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On Tuesday, thousands gathered at the National Mall in Washington, D.C to show support for Israel.
It’s tough to call the event a protest, as there’s not much more to
demand if you’re pro-Israel. The most powerful country on earth already
gives you billions in military aid every year and they’re preparing to
give you even more. They’ve done virtually nothing to impede the
slaughter in Gaza, where more than 11,200 Palestinians have been killed
so far.
The Twitter account for the Consulate General of Israel in New York declared that 290,000 people attended the event and posted a photo that is quite obviously a lot less than 290,000 people.
Researcher Talia Jane took the time to create a detailed thread breaking down
the dimensions of overhead photographs and D.C. streets to reach an
informed conclusion. Her estimate? About 25,000 people. So, the
Consulate General of Israel in New York was only off by 265,000.
Of that 25,000 it’s unclear how many were paid to attend. Pro-Israel
organizations made a number of social media posts offering $250 “microgrants”
to students who agreed to be bussed to Washington. Nice work if you can
get it. Fox News might want to pursue this story as we’ve finally found
proof of U.S. protesters getting paid for their efforts.
One of the first speakers at the rally was CNN contributor Van Jones.
Jones has to have one of the funniest political trajectories of this
generation. You might recall he resigned
from the Obama administration after Republicans began making an issue
over his brief stint with a Maoist organization in the early 90s.
It’s unclear who Jones thought he was addressing, but his rudimentary
calls for peace did not go over well. “My heart breaks for all the
Israeli children, ” he said. “I pray that every single hostage is
released,” he told the crowd. “I also pray that Hamas ends its reign of
terror.” He received loud cheers for these sentiments, but then he made
mistake.
“I pray for peace,” he continued. “No more rockets from Gaza and no more bombs falling down on the people of Gaza.”
The “no more bombs” part was a bridge too far. The boos began raining
down, and some people started chanting, “No ceasefire!” Clearly
rattled, Jones attempted to say something about confronting Islamophobia
and antisemitism, but stumbled and accidentally said, “Let’s take a
stand against Muslim.” Yikes!
The flub was notable enough for Jones to issue a correction on Twitter. “Let’s stand against anti-Jewish bigotry here,” he wrote.
“Let’s stand against anti-Muslim bigotry here. Let’s stand against hate
here. But the chanting crowd threw me off — and I misspoke. We need to
stand WITH Muslims, and Jews, and everyone who is under threat.”
Again, unclear what he thought he was getting himself into.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Rep. Mike
Johnson (R-LA), and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) all gave speeches before
literally joining hands and chanting, “We stand with Israel!” Who says
bipartisanship is dead?
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) live-tweeted the proceedings but
remained suspiciously silent during Pastor John Hagee’s speech. It would
take too long to run through every infamous thing this man has said, so
let’s just cover the ones that might be relevant to, say, the
Anti-Defamation League:
Of course, Hagee also believes that The Bible calls on Christians to
support Israel because one day Jesus will come back, the rapture will
occur, The Antichrist will reveal himself, dead Christians will return
to life, and believers will ascend into heaven. None of this works out
especially well for Muslims or Jews. A campus organizer with the
pro-Israel group StandWithUs estimated that there were at least a few thousand Christian Zionists at the rally.
ADL CEO Johnathan Greenblatt ostensibly runs a civil rights group
committed to combatting extremism. He has spent the past month all over
cable news, where he consistently aims to conflate antisemitism with
anti-Zionism and stir up fear about Americans’ increasing sympathy for
Palestinians. He was on MSNBC on the day of the rally and had nothing to
say about the antisemitic pastor, but he did call on the IRS and FBI to
investigate
campus pro-Palestine groups. The next morning, he was on MSNBC again,
where he celebrated the fact that Trump fans attended the rally. “I saw
people with MAGA hats and people with pride flags,” he told the Morning Joe crew. “I mean, where else in America today could you see something like that?”
When co-host Mika Brzezinski said tens of thousands
of people showed up in D.C., Greenblatt pushed back. “It wasn’t tens of
thousands, Mika,” he insisted. “It was hundreds of thousands of people
on the Mall. I heard upwards of 300,000.”
Campus crackdown
In the last installment of The Shift
I covered Brandeis University becoming the first school to ban its
Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter. It’s only been a week,
but a lot has happened on this front since then.
Let’s stick with Brandeis for a second. You’ll recall that the group
was informed of their ban out of nowhere via an email from the
administration. No vote, no investigation, no prior warning. The school
effectively said the group had supported terrorism. The chapter’s
president told me the organization isn’t especially active and hadn’t
even released a statement on the October 7th attack or publicly
mentioned Hamas. On the day they got the news, they were preparing for a
campus vigil to honor the thousands of Palestinians who have been
killed by Israel so far. It was canceled.
Days later, students organized a protest at the school in response to
the move. The university called in the cops and had some of them
arrested. Brandeis president Ronald Liebowitz said that the event
“devolved into the invocation of hate speech” because people were
chanting, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.” On the
same day that the school banned SJP, Liebowitz published an Op-Ed in
the Boston Globe calling on “antisemitic” campus groups to be
deactivated. In his mind, this includes any organization that uses the
aforementioned chant or calls for an intifada.
Meanwhile, Columbia University suspended
its SJP chapter and its Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) for the remainder
of the fall term for allegedly violating rules connected to holding
campus events.
The school says their big infraction was organizing an “unauthorized” walkout that was followed by a peaceful art installation.
“To Columbia and other institutions too cowardly to stand against
genocide and apartheid, history will not reflect kindly on your
silencing tactics, or your bullying of students,” read
a joint statement put out by the two groups. “These young adults are
standing up for what they believe in and trying to make the world a
better place—as should we all. No one can stop our hearts from beating
for liberation, humanity, and the freedom of Palestine.”
This week, hundreds of students and faculty protested the move in
front of Columbia and announced the relaunch of Columbia University
Apartheid Divest (CUAD). CUAD is a coalition of over 40 student groups
that are demanding the suspension on SJP and JVP be lifted, along with an apology. However, that’s not all they’re asking for.
They also want Columbia to divest from Israeli apartheid, a planned
campus in Tel Aviv to be canceled, a ceasefire in Gaza, and an end to
the suppression of Palestinian activism at the school.
“One of the best kinds of collective action: One group takes action
on one demand; targeted by the institution, it broadens the coalition
and expands the demand,” tweeted
author and professor Corey Robin. “This kind of politics goes against
every narrowing instinct and impulse that we’ve come to think of as
‘real politics.'”
“Again, I just can’t tell you how impressed I am by this generation.
It’s like they’re systemically unlearning every single thing that this
country has tried to teach us over the course of the last 50 years,” he
added.
Finally, this week saw George Washington University suspend
its SJP chapter for 90 days because the group projected pro-Palestine
sentiments on a campus library. “We see this very clearly as being a
political response to a growing wave of backlash and repression towards
Palestinian organizing, but specifically the Palestinian student
movement that’s been happening the past few weeks,” a representative
from the group told the school paper.
DNC protest
Last night, hundreds of protesters gathered
in front of the Democratic National Committee’s Washington headquarters
to demand a ceasefire, where they were met with police violence. In a
press conference today Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) said that 90
protesters were injured.
A variety of people are spreading dangerous disinformation about the event, starting with the cops.
“Tonight 6 officers were treated for injuries – ranging from minor cuts to being pepper sprayed to being punched,” tweeted
the U.S. Capitol Police. “One person has been arrested for assault on
an officer. We appreciate our officers who kept these illegal &
violent protesters back & protected everyone in the area.”
This narrative was echoed by a number of lawmakers from both parties,
who also claimed the protesters were terror sympathizers who were
trying to break into the building. “All U.S. House buildings locked down
while Pro-Hamas rioters trying to storm the offices of the Democratic
National Committee,” claimed Florida Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL).
“Was just evacuated from the #DNC after pro-terrorist, anti-#Israel
protestors grew violent, pepper spraying police officers and attempting
to break into the building,” Thankful to the police officers who stopped
them and for helping me and my colleagues get out safely,” wrote
Rep. Brad Sherman. (D-CA). “Apparently, these pro-#Hamas demonstrators
want #Republicans to prevail in the next Congressional election.”
Quick reminder
that 80% of Democratic voters agree with the protesters and believe
there should be a ceasefire, but interesting electoral strategy from
Sherman.
All this stuff was quickly refuted across social media by video and people who actually attended the event. “I was reporting outside this protest,” tweeted
journalist Dave Weigel. “Nobody tried to enter the building. They were
trying to block off entrances, but had their backs turned to them.”
There’s no video or photo of cops getting pepper sprayed, but there
is an image of a police officer pepper spraying an activist. Apparently,
it was one of the same cops
who began kicking memorial candles laid out for dead Palestinians.
Waleed Shahid posted a video of one cop accidentally hitting another
with a bike rack. “So did the police at the DNC protest injure…themselves?” he asked.
The groups who helped organize the protest have put out statements.
Political Director of Jewish Voice for Peace Action Beth Miller:
“With every passing minute that President Biden and the Democratic Party
refuse to heed the calls of their voters and demand a ceasefire, more
Palestinians in Gaza are being killed by Israeli airstrikes and siege.
In their homes, schools, hospitals, and mosques, and by starvation,
dehydration, and disease. Tonight, hundreds of peaceful anti-war
activists came to the DNC to call for an end to bombs and violence in
order to save Palestinian and Israeli lives. They were met with brutal
assaults by the police. The Democrats need to decide: will they stand on
the side of peace and justice, or will they continue to support war and
genocide?”
DSA-NYC’s Sumaya Awad: “The Democratic Party just showed exactly how
it feels about its voters. The Israeli military just stormed a hospital
in Gaza, airstrikes have killed over 4,500 children, and water is
running out. Over 80% of Democratic voters are demanding a ceasefire and
brought that message of peace to party leadership, who responded by
unleashing an incredibly violent police attack on them.”
DSA’s Renée Paradis: “Calling for a ceasefire is not a radical or
fringe demand — a supermajority of Americans and an even bigger majority
of Democrats want a Ceasefire NOW. It’s the Democratic Party that’s out
of step with their own base, in favor of the politics of their big
donors, providing full support for Israel’s genocidal actions. Tonight,
police lied about the protest being violent, even as they roughed up
protestors, sprayed tear gas on the crowd, and literally trampled vigil
candles beneath their feet. We know lasting peace can only be achieved
through a just end to the occupation, and call upon the federal
government–who could stop the war tomorrow with a single phone call–to
stop sending military aid to Israel.”
IfNotNow national spokesperson Eva Borgwardt: “Every hour of this
horrific bombardment, more Palestinians are killed. Every hour, the
lives of the hostages hang in the balance. Every hour increases the risk
of a broader regional war, endangering the lives of millions of people
across the entire region. We the base of the Democratic Party are here
to say if you care about Palestinians, if you care about Israelis, if
you care about Jews, if you care about humanity, we need you to call for
a ceasefire, a hostage exchange, a deescalation, and to chart a path
toward freedom and safety for all. Instead of heeding our call for a
ceasefire, police violently attacked nonviolent protesters with pepper
spray.”
Odds & Ends
🧑⚖️ On Monday the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) filed a lawsuit
against U.S. President Joe Biden, U.S. Secretary of State Antony
Blinken, and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin for failure to
prevent genocide and complicity in genocide.
“For the last five weeks, President Biden and Secretaries Blinken and
Austin have stood shoulder-to-shoulder with an Israeli government that
has made clear its intention to destroy the Palestinian population in
Gaza. As neighborhood after neighborhood, hospital after hospital, and
sheltering displaced Palestinians were bombed, while subject to a total
siege and closure that denies 2.2 million people basic necessities for
life, they have continued to provide both military and political support
for Israel’s unfolding genocidal campaign while imposing no red lines,”
said CCR attorney Katherine Gallagher. “The United States has a clear
and binding obligation to prevent, not further, genocide. So far, they
have failed in both their legal, moral duty and considerable power to
end this horror. They must do so.”
🏫 This week the BDS caucus of Harvard Graduate Student Union held
an emergency rally to protest the dismissal of a student worker who lost
his job after protecting people at a Palestine rally.
“The student worker’s attempts to protect participants from an
aggressive disruptor at a die-in protest for Palestine were
intentionally misrepresented by a viral right-wing defamation campaign,
which sought to instead portray him as a threat to the safety of
students,” reads a press statement put out by the group. “He was further
targeted for his pro-Palestine views, resulting in doxxing and death
threats,” Instead of protecting the student from such threats, Harvard
University has bowed to external pressure and is dismissing him from his
proctorship and residence for protesting genocide and exercising
pro-Palestine free speech. This means that he is also losing access to
his meal plan and is being evicted from his housing at the College. This
is part of a broader pattern of anti-Black racism and the McCarthyite
suppression of voices that express solidarity with Palestine and
criticize the state of Israel for its system of apartheid, its
occupation of Palestinian land, its ethnic cleansing of Palestinian
people, and its ongoing genocide.”
✊ More than 700 Jewish activists and allies shut down the Oakland
Federal Building demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. 450 people
were arrested. The protest was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace. It
included Rabbis, children of holocaust survivors, Israelis, and film
director/rapper Boots Riley.
🇺🇸 Senator John Fetterman (D-PA) was at the March for Israel draped in an Israel flag. Last week in Washington, a veteran asked him why he hasn’t supported a ceasefire and he told her, “I don’t know. I think you should be protesting Hamas.”
🇮🇱 ‘The Jewish Federation is marching with Christian antisemites out of support for Israel’
💌 ‘A love letter to the students speaking up for Palestine’
🪔 NYC Assemblymember Zohran Kwame Mamdani declined an invitation to
Governor Kathy Hochul’s Diwali celebration over her support for Israel’s
bombing of Gaza.
“We cannot get to the hopeful world that Diwali symbolizes if we do not stand up for its values,” he said in a statement.
“As Americans and New Yorkers, we are not simply bystanders to the
genocide in Gaza. We are complicit in it. We cannot remain silent.”
⚖️ Law students at more than 30 universities have formed a coalition
called Law Students for a Free Palestine. They’re all participating in a
National Day of Action today.
“All of my great-grandparents were Holocaust survivors who lost most
if not all of their relatives. I am infuriated to witness Jewish trauma
and false accusations of antisemitism be weaponized to fuel a genocide
against another people; anti-Zionism is not antisemitism,” said UCLA
Law’s Allie Zenwirth in a statement. It is deeply upsetting to me that
the IDF, under a banner of Judaism, is committing mass-slaughter of the
Palestinians. Not in my name. The atrocities need to end. Now.”
💰 At Slate Alex Sammon reports that AIPAC is expected to spend $100 million
trying to unseat progressive critics of Israel in the upcoming
elections. A number of politicians shared this story, but one tweet
stood out to me more than others.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) tweeted,
“Criticism of the Israeli gov is virtually nonexistent in US politics,
but apparently that’s not enough. Gotta spend *$100 million* to unseat
the few who believe in Palestinian human rights & a ceasefire that
most Americans already support. The acceptable level of dissent is 0.”
AOC gets to the heart of the issue here. Progressives often criticize
AIPAC over how much money they spend or the fact they back Republicans
who refused to certify Biden’s win. Those are perfectly valid
complaints, but Israel somehow gets left out of the equation at times.
AIPAC exists for two reasons: to keep U.S. arms to Israel flowing and to
stomp out any criticism of the country that might impede that. Here’s
hoping that the current protests are opening up space for progressive
Democrats to be completely truthful about the lobbying group.
🇮🇱 ‘Benjamin Netanyahu is using Joe Biden, and it could well cost Biden his presidency’
🚫 ‘BDS is the most effective way to put our solidarity into action – here’s how to win’
☘️ Jewish IfNotNow activists are currently holding a sit-in on the
Boston University bridge, demanding a ceasefire. “Every day of war means
more death, more starvation, more children losing limbs, more babies
becoming orphans It is unbearable, our souls cry out against it,” tweeted the group.
📱 The Guardian took down Osama bin Laden’s 2002 “Letter to America” after it went viral on Tik Tok.
Stay safe out there,
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