Protesting war, starvation at the New York State Food Festival

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEXSTAR) — At the Empire State Plaza in Albany on Wednesday, the state’s Office of General Services held the annual New York State Food Festival. Surrounded by food trucks and blaring speakers, anti-war protesters shared a message: “War starves children.”

Representatives from the Upper Hudson Valley chapter of CodePink and the Captial Region group Women Against War (WAW) gathered for a peaceful vigil. They held up signs and handed out leaflets. The low-key demonstration continued a longstanding tradition of advocacy at the high-profile event drawing large crowds—including many New York State employees—to sample delicacies from diverse cultures.

Demonstrators said they always have an international conflict to highlight—in recent years, it’s been about Ukraine and Russia. But this year, the word controversial word “ genocide ” made it to their signs. Compared to previous years, they said, they started running out of literature to hand out very quickly.

In 2024, the otherwise simple message of peace is complicated by New York’s relationship with Israel, the Jewish state formed in 1948 and currently warring with Hamas in the occupied Palestinian territories. “None of this would be happening if October 7 had not occurred,” said State Sen. Rob Ortt—leader of the Republican minority in New York’s legislature—who visited a kibbutz in Tel Aviv in August 2023. “When you’re out chanting ‘ From the River to the Sea ,’ or supporting a terror network or terror organization, that has a very real emotional impact on the largest Jewish population outside of the nation of Israel, which is in New York.”

According to Ortt, anti-war protestors should reconsider the significance of that unique connection between the people of New York—Jewish or not—the state of New York, and the state of Israel. And, “Calling for the end of a war is not inherently anti-Semitic ,” said the senator, who represents Niagara and Orleans counties in Western New York. “But repeating Hamas slogans or calling Israel a terrorist state can bleed into anti-Semitism or foster an environment where others may take the next step and Jews start to feel unwelcome.”

Seventy-nine-year-old Marcia Hobble, a WAW spokesperson from Rensselaer County, said that their group doesn’t use the “From the River to the Sea” catchphrase. However, they align with some who do, folks considering former borders from past peace talks who don’t interpret anti-Jewish sentiment.

She also maintained the apolitical nature of anti-war advocacy, highlighting a strong modern-day anti-war sentiment dating at least to Iraq, and even to Vietnam. Hobble said that phrases like “Food Not Bombs” and “War Starves Children” are closer to the mission of WAW, anyway.

According to WAW, famine and starvation in Gaza constitute a humanitarian crisis. To them, it represents a requirement for New Yorkers to advocate for a ceasefire. They said politicians ought to replace the arms sent to Israel with food for starving Palestinians.

Hobble pointed out that the problem with Israel is about blockades of food and water, not intolerance. “When we opposed Russia, we weren’t called anti-Slavic,” Hobble said of the politicized climate. “I don’t know why Israel changes it.”

At the Food Festival, anti-war advocates had nothing positive to say about Hamas or its leaders. But they questioned whether the response to October 7 from the Israeli Defense Forces was proportionate . Even so, Hobble resisted characterizing her group as “pro-Palestine.” Rather than taking sides in another endless war, they hope to illuminate U.S. complicity with what they recognize as genocide.

“It’s the United States. These folks have the right to free and peaceful assembly and to make their voices heard on any issue. That’s their right to do that,” Ortt said in a phone call before the vigil. “For a lot of these folks, maybe you should go to Israel or the Palestinian territories. I sometimes wonder if the folks who protest these things really understand.”

Officially, WAW takes issue with the apparent use of collective punishment—retaliating against individual noncombatants for the actions of unrelated individual combatants—on Palestinians. And according to the International Committee of the Red Cross , “The imposition of collective punishment is a war crime.” Per Human Rights Watch , it violates the Geneva Conventions.

Besides WAW and CodePink , the local chapters of Veterans for Peace and the Palestinian Rights Committee also took part in the vigil. Hobble said that members of WAW are aging out, but that younger women in CodePink are keeping people involved in the anti-war movement.

Among conservatives, one can find some evidence of an ideological divide in foreign policy based on age. In a July interview, a representative from the New York State Young Republicans identified an “almost unanimous feeling” among Gen Z that the U.S. should remove itself from foreign conflicts. On the day of the festival, Young Republican Chair Peter Giunta clarified their official position, saying in part:

“With regard to the conflict in the Middle East, while Young Republicans are against U.S. involvement, many support Israel’s existence and have been extremely vocal against anti-Semitism abroad and the actions of terrorist organizations like Hamas’ last October that took the lives of more than 1,000 innocent Jewish men, women, and children.”

Fliers from WAW at the Food Festival included several stats about the situation in Gaza, which they claim represents the highest level of food insecurity ever recorded for a nation:

• 96% of the population faces acute food insecurity
• One in five households goes days without food
• 2.15 million people experience at least “crisis” level hunger
• 1.1 million people—half of Gaza’s population—experience famine

Beyond a ceasefire, they want a massive influx of humanitarian aid for Palestinians. Ortt, meanwhile, said that he doubts any ceasefire negotiation will continue while Hamas remains in power.

“It has to be something that ends Hamas,” he said. “We’re not having a ceasefire to allow Hamas and would-be attackers on Israel to resupply themselves, to refortify their positions. When you’re in a conflict, the goal of the conflict is to win.”

Related video: What is Hamas?

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