#SaveSheikhJarrah social media campaign gains global support
#SaveSheikhJarrah social media campaign gains global support
Activists are using the hashtag #SaveSheikhJarrah to raise awareness about Israel's forced expulsion of Palestinians from their homes in East Jerusalem.
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Palestinian families are being forcefully expelled from their homes [Getty]
Activists are using the hashtag #SaveSheikhJarrah to raise awareness about the forced expulsions of Palestinian families from their homes in East Jerusalem by Israeli settlers, an act which is being called a possible "war crime" by the United Nations.
Thousands of social media users are using Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok to share videos, photos and information relating to the events at Sheikh Jarrah, where dozens of Palestinians have been arrested by Israeli forces for protesting the forced evictions.
Palestinian-American attorney and human rights activist Huwaida Arraf urged the US government to condemn Israel's attempts to forcibly remove Palestinians from their homes.
"This both sides crap is just as condemnable in Jerusalem as it was in Charlottesville and as it would be in Minneapolis," Arraf said, referring to protests that erupted in US cities following racist attacks on African-Americans. "The Biden administration needs to call on the Israeli government to get their boots off our necks, not on the Palestinians to stop breathing!," she tweeted.
US-based Palestinian writer and political analyst Yousef Munayyer tweeted: "As Israeli attacks on Palestinians intensify along with the Israeli Military's repression, you will hear increased concern about the possibility of a wider uprising or even a war. This comes from fear for Israeli security because Palestinians live under violence daily."
Fellow political analyst Omar Baddar, like many others, called Israel’s actions in Sheikh Jarrah "ethnic cleansing".
"Despite having no right to E Jerusalem, Israel nonetheless is carrying out an ethnic cleansing campaign in the city," he tweeted.
"The latest is an effort to evict Palestinian families from #SheikhJarrah & hand their homes to settlers. & this isn't the 1st time."
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British politicians also weighed in on the issue, including former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn and Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, who took to Twitter and wrote:
"Attacking a place of worship at any time is reprehensible, but attacking a mosque during Ramadan is utterly indefensible. It is also a violation of international law. Israel should heed calls to halt the violence immediately."
More than 200 Palestinians were wounded overnight across Jerusalem where Israeli police raided the Al-Aqsa mosque compound, medics said Saturday, as the city braced for even more police violence after weeks of unrest.
Dozens of Israeli riot police entered the Al-Aqsa compound, also known as the Temple Mount, on Friday evening as thousands of Muslim worshippers were holding evening prayers on the last Friday of Ramadan.
The United Nations released a statement condemning the forced evictions.
"The evictions, if ordered and implemented, would violate Israel's obligations under international law," the statement read.
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