But today's march wasn't without its own complications. After it ended, one of the organizers, Patrick Menzies, told us that he is actually the mastermind behind it, and that the protest was hijacked by NEAB. He said that the church leaders boxed him out and even cursed at him when he tried to deviate from the others. He explained that he believes it's politically motivated.
Patrick Menzies, Co-Organizer, Pray For Israel March
"This whole event, I called from the US, when Musa did what he did, and Assad Shoman, two weeks ago, and I couldn't find out, the Spanish pastor never got a permit before, I got all the permits. I am the founder of the Alliance of Ministers and Leaders, you know this. The little group of English, and the majority are Spanish, those are with us. So I called because I can't take the permit out from the US, asked Richard Smith, asked Lance Lewis, first they said they can't do it, Richard said he had a thing with UB, Lance was busy, they finally said they'll do it, they went and got the permit, got Scott Stirm to join their group so yesterday morning when I come in, they tell me I can't speak. And I can't speak because I'm a military man. Well the Ambassador of Israel is a military man. Every Israeli served in the military."
"There's so much misinformation, Belizeans are following lies, this group of NEAB, National Evangelical Association of Belize, who took over the thing, won't let us participate, so we decided, we won't make any fight. Instead of ending here, we'll stop at Hilltop, I got a permit from City Hall, so we stopped there and had our meeting and shared the message that was sent to us."
Courtney Menzies:
"You and your group?"
Patrick Menzies, Co-Organizer, Pray For Israel March
"Me and my group. But then they came and told us we have to come here, which is totally against the law. There is no law that says, if you start, you have to end where you start, if you quit, you quit."
Courtney Menzies:
"Your permit is up to Hilltop?"
Patrick Menzies, Co-Organizer, Pray For Israel March
"I don't have a permit, I was with these guys."
Courtney Menzies:
"Their permit ends there?"
Patrick Menzies, Co-Organizer, Pray For Israel March
"No their permit ends here. But we marched with them and we ended there. If you're marching and you want to end and go to the bathroom, tell me you can't stop. So it's a bunch of lies from hell. But this is a plan to divide and conquer and that's what NEAB does."
"Belize you know where we are where we are, because we have politically, PUP connected organization that are trying to lead marches, that's why you see today they didn't use the word Hamas. Check all your tape, they can't say Hamas, when we said pray for Israel, they say pray for Israel and Palestine. They don't want to upset the government. They are PUP. We are no P."
