Our event was a mourning procession for murdered Israeli and Palestinian children, not an ‘antisemitic incident’
Pro-Palestinian demonstrators during the “March on Washington for Gaza” rally in front of the White House Jan. 13. Photo by Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Re “ADL counts 3,o00 antisemitic incidents since Oct. 7, two-thirds tied to Israel” by Arno Rosenfeld
To the editor:
I must criticize you for the photo that you chose to accompany Arno Rosenfeld’s recent article, “ADL counts 3,000 antisemitic incidents since Oct. 7, two-thirds tied to Israel.” The demonstration featured in the photograph was not an “antisemitic incident,” but a silent procession of mourning, both for the Palestinian children murdered in Gaza and for the Israeli children murdered by Hamas.
Using this photo in this context is an egregious insult to the large percentage of Jews and others who condemn and mourn for the murder of Palestinian and Israeli children alike.
The procession was organized by mostly elders from Jewish Voice for Peace, as well as other organizations. The flyer that we handed out made clear that we were mourning the death of innocent children in both Israel and Gaza. Participants carried shrouded effigies symbolizing the murdered babies, and some carried photos of Israeli children.
While we had hoped for 500 participants, over 1,000 people took part. The marchers were mostly Jewish, so any charge of antisemitism, as implied by ADL, is totally false. Participants were silent (there were no chants) except for a steady drum beat. The route was through Times Square, and the reception from bystanders was almost universally positive.
I wonder if, under the ”new” criteria of the ADL, they would consider the Bund, strongly anti-Zionist, as having been antisemitic.
— David Bragin
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