Jewish Americans who are critical of how Israel and the U.S. are responding to Hamas’ attack say they’re being ostracized by the mainstream U.S. Jewish community.
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As the Israel-Hamas conflict has been intensifying, protesters have demanded a cease-fire. Many Jewish Americans have joined such protests, and some say they’re sometimes met with hostility from within their own communities. NPR’s Jasmine Garsd reports.
JASMINE GARSD, BYLINE: Last weekend, Ally was kicked out of family Shabbat dinner. Ally is 21 years old and from New York.
ALLY: My dad is a staunch Zionist. He said something in the lines of me like, you better not [expletive] have gone to that protest.
GARSD: Ally has gone to many protests and has requested anonymity due to ongoing harassment. Ally has family in Israel, some currently in the Israel Defense Forces.
ALLY: And he was like, you are not welcome at this dinner table.
GARSD: Ally, who is at Columbia University, is part of Jewish Voice for Peace, which is vocally demanding a cease-fire in Gaza. What Ally wants beyond the cease-fire is to address the human rights violations Palestinians have endured over the years.
ALLY: My position as a Jew is that it has always been our responsibility, according to our religion, to stand up for all those who are targeted, all those who are oppressed, all those who are facing violence because, as a people, we’ve been persecuted for so long.
GARSD: Rabbi Ari Lev Fornari, also with Jewish Voice for Peace, says he’s been hearing a lot of this lately.
ARI LEV FORNARI: I don’t know a single person in my community who hasn’t had a fight with a family member in the last two weeks, self included. And some of this is generational.
GARSD: Groups like Jewish Voice for Peace skew young, reflecting a shift in Jewish American political views. It also reflects the Israeli government’s move to the far right, something which feels incompatible for many young, liberal…
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