Shaat led chants at an anti-Israel rally, including multiple [01:09:54] chants promoting [01:09:54] hatred of Israel and calling [01:32:42] for Israel’s destruction. He later initiated [01:28:01] the burning of Israeli flags and then yelled [01:28:57] the phrase: “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! The yahoodi [Jew] must go!”
At the same rally, protesters blocked traffic in downtown Philadelphia and threatened drivers who wanted to pass.
In one photo from the rally, Shaat carried a Palestinian flag and wore a black shirt and black pants with a white and black-patterned keffiyeh wrapped around his head. On his shirt was a man wearing a keffiyeh as a mask and Arabic text that said: “A child of Palestine.” He wore the outfit throughout the rally.
PCP organized the rally which was titled: “Philly Stands with Gaza.” The rally was held at Philadelphia City Hall and it was organized in response Israel’s Operation Breaking Dawn (OBD) against PIJ, shortly after OBD ended.
The protest began outside of Philadelphia City Hall where protesters joined in multiple chants and other activists spoke to the crowd. After more speakers and chants, the crowd marched and chanted: “There is only one solution! Intifada, revolution!”
Since the early 2000s, the term “intifada,” which translates from Arabic as “uprising” or “insurrection,” has carried the connotation of violence.
Shaat led [00:47:01] the marchers while holding one side of a Palestinian flag. A few minutes later, the crowd chanted: “Resistance is justified when people are occupied!”
Shaat continued marching with other activists when he took the microphone and shouted [01:00:14] multiple times: “No more money for Israhell!”
Brice Peterson, who was also a speaker, joined protesters in intentionally blocking [01:08:45] commuter traffic. He slammed [01:08:47] his hand on one of the cars when a driver tried to move slowly past protesters. He then threatened [01:09:27] the driver, yelling: “Don’t do it, do not do it! I will break your f**king window and beat the f**k out of you! Don’t you dare!”
During Peterson’s incident, a march leader chanted [01:09:17]: “Israel, Israel, you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!”
Shaat then led [01:09:54] the crowd in the chant: “be-dam be-ruh nifdik ya Falastin [With blood, with spirit, we will redeem you, Palestine].” Yasser Arafat popularized the chant which can often be heard at anti-Israel rallies in America.
After the march ended at the west side of City Hall, one speaker said: “We need to end the blockade on Gaza and support the Palestinian resistance in any way that we can. We need to be boycotting Israeli companies. We need to be taking action. This is a settler colonialist project and we need to shut it down, finally.”
Israel and Egypt implemented a UN-approved [pp. 39–41] joint blockade of the Gaza Strip in 2011 to stop Hamas terrorists from acquiring more sophisticated rockets. During Israel's 2023-2025 war against Hamas, Hamas went around the blockade by smuggling weaponry through tunnels under the Philadelphi corridor separating Gaza from Egypt.
Shaat later threw [01:28:01] two Israeli flags onto the street while he chanted on a microphone: “Free, free Falastin [Palestine]!”
As the flags landed on the ground, other activists immediately stomped [01:28:04] on them and then proceeded to burn [01:28:19] them.
While the Israeli flags burned, protestors chanted [01:28:32] “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! The Occupation has got to go!!”
Shaat then shouted [01:28:57] in to a bullhorn: “Hey, hey! Ho, ho! The yahoodi [Jew] must go!”
Shortly after that, Shaat led [01:29:19] the chants: “Free, free Falastin! Free, free Falastin! Free, free Falastin! Free, free Gaza! Free, free Gaza! Allahu Akbar [God is Great]! Allahu Akbar! Allahu Akbar!” The chants drew cheering from the crowd.
Johara Shamaa, another protest leader, then led [01:29:38] the chant: “Israel, Israel, you can’t hide! We charge you with genocide!”
As protesters kept stomping on the burning flags, Shaat participated [01:30:28] in the chant: “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free!” He joined [01:32:59] or led [01:32:42] the same chant multiple times [01:28:12] over the course of the rally.
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free!” is a chant used [00:02:47] to call for the elimination of the State of Israel. It has also been employed by Hamas leader Khaled Mashal to call for the replacement of Israel with an Islamic state. In April 2024, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a resolution condemning the chant as antisemitic.
Shaat then led [01:33:15] the chant: “be-dam be-ruh nifdik ya Falastin [With blood, with spirit, with blood, we will redeem you, Palestine]!”
Shaat then closed [01:33:57] out the rally, saying: “Thank you, guys! Thank you for coming!”
