‘Not in my name’: The Jewish diaspora fighting the consensus on Israel
Longstanding tensions between the US’s progressive Jewish diaspora and the Israeli government came into focus this month, when Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and other
Longstanding tensions between the US’s progressive Jewish diaspora and the Israeli government came into focus this month, when Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and other far-right Israeli legislators attended the annual Israel Day Parade in New York City. As Smotrich, who says he is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC), joined the pro-Israel procession marching down Fifth Avenue, he was met by a chorus of “shame” and “war criminals” from protesters. Israel Day on Fifth, as the event is known, has been opposed by many in the Jewish diaspora, keen to distance themselves from Israel. With the ongoing genocide in Gaza and some of its architects on parade, the June event has been particularly controversial this year. Smotrich remained unfazed by the calls from New York’s progressive Jewish protesters and proceeded to link the community’s destiny to Israel’s, a common mantra of both Israeli and American politicians. “This is a massive celebration – a profound connection uniting the entire global Jewish community, bringing together Jews in Israel and Jews in the United States. This shared destiny has grown significantly stronger over the past three years,” he said. “The State of Israel is the home of the entire Jewish people. The security of Jews worldwide relies on the strength and security of the State of Israel. There is no better place to live than in Israel.” New York Mayor Zoran Mamdani fulfilled his election pledge by skipping the parade, a move welcomed by some American Jewish organisations critical of the powerful far-right undercurrent in Israeli politics. “The Israel Day Parade, which features Israeli politicians who have not only cheered on the genocide of Palestinians, but are part of the government committing that genocide, is not a celebration of Jewish identity or pride.
@NYCMayor knows this. We’re grateful he is not attending,” said Israelis for Peace and Jews for Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ). Activists from within the Jewish diaspora in Europe and the US say they are frustrated by politicians such as Smotrich using them and their religion to justify the genocide in Gaza and the occupation of the West Bank. They included groups such as Jewish Voice for Peace in the United States and Na’amod in the UK. They say that the oppression of Palestinians is incompatible with the modern democratic values Israel claims to profess and contest the view that Israel, as a state, should be an established fact. Against the consensus Emily Hilton, co-founder of Na’amod, says her critical view of Israel was formulated after its 2014 assault on Gaza, specifically the military’s killing of four Palestinian children as they played football on a beach. “I began to question the acceptance of Zionist thought from university onwards,” Hilton told Al Jazeera. “I’d met liberal Zionists who might question the politics of Israel, but it wasn’t until I went to University College London that I first began to meet Jews and Palestinians critical of Israel and what it meant.” Hilton went on to join Jewish activist groups in the UK holding traditional Jewish mourning prayers for the Palestinians killed by Israel during the Great March of Return on the Gaza border in 2018. Later, she joined a vigil after the Hamas-led attack on October 7. Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza has killed over 75,000 Palestinians in Gaza and altered perceptions among some in Jewish communities across the world about their links to the country.
The BriefWire