RSS
A massive climate march is scheduled for Rosh Hashanah. Jewish activists give it a pass.
![](https://jewishpostandnews.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/8-21-23-Climate-March-October-2022-YuTaNm.jpeg)
(JTA) — A massive march aimed at pressing for stronger efforts to curb climate change will take place in New York on the second day of Rosh Hashanah — a scheduling move that could exclude Jewish climate activists.
The coalition People vs. Fossil Fuels said it had selected the date despite the conflict after careful consideration. The march will take place days before global leaders are set to descend on the city for the United Nations’ Climate Ambition Summit.
“There were a number of factors that led us to choose this date,” a statement on the event’s website said. “Given the timing of the UN Climate Summit, Yom Kippur on the following weekend, and the need to make the march accessible for families and working people of all backgrounds on a weekend, Sunday the 17th was the date that was chosen. We did not make this decision lightly.”
The move comes at a time when warnings abound on social media about how important it is to avoid scheduling events during the busy Jewish holiday season for anyone who is seeking to hold inclusive events. Just on Monday, for example, Rebecca Rausch, a Jewish state legislator in Massachusetts whose platform includes combating climate change, tweeted a “PSA for everyone doing September scheduling” not to hold meetings on Rosh Hashanah or Yom Kippur, “at a minimum.”
Achieving those ambitions is particularly complicated this year, when Jewish holidays occupy three full weekends in September and October.
Jewish climate groups and activists say they understand why the March to End Fossil Fuels shook out the way it did — and emphasize that Jews concerned about what scientists say is a looming climate catastrophe have lots of opportunities to help besides marching on Sept. 17.
“This is just a busy time in the Jewish world,” Dahlia Rockowitz, director of campaigns and partnership at Dayenu, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “We know that any date that would have been picked around this summit was going to have challenges.”
Dayenu is one of five Jewish groups among the 30 faith-based organizations that are part of People vs. Fossil Fuels, which includes a total of over 1,200 organizations with interests in climate justice and progressive issues.
“We share disappointment that this was on Rosh Hashanah, but recognize the competing demands the organizers were holding, and also know that no matter what, it was going to be a challenging time of year to reach Jews, to turn out Jews to this type of event,” Rockowitz said.
Ben Goloff, a senior climate campaigner at the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the organizations on the steering committee for the march, was involved in many of the scheduling discussions for this year’s climate march.
“For me and for other Jewish folks in the room and other organizations, this was at the top of our minds when we began sort of organizing around how we’re going to meet this moment, given the timing of the U.N. summit,” he said.
Goloff said he expected a Jewish delegation at the march on Rosh Hashanah and also understood why some Jews, depending on how they observe holidays, would be skipping it in favor of other efforts.
“There are some folks that are actually really excited to show up and participate in the march from the Jewish community and to hold a Jewish-led delegation as a part of it,” Goloff said. “And there are others that are organizing other things around it at times that make more sense for their practice.”
People vs. Fossil Fuels said in its statement about the schedule overlap that it appreciates the challenged it poses for many Jews.
“We deeply respect that Jewish communities have different relationships with protest and social action during the High Holidays,” the coalition said. “We honor and affirm that many Jewish communities and organizations will be praying at this time and celebrate their observance.”
This is not the first time a major march or protest has been held on an important Jewish holiday. In 2017, the March for Racial Justice in Washington, D.C. was scheduled for Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar and also one of the most widely observed Jewish holidays. Organizers of the march put out a statement apologizing for the “scheduling conflict.”
“The core leadership of the March for Racial Justice regrets the scheduling conflict of the September 30 date for the March for Racial Justice and the Yom Kippur holiday, the Day of Atonement,” the statement said. “The core leadership of the March for Racial Justice recognizes and celebrates the historical unity between African Americans and Americans of the Jewish faith. These two communities are natural partners, as each have a history of persecution and discrimination.”
Climate change has long ranked at or near the top of a list of issues concerning Jews in the United States, according to multiple surveys, and Jews have been heavily involved in the wider climate movement. But until recently, the issue had a marginal place on the agendas of Jewish communal organizations, which neglected climate even as the subject took on importance in the activism and policies of other religious communities and in the larger philanthropic world. That has changed in the last year or so, with a growing number of Jewish philanthropists and organizations allocating resources toward climate issues.
Rockowitz noted that other Jewish climate activism groups Dayenu is in touch with are coming up with alternatives to the Sunday march for those who are observing the holiday and not attending the protest. Jewish Climate Action Network NYC created a tashlich resource themed around the demands and messaging of the march, and a student strike on Friday, before Rosh Hashanah begins at nightfall, will have Jewish youth participants.
Shoshanna Segal, a Jewish fellow at the interfaith climate group GreenFaith, said she hasn’t decided yet whether to attend the march. But she said that while she would prefer that the march not coincide with the holiday, she thinks there are more important issues to consider.
“This is not the discussion that we should be having,” said Segal, who attends a Conservative synagogue in Queens, Forest Hills Jewish Center. “We should be having a discussion about: Is climate awareness somehow a 614th mitzvah?”
Rosh Hashanah celebrates the birthday of the world and has long been seen by environmental activists as a natural moment in the Jewish calendar to elevate their concerns. Some Jews who are attending the march during the holiday are taking the symbolism in stride: Some will gather at Congregation Beth Elohim in Brooklyn before the march to create Rosh Hashanah-themed art to carry with them.
Goloff, who lives in Washington D.C., said he, too, anticipated interweaving his Jewish identity and his passion for climate activism even as some of their biggest dates overlap.
“I will be organizing at a time when I’m also praying and that’s going to be important for me,” Goloff said. “It’s absolutely something that I will be holding dear to me in that lead-up to the event and then the week after.”
“I’m really grateful, actually, for this opportunity to bring those two things together,” he added.
—
The post A massive climate march is scheduled for Rosh Hashanah. Jewish activists give it a pass. appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
RSS
‘A Vile Act of Hate’: Israeli Hostage Posters Torn Down Outside US Lawmaker’s Capitol Hill Office
Posters of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists from southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023 were ripped from a wall outside US Rep. Brad Schneider’s (D-IL) office in an act of vandalism on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, July 4, 2024. Photo: Screenshot
US Rep. Brad Schneider’s (D-IL) office was vandalized on Thursday when unknown perpetrators ripped down flyers of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas terrorists during their Oct. 7 onslaught across southern Israel, according to a social media post by the congressman.
Schneider said his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC was targeted over US Independence Day in what he called “a vile act of hate” in a thread on X/Twitter.
“My Capitol office was vandalized yesterday in a vile act of hate in which the posters of the more than 100 people still held hostage in Gaza (including 8 Americans) were ripped from the wall, shredded, and tossed across the hallway,” he wrote, along with a picture of the torn down posters.
My Capitol office was vandalized yesterday in a vile act of hate in which the posters of the more than 100 people still held hostage in Gaza (including 8 Americans) were ripped from the wall, shredded and tossed across the hallway. pic.twitter.com/zSh86mdvIX
— Rep. Brad Schneider (@RepSchneider) July 5, 2024
After Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel, in which the Palestinian terrorist group killed 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages into Gaza, many activists, organizations, and elected officials put up photos of those taken captive as a way of spreading awareness.
In the days following the Oct. 7 atrocities, however, many videos surfaced of anti-Israel protesters and individuals tearing down the posters in cities and on college campuses across the country.
“This was a shameful act on any day, but especially on July 4, our country’s Independence Day. Sadly, it was but one of many hateful, un-American actions that took place across the country on the day we celebrate freedom and democracy,” Schneider wrote.
“I’ve been disgusted by the videos and reports of individuals calling July 4th a ‘terrorist holiday’ and burning American flags,” he added, referring to fiery and raucous demonstrations organized by anti-Israel groups to disrupt Fourth of July celebrations in US cities.
Some videos from the protests circulated on social media showed people yelling “death to America” and trying to steal and burn American flags.
This is not the first time Schneider has been targeted by anti-Israel agitators in recent days.
“More than 700 miles from the Capitol,” Schneider wrote, “my home was targeted last weekend at 2:30 am by approximately 50 masked demonstrators banging drums, blowing horns, and screaming antisemitic chants.”
The protesters roamed the streets of the greater Chicago area this past weekend, harassing Jewish residents and fostering unrest in their campaign to pressure elected officials into boycotting and divesting from Israel. Marching through the heavily Jewish suburb of Highland Park early in the morning, a mob consisting of dozens of demonstrators — who concealed their faces with masks and keffiyehs — amassed outside the home of Schneider, who is Jewish, reportedly dousing “red liquid” on the sidewalk.
Schneider noted that the same group that protested outside of his house also protested against the United States on Thursday.
“These actions don’t advance peace,” he pointed out. “Instead, they play directly into the hands of Hamas terrorists enabling them to continue to hold hostage not only those they kidnapped from Israel, but all civilians in Gaza as well.”
About 120 hostages currently remain in Gaza, after many were released as part of a temporary ceasefire deal in November and others were rescued by Israeli soldiers conducting special operations. It’s unclear how many of the remaining hostages are still alive.
The post ‘A Vile Act of Hate’: Israeli Hostage Posters Torn Down Outside US Lawmaker’s Capitol Hill Office first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Anti-Israel Activists Flood Streets of US Cities to Disrupt Fourth of July Celebrations
Illustrative: Anti-Israel demonstrators clash with New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers during a protest on April 18, 2024. Photo: Reuters Connect
Anti-Israel groups organized fiery and raucous demonstrations in both New York and Philadelphia to disrupt Fourth of July celebrations marking US Independence Day on Thursday, drawing attention to the ongoing war in Gaza while showing their antipathy toward the United States.
Organizations including the Philly Palestine Coalition, Coalition for Justice in Palestine, and Within Our Lifetime called on their supporters to reject America’s annual celebration of national independence and patriotism in favor of showing support for Hamas, the Palestinian terrorist group that slaughtered over 1,200 people throughout southern Israel on Oct. 7.
Protesters responded by flooding streets and parks in Philadelphia and New York City, waving Palestinian flags and carrying signs denigrating both Israel and the United States.
In Philadelphia, roughly 400 protesters marched into Rittenhouse Square, bellowing chants such as “long live the intifada!” and “empire will fall!” The demonstrators proudly waved flags representing the Palestinians, Hamas, and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah while tossing American flags on the ground and lighting them on fire.
“This July 4th, join us as we stand with the resistance and support Palestine, not AmeriKKKA! We don’t celebrate the legacy of genocide, colonialism, and slavery that July 4th symbolizes, but struggle for true LIBERATION for all ” the Philly Palestine Coalition wrote on Instagram earlier this week.
In New York, hundreds of pro-Hamas agitators gathered in Washington Square Park on Independence Day to participate in the “Flood Manhattan for July 4th” demonstration, chanting slogans such as “there is only one solution, intifada revolution!” and “US imperialists, number one terrorists!” The activists then marched through the park, screaming chants and carrying banners that read “resistance until return” and “globalize the intifada” each of which represent calls to enact violence against Jews. In one video circulated on social media, radicals placed the American flag on the ground and incinerated it.
“This country emphasizes freedom and independence, but the truth is it’s only independence for whites,” Besan Ahmad, a Philadelphia-based organizer, told WHYY News. “And the independence of those whites came from black, brown, and indigenous people.”
The July 4 protests represented a broader pattern of leftist agitators disrupting traditions and celebrations to draw attention to the anti-Israel cause. Last month, pro-Palestinian activists obstructed and hijacked Pride Month parades in major cities across the United States. Activists have also disrupted concerts, festivals, and parties to show their solidarity with the Hamas terrorist group.
Beyond Israel, the demonstrations also revealed a shared animus toward the US. Protesters have repeatedly chanted “death to America” and unfavorably compared US police and the Israel Defense Forces to the Ku Klux Klan. The activists, who typically brand themselves as “anti-colonial” or “anti-imperialist,” have often praised countries such as Russia or Iran, the latter of which backs Hamas and Hezbollah and has routinely called for the destruction of both Israel and the United States.
The post Anti-Israel Activists Flood Streets of US Cities to Disrupt Fourth of July Celebrations first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
RSS
Man Arrested, Charged With Hate Crime for Vandalizing Kosher Bagel Shop in Miami
A flag owned by Holy Bagels & Pizzeria that was vandalized on June 16, 2024. Photo: Miami PD.
The Miami Police Department on Tuesday arrested the man allegedly responsible for the antisemitic vandalism of a Jewish-owned kosher bagel shop in downtown Miami last month.
Kenneth Guerrera, 28, was charged with criminal mischief with prejudice, a hate crime charge, for vandalizing Holy Bagels & Pizzeria on June 16.
The kosher bagel and pizza shop was vandalized along with a flag outside the store’s entrance. The vandal spray painted “Free Palestine” and “Stop Genocide” on the front door and windows of the restaurant. The suspect also tore down from outside the store an Israeli-American flag that said “Stand With Israel” and spray painted “Free Palestine” on it. A number of volunteers helped clean off the graffiti after the vandalism, including Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and US District Court Judge Roy Altman.
Miami’s Local 10 news reported that a police officer in the Miami area identified Guerrera after seeing a police wanted flyer as well as surveillance video from the incident. Police said that after his arrest, Guerrera agreed to speak with detectives without an attorney, but his full confession was not shared with the public.
“The apprehension is a reminder that we will not tolerate such despicable acts of hate and will continue to work tirelessly to ensure that our community remains a safe and inclusive place for all,” said Chief of Police Manuel Morales after Guerrera’s arrest.
The post Man Arrested, Charged With Hate Crime for Vandalizing Kosher Bagel Shop in Miami first appeared on Algemeiner.com.