As millions watched Kendrick Lamar’s halftime performance at the Super Bowl on Sunday night, one performer jumped atop a car prop and unfurled a half Sudanese-half Palestinian flag before they were chased across the field and tackled to the ground by security.
The NFL said the performer acted rogue and not as a choreographed part of the show. The act of protest earned the performer a lifetime ban on all NFL events and stadiums, according to the league. Although they were detained, they won’t face charges, according to New Orleans police.
The appearance of a Palestinian flag at the Super Bowl isn’t entirely out of left field – protests against the war in Gaza and U.S. support for the Israeli military swept college campuses across the country last year, blocked the Golden Gate Bridge, stalked Joe Biden’s presidential campaign, and popped up throughout confirmation hearings for President Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees.
The crisis in Sudan has drawn less high-profile demonstrations, but has had a similar humanitarian impact.
What is happening in Gaza?
As of Tuesday, a ceasefire still stands between Israel and Hamas, the militant group that controls Gaza, after another round of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners were exchanged.
But the peace is on shaky ground.
Hamas accused Israel on Monday of violating the terms of the ceasefire agreement by delaying displaced Palestinians from returning to their homes in northern Gaza, saying it would stop the planned release of more hostages. Israel’s Defense Minister, in turn, said Hamas had broken the deal – outrage over the emaciated state of the hostages released Saturday drew comparisons to the visuals from the Holocaust – and said the military would prepare to defend Israeli communities at its highest readiness level.
In response, President Trump threatened that “all hell is going to break out” if Hamas did not release the rest of the hostages. Israel, he added, could “override” his ultimatum.
Hamas took around 250 Israelis hostage and killed 1,200 during its Oct. 7, 2023, surprise attack on Israel’s border communities. Around 100 remained – dead or alive – when the current ceasefire deal, which called for the release of 33, was reached last month.
Protests against Israel and U.S. support for its military began soon after the Oct. 7 attack, as Israel launched its bombing campaign on Gaza, the densely populated Palestinian territory on Israel’s coastline.
Protesters demanded the end of what they called a genocide that killed more than 46,000 people – including 13,000 children – after 15 months of war. Protests were spurred by the barrage of harrowing images of the devastation wreaked upon Gaza – people digging through rubble for survivors of airstrikes or bloodied children’s bodies – that flooded social media during the conflict.
In the U.S., they also took umbrage with former President Joe Biden’s administration, which supplied military aid for Israel through the duration of the conflict. Biden briefly paused a shipment of bombs to Israel over concerns that they would be used on an area where refugees were told to flee, only to resume military aid after Israel bombed the area.
What is happening in Sudan?
After 17 months of war, the situation in Sudan is increasingly dire.
Last week, the death toll from the country’s civil war tripled, with at least 275 people killed within six days, according to the United Nations.
The Sudanese Army has been locked in a deadly battle with the Rapid Support Forces, a paramilitary group, since April of 2023. This week, the Sudanese Army overtook much of Khartoum, the country’s capital, but the RSF maintains its control on much of Sudan’s north and east.
And it has led to what humanitarian organizations call a “crisis of staggering scale and cruelty,” according to Edem Wosornu, director of operations at the United Nation’s humanitarian office. More than 12 million people have been displaced by the conflict, as widespread starvation and malnutrition rapidly spreads across the country, according to the UN.
Last month, the U.S. sanctioned Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, the leader of Sudan’s armed forces, for “lethal attacks on civilians” and using starvation as a method of war. But it also sanctioned RSF leader Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, known as Hemedti for what the State Department called genocide and “systematic” atrocities.
