Not our president(s): Jewish protesters demonstrate against Netanyahu and Trump

Published February 16th, 2017 - 08:56 GMT
Wednesday's protests outside the White House (Mandel Ngan/AFP)
Wednesday's protests outside the White House (Mandel Ngan/AFP)

As the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US President Donald Trump in Washington on Wednesday, opposition was to be expected. In fact, the streets of the capital have rarely been empty of dissenters since the controversial Commander in Chief's inauguration last month - and the Israeli leader is hardly any less divisive.

However, there is one group whose disapproval of the visit we might not have foreseen: the Jewish community. Protests were held by Jewish groups across the country yesterday, as Netanyahu met with his American counterpart for the first time.

Large numbers of Orthodox Jews demonstrated outside the White House on Wednesday in opposition to Israel’s compulsory military conscription, as well as what they see as its brutal tactics to silent dissent with regard to the draft policy. In 2014, Israel suspended an exemption on military service for scholars of the Jewish religion, to the outrage of many.

The demonstration was called by Rabbis of the Central Rabbinical Congress (CRC) of the USA and Canada, an organization representing 250,000 North American Orthodox Jews.

"The Israeli Army is an irreligious entity, and it is impossible for Orthodox Jews to fully practice their religion while in the army. We cannot serve in the army; because, the Torah prohibits us to create a state before the coming of Messiah... because, the Torah prohibits us to wage war against any sovereign nation!" said Rabbi Aaron Jacobs, a representative for the CRC.

Banners with slogans calling out Israeli settlement activity were also seen amongst the crowds.

Many pro-Palestinian activists also gathered outside the White House in protest against Trump's appointment of David Friedman, a hard-line supporter of Israeli expansion into Palestinian territory and of moving the embassy to Jerusalem, as US Ambassador to Israel.

Only a mile away, Jewish organization IfNotNow, which campaigns “to end the American Jewish community's support for the occupation”, arranged a further protest outside the Trump International Hotel.

“As Netanyahu comes to DC to meet with Trump, the opportunity is clear [...] These two men are really two sides of the same coin,” Ethan Miller of IfNotNow told Middle East Eye.

“As young Jews, we’re standing up to both to reject the failed policies of the occupation and to prevent similar policies from taking place here at home."

Meanwhile, in New York, members of the Antifa (Antifascist) movement marched on Trump Tower to protest the meeting of the two leaders. Demonstrators, including Jews and Muslims, carried placards critical of Israel and Trump and chanted: “We don’t want no Jewish States, let’s go back to 48,” Haaretz reported.

“We oppose nationalism in any form it takes, whether it is white nationalism, Christian nationalism here in the U.S., or Jewish nationalism in Israel,” Michael Alexander, a Member of the “MuJew Antifa” which is “a Muslim Jewish Anti-Fascist Front,” told Haaretz.

“The fact that Bibi saw fit to announce that he is building 500 new settlement housing units in the West Bank was a call to action. We see it as the same struggle against oppression."

In San-Francisco, a Jewish group demonstrating outside a Trump-owned building stopped traffic on Wednesday as they protested “global fascism”. Campaigners could be heard chanting: “From Palestine to Mexico, border walls have got to go,” the Observer reported.

Trump may have pleased hardline pro-Israel supporters by expressing his desire to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, and this week moving away from the two-state policy of decades of US diplomacy. However, many American Jews have been highly disturbed by the new President’s rhetoric and his choice of cabinet members, accusing him of striking an anti-semitic tone.

These accusations were bolstered when Trump failed to mention Jews in his Holocaust Memorial Day speech, something that Netanyahu defended him for during Wednesday's press conference.

These latest protests were yet another sign that Trump’s line with regard to Netanyahu and Israel will not necessarily win him the hearts of US Jews.

RA

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Tags:WashingtonJerusalemNew YorkWest BankDCSan-Franciscomiddle east eyejewishTwitterHaaretzFacebookCongressTrump InternationalCongressWhite HouseIsraeli armyAntifaIfNotNowUS Embassyarmy2017Many pro-PalestinianAaron JacobsEthan MillerMichael AlexanderEvan WeberDavid FriedmanBenjamin NetanyahuDonald Trump
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