'3rd Intifada' rally to be held at Miami Israeli consulate

Groups including Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Miami Green Party to attend rally; ZOA condemns protest.

By JORDANA HORN, JPOST CORRESPONDENT
Miami Third Intifada (photo credit: Courtesy)
Miami Third Intifada
(photo credit: Courtesy)
NEW YORK – A protest called “Miami’s Third Intifada Rally for Palestine” is scheduled to commence on Sunday, the day the UN declared Israel’s independence, in front the Israeli Consulate in the city.
There is a Facebook page of the same name promoting the event.
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The page states that participants at the rally will include the Students for Justice in Palestine, SFBDS, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Miami-Dade Green Party and the Palestinian American Organization. The rally will encourage participants to join in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
“Given the political uprisings and reforms rippling throughout the Middle East and North Africa, the Palestinian people have every right to claim their stolen land and their basic humanitarian needs,” the Facebook page states. “Egypt had a tyrannical ruler for 30 years, Libya 40 years, Tunis 32 years and the Palestinians have been deprived of their freedom for 63 years. It is time to put an end to this. We must show the Palestinian people that our government does not represent us, and that we fully support them in their struggle for freedom.”
In March, Facebook removed a page calling for a “Third Palestinian Intifada” against Israel following complaints from the Anti-Defamation League. The page, which had garnered over 340,000 “fans,” called for Palestinians to rise up against Israel’s Jews after prayers on Sunday.
While other rallies are called for the same day – including an “Al Nakba Rally” in front of the United Nations in New York – few, if any, other than the Miami rally are employing “third intifada” terminology.
The Zionist Organization of America’s Florida office strongly condemned the upcoming rally.
In a press release, ZOA Florida Executive Director Joseph Sabag said, “The organizers of this racist, anti-Jewish campaign do not believe that the Jewish State of Israel has a right to exist. Their desire for a ‘Third Intifada’ is part and parcel of a broader call for coordinated attacks by Palestinians and other hostile actors upon Israel. The terminology and imagery being used to promote this local event has been taken directly from the ‘Third Intifada’ page that Facebook took down in March because of its racism and call to violence.
“It’s important that the anti- Jewish bigotry of this rally be exposed and highlighted,” Sabag added. “The terminology and imagery being used in this instance clearly demonstrate that these hostile activists are not intending to express legitimate criticisms of Israel’s policies – but are instead promoting the glorification of terrorism and incitement to violence in the hope of seeing Israel replaced by Palestine.”