Kenneth Bob, President, Ameinu 7/26/24
Leading up to this chaotic week in Washington DC, Ameinu leadership was involved in intense deliberations with organizational colleagues around what to say and what actions to take. There were American Jewish leaders counseling progressive Zionists to stay home so as not to get “lumped in with other protesters.” We, however, knew it was our role to support our Israeli allies and the hostage families to speak out against Prime Minister’s Netanyahu’s cynical, politically motivated trip to Washington. In fact, Ameinu recently hosted the newly elected chair of the Israel Labor Party Yair Golan for a Zoom event, and when asked what is the role of Diaspora Jews regarding Netanyahu, he described the “failure” of the Israeli government and called on us to “struggle together to save Israeli democracy.”
To begin the week we joined with our Progressive Israel Network colleagues in a statement which included the following words: “In demonstrating against him, we are also joining nearly three quarters of all Israelis who believe Netanyahu should resign. We are reflecting the urgency to end the war in Gaza and bring the hostages home, and around the feelings of insecurity for all Israelis, Palestinian and Jewish, and the fear of the American Jewish public that Israel will devolve into a pariah state.”
Tuesday evening brought an impressive “Seal the Deal” vigil and press conference with the presence of hostage families who traveled to Washington DC. Representatives spoke in anguished voices, thanking President Biden for his ongoing support for an agreement with Hamas to release all of the hostages. Aviva Siegel, a released hostage herself whose husband Keith is still in Gaza, said she was begging the prime minister to “take the deal that is on the table.” This sentiment was echoed by other hostage family members as well and reinforced our feeling that we have a moral obligation to do whatever we can to support this cause.
On Wednesday morning Ameinu joined with our friends at the Union of Reform Judaism/ARZA, Americans for Peace Now, Truah and NYC4Kaplan as co-sponsors of the UnXeptable protest rally. I want to thank the Ameinu members in the Washington DC area who joined us in the sweltering heat to chant “End the War, Bring Them Home” and to hear a lineup of speakers, including hostage family members, who laid the blame for Israel’s predicament squarely at the feel of the man about to address Congress.
Navigating heavily guarded, temporary barricades, we made our way into the Cannon House Office and joined a Congressional briefing co-sponsored by Americans for Peace Now (Ameinu’s merger partner) for Members of Congress who chose an uplifting program over Netanyahu’s divisive address. Peace activists Maoz Inon, Aziz Abu Sarah and Nadav Weiman shared their personal stories and were directly asked by Members of Congress for suggestions on actions they can take to better the situation for Israelis and Palestinians. The Members, house staffers and others in attendance were inspired by their positive message in these particularly challenging times.
Walking from the rally to the Congressional briefing, I spoke with Yehuda Cohen, father of Nimrod who is held hostage in Gaza. He told me his next stop was Los Angeles to meet with Jewish groups; he planned to tell them to stop being silent and to speak out publicly against Netanyahu’s stalling tactics regarding a hostage deal. He asked that I share his words as broadly as possible.
And so I will, beginning here.
Kenneth Bob
President, Ameinu
