Bala Cynwyd, PA — An LED-box truck displaying the messages "Am Israel Chai Does Not Need Trump" and "Vote For Our Values Not Our Fears" drove through Bala Cynwyd and neighboring towns in Lower Merion for hours on Sunday afternoon.
The truck was coordinated by Project Shomer, a collective of "pro-Israel, Zionist Democrats who felt very strongly that the post-October 7 landscape was not bolstering the narrative of the why [former President Trump] is not the right choice for Israel and for Jews in America," according to organizer Jamie Kantrowitz.
The truck and other social media ads and digital communications running throughout the battleground states were paid for by the Shomer PAC.
Organizers started Project Shomer about eight weeks ago to bring more visibility and narrative to the table that re-emphasized all the different reasons why they feel Trump is not safe for Israel and Jewish Americans, Kantrowitz told The Jerusalem Post.
Kantrowitz said Project Shomer's messaging is from a place where Zionist American Jews can acknowledge and be okay with some of the things that happened for Israel while Trump was president.
It's not actually about being Democrat or Republican as there's people of all political parties that helped in the effort, Kantrowitz said.
"Project Shomer is not a political effort. It's just a never Trump effort," she emphasized.
"We don't believe that Trump is positive for democracy moving forward," Kantrowitz added. "Israel is a democracy. If you don't respect what a democracy is in America, that's unsafe for Israel. If you can't have a strong democracy in America, that's not safe for Israel."
Strategic placement
For over an hour on Sunday, Project Shomer's truck sat a few doors down from the neighborhood-famous Hymie's, an institution New York-style Jewish deli.
Hymie's became a point of contention within the Bala Cynwyd and broader American Jewish community in recent weeks after the Republican Jewish Coalition filmed it's closing argument ad "Deli Talk" from a booth within the resturant.
The ad portrays Jewish women discussing voting for a Republican for the first time because of Israel and antisemitism, which the RJC said should "encourage Jewish voters to listen to their Bubbies: it's OK to vote for Donald Trump."
Less than two weeks after RJC's ad aired, a Democratic organization ad came in to film a pro-Harris spot at the same deli.
Calls for boycotting Hymie's began after the ad aired, which resturant manager Matthew Curry said were misunderstood as n Hymie's did not fund the ad or make any money off it.
The restaurant has received what Curry called "calls of support for voicing an opinion," even though that's not what Hymie's did by allowing the commerical to be shot in its resturant afterhours.
"There's Jewish people on both sides," he said. "Some were a little more upset."
Curry was surprised at how many people thought it was necessary to voice their opinion after the ad aired and then go as far as trying to affect the business without thinking of the 60-plus staff members employed there.
"We're all in this country to have our own opinions and thoughts and to not be punished for them," Curry said. " And I think some people are losing sight of that. But, you know, we didn't really think there was going to be as big a controversy as it became."
Curry, who described himself as "Jewish only by employment," said he fully expects after Election Day to never hear about the ad again.