POCATELLO — As the death toll in Gaza reaches over 40,000, a grassroots organization came together at Lookout Point in downtown Pocatello Monday evening in solemn reflection of the lives lost on the anniversary of Oct. 7.
Members of the Pocatello for Palestine organization along with a few local residents sat in solemnity around a collection of flowers encircling a cluster of candles that were lit to honor and remember the thousands of lives lost over the past year in the Israel-Hamas war.
“We’ve been advocating for Palestine pretty much for the last year and we’re doing a vigil to commemorate the year since Oct. 7 since the genocide in Palestine began,” said Rachel Steineckert, one of the members of Pocatello for Palestine. “We’re just here honoring all the lives lost.”
Steineckert continued, “There’s been documented over 46,000 people killed, which includes 15,000 kids. It affects all of us, a lot of us that have been watching what’s happening, and it kind of hits you on the year, the gravity of it. We’re here talking about how it’s affected us, the things that we’ve learned in the last year and the things that we’ve seen. It’s kind of like group therapy.”
A somber tone permeated the evening as the group reflected on what United Nations human rights council representatives and human rights organizations have called an active genocide. The war has had a catastrophic impact on both the Palestinian and Israeli people. The anniversary of Oct. 7 saw tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian protesters attending rallies across Europe.
“It feels like we’re begging for people to have the slightest bit of compassion for Palestinians,” Steineckert said. “They’re not terrorists. Their lives aren’t worthless. They’re equally as valuable as us and there’s no justification for what Israel is currently doing. That’s the point. There’s no justification. Either genocide is right or wrong, either apartheid is right or wrong, either killing innocent kids is right or wrong and that’s what we’re here to grieve and to show the community. You can say it’s a complicated issue, but for us, it’s really not. It’s a moral black or white.”
The vigil was a way for those in the local community to find comradery and connection as they try and cope with the intensifying war in the Middle East, which has now reached areas like Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, which is home to nearly 5.5 million people.
“We’ve started to really rely on each other and become really good friends,” Steineckert said. “It seems like all of us that are acknowledging the genocide are living in the same reality and the people that can’t acknowledge it are in a different reality. We come together and really support each other and keep each other sane.”
Steineckert continued, “For me, I’ve found really good friends and that’s helped me through a year of being traumatized by the videos I’ve been seeing. I’ve had many videos that I’ve watched of what’s happening that have physically put me into shock. I want to throw up and I freeze because I couldn’t imagine that kind of violence before this. I can talk to these guys about that and I can’t really talk to anyone else about that.”
Area youth like Amber Marsh, one of the original founders of Pocatello for Palestine, have also been affected by the exposure to the war, which has been described as one of the most well documented atrocities in the modern era.
“(We are here) to grieve what has happened this past year in Gaza and Palestine and also Lebanon recently,” Marsh said. “I guess a lot of us feel lonely in our town because it is Idaho, and it is a red state, and we feel completely alone. But together, we can come here and at least feel some connection to each other and grieve together.”
Marsh continued, “I think tonight, especially, (it’s important) to have a more emotional connection to each other. Because usually, we’re out on the streets and protesting and that can feel hard to connect to each other. But with this, we’re sitting together, telling each other how we feel about things and our emotions during these times. I think that’s really pivotal to have these, especially when everything’s so chaotic.”
Marsh is only 16-years-old and has already witnessed a significant amount of political strife since she was born around the Great Recession.
“To just come here and connect with these people is so relieving to me, because I’ve been political for a long time, about since I was 12....” Marsh said. “After that, I could feel more deeply about political situations and wanted to work toward a better future. I can do that with this group. Even though we’re a grassroots movement and we’re small, things take time and eventually we’ll get there. I have hope for us even though the world’s dying of hope.”
Critics of some of the pro-Palestinian movements and rallies have sometimes called organizers and attendees of these events antisemitic, especially as campus sit-ins, flash mobs and dual-sided protests have intensified over the past year.
“There is no resentment for any Jewish community, we support our Jewish community here,” Steineckert said. “For us, we see a big difference between Judaism and Zionism and what Israel is currently doing. We invite Israelis here. We invite Jewish people here. They can come mourn with us because this genocide hurts everybody. It’s not safe for Israel either. There’s a difference between Judaism and Zionism, and there’s plenty of Jews in our country and around the world that are not in support of what Israel is doing. There’s a separation of that, and we don’t have resentment for the Jewish faith or the Jewish people.”
Steineckert continued, “There’s a group called Jewish Voice for Peace, and they’re anti-Zionist, which means that they’re against the occupation (of Palestine) and they’re here in the United States. We take a lot of direction from them. We follow them and we post a lot of what they do and learn a lot from them. We try to listen to those voices, so that we can be respectful, but also stand our ground for what’s right and wrong.”
Tensions across the globe have grown exponentially over the past year as war and discord continue on many fronts. The conflict in Gaza has also affected a large amount of children.
According to a report from the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor earlier this year more than 24,000 Palestinian children have lost one or both parents due to the war. The United Nations Children’s Fund has also reported there are an estimated 19,000 unaccompanied children or orphans in Gaza.
“Just to listen to Palestinian voices, follow them on social media, read what they’re writing, because they’re telling their experience and that’s going to give you a completely different narrative than if you watch CNN and Fox News” Steineckert said. “Listen to the people on the ground. That’s going to change everything.”
While the heaviness of the conflict and all of those affected by it on every side continues to exemplify grief and the damage that war does to civilian populations, Pocatello for Palestine members are encouraging unity and finding commonality to bring about change.
“You’re not alone in this,” Marsh said. “I know a lot of you do support Palestine and there are people who support it with you. You just need to find the right community. Find us, because we’re out here and we’re trying to build our movement bigger and get more recognition and get, eventually, for the people in Palestine, their liberation.”
Marsh continued, “Talk to your neighbor, get a conversation started and get that community going. We’re never going to grow as a society, as people, if we don’t talk to each other.”
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