NEW YORK
\nJewish New Yorkers grieving after Hamas\u2019 attack on Israeli civilians are split over the country\u2019s response, with some voices urging Israel to defend itself and others increasingly warning of Palestinian \u201cgenocide.\u201d
\nNew York\u2019s Jewish population is the largest outside Israel \u2014 1.6 million people whose diverse political views regarding the US ally and the Palestinian cause have come to the fore since Hamas\u2019 bloody assault and taking of hostages, and the deadly Israeli bombing campaign that followed.
\nAs Palestinians in northern Gaza attempt to flee an expected Israeli ground invasion, aid agencies are warning of a growing humanitarian crisis in the blockaded enclave that Israel has cut off from electricity, water and fuel supplies.
\nFriday evening hundreds of New Yorkers gathered in Brooklyn in solidarity against Israel\u2019s offensive \u2014 which has killed more than 2,200 Palestinians \u2014 wielding a banner emblazoned with the message \u201cJews Say Stop Genocide Against Palestinians.\u201d
\nProtesters called on the United States Congress to demand a cease-fire and cut off the billions in funding for Israel.
\nThe rally was sponsored by the left-wing organization Jewish Voice for Peace, and saw demonstrators march to the home of top US Senator Chuck Schumer.
\nSchumer, who is Jewish, was preparing to lead a delegation of senators to Israel as a show of support.
\n\u201cThere is only one way to end violence and that is to address the root causes of everything happening: 75 years of Israeli military occupation and apartheid, and end US complicity in this systemic oppression,\u201d said Jay Saper of JVP.
\n\u2018Existential threat\u2019
\nSome Jewish New Yorkers, meanwhile, have said the horror of the Hamas attacks, which left more than 1,300 Israelis dead, has bolstered their advocacy for Israel.
\nPhilip Wolf, 25, told AFP that he didn\u2019t grow up religious, but \u201chaving had family wiped out in the Holocaust, I know the critical importance of the continued flourishing Jewish state.\u201d
\n\u201cAfter the events of the last week, that connection feels even stronger.\u201d
\nProminent Jewish organizations including the American Jewish Committee and United Jewish Appeal backed pro-Israel demonstrations this week that drew crowds in the thousands, as well as staunch support from most local authorities, including New York state\u2019s Governor Kathy Hochul and the city\u2019s mayor, Eric Adams.
\nTwo days after the Hamas attack, Arthur Schneier, the longtime senior rabbi at Manhattan\u2019s Park East Synagogue, called the assault \u201cthe most existential threat to Israel since its founding in 1948,\u201d a message that echoed Israeli authorities.
\n\u201cAs the American Jewish community,\u201d he said, \u201cwe have a special responsibility.\u201d
\nNew York Rabbi Melissa Buyer-Witman said, \u201cI am confident the Americans will again unite and support Israel whether they are Jewish or not,\u201d speaking to AFP during a prayer service for the dead.
\n\u201cContinue to keep Israel in your faith, in your thoughts,\u201d she said at the event held at Temple Emanu-El, the first reform Jewish congregation in New York.
\n\u2018Crime of apartheid\u2019
\nPublic opinion in the United States, and in particular American Jewish opinion, \u201chas always had much more sympathy for Israel than the Palestinians,\u201d said Alex Kane, a senior writer at the progressive magazine Jewish Currents.
\nBut the past decade has seen an uptick in criticism of Israel, he said, including over the country\u2019s treatment of Palestinians and its government\u2019s sharp moves to the right.
\nIn 2021 a poll of Jewish voters by the Jewish Electorate Institute made waves when a quarter of respondents deemed that \u201cIsrael is an apartheid state.\u201d
\n\u201cThat\u2019s a remarkable number \u2014 that\u2019s a lot of American Jews,\u201d said Kane. \u201cIt\u2019s not the majority, but it is a minority that believes that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid\u201d \u2014 a conclusion human rights organizations including Amnesty International have also stated.
\nOver the past week US leaders including President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken have pledged unwavering support for Israel, publicly blessing the country\u2019s reprisals that have included a relentless bombing campaign of Gaza and a call for 1.1 million people, approximately half of the enclave\u2019s inhabitants, to immediately relocate south.
\nIn accord with humanitarian responders and rights observers, organizations including Jewish Voice for Peace have denounced those actions \u2014 and the unequivocal backing from American leaders.
\n\u201cWe recognize that for many, the call to unconditionally support Israel, including sending increased military funding, is coming from a place of deep grief, fear and anxiety,\u201d said Rabbi Alissa Wise, in a statement released by JVP.
\n\u201cBut we know that more weapons will only bring more harm to everyone.\u201d
\nFor Kane, it\u2019s both possible and necessary to \u201csay the attacks on Israeli civilians, and kidnapping of Israelis, is unconscionable \u2014 and collectively punishing Gaza is unconscionable.\u201d
\nThrough grief \u201cwe have to think critically,\u201d he said, or risk fueling \u201chatred and very destructive, bloody actions that Israel is undertaking.\u201d
\n\u201cWe have to be able to hold all these things at once.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW YORK Jewish New Yorkers grieving after Hamas\u2019 attack on Israeli civilians are split over the country\u2019s response, with some voices urging Israel to defend itself and others increasingly warning of Palestinian \u201cgenocide.\u201d New York\u2019s Jewish population is the largest outside Israel \u2014 1.6 million people whose diverse political views regarding the US ally and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361849,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-361828","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n