NORTHAMPTON — Wednesday’s meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Donald Trump spurred a “day of action” across the United States as Jewish and Palestinian activists rallied in opposition to their policies.
In Northampton, about 30 people gathered at Pulaski Park on Main Street Wednesday evening in protest of Trump and Netanyahu’s meeting as well as plans to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and the nomination of David Friedman as ambassador to Israel.
Signs read “No ban, no wall,” “No building on stolen land” and “No to Friedman, no to apartheid.”
Protesters circled through downtown Northampton shouting “From Palestine to Mexico, all the walls have got to go.”
Protests across the nation were organized by Jewish Voice for Peace, Friends of Sabeel North America, American Muslims for Palestine and the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights.
Rachel Weber, an organizer of the Western Massachusetts chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, led the Northampton rally and discussed the issues of Trump and the Israeli prime minister.
On Wednesday, Trump and Netanyahua held a joint press conference at the White House (see accompanying story).
“The partnership between our two countries built on our shared values has advanced the cause of human freedom, dignity and peace,” Trump said. “These are the building blocks of democracy.”
However, protesters say those “shared values” are ones of racism and discrimination. Rachel Brown, of the local JVP, said both leaders’ policies are rooted in white supremacy with anti-immigrant sentiment.
The JVP’s national day of action had a theme of drawing connections between Trump and Netanyahu.
“Their ‘shared values’ are in reality a shared agenda of walls, militarism, xenophobia, racism, anti-Muslim bigotry,” JVP Executive Director Rebecca Vilomerson said in a press release. “Netanyahu’s cynical denial of the real and dangerous anti-Semitism in the Trump administration makes it clear that he does not represent the interests of Jews around the globe.”
Protesters passed out fliers with a graphic of Trump looking in the mirror and Netanyahu in the reflection.
“Your wall is so great,” the flier reads. “No, your ban is so great.”
“Their racist and Islamophobic agendas go hand in hand,” Weber said to the crowd. “The resistance we are all building to their anti-Muslim, anti-refugee, anti-immigrant, yet also anti-indigenous, policies here in the U.S. and in Israel must go hand in hand as well.”
As for David Friedman, a bankruptcy lawyer, Weber said he is a frightening pick for ambassador. For example, she said, he has endorsed extreme vetting of Muslim immigrants into the U.S. and advocated annexation of the West Bank and Jerusalem.
“Mr. Friedman’s nomination is an alarming signal that the new administration will give the Israeli government a free hand to deepen its fundamentally undemocratic and abusive control over Palestinian land, resources and rights,” Weber said.
The move of the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem is seen as a controversial issue.
“As far as the embassy moving to Jerusalem, I’d love to see that happen,” Trump said Wednesday. “We’re looking at it very, very strongly.”
However, Weber said that would be a “major provocation to all people who hold Jerusalem dear, as a home, including the Palestinian residents who are being steadily and systematically pushed out of the city.”
She said the city is seen as a symbol of holiness and hope for Muslim, Christian and Jewish people as well as many others.
“We are here for justice. That is what we are about; that is our tradition,” Dori Midnight, a local JVP organizer and interfaith minister, said to the crowd at Pulaski Park. “Our resistance is a prayer.”
Caitlin Ashworth can be reached at cashworth@gazettenet.com.