Yesterday, a rally against antisemitism took place on the National Mall next to the Capitol Building in Washington, DC, in response to the rising antisemitic violence in the US.
I watched online. Some of the speakers were powerful, speaking eloquently and passionately.
Yet I could not help but feel disenchanted with the relative lack of support.
From my vantage point, it did not seem like a huge crowd. And sure enough, I am reading 3,000 people attended. The vast majority were certainly Jewish. Online, there were about 1,000 views in real time, with the YouTube video count now at just over 10,000.
So what happened? I believe it was a hot day. But that is no excuse. Surely at least tens of thousands could have attended to show solidarity with the Jewish community. The antisemitic “From the River to the Sea” rallies seemed better attended, in addition to being louder. Black Lives Matter protests have been very well attended. And of course, “Black Hitler” Louis Farrakhan can get nearly a million dudes to march for him.
One issue seems to be the Jewish community is divided on this – or more accurately, a large number of Jews are deluded and in denial. Large left-leaning organizations. like J Street, T’ruah and Americans for Peace Now, declined invitations to cosponsor the rally. Members of these organizations, as well as other members of the left, even spoke out against the rally.
J Street actually had the chutzpah to “affirm its commitment to confronting antisemitism”“, which included this paragraph:
In the wake of the most recent escalation of violence in Israel and Palestine and very real concerns across our community about a further spike in antisemitism, we must also be clear that verbal or physical attacks on Jewish people in response to actions of the Israeli government are abhorrent, unjustified and antisemitic. Those who conflate Jewish identity with support for the actions of the Israeli government — or who seek to classify fair criticism of the Israeli government as a form of antisemitism — only divide us further and undermine the goal of freedom, security, justice and self-determination for both Palestinians and Israelis.
What this rally should show us more than ever is how we cannot rely on others to defend us. Yes, there are many non-Jews who do support us, but where were they yesterday? We cannot even rely on many of our own.
The fight against Jewish hatred will continue to be long and ugly. The good news is we will win it. We have the determination that has kept us alive during thousands of years of persecution, with the added bonus of our homeland back in our hands.
Update: Occasional Israellycool contributor Virag – who actually attended the rally – shares many of my sentiments about it:
As I am riding the bus back to New York City, I am trying to put my thoughts together about the No Fear Rally that I – and many of you – attended in Washington D.C. today.
I am puzzled. And I do not like to be puzzled. Especially not when this puzzledness is leaning towards being pessimistic.
I am a firm believer in street activism. I wrote about it before how even at age 14, I was on the street against the remaining of the Communist regime. And there was this beating energy in the crowd – the intangible energy that left us hopeful and hyped for days to come.
I am no newbie for the Jewish, Israel-related rallies. In fact, I helped organize several of them. So I really know how much work is behind such demonstrations.
This post is not to undermine anyone’s efforts. Take no offense to it.
But I am also not here to be the token non-Jew Zionist who is to be loved as long as she says what everyone wants to hear.
Obviously, it is wonderful how the Jewish/Zionist communities are finally mobilizing. This is new, and I do give credit to our work at #EndJewHatred that was grounded as a movement exactly with the aim to mobilize the Jews and their allies when injustice happens.
I also know it was extremely hot today.
I also heard so many people complaining about how this was a last-minute event or that event was not promoted properly.
Excuses and excuses.
I do not recall the anti-Israel rallies being advertised weeks ahead – like this one actually was – and still managed to mobilize over 20K people.
I do not recall the anti-Israel protests ever attracting fewer people because it was raining or too sunny. No, their Jew-hatred was stronger than weather hazards.
I am harsh with great intentions. I could be gentle and polite, but then would any of you get triggered enough to do more?
I doubt.
Today’s rally was a great event to have a cup of coffee in the park with friends. But will it move the needle? I doubt.
A few Jewish media outlets will cover it, say a few hundred people show up (actually, we were in the thousands), but what happens tomorrow?
From an event organizer’s perspective, it was way too long with way too many speakers and very few goosebumps-inducing moments. From the many speakers, only a few of them offered an actual story that would emotionally or intellectually encourage me to stand up to Jew-hatred.
The pure fact that only Neturei Karta came to anti-protest such a rally is kinda a failure in and of itself. In Los Angeles, at least we raised the awareness of the Jew-haters who came and yelled at us: Free Palestine from the River to the Sea so that we could acknowledge their Jew-hatred again.
Here, it was in the echo-chamber and even for that a very flat one.
I like to actually engage with the people who show up at these rallies.
And as I was doing my tour- de-table rapid interviews, most people said the event was not promoted at all.
So my question to the big bucks sponsors of this rally is: what did you do to mobilize people apart from placing your logo on the flyer?
Again, I am harsh, but this is a well-known issue in this niche, and unless we enjoy the status quo, we need to talk about it.
Very few rallies left me empty and fearing that what we are doing is just deflating our energies…sadly, today’s rally is not making me sit here on the bus with the hype I am used to.
I still loved these two days.
I had the chance to meet some amazing people that I have been working with for months or years but never had the chance to meet in person.
I also had the chance to hear out Jewish people in D.C. about their experiences, worries, hopes, and needs.
And to end on a positive note, of course, it was worth it. We did raise awareness; we did show up. So never stop doing it.I only wish we would think about the next day as well and not only posing for our egos and with logos.
I might be a dreamer, but I want more… don’t you?
