The misguided “bike ride” through Rittenhouse Square was so difficult and painful to watch that I chose to write about it this week. Normally, as you know, I write about consumer issues. Denise Clay Murray’s column on Sunday was also so great that I did not plan to write about the bike ride, but I have lost sleep and do not want to be silent.
I am a Jew, a self-defined Hillel Jew who attempts, every day, to live by his interpretation of the Torah — “that which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbor” — and attempts to answer Hillel’s three questions with all my actions.
As background, I believe that what the Israeli government is doing in Palestine is genocide. I believe Hamas’ attack on Oct. 7, 2023 was a terrorist act. In the 1970’s, I donated money to plant trees in Israel. I believe that both the Palestinians and the Jews should have safe homelands in which they can prosper, and be free to live in other countries if they wish.
If I were to be kind to the organizers of the bike ride, I would say they were insensitive and misguided. Not just for the reasons so many have pointed out — the demonstration was on the eve of Kristallnacht — but because they did not protest at the stores of any non-Jewish Zionists. It is not possible to believe that the people participating in the bike ride are unaware that not all Zionists are Jews. Yet the bike ride chose to ignore the non-Jewish-owned companies that support Zionists. The bike ride limited its protest to Jewish-owned businesses.
Consider that for a second. Chick-fil-A is a business owned by Christians, which has supported evangelical groups, like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, which is Zionist. Chick-fil-A lists a location near the bike protest route. Yet the Bike ride group chose NOT to protest in front of one of the Chick-fil-A restaurants, just Jewish-owned ones. If the decision to only target Jewish owners, and not all Zionists, wasn’t antisemitic, what was it?
To be clear, not all Jews are Zionists, and there are Zionists who are not Jews. Not all Zionists support Israel’s genocidal actions against Palestine, and there are non Jews who support the horrific slaughter of Palestine. It is deeply troubling to hear self-described progressives supporting the bike ride’s claim that any Jew who is a Zionist is not welcome to live in Philadelphia.
The misguided bike ride has led some Jews to claim America is becoming more antisemitic. There should be no doubt that as there are racists, and there are antisemites. But the belief that antisemitism is rampant in the United States is undercut by the number of Jewish Governors. It’s not only Pennsylvania that elected a Jewish governor (Jewish population 3.3%); it’s also Colorado (1.95%), Delaware (1.63%), Hawaii (.69%), Illinois (2.62%), and North Carolina (.05%). Georgia elected a Jewish man by almost 20%, a state that gave the KKK’s presidential candidate, George Wallace, its electoral votes less than 50 years ago.
It is also upsetting to see so many people confuse the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) with the voice of Israelis or American Jews. The AIPAC-affiliated political action committees represent the interests of American billionaires, defense contractors, and some past Koch Brothers organizations. Believing that AIPAC represents the hopes and aspirations of Israelis or even Jews living in the United States is like believing President Trump’s PACs represent the Texans. An In These Times analysis of the hundreds of people and organizations financing AIPAC’s electoral efforts found that the funders “are largely in line with the interests of Wall Street and other corporate actors… The 528 individuals and corporations who gave to United Democracy Project, founded by AIPAC, between January 2023 and February 2024 are largely top-level executives from the finance and real estate industries, along with a smattering of billionaires and other members of the 1%.”
AIPAC and its PACs are objectionable and should be fought. Not because they are Jewish or even because they are supportive of Israel, but because the PACs represent the interests of the billionaires, defense contractors, and the corporations that profit from war. Many of the same people who fund Trump’s PACs fund AIPAC’s PACs (Yes, it’s Jeffery Yass again).
There are difficult questions that should be answered. Is it wrong to have countries built on ethnicities? Is it all right for Ireland, Japan, and Bhutan to exist as countries for people of a shared heritage? Do the native people in the United States have a right to exclude non native people from their land and from voting in their elections? When the genocide ends, and we must make it end, will people oppose a state of Palestine for the Palestinians?
Our challenges are great. We should all be able to condemn genocide and support people’s right to disagree with the best way to put an end to the killing. Hating those who don’t agree with us and demonizing others will not help.
Our reporters sit through hours of city council meetings, dig through piles of documents, and ask tough questions other media overlook. Because we’re committed to addressing Philadelphia’s poverty crisis — and challenging those who sustain it. If you think this work is important too, please support our journalism.
We’re counting on readers like you.
