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In Washington, Jews manage to rally around an intentionally murky message. Will the unity last?
WASHINGTON (JTA) — I didn’t cover or attend the Free Soviet Jewry rally in Washington in 1987, but I’ve seen the photographs.
That rally, which drew some 250,000 Jews to the National Mall, was long considered a high point for Jewish street activism, the benchmark against which all demonstrations since have been measured. The rally apparently caught the attention of then-President Ronald Reagan and Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev, who were to meet the next day. Over the next three years, hundreds of thousands of Jews left the “Evil Empire” for the United States and Israel.
The best-known photos of that rally show a sea of people under a “Let My People Go” banner. In its laser-focused call on the Soviets to end the oppression of their Jews and allow them to emigrate, that rally’s lack of complexity was perhaps its greatest strength.
By contrast, Tuesday’s March for Israel defied one simple slogan. The official organizers suggested three: “March for Israel. March to free hostages. March against antisemitism.” It was a multi-pronged rallying cry for complicated times: The war launched when Hamas slaughtered 1,200 Jews on Oct. 7 has whipped up as many crises as it has emotions.
That complexity and even confusion were reflected at Tuesday’s march. A lot of the people in the massive crowd — estimates, backed by data from the folks handling security, put it at some 290,000 — carried signs with names and images of some of the 240 people kidnapped by Hamas in the initial attack. “Bring them home” was a common placard. One Orthodox feminist carried a sign with a verse from Jeremiah: “She refuses to be comforted, because her children are missing.”
The Rhode Island Coalition for Israel unfurled a banner at the March for Israel rally reading, “Destroy Hamas — No Ceasefire,” Nov. 14, 2023. (JTA Photo)
Some signs thanked the Biden administration and Congress for giving Israel a wide berth, and significant financial backing, for its war on Hamas. Many of the signs echoed calls from the stage, including by Deborah Lipstadt, the State Department’s special envoy on antisemitism, to “stand shoulder to shoulder” against the anti-Israelism expressed as antisemitism at pro-Palestinian rallies and on college campuses.
Meanwhile, the invitation to “March for Israel” was less a slogan than a set-up to an old Jewish joke: One catchphrase, three opinions. For many in the crowd, it meant “no ceasefire” and spurning calls on Israel from around the globe to halt the attacks that have so far, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry in Gaza, cost more than 10,000 Palestinian lives. (The chant was heard perhaps the loudest when Van Jones, the CNN commentator, called for “no more rockets from Gaza, and no more bombs falling down on the people of Gaza” — an even-handed statement that drew boos and obscured his main point about liberals who have abandoned pro-Israel colleagues like him.)
“Let Israel finish the job!” read one sign held by a rally-goer. “Thank you Israel for fighting terror,” read another. The Rhode Island Coalition for Israel unfurled a huge banner reading, “Destroy Hamas — No Ceasefire.”
But if there was one “for Israel” message, it was one of apolitical unity, expressed in the “Philly stands with Israel” and “Cleveland stands with Israel” signs that seem to have been coordinated by one of the rally’s two organizers, the Jewish Federations of North America. “Standing” doesn’t commit the stander to a specific political agenda, except in this case to the baseline belief that Israel is a country that deserves to exist and defend itself if its people or security are threatened. At bare minimum, many attendees said they were there to counter pro-Palestinian demonstrations — including many arranged by non-Zionist Jewish groups — that seemed to reject even that much.
That could be seen in the day’s prevailing aesthetic: the blue and white Israeli flag. Many wore the flag as a cape. College students and day school kids daubed it on their faces. Groups were handing out little Israeli flags. Before Oct. 7, the huge crowds in Israel opposing their far-right government’s judicial reforms had reclaimed the flag as a symbol of Jewish democracy. On Tuesday, it took on a particularly American meaning: to be Jewish here is to care deeply about Israel, putting aside the inevitable disagreements about what the country should be and what course it should be taking in its war on Hamas.
One sign carried in the “peace bloc” section of the March for Israel rally read “Pro-Peace, Anti Hamas, Pro Israel, Anti Bibi,” using Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s nickname, Nov. 14, 2023. (Via Facebook)
That broad-tent message even allowed some left-wing Jewish groups to join the march, despite their qualms that it might support a right-wing agenda and ignore the growing civilian death toll in Gaza. Americans for Peace Now, J Street and the National Council of Jewish Women made up a “peace bloc” with T’ruah, the rabbinic human rights group. “I stand with Israelis. I stand with Palestinians. I stand with humanity,” read a sign carried by T’ruah members.
In an email to T’ruah followers, the group’s CEO, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, said they’d be taking part “in a way that allows you to grieve with Israelis, stand with the families of hostages, support our Jewish community through rising antisemitism, and also grieve for innocent Palestinians.” That message also seemed an effort to reclaim the left-wing conversation from the anti- and non-Zionist Jewish groups. One sign carried in the “peace bloc” read “Pro-Peace, Anti Hamas, Pro Israel, Anti Bibi,” using Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s nickname.
It’s the rare Jewish event that can attract doves and hawks, black-hatted Orthodox Jews, queer Zionists waving rainbow flags, secular Israelis and busloads of suburban synagogue-goers of all denominations. And that’s perhaps why — despite the grieving Israeli families, the missing hostages, the unrelenting bombardment of Gaza — the rally took on a festive mood at times. People seemed genuinely relieved to loudly and safely celebrate their attachment to Israel in a crowd where Israel’s existence wouldn’t be called into question, its right to defend itself was taken for granted and wearing a Star of David didn’t mark them as “colonialists” or worse.
That there wasn’t a single slogan that can become the lasting image from this remarkable day isn’t a surprise. It feels obvious that if the organizers had picked one agenda — no ceasefire, free the hostages, stand up against antisemitism — they would have lost a large chunk of the crowd and potential allies.
But in service of a hopeful future, there’s one image that could endure — a message of unity that lasted at least for a few hours on Tuesday. A colleague saw a sign quoting Psalm 133: “How good and how pleasant it is that brothers (and sisters) dwell together.”
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The post In Washington, Jews manage to rally around an intentionally murky message. Will the unity last? appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Florida Man Arrested for Alleged Plot to Attack AIPAC Office
The 2018 AIPAC Policy Conference in Washington, DC. Photo: Guatemala Presidency / Handout via Reuters.
The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) stopped an apparent plot to attack an office of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) in Plantation, FL, according to court documents filed earlier this week.
Law enforcement apprehended Forrest Kendall Pemberton, a 26-year-old resident of Gainesville, FL, on Dec. 25, the first night of Hanukkah, after he traveled to Plantation in search of the local AIPAC office, local and national media outlets reported.
Prosecutors alleged in their filings that Pemberton was in a rideshare vehicle carrying multiple firearms, including an AR-15 rifle, and ammunition when law enforcement officers stopped and arrested him.
AIPAIC, the foremost pro-Israel lobbying organization in the US, seeks to foster bipartisan support for a stronger US-Israel relationship.
The court documents reportedly did not specifically name AIPAC as the target. However, an FBI affidavit described an organization with the same mission statement as AIPAC and referenced identical language from the group’s website. The suspect’s search engine history also included queries for AIPAC and its former Plantation office, believing it was the current local office.
According to law enforcement, Pemberton initially scoped out the premises of the Florida site for entry and exit points before later attempting to return with weapons.
Suspicions first arose surrounding Pemberton’s whereabouts after his father reported him missing to the police on Dec. 23. The father said he found a “concerning” note in his son’s backpack that “espoused anti-authority sentiments.” His father added that Pemberton often “espoused antisemitic views.”
An AIPAC spokesperson issued an identical statement to multiple outlets thanking the FBI for its work and saying the pro-Israel organization will not be intimidated.
“We take these threats very seriously and we are working closely with law enforcement concerning this matter,” the spokesperson said. “We will not be deterred by extremists in pursuing our mission to strengthen the relationship with America’s valued ally, Israel. We are deeply appreciative of the FBI’s work to stop this individual.”
Pemberton faces a federal stalking charge and is accused of traveling to AIPAC with the intent of “killing, injuring, harassing, and intimidating” people with the organization.
The post Florida Man Arrested for Alleged Plot to Attack AIPAC Office first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Antisemitic Hate Crimes in Massachusetts Reach Eight-Year High
The Boston skyline stands behind the Tobin Bridge and the city of Chelsea as seen from Everett, Massachusetts, US. Photo: Brian Snyder via Reuters Connect.
The US state of Massachusetts saw more antisemitic hate crimes in 2023 than at any time since government officials began tracking such data eight years ago, according to a report issued by its Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS).
A striking 119 antisemitic hate crimes were reported to law enforcement agencies, EOPSS said, a total which, in addition to eclipsing 2015’s total of 56 incidents, amounts to a 70 percent increase over the previous year. Antisemitic hate crimes also constituted 18.8 percent of all hate crimes reported in 2023, a figure which trails only behind the percentage of hate crimes which targeted African Americans.
The report added that 68.9 percent of the antisemitic incidents involved property destruction or vandalism, a total of 82, while another 19 percent involved intimidation. Some physical assaults, six, were recorded or reported to the police.
EOPSS’s numbers fall somewhat below other figures reported by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) in spring 2024, when the civil rights group said 440 antisemitic incidents occurred in the state in 2023, a 189 percent increase over the previous year. However, the discrepancy may be due to differences in methodology, as ADL reports include all antisemitic incidents, while EOPSS’s tally considers those which fit the legal definition of a crime and were brought to the attention of law enforcement.
The ADL has said, however, that their numbers and EOPSS’s are mutually inclusive.
“This report mirrors what sadly we’ve been tracking and responding to on a daily basis. There has been a marked increase in antisemitic hate incidents in the Bay State and in fact across the country,” Peggy Shukur, vice president of the ADL’s East Division, told The Algemeiner on Thursday. “The local increase reflects national trends. Our data showed that over 10,000 antisemitic incidents were recorded in the US since Oct. 7, 2023, an over 200 percent increase compared to incidents reported to us during the same period a year before.”
She added, “Behind every one of these numbers are people who have experienced the harm, fear, intimidation, and pain that reverberates from each of these incidents. The fact that numbers increase by 70 percent is a grim reminder that antisemitism continues to infect our communities in real and pervasive ways.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, antisemitism in Massachusetts has been an acute problem on college campuses, one to which school officials have allegedly hesitated to respond.
“I’ve become traumatized,” Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) student Talia Khan told members of the US House Committee on Education and the Workforce in March. “MIT has become overrun by terrorist supporters that directly threaten the lives of Jews on our campus. Members of the anti-Israel club on our campus have stated that violence against Jews who support Israel, including women and children, is acceptable. When this was reported to president [Sally] Kornbluth and senior MIT administration, the issue was never dealt with. Then, administrators pleaded ignorance when we reminded them that no action had been taken, saying that they either forgot about it or missed the email.”
Allegations of neglect have prompted civil lawsuits, including one against Harvard University which was recently cleared to proceed to discovery. Filed by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (Brandeis Center), the suit centers on several incidents involving Harvard Kennedy School professor Marshall Ganz during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Ganz allegedly refused to accept a group project submitted by Israeli students for his course, titled “Organizing: People, Power, Change,” because they described Israel as a “liberal Jewish democracy.” He castigated the students over their premise, the Brandeis Center says, accusing them of “white supremacy” and denying them the chance to defend themselves. Later, Ganz allegedly forced the Israeli students to attend “a class exercise on Palestinian solidarity” and the taking of a class photograph in which their classmates and teaching fellows “wore ‘keffiyehs’ as a symbol of Palestinian support.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post Antisemitic Hate Crimes in Massachusetts Reach Eight-Year High first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Spanish Far-Left Leader’s 2025 ‘Wishes’ Spotlight ‘Genocide’ Against Palestinians Before Mentioning Own Country
Ione Belarra, secretary general of the Spanish far-left party Podemos, has accused Israel of committing “genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza. Photo: Reuters/David Canales
The leader of an influential far-left Spanish political party who recently served as a government minister this week discussed her “wishes” for the new year, calling for an end to so-called “genocide” against the Palestinians and the return of “stolen lands” to them before making any mention of her home country of Spain.
“My wishes for 2025: that the genocide against the Palestinian people ends, that the stolen lands are returned and that the guilty are brought to justice. Also, that the people of my country have a decent roof over their heads without having to spend their salaries and their lives trying to do so. A hug to all of you,” Ione Belarra posted on X/Twitter on Tuesday.
Belarra, who served as Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s social rights minister between 2021 and 2023 but is no longer in the governing coalition, is now secretary general of the Spanish hard-left party Podemos (“We Can”).
The Spanish politician’s message for the new year was in line with her seemingly obsessive focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and fierce criticism of the Jewish state since Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel last Oct. 7.
Last month, for example, Belarra accused Israel of “genocide” in Syria following the recent collapse of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad’s regime.
“Israel is taking advantage of the instability in Syria to advance its colonial and genocidal plan, bombing several areas, including Damascus,” Belarra posted on X/Twitter. “Virtually no Western media outlets are reporting on it. International inaction in the face of genocide endangers humanity as a whole.”
Belarra appeared to be referencing recent limited Israeli military operations to eliminate much of Syria’s strategic weapons arsenal and secure the buffer zone along Israel’s northeastern border amid uncertainty about the future of Syria. There has been no evidence to indicate Israel’s military activities have resulted in mass casualties or are meant to achieve anything beyond short-term border security with a neighboring country that just underwent a regime change following a years-long civil war.
Such a focus on Israel is not new for Belarra, however.
Less than three weeks after the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre, Belarra posted a video on X/Twitter calling on European Union (EU) nations to sever diplomatic ties with Israel and comparing Jerusalem’s defensive war against Hamas with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She also demanded stiff economic sanctions against the Jewish state and the prosecution of its leaders for “war crimes.”
More recently, Belarra and her Podemos party threatened to withhold its crucial support for next year’s budget unless the government breaks diplomatic relations with Israel among other actions.
Sanchez’s socialist-led government, which relies on a coalition of smaller parties to approve legislation, needs the votes of the four Podemos lawmakers in the lower house for the budget to pass.
However, Sanchez also requires support from some center-right parties that will have their own conditions to back the budget, creating a tough balancing act for the Spanish premier.
In October, Belarra said in a video message that her party would only support next year’s budget if the government “immediately breaks off diplomatic and trade relations with the genocidal state of Israel.” Her second condition was for Madrid to “tackle the housing crisis by lowering rents by 40 percent by law, banning the purchase of houses by anyone who’s not going to live in them, and dismantling squadron commandos,” a reference to private companies that mediate in squatting situations to evict occupants.
Belarra added in a tweet: “Breaking relations with Israel and lowering rent prices by law is the minimum that can be demanded of a self-proclaimed progressive government. We need all your support to twist the [government’s] arm.”
Senior Podemos official Javier Sánchez Serna echoed the same point at the time, saying, “Pedro Sánchez’s government has been veering to the right for months and it’s going to get worse if someone doesn’t stand up. If the [government] wants to pass the 2025 budget, it will have to meet the two conditions proposed by Podemos: break relations with Israel and intervene in housing.”
Despite Belarra and Podemos’s criticisms of the government, Spain under Sanchez has been one of the most vocal critics of Israel since Hamas’s Oct. 7 atrocities in southern Israel.
In October, Sanchez urged other members of the EU to suspend the bloc’s free trade agreement with Israel over its military campaigns against Hamas in Gaza and the terrorist organization Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Sanchez’s demand came three days after the Spanish premier urged other countries to stop supplying weapons to the Jewish state.
In the aftermath of the Oct. 7 atrocities, Spain launched a diplomatic campaign to curb Israel’s military response. At the same time, several Spanish ministers in the country’s left-wing coalition government issued pro-Hamas statements and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, with Belarra falsely accusing Israel of “genocide.”
More recently, Spanish officials said they would not allow ships carrying arms for Israel to stop at its ports. The US Federal Maritime Commission recently opened an investigation into whether Spain, a NATO ally, has been denying port entry to cargo vessels reportedly transporting US weapons to Israel.
Spain stopped its own defense companies from shipping arms to Israel in October 2023.
In May, Spain officially recognized a Palestinian state, claiming the move was accelerated by the Israel-Hamas war and would help foster a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israeli officials described the decision as a “reward for terrorism.”
Spain, like many other countries around the world, experienced a surge in antisemitic incidents targeting the Jewish community following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre.
Two weeks after the onslaught, the Federation of Jewish Communities of Spain (FCJE) warned of “the greatest escalation of antisemitism in Spain in recent times.” A statement from the FCJE on the upsurge in antisemitism highlighted the statements of Belarra, who at the time was Spain’s social rights minister and had already accused Israel of “genocide.”
“The demonstrations against Israel, the burning of Israeli flags, the proclamations calling Israel a murderer, genocidal, and the author of a planned ethnic cleansing, as Minister Ione Belarra has reiterated on several occasions, have inflamed [the situation],” the FCJE observed.
After attending a pro-Hamas demonstration in Madrid exactly two weeks after the Hamas atrocities, before Israel launched its ground campaign in Gaza, Belarra tweeted, “Dignity has filled the streets of Madrid, [which] today urged the end of the genocide that Israel is planning against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. Freedom for Palestine.”
The post Spanish Far-Left Leader’s 2025 ‘Wishes’ Spotlight ‘Genocide’ Against Palestinians Before Mentioning Own Country first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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