‘Biden, don’t whitewash Bibi’s coup:’ Pro-democracy protesters rally in NYC, Tel Aviv as leaders meet
Protesters gathered across from the New York City hotel where Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with President Joe Biden on September 20, 2023. Photo by Emil Salman/Haaretz
By Judy Maltz, Linda DayanSeptember 21, 2023
This article originally appeared on Haaretz, and was reprinted here with permission. Sign up here to get Haaretz’s free Daily Brief newsletter delivered to your inbox.
On Wednesday, hundreds of pro-democracy protesters gathered in New York City outside the Intercontinental Hotel, where U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a bilateral meeting. They urged Biden not to “whitewash Bibi’s coup.”
Israel’s pro-democracy protest movement had organized weeklong demonstrations to coincide with Netanyahu’s engagements in the U.S., starting in California and culminating outside the UN headquarters when Netanyahu is scheduled to address the General Assembly on Friday.
At the start of their meeting, Biden said he intends to discuss “democratic values” with Netanyahu.
In Tel Aviv, over a hundred protesters had assembled outside the U.S. Embassy branch office, brandishing banners that read “Joe, need help? Blink twice” and “Joe, help save Israel.” Some of the protesters begun to block the nearby road. In Jerusalem, dozens more protested in front of the American consulate.
Brad Lander, the Comptroller of New York City, spoke at the protest outside the meeting site, and introduced himself as “a proud New York Jew and the highest-ranking Jew in the New York City government.” He urged Biden to take a more assertive stance against Netanyahu.
“We cannot stand by as Prime Minister Netanyahu’s government sabotaged the vision of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state,” he said.
Lander also used the platform to denounce the Israeli occupation.
“There was no democracy with occupation. Any meaningful democratic future for Israel required an end to the occupation. Fighting the occupation was part and parcel of our fight for Israel’s democratic future,” he passionately declared, earning applause from the audience.
Eyal Naveh, a founding member of Brothers and Sisters in Arms, a group at the forefront of the protest movement, stated, “We were here to tell the world that Israeli democracy was under attack, and we were here to remind Bibi Netanyahu that he would not be able to destroy our democracy.”
Naveh was part of a delegation of protest leaders who had spent the week in New York, participating in protests, forging partnerships with American Jews, and fundraising. They had organized four fundraisers at the beginning of the week.
Nancy Kaufman, Chair of the board of the NY Jewish Agenda and immediate past CEO of the National Council of Jewish Women, passionately addressed the protest, emphasizing that “the least we could do as American Jews” was to stand in solidarity with Israeli protesters. “All of us had to say in unison: No more. Not on our watch!” she exclaimed.
“We would no longer have a place to call our second home,” she warned.
Kaufman had recently returned from a trip to Poland where she had visited the concentration camps where millions of Jews had perished. “Let’s not forget that Hitler’s reign of terror began with him being ‘democratically’ elected by the German people,” she reminded the crowd.
Yorai Vardi, third year law student at Columbia: “We will not let the fear of antisemitism keep us from speaking out. We will not let the fear of antisemitism keep us from fighting against dictatorship. We will not let the fear of antisemitism kill the Zionist dream of a just and liberal Israel!”
Rabbi Rebecca Weintraub of Bnei Jeshurun, a leading Reform congregation in Manhattan, noted that this is the time of year when Jews ask for repentance. “And so, we gather here today to cry out,” she said, wrapped in a tallit.
We cry out against the actions of Bibi Netanyahu, the horrific judicial reforms, fascism taking root in Israel. We cry out for justice. We cry out for freedom. We cry out for democracy.”
Randi Weingarten, the President of the American Teachers Federation, made an impromptu appearance, telling protesters “You are our hero’s.”
Offir Gutelzon, a co-founder and leader of UnXeptable, a grassroots global network of Israeli expats protesting the government’s judicial overhaul, addressed his remarks to President Biden. “Thank you, President Biden, for standing with the People in Israel who want to preserve democracy,” he said.
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