Trump unites community in protest
NO-ONE, IT appears, can bring people together quite like Donald Trump.
Tens of thousands of people from all walks of life demonstrated in central London against Mr Trump’s visit to the UK last Friday. And among them, holding banners calling for “Jewish Resistance” and “Jews against Trump”, were more than 100 members of a Jewish bloc.
Zionists and anti-Zionists were marching together, united for one afternoon.
Amos Schonfield, a member of the left-wing Zionist Yachad group, was one of the bloc’s organisers at Friday’s protest.
“We wanted to make sure we had a voice that was independent and loud,” he said. “We gave no recommendations to people on what they should say. The Jewish voice is a diverse and vibrant and varied one.
“I want to see people showing their Judaism in however it is that makes them feel Jewish.”
Posters held by bloc participants stated “Resisting tyrants since Pharaoh”, “Product of refugees”, and “Oy vey, what a shmuck”.
The most controversial was one saying “Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel”, but there were no arguments to be heard between different members of the bloc.
Imogen Resnick, another organiser, described how within 24 hours of announcing the bloc’s intentions, “we had hundreds of people saying they were interested in coming, everyone was really excited to come out and protest against something we can all rally around.
“I guess in some ways the community has been united in its dislike of Trump. It’s not polarising, because from across the spectrum people are against him.”
That dislike of Mr Trump is not uniform across the Jewish community, however. There are people who feel that because he is pro-Israel, he should be supported.
Ms Resnick described this as “a very unhealthy attitude to take”.
“Trump has emboldened white supremacists. White supremacists hate Jews.
“How can you dismiss that just because you think Trump is good for Israel?
“What’s good for Israel isn’t necessarily good for Jews in the diaspora — and people who love Israel don’t necessarily love Jews.”
As the bloc moved slowly towards Trafalgar Square, people wearing yarmulkes walked near those carrying a “Jewish Socialist group” sign, while students wearing t-shirts of Zionist youth organisations made their way down the street next to a couple of older protesters carrying banners of the far-left “Jewish Voice for Labour” group. Kerry Lambeth, an American Jew living in London, said she found the sight of Jews with wildly different opinions marching together “reassuring”. Charlie Kleinfeld, who describes himself as nonZionist, was carrying a sign saying “Jared is a shanda fur di goyim”, referring to Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law.
The phrase means “a shame for us in front of the nonJews”.
He said it was encouraging to see “all Jews coming together. We’ve witnessed this before, this sort of rhetoric against minorities”.
Amid the many thousands of people at the protest, there were some antisemitic posters to be seen.
One showed Mr Trump as a puppet being manipulated by a blue Star of David.
Another showed a map of America with most of the territory labelled “Israel” and asked “how would you feel?”.
But, as news helicopters hovered overhead, others in the protest paused to listen to the singing coming from the Jewish bloc.
“Oseh Shalom Bimromav, Hu Yaa’se Shalom Aleinu V’Al Col Yisrael, V’Imru Amen.”
“He who brings peace in the heights, may He bring peace on us and on all Israel, and let us say Amen.”