Middletown Rally Brings Together Residents in Solidarity With Gaza

More than 100 residents gathered on May 18 in Thrall Park in Middletown, N.Y. to protest Israel’s war in Gaza.

Protestors marched for one mile through downtown Middletown, stopping at City Hall to demand action from local officials to show solidarity with Palestine. In 2024, local residents called on the Middletown Common Council to pass a resolution “calling for a permanent humanitarian ceasefire to the ongoing destruction in Gaza and an end to the U.S. providing military aid to Israel.”

Middletown Mayor Joseph DeStefano stated in a September 2024 letter that he “[did] not believe any plans are in the works for the common council to pass any resolution on this matter.”

The event was organized to mark the 77th anniversary of what is referred to as the Nakba , when 700,000 Palestinians were displaced in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

Led by Rally Middletown, the event was co-organized by a diverse coalition of more than a dozen organizations including Jewish Voice for Peace Hudson Valley, Hudson Valley for Free Palestine, and Wednesday Walk for Black Lives. The rally had speeches, poetry and performances blending Klezmer and Arabic music, and calls for prayer.

For months, Rally Middletown has organized a weekly Sunday rally on Route 211. “We’ve been doing that as a way to build community, to pull in like-minded folks, to teach people about Palestine,” said Jason Nietzschmann, founder of Rally Middletown.

Nietzschmann said that actions that bring diverse mutual aid networks together are critical right now, especially in rural upstate locations where people can feel more isolated.

“That’s the only way ultimately that we’re gonna influence our politics to stand up for the right thing,” said Nietzschmann.

The Sunday protest happened the same day Israel announced it would temporarily allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip following a nearly three-month blockade. Later that week, the UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher raised alarms that 14,000 babies in Gaza could die in the next 48 hours if humanitarian aid did not reach Gaza.

Image: A protestor holds up a sign showing solidarity for Gaza at the May 18 rally in Middletown, N.Y. (Photo Credit: Alexa B. Wilkinson)