American Jews Hold Solidarity Shabbat Protests in NYC and LA, Responding to Police and Mob Violence Against Anti-War Students Across the Country
Jews in New York City and Los Angeles mobilized in response to the high-profile mob and police violence against students at Columbia, UCLA and USC this week and echoed their demands for divestment.
Protesters lit shabbat candles and shared challah and grape juice in a symbolic Shabbat ceremony.
Image by Ellary Allis
After weeks of repression against anti-war students — culminating in mob and police violence at Columbia and UCLA — and more than six months of relentless violence by Israel against Palestinians, the Jewish communities of LA and New York City brought in Shabbat with concurrent solidarity demonstrations. Hundreds of American Jews from NYC and LA, along with a multi-faith coalition, gathered to take a moral stand against US complicity in the genocide in Gaza and for a permanent, lasting ceasefire. They added their voices to the student demands for their universities to divest from companies profiting from Israel’s assault on Gaza and for Palestinian freedom and equality.
“We reject the lie that Gaza solidarity encampments are a threat to Jewish safety. The police are a threat to Jewish safety. The Israeli government is a threat to Jewish safety,” said IfNotNow volunteer Asher Kaplan. “Jewish safety will never come from endless war and violence, or from cynical alliances with the fascist right. It will only come when all people are safe. Political leaders should be condemning Israel’s war crimes in Gaza, not student protesters taking action for peace.”
UCLA faculty member Melissa Finell shares challah with attendees in a symbolic Shabbat ceremony.
Image by Roman France
UCLA Faculty member Melissa Finell spoke to democratic leadership at the city, state, and national level: “Do your jobs: stop arresting students, stop criminalizing free speech, and stop passing laws that conflate anti-zionism with antisemitism. Stop manipulating my Jewish community’s very real history of trauma and using it to feed your war machine.”
Sasha Perry, Rabbinic Intern at Nefesh, represented Rabbis for Ceasefire at the LA Shabbat.
Images by Sea Sloat
The protesters also took the opportunity to express that the encampments at colleges and universities across the country are a direct result of the pro-Israel movement propped up by institutions like the American Israel Public Affairs committee (AIPAC). “The status quo is opposed by tens of thousands of American Jews. It is not a Jewish agenda, it is a pro-Israel agenda. It has been intentionally built and enforced over decades by the pro-Israel movement, by organizations like AIPAC, by the Israel American Council, by the Jewish Federation, and many more of their allies. These are the groups who called for a pro-Israel rally at the UCLA encampment last Sunday, which set the stage for the violent attacks on the encampment that followed,” said IfNotNow volunteer Noa Kattler Kupetz. “We are Jews who fight loudly against the systems that dehumanize, that pit us against our neighbors for the benefit of those in power. We reject those systems, and we commit to working to undo them. This Judaism fights loudly for Palestinian safety and Jewish safety, and we know that one will not exist without the other.”
Speakers from LA:
Melissa Finell (a Jewish UCLA faculty member)
Rabbi Robin Podolsky
Reverend Edgar Rivera Colón (from the Fellowship of Affirming Ministries, and Clinical Assistant Professor of Medical Education at USC Keck’s School of Medicine)
Sasha Perry (Rabbinic Intern at Nefesh).
Speakers from NYC:
Reverend Rashad Moore, First Baptist Church of Crown Heights
Rabbi Abby Stein, Author and Activist
Zohran Mamdani, NY State Assemblymember
Peter Beinart, Journalist
Rana Abdelhamid, former candidate for Congress
IfNotNow is a movement of American Jews organizing our community to end U.S. support for Israel's apartheid system and demand equality, justice, and a thriving future for all Palestinians and Israelis.