May 11 — Hundreds of people took to the streets of Brooklyn, New York, tonight to protest the illegal sale of Palestinian land. The auction was held at the Young Israel of Midwood synagogue in the Midwood neighborhood.
The action was called by PAL-Awda, which has been conducting protests against these racist auctions. Members of the Palestinian Youth Movement; Mamas 4 a Free Palestine; the Neturei Karta Orthodox Jewish Community; Students for Justice in Palestine; Jews Against White Supremacy; and Health Care Workers for Palestine also participated.
These sales of occupied Palestinian land, on the West Bank and elsewhere, violate international law and have been condemned by the United Nations.
Police blocked off Ocean Avenue with barricades at both L and M avenues. Cops used these metal barriers to attack protesters and arrested several people.
They should have stopped the sale instead, which was only open to Jewish settlers. That’s illegal under federal, state and local laws banning housing discrimination.
Ironically, the phrase used in restrictive covenants that forged segregated neighborhoods in the United States was that homes could only be sold to “Caucasian gentiles.” The Black freedom struggle that threw these Jim Crow property deeds in the rubbish also benefited the Jewish Community.
Marching through the neighborhood
Hundreds of protesters faced off against police and local racists at the barricades on M Avenue. “Israel is killing children,” and other banners and signs were carried.
Over 20,000 Palestinian children have been murdered in Gaza. Among them was five-year-old Hind Rajab, who was shot hundreds of times and was the subject of the award-winning docudrama “The Voice of Hind Rajab.”
More children are being killed in Lebanon and the West Bank. Over 160 children were killed when their school was bombed in Minab, Iran.
Demonstrators started marching through Midwood, going north on 19th Street. Racists came out to harass protesters and hurled sexist epithets towards women marchers.
Some of them also hurled eggs. It reminded this reporter of how young and old racists attacked Ruby Bridges and other Black children attending formerly segregated schools. Zionism is racism.
Protesters defended themselves and kept marching.
These bigots were particularly hostile to members of Neturei Karta. To these bigots, Hasidic rabbis saying no to racism was treason. It helps expose the lie that all Jewish people support the racist state of Israel.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has also condemned these apartheid auctions. So why don’t you ban them, Mr. Mayor?
Some of the activists later went to a police precinct to support activists who had been arrested. The struggle against these racist land sales will continue.
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