Local activists protest at Levin’s office, demand Gaza ceasefire

OCEANSIDE — More than two dozen people staged a sit-in protest and an outside demonstration at Rep. Mike Levin’s office in Oceanside earlier this month to demand that he call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Palestine’s Gaza Strip territory.

The protest organizers, members of the San Diego chapters of the Palestinian Youth Movement (PYM) and the Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), said they were “fed up” after making several attempts to meet with Levin and his staff to discuss their demands for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Similar demonstrations have taken place over the last few months around the county, including during public comment at local City Council meetings in places like Oceanside and Escondido.

The conflict between Israel and Palestine dates back to the end of the 19th century, according to the Council on Foreign Relations. As a result of growing international pressure for the creation of a Jewish state after World War II, the state of Israel was established in 1948, triggering the first Arab-Israeli War. In 1949, Israel won the war, but hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were displaced, sparking decades of violent conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people.

More recently, what is now being referred to as the Israel-Hamas war began when Hamas-led Palestinian militant groups launched a surprise attack on southern Israel from the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7, 2023, killing more than 1,100 Israelis and foreign nationals and capturing more than 250 people.

Israel declared a state of war and has since killed more than 28,000 Palestinians in Gaza, including at least 12,300 young teens and children, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza.

About a dozen people showed up that morning to speak with Levin, but staff turned them away, according to the activist groups. In response, they sat inside the office for three hours reading a letter to Levin, listing the names of children killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza over the last several months. The group also held a clothing line of baby outfits displaying the names of infants who died as well.

As the activists staged the sit-in, another demonstration took place outside the building with dozens of other activists.

The protest came three days after Levin (D-San Juan Capistrano) voted for an additional $17.6 billion in military funding for Israel in a standalone bill that ultimately failed to pass the House of Representatives.

“We want to ask Congressmember Levin how he explains to his two young children that he supports the murder of thousands of children their age in Gaza,” said PYM member Subrein Damanhoury. “We need Mike’s constituents to know that while our infrastructure crumbles, he’s greenlighting $17 billion in weapons and bombs for Israel so that it can continue murdering Palestinian families.”

Levin issued a statement on Feb. 6 in response to his decision to vote for the bill, noting that he previously voted against Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson’s Israel aid package in November that proposed Internal Revenue Service funding cuts.

“Last November, I voted against Speaker Johnson’s Israel aid package because it was conditioned on unacceptable domestic spending reductions. At the time, I said I would vote in favor of a clean aid bill if it came to the House Floor,” Levin said. “Today, I voted in favor of this second Israel aid package because it does not include the spending cuts.”

Levin said he rejected Johnson’s “attempts to divide Congress, thus undermining the United States’ standing in the world in a time of crisis.”

“My support of this legislation is for the defense of the Israeli people and for Israeli leadership that understands the only way to live in peace, security, and dignity is to establish a Palestinian state,” Levin said.

Although he voted for the second failed Israel aid proposal in February, Levin acknowledged the package was “completely inadequate” because it left out humanitarian aid for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank, plus defense aid to Ukraine and Taiwan and other critical border security programs.

“Funding for these efforts is critical to our national interests, and we absolutely must add aid for Gaza and the West Bank before any legislation is signed into law,” Levin stated. “Speaker Johnson’s exclusion of these critical funding priorities shows that he and his extreme far-right flank only care about the approval of one man — the former president — and they put him before the rest of the nation.”

Levin did not provide a statement to The Coast News in response to the demonstration at his Oceanside office on Feb. 9.

After three hours, the protesters sitting inside the office left to join the rest of the activists outside. The demonstration eventually dissolved peacefully without any arrests.

The two activist groups vowed to keep up public pressure until Levin and other local leaders call for an unconditional ceasefire and a commitment to end U.S. military funding to Israel.