Participants carried Israeli flags or leaflets with photographs of kidnapped citizens of Israel. About twenty people sat in silent protest, blindfolded, on the ground around spread Israeli flags.
Without incident
“If you are Czech, write to your prime minister and thank him for supporting Israel,” one of the participants said in English. He added that it is not a conflict between Jews and Muslims, as Iran tries to frame the situation, but a struggle between the State of Israel and a terrorist organization.
“We lost 1,400 brothers and sisters who did nothing. Their only fault was that they were born in the State of Israel,” said another rally organizer. She recalled that about 40 of the 240 Israeli hostages held by Hamas are children. “We want our children back,” she said.
People, mostly foreigners, gathered in the square before 19:00 and ended the rally about an hour later. They supervised the event police officers and passed without incident. Critics of Israeli retaliatory attacks, who have organized several demonstrations in Prague recently, did not appear on the square.
A month of fighting
In an attack on Saturday, October 7, Hamas militants killed over 1,400 people, mostly civilians, in southern Israel. Another 240 or so people were taken to the Gaza Strip as hostages. At least 10,328 people died in retaliatory Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip, AFP reported today, citing the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health in Gaza.
MSF: The situation in Gaza is critical, colleagues are exhausted, they fear for their lives Bára Holá, Lukáš Červený
Public gathering in support of Israel Together for Israel, organized by the Federation of Jewish Communities, November 1, 2023, Prague.
Author: Renata Matějková
