Be Brave: Condemn the Antisemitism at the Protests

The Holocaust didn’t start with the gas chambers. The Holocaust began with blaming the Jews for the bad economy, blaming the Jews for the result of a war, and blaming the Jews for the misfortune of others. The Holocaust started with normalizing antisemitism. Normalizing antisemitism is what has forced Jews to leave almost every country we have lived in. The normalization of antisemitism is why having a place to go when, not if, but when, our neighbors turn on us is vital to the survival of the Jewish people.

Since October 7th, Teaneck has become a hotbed of suburban anti-Israel protests, the first one being October 15th. Anti-Israel Protestors regularly scream the antisemitic chant “From River to Sea Palestine will be Free!” at protests of private real estate events, Zaka speakers, IDF speakers, and resolutions condemning Hamas. The underlying reason for the protests is obvious. The protests are meant to harass and intimidate Jews.

On March 10th, a protest at Congregation Keter Torah had over 1000 people. The protestors threw water bottles at people,  threw red paint at cars, told Jews to “go back to Auschwitz!”, “your hostages are dead!”, “your hostages are still being raped!”, “There is only one solution- intifada revolution!” and Nazi salutes were seen. When a man carrying an Israeli flag walked down the public street, he was surrounded, and his flag pulled down. Teaneck police were forced into the crowd to get him out safely. The flag was later run over repeatedly in the street.

Councilwoman Hillary Goldberg and Councilman Mark (Mendy) Schwartz hold half of the Israeli flag run over by the protestors outside Keter Torah.

Only a few weeks later, Within Our Lifetime, learned that Zaka was speaking at Congregation Bnei Yeshurin. Within Our Lifetime is known for their large anti-Israel protests in major cities, including shutting down the Brooklyn Bridge and the Columbia Encampment. Within Our Lifetime called for a protest in suburban Teaneck. Rather than stay home, the community had enough. The Jewish Community of Teaneck proudly and beautifully came together and drowned out the hateful words of the protestors with music and dancing for hours. When the protest was over, Teaneck sang Hatikvah as Nerdeen Kiswani was escorted back to her transportation and out of Teaneck.

Teaneck continues to experience weekly car caravans through Jewish neighborhoods, and “ceasefire” protests at the local armory take place by locals who demand a ceasefire but never call for the release of hostages. There were protests against IDF soldiers at the Young Israel of Teaneck by the Naturei Karta. Town Council and Board of Education meetings have been regularly experiencing the playbooks passed around the country to cause disruption. These protests are not pro- anything, they are anti-Jew.

In Teaneck, the only non-Jewish member of the Council who has condemned the antisemitism at the protests is Mayor Michael Pagan. The silence by leaders validates hatred towards the Jewish community. By ignoring our suffering, they are ignoring the Jewish life experience. The failure of those to condemn antisemitism has allowed hate to spread to the highly dangerous levels we are at today. Leaders cannot continue to claim that these protests are about fighting for Justice, the Palestinian cause, or civil rights.

Teaneck was once again the target of antisemitic protests this past week. While the numbers were small, flyers calling to “Flood Teaneck for Palestine!” were disseminated on Instagram. The “Flood” references the October 7th terror attacks, which Hamas calls the “Al-Aqsa Flood.” Within minutes of being there, I could hear “There is only one solution- intifada revolution!” on the megaphone. Expressing the need for “one solution” through “intifada” draws association to Hitler’s Final Solution. Words that both directly and indirectly call for violence against Jews ignore our suffering.

I was not sure if I was in 2024 or the 1500s when I heard, “Jews killed Jesus!” Holding Jews collectively responsible for the death of Jesus is literally one of the oldest antisemitic conspiracy theories and has been used for centuries as an excuse to murder Jews. The most shocking and violent moment, however, was when a man reached into his backpack and pulled out the Israeli Flag. The protestors began stepping on it, stomping on it, spitting on it, and eventually tore it to shreds. The pain of watching this brought a lump in my throat and forced me to hold back my tears. I watched this unfold in front of my eyes, and there was nothing I could do but bear witness. At the end, a man got up on the megaphone to celebrate and cheer the murder of IDF soldiers by Hamas, and I watched in horror as the crowd cheered back with him.

When they say Zionist, they mean Jew. When they say “from river to sea”, it has one meaning and one meaning only. When they say intifada, it calls for violence against Jews. When they say Ceasefire, they ignore that Hamas has said they will commit that horror repeatedly until they kill us all, and they ignore the hostages that remain in Gaza. There are words we do not say. Why is it that when Jews ask people not to use certain words, they get told it means something else?

Recognizing and condemning antisemitism when we see it is not divisive or international politics. We must recognize it and condemn it immediately. The only people that are to blame for every single life lost on that horrific day, and every single life lost in Gaza, is only Hamas. So why is every Jewish person everywhere, let alone the Jewish population of Teaneck, New Jersey, to blame for any military decisions made by Prime Minister Netanyahu?

I will not allow any resident to live in fear, I will not allow our houses of worship to be threatened, and if I am only screaming into the dark abyss, the residents experiencing horrific levels of fear and antisemitism are a little less afraid.

We cannot do it alone.