The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)-USA condemned the Zionist Israeli military forces for its indiscriminate shooting against protesters in Beita, West Bank in occupied Palestine on August 9, in which a Filipino-American was injured. Amado Sison, a longtime activist, who was in Beita to take videos, was shot in the right thigh.

“We were taking videos of a demonstration to monitor Israeli occupation forces,” Sison said in an interview with Agence France-Presse while at Rafidia Hospital in Nablus, West Bank. They scampered when the protest was violently dispersed and he was shot. Israeli forces also allegedly used tear gas.

The incident is part of the US-supported Zionist Israel’s attacks on Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and occupied West Bank territory. As of the latest on August 12, at least 622 people have been killed in the West Bank while 5,400 have been injured since Israel intensified its attacks on October 7, 2023. In Gaza, 39,897 Palestinians have been killed and 92,152 injured during the same period.

“We call on all citizens, especially Filipinos, to draw strength from the internationalist courage of Amado and from the unwavering desire of the Palestinian people to be free,” Bayan-USA said. The group emphasized that the struggle of Filipinos and Palestinians for national liberation against the US imperialist war machine and occupation will always be intertwined.

As in the past, the officials of the Zionist state of Israel downplayed the incident and called it an “accident” to evade accountability.

Bayan-USA and other democratic organizations called for justice for the shooting of Sison and attacks on Palestinians. The Filipino-American activist is currently in a good and safe condition.

Foreign activists joining demonstrations and actions in the West Bank to support the struggle of the Palestinian people is not new. They condemn Zionist Israel’s occupation and seizure of Palestinian lands.

The Zionists occupied built illegal settlements the West Bank since 1967. At least 3 million Palestinians live in the very repressive and brutal so-called “open-air prison” of the West Bank. “Living” alongside them are 490,000 Israeli settlers.