[The following press release was issued by the International Jewish anti-Zionist Network.]
From Tel Aviv to Toronto, Los Angeles to London, Chicago to San Francisco, Jews Say No to Israeli Genocide
We call on Jews all over the world to follow the call from Haider Eid, political activist and commentator, to “besiege Israeli consulates,” and to protest Zionist events attempting to justify Israel’s massacre of Palestinians. Below are reports of actions Jews against genocide are taking or participating in.
Please join us – organize pickets, protests, creative actions, sit-ins, demonstrations and direct action to protest – in the loudest possible way – the brutal massacre and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people.
Please also add your name to the over 200 signers of the following statement from Jews for the Palestinian Right of Return.
Please email us reports of your actions to ijan@ijsn.net and
jewsagainstgenocide1948@gmail.com so that we can let the world know how many of us are taking action to stop Israel’s crimes.
LONDON
IJAN-UK organized a Jewish bloc to participate in a demonstration on Saturday, July 19th in which tens of thousands of people took the streets. As reported in the on-line journal, Vice:
To both Jews and non-Jews the idea of an anti-Zionist Jew can sound like a contradiction in terms—an abuse of Rabbi Hillel’s most famous ethical aphorism, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me." But for Sam Weinstein, and for around 30 others, me included, tucked together in a small Jewish bloc at Saturday’s Gaza demo in London, standing against Israel is precisely what our background demands. “I come from a Jewish tradition that has always fought for the underdog,” Sam told me as he unfurled a banner of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network in the sticky heat. “One that has fought for social justice because historically we were the ones getting killed by the state.”
TORONTO
In Toronto and Hamilton, Ontario, IJAN members have helped organize and participate in demonstrations against Israel’s military assault on Gaza and the Palestinian people, and in response to the call from civil society in Palestine. Demands include calling for an end to Canada’s unequivocal support for Israel, “right or wrong” and recognition of the connection between Israeli policies towards Palestinians and Canada’s genocide against Indigenous peoples here on Turtle Island. On Friday 11 July in Toronto, over 3000 people protested and marched from the Israeli consulate to the main intersection of Yonge and Bloor Streets. The following week, daily vigils were held in front of the Israeli consulate in Toronto at the noon hour by members of Independent Jewish Voices (IJV), IJAN Canada, Pax Christi, and others, culminating in another demonstration on Saturday 19 July. Also on 19 July IJAN members took part in a demonstration in Hamilton, where over 1000 people rallied against Israeli war crimes. Further actions are in the works, including a joint statement with IJV on recent attacks against Muslims and a Muslim community center.
CHICAGO
On Tuesday, July 22, 2014, Stand With Us, a pro-Israel right wing group in America, organized a Stand with Israel protest outside of the Israeli consulate in downtown Chicago, IL. The Coalition for Justice in Palestine, a coalition of Palestinian, Muslim and Arab community, religious and student organizations in Chicago, convened a Stand With Gaza counter protest. On a busy Tuesday afternoon in the heart of downtown Chicago, the two demonstrations faced off, with the pro-Palestinian rally clearly showing larger numbers and winning the support of pedestrians and motorists across the crowded streets.
In the middle of the demonstration, Jews for Justice In Palestine (JJP), a collective of Chicago Jews in solidarity with Palestinians in their struggle against Israeli occupation, dumped a pile of bloodied baby dolls in full view of the pro-Israel rally and the Israeli consulate. The dolls symbolize the innocent children that have died as a result of Israel`s terrible bombardment and invasion of Gaza over the last two weeks.
JJP stands with the Palestinian people in mourning the over 550 Palestinians in Gaza who have been killed, the over 3000 wounded, and the over 80,000 who have fled their homes since Israel`s assault began. JJP also stands with the Palestinian community worldwide as they take to the streets and resist the occupation. As Jews, we are resolute that this bloodshed may not continue in our name, and we urge fellow Jews all over the world to continue to stand with the Palestinian people, protest outside of Israeli embassies and consulates, and amplify the movement for BDS to end the occupation and win justice for Palestine.
Occupation and Apartheid Are Not Jewish Values!
Solidarity and Liberation Are!
SAN FRANCISCO
No Cover for Israel’s Brutality: Jews of Conscience Disrupt Israeli Consul General in San Francisco
As bombs rain down on Gaza, and Israel intensifies its latest genocidal attacks with a ground invasion, the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, and the Board of Rabbis of Northern California hosted “Stop the Sirens in Israel: An Emergency Solidarity Gathering” at Temple Emanu-El. “Stop the Sirens” is a national effort sponsored by the Reform Movement and led by the Jewish Federations of North America. In San Francisco, the Israeli Consul General, Andy David, spoke—or tried to speak.
Members of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network and other Jews of conscience staged seven disruptions inside the event, as members of Queers Undermining Israeli Terror, Jewish Voice for Peace, and IJAN demonstrated outside. Our message was clear: any institution that seeks to offer political cover for Israel’s brutality will face opposition and isolation.
Disruptors, who included children and grandchildren of survivors of the Nazi genocide, interrupted the proceedings by shouting “stop Israel’s genocide of Palestinians,” and “never again for anyone.”
Our action was staged in tandem with a funeral march organized by the Arab Resource and Organizing Center, attended by thousands in downtown San Francisco. The Jewish action drew away reactionary Zionist demonstrators and disrupted the media frame of “Jews versus Arabs” by asserting a Jewish voice in strong opposition to the attacks and siege on Gaza and the occupation of Palestine. The action was covered by mainstream media television sources KTVU and CBS.
Predictably, Zionist audience members and counter-demonstrators reacted with violence—pushing, hitting, and verbally attacking activists.
Critics accused us of desecrating a sacred space. But they have it backwards: by inviting an apologist for Israeli war crimes, and in offering prayers to the Israeli Defense Forces, the Zionist hosts desecrated the sacred space. We reject the conflation of Zionism and Judaism which makes a mockery of Jewish values, and manipulates and abuses Jewish histories of persecution by claiming that Israel acts to protect Jews. We call on Jews everywhere stand firmly, and to take action to demand the end of Israel’s bombing, siege, occupation, and colonization.
Stand against Israel’s slaughter in Gaza, stand in support of Palestinian self-determination and resistance, stand on the side of life.
Click here for short video of protest and disruption.
[Disruption of a very intense event sponsored by JCRC and the Jewish Federation at the temple in SF – Sirens for Israel.]
[Margot, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor, speaks at a Palestinian rally.]