WASHINGTON – As Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich kicks off his first official trip to the United States on Sunday by speaking in a guarded hotel ballroom, hundreds of American Jews will be protesting his presence outside.
The far-right minister will address Israel Bonds’ national leadership summit at the Grand Hyatt Hotel, just two weeks after calling for Israel to wipe out the Palestinian village of Hawara. An array of Jewish-American organizations, and also Israeli expats, intend to use the event to send a message to Smotrich, his host organization, and those watching in both Israel and the United States.
Smotrich’s widely condemned remarks – combined with his already well-established record of anti-Arab racism, homophobia, misogyny and distaste for non-Orthodox denominations of Judaism – led dozens of U.S. Jewish leaders and organizations to disavow him and pledge to deny him a platform in the United States.
People standing near a burned-out car in the West Bank village of Hawara, following a rampage by Israel settlers at the end of February.Credit: RANEEN SAWAFTA/REUTERS
Israel Bonds refused to buckle to pressure to pull Smotrich’s invitation, noting its long-standing apolitical leanings and need to cooperate with Israel’s Finance Ministry – to the consternation of the vast majority of American Jewry.
While the Biden administration ultimately stopped short of taking the unprecedented step of denying Smotrich an entry visa, no U.S. officials will meet with Smotrich or address the conference due to his attendance.
The widespread abhorrence of Smotrich and anger at Israel Bonds will be reflected by the parallel protests outside the hotel, which will feature groups that would not normally find ideological common ground concerning Israel.
The Progressive Israel Network – 12 U.S.-Jewish organizations dedicated to pursuing democracy in Israel – is organizing a “No to Smotrich, No to Hate” demonstration where speakers from their groups will address the hundreds of anticipated protesters.
“We’re both disappointed that the U.S. decided to let Smotrich in, but glad we’ll be out there to give him a similar welcome to what he’s gotten in Israel in some cases,” says T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights CEO Rabbi Jill Jacobs, who is one of the protest’s emcees.
New Israel Fund Vice President for Public Engagement Libby Lenkinski, another emcee, notes that the protests mark a moment of realignment in terms of American-Jewish organizations taking a stand.
“There’s a real marked difference in what it means to mobilize and try to create narrative change through a warning of what could happen versus around the thing happening,” she says.
Lenkinski adds there is widespread understanding that “the problem is not only Smotrich. But we are actually drawing a red line that has traditionally been very hard for the American-Jewish community to do when it comes to Israeli officials and actions.”
Sending a message
UnXeptable, a grassroots group launched by Israelis opposed to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s extremist government, will hold its own protest outside the hotel. While it is coordinating with the Progressive Israel Network, each of the demonstrations secured their own respective permits – doubtless hoping not to alienate supporters who might find the other organizations’ positions objectionable.
UnXeptable was founded nearly three years ago to hold solidarity protests with Israelis demonstrating against Netanyahu staying in office despite his ongoing corruption trial. Over the past several months, it has organized protests of Israeli expats throughout the country in sync with Israel’s huge protests against the government’s judicial overhaul plans.
Leading Israeli economic thinkers will speak at the hotel prior to the protests condemning Smotrich’s endangerment of Israel’s high-tech industry and his impact on Israel’s status as Startup Nation.
UnXeptable cofounder Offir Gutelzon, a serial entrepreneur and founder and CEO of artwork-saving app Keepy, will be joined by EverC founder and president Ron Teicher, Israel Policy Forum Chairwoman Susie Gelman, Cybereason co-founder and CTO Yonatan Striem-Amit and Dany Bahar, Associate Professor of the Practice at the Watson Institute of Brown University.
“It’s very encouraging how many American Jews and Israelis are planning to attend the ‘Shame on Smotrich’ rally in D.C.,” says Gutelzon. “I’m very excited for the lineup of speakers, and it’s important to send this message with our brothers and sisters in Israel who are turning out in the hundreds of thousands to save Israeli democracy.”
UnXeptable will also host leading women from the U.S.-Jewish establishment, demonstrating the shared sense of urgency to oppose Smotrich. Rabbi Esther Lederman, the Union for Reform Judaism’s director of congregational innovation, will be joined by Jewish Democratic Council of America CEO Halie Soifer and National Council of Jewish Women CEO Sheila Katz.
“We join this rally because of our deep commitment to the U.S.-Israel relationship and the shared values on which that partnership is based, including pluralism and democracy,” Soifer says. “The Israeli finance minister has expressed views that are antithetical to those values, including his recent endorsement of violence targeting innocent civilians.”
Soifer notes she recently joined 130 Jewish leaders, “including many JDCA Board members, rejecting the notion that Minister Smotrich should be honored or given a platform simply because of his role in the Israeli government. We are here today to underscore that message and make it clear that Smotrich’s rhetoric is an affront to our Jewish American values, which we’ll continue to defend.”
Katz, for her part, says “it’s important to articulate the deep pain that so many of us feel for what’s happening in Israel right now. The National Council of Jewish Women stands with our Israeli friends against hate. We are proud to add our voices to those who stand for democracy. We won’t be silent.”
Playing nice
Adjacent to these protests will be demonstrations from Jewish organizations outside of the mainstream who define themselves through their criticisms of Israel and often find themselves at odds with some of the other groups participating on Sunday.
“Smotrich is the great unifier. Everyone hates him. He embodies the worst of this government: Its antidemocratic attacks on the court, its devotion to deepening the occupation and total disregard for the human rights of Palestinians, and its disdain for so many Israeli citizens be they women, LGBTQ community members, Reform and other non-Orthodox Jews, or anyone who does not support the Bibiocracy,” says Americans for Peace Now CEO Hadar Susskind.
Jewish Voice for Peace, which defines itself as an anti-Zionist organization and backs the BDS movement, will hold its protest outside the hotel joined by a delegation of rabbis associated with the group, though not explicitly coordinated with the PIN protests.
The group, however, unambiguously links Smotrich’s positions with Israel Bonds’ mission of “raising money for the Israeli state used to support its ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.”
Despite the undeniable daylight between the organizations, the various protest movements are playing nice and focusing on the issue at hand: Smotrich’s presence.
“We’re so thrilled that so many progressive Jewish organizations are turning out to protest Smotrich. We’re in conversation with them and are really excited that we’ll be bringing our call to both divest from funding the State of Israel, the Israeli government and its genocide-inciting members of cabinet,” says JVP Communications Director Sonya Meyerson-Knox.
IfNotNow, which shares a similar ideological tilt to Jewish Voice for Peace, will join the hotel protest shortly after holding a vigil at Lafayette Park, across the street from the White House.
Jacobs, meanwhile, shares the optimism about the various groups uniting behind a common target, stressing how the ideological differences parallel the ideological diversity present in the protests throughout Israel.
“Hundreds of thousands of people are on the street and range in terms of their political opinions. Some of them are out there fighting occupation, some of them are out there about this particular attack on democracy or about women’s rights,” she says.
“What they’re united in is fighting this government’s overall attack on democracy. If they can manage to do it in Israel, we certainly can do it in D.C.”