A schism formed last week between American far-left anti-Israel activists and US progressive politicians following two high-profile protest incidents and ahead of New York City Democratic Party primaries.
On June 10, activists led by Within Our Lifetime (WOL) staged protests across New York City, which included a demonstration against the October 7 Nova Music Festival Massacre Exhibit. The Exhibit was denigrated as “Zionist propaganda” for manufacturing consent for genocide, and the festival was criticized as a rave next to a death camp by WOL’s leader Nerdeen Kiswani.
The protest saw the waving of terrorist flags, but other moments went viral. A video of a subway car ride showed anti-Israel activists calling for “Zionists” to get out. Another showed a banner unfurled at Union Square proclaiming “Long Live October 7.” Another saw a man praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.
That night, during the Jewish holiday of Shavuot, the homes of Brooklyn Museum officials, including Jewish director Anne Pasternak, were vandalized with terrorist symbols. The Museum had long been targeted by activists for failing to submit to demands to recognize a so-called Gaza Genocide and break any ties with Israel.
It was no surprise that when US President Joe Biden condemned on Friday the “horrific acts of antisemitism” as threatening “all Americans, and our fundamental democratic values” he was disparaged by far-left activists. Kiswani dismissed him as senile.
Elements of the far left progressive camp have long disparaged the mainstream Democrat Party, casting it as complicit in a supposed genocide in Gaza, and have refused to vote for Biden in his November reelection bid. They have mocked the president as “Genocide Joe,” disrupted a March 28 fundraising event in Manhattan, picketed the White House on June 8, and they plan to disrupt the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August.
Yet mainstream Democrat voices were not the only voices issuing harsh condemnations of the protests.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said on social media on June 11 that “the callousness, dehumanization, and targeting of Jews on display at last night’s protest outside the Nova Festival exhibit was atrocious antisemitism – plain and simple.”
Fellow progressive squad member Jamaal Bowman also said that he condemned those “celebrating the innocents killed on October 7.”
“This dark day was the largest attack on the Jewish community since the Holocaust,” said Bowman. “Celebrating it is antisemitic and unacceptable. Peace cannot be achieved by weaponizing our tragedies against each other.”
Members of the city council’s Progressive Caucus condemned the protests. Council members Crystal Hudson and Lincoln Restler issued a joint statement in which they said that the protests had crossed the line, and targeting Pasternak was a “gross display of antisemitism.”
“Our calls for a long-overdue ceasefire and for peace and justice for the people of Palestine cannot and should not be wed with antisemitism or any other form of bigotry,” said the progressive city council members. “What transpired last night is counterproductive to our shared efforts to eradicate hate and intolerance in our city. It shows division at a moment when we should be expanding the coalition in support of permanent bilateral ceasefire.”
Council member Shahana Hanif, who has previously been highly supportive of anti-Israel protesters, condemned the Shavuot vandalism as “unacceptable,” and that “this kind of discriminatory vandalism must not be normalized.”
Conflict from within
There was an immediate and harsh online backlash by Kiswani who called Bowman and Ocasio-Cortez “trash.” She slammed the latter as a “genocide apologist” and outed the politician as having wanted to speak at the group’s events in the past.
“You are worse than any openly fascist politician. At least we know they are our enemies. Liberals like you will smile in our face as you lie to and back stab our communities,” Kiswani wrote on X.
“The complete fabrication here is appalling, yet AOC has nothing to say about a young Palestinian Muslim woman being put in a choke-hold by NYPD yesterday. We are targeted and these ‘progressive’ politicians spin the story. Stop pretending to stand with Palestine while you harm us.”
A GOOD FAITH approach might accept that the protests had gone too far, even though Bowman himself had in the past denied some of the atrocities of October 7, and other mass protests had been supported by the progressive camp. A cynical perspective might note that there is a Democratic primary in New York, and Bowman and Ocasio-Cortez seek to undercut their rivals.
Good Shepherds Collective called on Jewish Voice of Peace to revoke its “sick” endorsement of Bowman in his primary race.
“We’re watching Palestinian organizers get hung out to dry by these politicians while y’all routinely validate them and worse,” the group said on social media last Tuesday. The Palestinians that validate JVP, Jews for Racial and Economic Justice, If Not Now, take a look at yourselves.”
Bowman and Ocasio-Cortez had been characterizing their races as fights against candidates sponsored by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, yet Ocasio-Cortez was accused of seeking AIPAC funding with her comments criticizing the protests.
“We can mobilize to end the atrocities in Gaza and combat the rise of antisemitism at the same time. Bigotry in organizing spaces imperils everyone’s work. I work to end the war, protect ALL my constituents, and fight AIPAC. Believe it or not, you can do all three,” said Ocasio-Cortez. “The accusation that my disgust at antisemitism and bigotry must be because I’m getting paid also reeks of antisemitism. Especially given the absolute mountain of evidence of how I fight AIPAC and other lobbies every day. It’s unsubstantiated, conspiratorial, gross.”
Yet even if progressive politicians are only engaging in this rhetoric now in an effort to win their primary campaigns, far-left activists will not accept momentary political pragmatism, demanding unconditional dogmatic support for the cause. It doesn’t matter if pro-Israel activists or the progressive politicians themselves don’t believe in their stance on the protests, the far-left activists believe it, and don’t accept momentary violations of their dogma. These activists have long memories. Kiswani noted that she said that they “will never forget your cowardice and constant backstabbing of the Palestinian people.”
When Ocasio-Cortez defended her voting record against military budgets for Israel, Columbia Students for Justice in Palestine said that they didn’t want her at the protest encampment at the university because she had “backed the Iron Dome,” in 2021 by voting present.
While activist Linda Sarsour on Instagram called such perspectives self-righteous, the fractures between the streets and the political offices clearly grew last week, and does not show that it will easily be resolved – with Kiswani reemphasizing the perspective that the entire political system had to be destroyed.
“Many politicians and city officials, including AOC, have asked to speak at WOL rallies and meet with our members, We routinely refuse because we know they will always sell our people out. How can you justify being part of the system murdering people around the world? said Kiswani. “This is why electoral politics are a dead end. We will not integrate into the same fascist empire we are fighting against. Even your ‘3rd party’ candidates are just funneling our people back into the sham idea that the system works. Stop exploiting our communities for votes.”