Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Several hundred residents of the Kanto region in Japan gathered in front of the Israeli embassy in Tokyo on Oct. 13, protesting the bombing of the Gaza Strip and its complete siege committed by the Israeli government, following Hamas’ attacks. 

Demonstrators raised Palestinian flags and chanted slogans calling for an end to the colonization of Palestine, the end of massacres and indiscriminate bombings committed by Israel against Palestinians and some Arab countries since 1948.

One protestor denounced the expression “human animal,” reportedly used by the Israeli Defense Minister to describe the people of Gaza and told Arab News Japan this is the “same term used by Nazis,” showing that the minister learned nothing from history.

As the streets around the Israeli embassy narrowed, police had to manage the protesting crowd approaching by groups to the sidewalk in front of the embassy, where they, in turn, shouted, “Israel is terrorist.”

A Muslim imam from the Toda mosque was able to deliver a letter under the barriers of the embassy surrounded by numerous police officers to ask the representative of Israel in Japan “to stop the siege, bombings and occupation of the Gaza Strip and return Palestine to the Palestinians.”

Demonstrators comprised of Palestinians, Arabs, Muslim Pakistanis and Bangladeshi and Asian Muslims, among others. The demonstration lasted over 4 hours, and waves of anti-Israel people in Japan kept pouring in to make their voices heard by the embassy.

Police presence was extensive in that district, but no incident was reported.

On Thursday, the World Health Organization (WHO) released a statement saying the health system in the Gaza Strip is at “breaking point.”

“Time is running out to prevent a humanitarian catastrophe if fuel and life-saving health and humanitarian supplies cannot be urgently delivered to the Gaza Strip amidst the complete blockade,” it added.