment, invested in weapons manufacturers. Through its partnership with Technion University-Israel Institute of Technology at Cornell Tech. Through Cornell Career Services, recruiting for weapons manufacturers and ICE. Through its research, facilitating direct work on arms and surveillance technology.”

“At the same time, Cornell is failing to contribute its fair share Ithaca community, and even its own students,” it continues.

Earlier this year, two Cornell students said they were hit by a car driven by the university president, Michael Kotlikoff, after an on-campus debate on Gaza.

Kotlikoff claims he answered a few of their questions about the suspension of pro-Palestine students before telling them he would no longer engage on the issue.

“They continued to follow me to my car and then surrounded the car, banging on the windows, blocking the car, and shouting,” said Kotlikoff in a statement. “I waited until I saw space behind the car and then, using my car’s rear pedestrian alert and automatic braking system, was able to slowly maneuver my car from the parking space and exit the parking lot.”

Spectators say that no one banged on the president’s windows.

“We don’t have any means to discuss student policies with the administration and with the president. It’s a very top-down situation, so I think we were just hoping to have some conversation with him and voice our opinions,” said one of the students.