Hundreds Gather at Santa Barbara Courthouse to Call for Cease-Fire in Gaza

An emotion-packed rally called on participants to stay undaunted in their passion to see a “Free Palestine,” as they chanted at the Santa Barbara Courthouse on Saturday. More than 300 people came together to support a cease-fire in Gaza, many of them worried for friends and family in the war zone, said speaker Sophia Fadila, who called the strip “a graveyard for children.”

The temporary truce between Israel and Hamas had broken down the day before, after a number of hostages were released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners: altogether, Hamas released 105 hostages and Israel released 240 prisoners, the New York Times reported. Air strikes hit Gaza and rockets flew into southern Israel once again, with the toll of casualties rising, following a seven-day cease-fire.

Heidi Harmon, the former mayor of San Luis Obispo, said that she was among the many Jews who linked arms with Arabs worldwide to call for peace. While she decried the attack by Hamas against Israeli civilians on October 7, she also quoted Elie Wiesel in saying she could not stay silent while Palestinians suffered.

Congressional candidate Helena Pasquarella announced she was running for Salud Carbajal’s seat, not to win, but out of frustration that “our tax dollars are responsible for so much death and destruction.” Gesturing to the crowd, UC Santa Barbara professor Butch Ware quoted from the Quran, speaking of the connection between all souls scarred by genocide. No greater love was shown than by preventing an oppressor from inflicting oppression, Ware said, both to the oppressed and the oppressor.

As a Chumash quartet sang blessings and the speakers rallied the crowd from the courthouse steps, a popular Saturday location, a couple of young women and their friends celebrated a quinceañera, posing beside the speakers for quick photos beneath the sandstone arch. Vows were exchanged in the Sunken Gardens, too, one wedding couple kissing to cheers from the crowd before the rally got underway.