‘Which Side Are You On?’ Politicians Are Asked Following an Attack on Israel.
The brutal attack by Hamas on Israel has changed the political climate in New York, exposing rifts between two of the most significant constituencies in the city: the second-largest Jewish population in the world and a newly re-energized leftist movement that has gained prominence there.
After the Democratic Socialists of America’s New York chapter organized a pro-Palestinian rally on Sunday in the middle of Times Square, the tension erupted. Politicians with close ties to New York’s left recoiled in horror and rushed to address irate Jewish New Yorkers as protesters there applauded the rocket fire that devastated Israeli people.
After the march, carefully worded remarks started to leak onto social media as left-wing Democratic officials tried to distance themselves from the event under increasing pressure without alienating the activists who had supported some of them in their campaigns for government. On Monday, D.S.A. officials started to distance themselves, and on Tuesday, they issued a formal apology “for not making our values explicit.”
The assaults and stunts exposed long-simmering animosity between mainstream Democrats and the socialist-inspired organizations that have gained a stronghold in municipal politics, frequently by mounting tough primary campaigns against incumbents they believe to be too moderate.
In a city with the highest concentration of Jews in the world, it also highlighted how strongly the seemingly distant conflict in Israel resonates in even the most local of political contests.
“Now is not the time for subtlety. It’s going to be really, extremely difficult for people who have been dancing on nuance, according to Stu Loeser, a top Jewish policy advisor to New York Democrats. It’s a crucial “which side are you on?” moment.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the most visible and closely watched democratic socialist politician in the city, spoke out only 24 hours after the incident, condemning the “bigotry and callousness expressed in Times Square on Sunday.” The gathering, she continued, “did not speak for the thousands of New Yorkers who are capable of rejecting both Hamas’ horrifying attacks against innocent civilians as well as the grave injustices and violence Palestinians face under occupation.”
Representative Jamaal Bowman denounced the protest in a message to The New York Times and labeled the incursion by Hamas a breach of international law. Bowman, who was elected in 2020 with the support of D.S.A. activists, is now facing a primary challenge in his mainly Jewish Westchester district. Additionally, a friend of Mr. Bowman revealed for the first time that the congressman had let his D.S.A. membership lapse last year.
But to highlight the complexity of the issues, Mr. Bowman also issued a warning against confusing Palestinian civilians with Hamas militants or losing sight of the “root causes of this conflict.”
The events that took place over the course of those 72 hours perfectly portrayed the complex and ever-changing reality of liberal New York, a city that is both the cradle of Jewish American culture and the origin of the modern American left.
The majority of Democrats in New York still support Israel as a nation-state, although open criticism and opposition have grown in popularity recently. Many younger left-wing activists, especially Jewish ones, see Israel as a powerful oppressor state and consider Palestinian freedom as being directly related to the struggle of racial justice. And a lot of Jews, both young and old, have firmly opposed the right-wing leadership in the country because they think it undermines democracy and poses a threat to the possibility of peaceful coexistence between Jews and Palestinians.
However, in light of the rising death toll among Israelis and the counteroffensive in Gaza, pro-Israel activists are vigorously pressuring all of those groups to put aside their differences in policy and unite as a united force.
The movement is already fighting to maintain the momentum it has enjoyed in New York since the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and the new demand to back Israel at such a critical time threatens to marginalize D.S.A. activists and their elected supporters.
David Greenfield, a famous Orthodox Jewish Democrat and former city councilman, issued the following warning on Sunday: “If you don’t condemn the D.S.A. ‘rally’ that took place today with swastikas, ‘intifada’ signs, and chants of ‘river to the sea,’ then we KNOW you hate Jews too.” And we won’t forget it ever.
A generation of progressive politicians from large cities, notably Larry Krasner, the district attorney of Philadelphia, and former mayor Bill de Blasio, were supported in their campaigns by powerful public relations executive Jonathan Rosen. But on Sunday, he attacked his own allies, warning that the far left ran the risk of being shunned in neighborhoods with sizable, liberal Jewish populations like the Upper West Side and Park Slope.
Mr. Rosen declared, “The very far left and the D.S.A. made a profound miscalculation.” We don’t love the state of Israel any less because liberal and progressive Jews have been outspoken opponents of how the Israeli government has failed to uphold its ideals.
The announcement of Sunday’s demonstration came at a delicate time as New Yorkers processed the news of the Hamas strikes and some hastily tried to contact friends or family who might have been affected by the devastation in Israel. A city that takes pride in its diversity was put to the test as New Yorkers trying to defend the murder of Israeli civilians clashed in Times Square with Jewish and pro-Israel counterprotesters waving Israeli flags and shouting, “Go back to Gaza.”
Many in the audience applauded as one speaker described the thousands of missiles fired from Gaza by what she dubbed the Hamas “resistance” on civilian targets in Israel. Others chanted, “From the river to the sea! “, which Jews interpret as asking for the destruction of Israel. Palestine shall be liberated.
By Monday, even the D.S.A. appeared uneasy.
Jeremy Cohan, co-chair of the D.S.A. branch in New York City, stated in an interview that the organization had supported the rally at the request of a Palestinian solidarity group, though he was unsure which, and that the D.S.A. had neither organized or funded the event.
He stated, “I don’t regret opposing war and advocating for an approach that addresses the underlying causes of this conflict, not even for a moment.” He confessed that “We didn’t convey that message in a way that truly understood the pain of all the people involved in the conflict.”
Additionally, Mr. Cohan stated that he saw the criticism to be “an opportunistic move by New York’s political establishment to try to drive a wedge in the growing progressive left ecosystem.”
A little over a dozen members of the D.S.A. and other far-left organizations hold elected office in New York City, where their membership hovers in the tens of thousands. But they have had a disproportionate impact on national and local political discourse, helping to move the Democratic Party’s center to the left.
Most people are considered secure in their chairs. However, increased attacks on Israel may present a chance for more moderate Democrats to discredit DSA-aligned officials and hasten the party’s return to the mainstream centre in advance of the 2018 midterm elections.
Their chances for elective office throughout the state, and particularly in the city, where Jews make up about one in nine citizens, could be impacted by how they traverse the fault lines surrounding Israel.
Jewish political and religious groups that lean left are also experiencing difficulties.
Jewish Currents editor-in-chief Arielle Angel said that in her part of the political world, there was a desire to acknowledge the horror of the attacks without losing sight of the decades of Palestinian suffering that had informed them. Jewish Currents is a leftist publication that has been outspoken in support of Palestinian rights.
According to Ms. Angel, “Jewish groups generally are struggling with the death toll as well as the fact that this kind of violence feels completely inevitable,” despite the fact that same Jewish groups have long issued warnings against it.
Jews who attend services at Congregation Beth Elohim in Park Slope, Brooklyn, experienced a quick turnaround as a result of the Hamas attack as well. The congregation has been protesting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policies for the past nine months. On the other hand, on Saturday they sang the Israeli anthem at the morning services.
The congregation’s rabbi, Rachel Timoner, a prominent advocate for progressive Jews in the borough, wrote to temple members the following day to let them know that C.B.E., as it is known, was “in unequivocal solidarity with Israel and Israelis.”
In a phone interview, she asserted that Israel had “every right” to protect itself and its citizens and that Hamas had always been committed to the eradication and murder of Jews.
Let’s discuss oppression and how to ensure both peoples’ safety, self-reliance, and freedom on another day, she said. “Let’s not protest today for those who are being killed and taken hostage.”