Kona residents rally for Palestine

Kona 4 Palestine, a faction of The People’s Conference for Palestine, took to Queen Ka‘ahumanu Highway on Presidents Day alongside 50501 movement supporters to honor the tens of thousands of men, women, children and babies who were killed in Israel’s war on Gaza, described by some West Hawaii residents as genocide.

According to the activist group, at least 49,032 were killed during the attacks in Gaza since October 2023, including 16,164 children, 10,399 women and 214 newborn babies. More than 200 journalists also were killed before a cease-fire deal was reached in January.

Israel started the war after Hamas, based mainly in Gaza, attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 and taking more than 250 hostages.

“Kona 4 Palestine is a community-led protest group advocating for human rights and a free, uncolonized Palestine,” organizer and West Hawaii resident Ruby D. told West Hawaii Today.

“We are all a group of people who one day decided to get on the roadside and educate the public on what has been going on. We’re not official. We’re just people who care about human rights and don’t want our tax dollars to be used to bomb children,” she said.

The group stated that Israel has destroyed over 80% of Gaza’s infrastructure since October 2023, and that the United States approved another $20 billion in weapons to Israel. According to the Department of Housing and Urban Development, it would take around that much to end homelessness nationwide.

Longtime Kona resident and retired commercial and military pilot Aaron Jacobs, who also flew many missions in Afghanistan, said that his grandfather was a rabbi, and many of his ancestors were wiped out in the Holocaust.

“Obviously, he’s Jewish, and I’m just appalled at what is being done supposedly in my name. Zionism is not the same as Judaism,” Jacobs said. “They like to conflate that to make it seem as if you’re being anti-semitic if you’re opposed to the genocide being committed by the Israelis. It’s not the way I see it.

“I’m a member of Jewish Voice for Peace. It’s an organization of like-minded individuals such as myself, not strictly for Jews, but most of us are Jews that are just appalled at what is being done by Israel to the Palestinians. I feel what Israel is doing to the Palestinians is exactly what the Nazis did to the Jews, and the hypocrisy is beyond belief,” Jacobs added.

According to Kona 4 Palestine, Gaza has endured over 70,000 tons of bombs dropped by Israel since October 2023, which could be considered 4.6 times stronger than the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II.

“I’m totally against using American tax dollars to buy bombs to support the war crimes being committed by the Israelis, ” Kona resident Thad Coffin said.

More information on Kona 4 Palestine can be found at peoplesconferenceforpalestine.org.