Anti-Semitic and anti-Israel groups are scheduled to hold “Day of Rage” rallies and vehicle caravans nationwide and abroad, protesting Israel’s plans to apply sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria, also known as the West Bank.
These events are scheduled to be held on July 1 in Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Salt Lake City, Portland and Madrid; on July 2 in Miami; and on July 4 in Toronto and Misssissauga, Ontario.
The Los Angeles and San Francisco events will be strictly caravans due to the rise in coronavirus cases in California, although no changes have been made to the San Diego event, according to the events’ Facebook pages.
Such rallies and caravans will also take place on July 1 in Albuquerque, N.M.; St. Catharines, Ontario; Halifax, Nova Scotia; and North Bergen, N.J.
The demonstrations are being organized by groups such as Al-Awda, American Muslims for Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace.
‘Answering hate with a message to choose peace’
Jewish and pro-Israel groups denounced the gatherings.
“Al-Awda and other hate groups that organized these rallies are dedicated to ending Israel’s existence and promoting antisemitic propaganda,” said StandWithUs CEO Roz Rothstein in a statement.
In the vicinity of the demonstrations, SWU will be using truck ads with messages such as “Israelis Want Peace,” “Palestinian Leaders: Stop the Hate, Negotiate Peace,” “Palestinian Leaders: Stop Teaching Hate & Rewarding Violence,” “Palestinian Leaders Said No to Peace in 1937, 1947, 2000, 2008 and 2020?” and “Israel Needs a Partner for Peace.”
Additionally, a video will play continuously on one side of the truck, showing the various forms of terrorism that Palestinian leaders have promoted and executed as opposed to negotiating peace. The video will show rocket attacks, knife attacks, car-ramming attacks and setting arson fires to farmland and civilian areas in southern Israel.
“While there is nothing wrong with having an open and vigorous debate about Israeli policies, that is not what these events are really about,” said Rothstein. “We are answering hate with a message highlighting the urgent need for Palestinian leaders to choose peace negotiations over hatred and violence.”
“StandWithUs and the Iranian American Jewish Federation are sending a message that we will not be silent when such groups try to spread hate in our communities,” said Susan Azizzadeh, president of the Iranian American Jewish Federation, in the SWU statement.
Hali Haber of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA) told JNS that “countering dishonest propaganda is vitally important. The cause of peace depends on the public receiving accurate information that tells the whole story.”
“Hopefully, the message is being sent that the pro-peace community won’t let Al-Awda’s hatred dominate the conversation,” she continued. “We need to oppose lies about Jews and Israel wherever they are found—on the streets, on the Internet, on campus.”
StopAntisemitism.org director Liora Rez told JNS, “We are horrified that the Palestinian terror affiliated Al-Awda, as well as Samidoun which is a wing of the PFLP [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine], can operate so freely in the United States and organize hate rallies like today’s ‘Day of Rage’ that does nothing but create further division in a country teetering on the brink of civil discourse.”
The PFLP is a U.S.-designated terrorist group.