CODEPINK joins Palestinian rights activists to condemn the recent violence that took place during solidarity demonstrations for Palestinian liberation in Los Angeles and New York City. “As an American Jew who has witnessed the brutality of the apartheid state that Palestinians are forced to live under every day, and growing unity in the movement for Palestinian rights, I join with Palestinian rights activists to say unequivocally that antisemitism has no place in the international solidarity movement for a free Palestine,” said CODEPINK national co-director Ariel Gold.
On May 20, during a Palestinian solidarity rally in New York City, a 29-year-old Jewish pro-Israel protester was beaten in the street while having antisemitic slurs hurled at him. During the same week, two antisemitic attacks took place in Los Angeles during a car caravan in solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. On Monday, two of the cars in the protest chased a Hasidic Jewish man, attempting to hit him. On Tuesday, people in one of the cars in the caravan got out and physically attacked Jewish diners in a sushi restaurant.
CODEPINK denounces attempts by pro-Israel groups and individuals to use violent incidents, usually unseen in pro-Palestine rallies, to instill fear among Jews and garner support for Israel’s war crimes. This manipulation comes at a time when Israel has just massacred nearly 200 Palestinians, around a fourth of them children, and is ramping up its racist tactics of forced expulsion and violent invasions of the Al-Aqsa mosque compound in Jerusalem.
“Until Israel banned me from entry in 2018 for my support for Palestinian rights, I used to spend 1-2 months a year living in the West Bank with Palestinian families and activists and hosting solidarity delegations,” said Gold, who identifies as an anti-zionist. “During my time there, I never experienced hatred or racism against me for being Jewish. I did however, experience hated and violence from Israeli settlers in response to my support for Palestinian human rights.
Prominent Palestinian rights activists, such as Yousef Munayyer, Linda Sarsour, and Dr. Omar Suleiman, have taken to Twitter to reiterate that the movement for Palestinian rights rejects all forms of racism, including Islamophobia, anti-Black racism, homophobia, transphobia, anti-Asian racism, antisemitism, or other types of hatred.
