Over a quarter of Jewish public commenters expressed support for Palestine during Long Beach’s city council.
Leading up to the Long Beach City Council’s decision to support a ceasefire in Gaza, it became apparent that there was contention among the local Jewish community.
During the public comment portion of the Dec. 19 city council meeting, approximately 38 of the over 150 people who spoke were identified as Jewish; Of these individuals, 27 spoke out against the resolution, while 11 spoke in support of it.
Regional Director of the Anti-Defamation League (A Jewish-rights organization), Peter Levi, expressed that he felt the Jewish community at large was organized against supporting the ceasefire resolution, even if some Jewish individuals disagreed.
“Here in Long Beach, and for one of the first times, the whole Jewish community, organized Jewish community—not necessarily every Jewish individual—but the whole community really comes together, that we cannot support this proclamation as stated for the simple terms that you’ve heard, that it doesn’t take the simple step of condemning Hamas as a terrorist organization.”
Pini Herman, a leader in the Jewish organization IfNotNow (an organization that fights for Israeli and Palestinian equality) and a former member of the Israeli Defense Forces, referred to his group as “part of the newer organized Jewish community.”
“I’m asking you to vote yes on the ceasefire resolution,” Herman said during public comment. “As a former officer in the Israeli Defense Forces, I know that there is no military solution and only ceasefire negotiations, and an end to the 16 years siege, will bring the beginning of peace.”
While Tuesday was the first night there were counter-protesters at the Civic Center fighting for both sides, pro-Palestine protests have continued there for months. Shirin Senegal, a Palestinian resident of Long Beach who has been pivotal in organizing these demonstrations, said they were made possible in part due to the work of her Jewish allies.
“You know, my mom would tell me, ‘I grew up with my Jewish brothers and sisters. They’re my sisters and brothers and I’m never gonna let a government divide us or separate us,’” Senegal told the Signal Tribune. “And that’s how we were raised. Even though she went through the ‘48 War. She survived the bombing at 10 years old. She didn’t have hate in her heart for the people. And I think that that’s a misconception. And in our work, it’s been the Jewish community standing with us.”
Many Jewish commenters on Tuesday took offense to the slogan “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be Free” which they said calls for the elimination of Israel and the elimination of the Jewish people living there.
Marshall Blesofsky, a local Jewish man, spoke at a pro-Palestine rally at the Civic Center on Nov. 14, and shared a differing opinion on the phrase.
“The slogan ‘From the River to the Sea’ also applies to Jews in Israel,’” Blesofsky said. “Because we’re not free until all Palestinians are free, and all Jews are free.”
Blesofsky highlighted the violence faced by Jewish Israelis who speak out against the war, specifically referencing the case of Israel Frey, a Haredi Jewish man who was driven out of his home by an angry mob after a video circulated online of Frey saying a prayer of mourning for Gaza’s dead children.
Blesofsky also stated his support for the “Everyone for Everyone” campaign, which is supported by family members of hostages taken by Hamas. Under this plan, all hostages taken by Hamas would be exchanged for all political prisoners taken by Israel.
Many of the pro-Israel commenters Tuesday night expressed that any ceasefire should be contingent on the return of all the remaining hostages taken during the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.
Before entering the council chamber Tuesday, protesters faced off on different sides of the Civic Center Plaza. Senegal was a peaceful presence throughout the protest. When pro-Israel demonstrators began loudly chanting “Bring Them Home” in reference to the hostages, the pro-Palestine crowd quickly drowned them out with louder chants of “Ceasefire Now,” until Senegal walked into the crowd and told those on her side to be quiet and calm and allow the other side to continue their chants.
The loudest group on the pro-Israel side was a group of young female students from a local Hebrew school who were singing, chanting and shouting throughout the protest, before anyone else. The girls had been left hurt and irate after their school bus was reportedly vandalized with anti-semitic graffiti while parked in the Cal Heights neighborhood of Long Beach.
One of the teen girls was in Israel when the Oct. 7 attack happened.
“We woke up at 6 a.m. and there were a bunch of sirens going off and my family had to run. I didn’t know what was going on. I just jumped out of bed in my pajamas,” said the local Hebrew school student who chose not to give her name. “And it was terrifying because it was also Shabbat for us and we couldn’t go on our phones. So we were sitting in the bomb shelter, we went like eight times that day, and we were only able to look up what happened after the holiday. And it was just horrifying to be there and it was so heartbreaking.”
The students asked the Signal Tribune not to name their Hebrew school, due to fears of violence.
Yanki Greenspan, the father of one of the students, said, “Seeing the protests about genocide, I mean, that’s people accusing me and my family of genocide and so that’s hurtful. I’ve never been afraid to be a Jew in my life—Except when I have been in Israel and when I’ve taken a wrong turn into the wrong neighborhood, that’s obviously been scary—but past that, this is the most scared I’ve ever been.”
Other Jewish protesters standing on the opposite side of the protest condemned the idea that accusing Israel of genocide was offensive to Jewish people or antisemitic.
“I was raised progressive Jewish and seeing the level of destruction being wrought by the Israeli government and the association that they have with Judaism hurts my soul,” said Long Beach resident Philip Belfer. “It goes against all of what I understood modern Judaism to stand for. I want to show that as a Jew, I also understand the humanity of the Palestinian people.”
Another point of contention in the global issue was brought up during public comment: Who is indigenous to the land that Israel and Palestine are on?
“We were there before they were, […] and yet they say Jews don’t belong there,” said Holocaust survivor Yetta Kane in her public comment.
Around 73 A.D., the Romans drove the Jewish people out of Palestine, creating a diaspora where Jewish people were forced to flee to different corners of the world, and often intermixed with other populations. Zionism is based on the idea that after thousands of years away from the land of ancient Israel, it is still the homeland of the Jewish people and they have a right to return.
However, a 2020 study published by the peer-reviewed scientific journal Cell found evidence that modern-day Jewish ethnic groups and Palestinians share the same ancestry, and that an average of 50% of DNA from both groups comes from shared ancestors.
This information was echoed by a Jewish public commenter named Maya in support of the ceasefire resolution, who said, “While we’re talking history, I want to go way back to the Canaanites who were the first people in that land. And from the Canaanites, came the ancient people of Israel, the ancient tribes of Israel, and across the many thousands of years, the different groups that combined to form the ethnic group that is today the Palestinians also descended from the Canaanites. We are literally ancestral cousins.”
[The Signal Tribune is choosing to refer to the current violence as the Israel-Palestine War in reflection of the geographical areas where it is occurring. This is in line with the standard naming of wars, for example the Vietnam War and Iraq War, which the U.S. government has said was waged against the Viet-Cong and the regime of Saddam Hussein, respectively, rather than the other nations at large.
The Signal Tribune also referred to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which was recognized as a genocide by President Joe Biden, as a war.]
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