Hongkongers show solidarity with Palestine amid Israel-Hamas war, but keep efforts low-key
Hong Kong Free Press
On a Saturday night in late August, visitors moved around a tiny room, eyes lowered to take in 16 framed posters arranged along its walls.
At the back of the room, booklets about the “Visit Palestine Project” exhibition were being sold for HK$50. All funds raised from the event would be donated towards humanitarian efforts in Gaza, currently embroiled in a nearly year-long military onslaught by Israel.
The war was sparked by an unprecedented attack by Palestinian militant group Hamas last October 7, in which 1,189 Israelis were killed and 252 taken hostage. Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 40,800 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry. A study published in medical journal The Lancet in June estimated the attributable death toll could exceed 186,000.
Large-scale protests in solidarity with Palestinians have been held in most major cities including New York, London, Paris and Tokyo. Hong Kong, however, is notably absent from that list.
Initially, the exhibition of Palestine-themed posters was scheduled to be part of Tai Kwun’s BOOKED: Hong Kong Art Book Fair. However, three days ahead of the event, the organisers were informed by the Jockey Club-backed venue that the exhibition would be cancelled, with no further explanation.
When asked by HKFP why it was cancelled, a spokesperson for Tai Kwun did not directly answer, stating only that “the related exhibitor is not participating in BOOKED: 2024.”
The exhibition organisers called the cancellation “disappointing.”
“This big institution didn’t understand how important these posters are. Not politically, but to help people. These posters are to get the people educated, to open people’s minds,” one told HKFP.
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The organisers declined to provide their names for fear of blowback from the authorities. They said they had been very selective about the posters they chose to exhibit.
“We chose very human images, beautiful artwork,” one said.
When the event was cancelled, the organisers began to explore their other options, with an eleventh-hour rescheduling at an alternative location, which was kept secret. The undercover event saw up to 40 attendees, many of whom donned keffiyehs or wore red, green, white and black in solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
Solidarity roadblocks
Despite Beijing officially backing a ceasefire in Gaza, many in Hong Kong have encountered roadblocks in attempts to raise awareness about conditions in Gaza.
Last October, a talk on the “Gaza Humanitarian Crisis” by James Frankel, a professor in the Cultural and Religious Studies department of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, at the Hang Seng University was abruptly cancelled three hours before it was set to begin.
The night before the talk, Frankel said he had received an email from a “member of the Hong Kong Jewish community,” warning him of plans to “disrupt” his talk.
“She said that the reason that they were going to disrupt it was because they considered it to be ‘Palestinian propaganda’,” he told HKFP.
In an email seen by HKFP, one of the talk’s organisers from Hang Seng University told Frankel the university had been “caught off guard by very strong outside feedback and some unexpected circumstances.”
HKFP reached out to the talk organiser but did not receive a response.
Frankel was born to a Jewish family in New York and converted to Islam in his teens.
“I do believe that there is Israeli influence that has led to the disruption [of events in Hong Kong] about what is happening in Gaza,” Frankel said. “I think that there are people who scrutinise whatever they may find advertised or publicised and try to undermine any kind of narrative that disagrees with the official Israeli narrative about what’s happening,” he added.
HKFP has reached out to the Israeli consulate for comment but has not received a response.
Frankel, who has lived in Hong Kong for nearly a decade, says that the cancellation was indicative of a generally over-cautious approach when it came to political activity in the city. “[The expectation] is that we should avoid speaking about anything that’s controversial in the shadow of the protests of 2019,” he said.
In June 2020, Beijing passed a sweeping national security law following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest in the city. In March, Hong Kong enacted further security legislation. Critics have said the two laws are ill-defined and have quashed dissenting voices or any form of political activity in Hong Kong, though the authorities say the new laws have restored stability.
Private, low-key gatherings
Food designer Alison Tan, 33, held a fundraising event at a private venue in March to raise awareness about, and money for, Palestinians in Gaza.
Multiple vendors took part, with artwork on display and a thrift sale. Tan hosted a tasting session with olive oil – a symbol of Palestinian identity – purchased from Canaan Palestine, a company that focuses on supporting artisan farmers in the Palestinian territories.
Tan’s fundraiser, which included food cooked by a Palestinian couple, attracted 60 to 70 people and raised over HK$45,000. Proceeds were directed towards GoFundMe campaigns and to buying e-sims for Gazans.
Initially, she considered staging a public demonstration, but was advised against it by a friend who had organised similar events in the past. “[They said] to be prepared for a lot of backlash, for people to come after [me]… So instead, we decided to do a private gathering,” she said.
Tan continued to exercise caution in her activism, and the March event was not publicised on social media; information was, instead, spread by word of mouth. Organisers kept a close eye on the guest list and cross-checked each name against those from previous events. Phones were not allowed inside the venue.
Tan said she had received “absolutely no backlash” over the event. With each event she has organised, she said it felt “less and less dangerous.”
“Let me say, I’d rather not think about danger,” she added.
Responding to an email from HKFP, when asked if “pre-organised public processions in support of Palestinians” were allowed, the Hong Kong Police Force said that “rights and freedoms of assembly and procession in Hong Kong are fully protected,” but that such freedoms were “not absolute.”
They added that they had not received any permission requests for public meetings or processions related to supporting Palestinians, between January and July this year.
Discussion, education, output
Some groups in Hong Kong said the authorities were supportive of their organising efforts.
Mohammed Adnan, founder of United Front for Palestine, Hong Kong said that he had received a call from Beijing’s Liaison Office in Hong Kong after the events of October 7, asking whether the group was planning any activities, and was even offered a venue for a press conference held by the group.
“They were surprisingly very supportive,” he said of the office.
Adnan said, however, that a Palestinian in Hong Kong who was scheduled to speak at the press event had backed out at the last moment after his social media account was allegedly hacked. “There is a history of Palestinians being targeted in a number of ways overseas, which has only gotten worse since October 7,” Adnan said.
He added that he believed forms of solidarity outside of public protests could often be more effective in educating others. His group had met a lot of people at fundraising and other solidarity events with whom they had engaged in discussions about several issues.
“With open protests, people just shout, scream and go home. There is zero output… What we’re doing now, I know it’s not much, but at least we have some output,” he said.
Others in Hong Kong have also found support in smaller group gatherings.
In the aftermath of October 7, Ada – who agreed to speak under a pseudonym – started an anonymous reading group with her partner to fill a “vacuum” for a space to “process grief or talk about what is happening in the world.” The group, made up of Hong Kong locals and expatriates, gathers on an almost weekly basis to read works by Palestinian authors and poets like Edward Said and Mosab Abu Toha.
Ada said she made sure to incorporate “layers of anonymity” into her organising efforts. Nothing on the group’s social media is helpful in terms of identifying its members and the locations of the readings are not made public.
“Within Hong Kong’s political environment, or in the aftermath of whatever happened in the past few years, it’s really important to nurture communities like this rather than be confrontational with the state,” Ada said.
A group of artists and environmentalists in their 20s, who regularly organise similarly small-scale solidarity events, echoed similar sentiments. In the wake of October 7, they gathered to make “makloubeh,” a popular Palestinian dish.
“Sometimes it’s just for friends or trustworthy people just to find a space to talk about what’s going on,” they say.
When asked whether they were concerned about their efforts, the group mentioned Palestinian poet Mohammed El-Kurd, and brought out a poster with one of his quotes painted on it in English and Chinese.
“We are free and unafraid. They cannot intimidate us,” it said.
‘A genocide happening in front of our eyes’
Israeli bioethicist Zohar Lederman, a staff member at the University of Hong Kong, also spoke of the importance of taking a stand. On August 27, he hosted a talk at HKU titled “Is Israel justified in bombing Gaza’s hospitals?” justifying his answer in the negative using ethics and international law.
Lederman was invited back to Israel to serve in the reserves of the Israeli army and work as a physician – an offer he turned down.
“If I go back to serve in the military, I have to wear a uniform. And uniforms symbolise something. And I don’t stand for that. It’s one thing to serve as a physician with the white coat, with scrubs. But I’m not going to wear the Israeli uniform,” he said.
“Now if they ask me to come to Gaza and to help Palestinian injuries or patients I would be there tomorrow,” he added.
NGOs, experts, governments and UN agencies have accused Israel of violating the Genocide Convention. Israel denies the claims, while the International Criminal Court has sought arrest warrants for both the Israeli and Hamas leaders.
Lederman said he believed that academics like him were “privileged,” and had a moral imperative to “write about the things that matter.”
“If there is anything that matters, it is a genocide happening in front of our eyes. There’s nothing that matters more. If we don’t write about that, then what are we doing? Simple as that,” he said.
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