A counter-protest held at the BAYT, a shul in Toronto, this past March. Photo: Getty Images
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NORMAL? Pro-Palestinian agitators have found a new venue for their hate-filled protests—our shuls.
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’ll admit it. One of the first things that went through my brain as I tried to process the atrocities of October 7 was a sense of relief that my daughter had come back from Jerusalem with her husband and baby for Sukkot, because, somehow, New York just felt safer to me. But the notion that she, or any of us, could have a sense of security in the United States disappeared almost as quickly as my sukkah did, and just a few short weeks later, I was happy
By Sandy Eller to see her go back home to Jerusalem which, once again, felt like the better place to be. Things have gotten ugly in North America since October. Much of the sympathy for the devastating brutality that Israel endured vanished once the IDF began retaliating against Hamas. While the Jewish State certainly has strong supporters in this country, there is a very vocal segment of the population that quickly recast Israel as an aggressor, accusing it of genocide.
Hating on Israel was suddenly in vogue. Anti-Israel demonstrations led to protesters shutting down roadways and bridges, and eventually social media evolved into a battlefield of its own. Turning to the next chapter in their playbook, agitators set their sights on new venues for their vitriol-filled protests—our shuls—bathing our communities in hate and bringing the threat of violence directly to the heart of our neighborhoods.
Fall 5785/2024 JEWISH ACTION
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