Members of the Jewish community were told to leave a Philadelphia block by Black Lives Matter protesters, according to a viral video and tweets from Jewish leaders. They were there to show support for BLM, according to the video.
The video has more than 500,000 views on Twitter. You can watch it below. The Jewish Journal reported that the situation occurred on October 27. The publication identified the people taunting the Jewish men as BLM protesters.”
The situation occurred as protests and rioting unfolded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after the police shooting of Walter Wallace, Jr., a mentally ill man who was armed with a knife.
Here’s what you need to know:
The Video Shows the Men Were ‘Just Showing Solidarity’ But the Crowd Still Turned on Them
The video shows the men being taunted and one being pushed. “Philly waking up. Revelation 2:09, the synagogue of Satan,” a man tells the Jewish men.
“Amalek, what y’all doing down here? You don’t live here,” the Jewish men were asked. (The Jewish Virtual Library explains, “The Amalekites were a people of the Negev and adjoining desert that were a hereditary enemy of Israel from wilderness times to the early monarchy. Amalek, a son of Esau’s son Eliphaz, was presumably the eponymous ancestor of the Amalekites.”)
Another man confronts the Jewish men and says, “Y’all know we the real Jews, right?” “This ain’t your fight. Y’all gotta go,” says another. People yelled at them to leave.
“We’re just showing solidarity,” one of the Jewish men says, but he’s told “Get the f–k out!”
Jewish Groups Expressed Concern
Some prominent Jewish groups are expressing concern about the incident.
Yaacov Behrman, the founder of the Jewish Future Alliance, told the New York Post that one of the victims was afraid for his life.
“This needs to be condemned by all!” wrote Behrman.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center wrote on Twitter: “40 years of Farrakhan’s @LouisFarrakhan themes of poisonous Jew hatred now embedded among young protesters Synagogue of Satan, denial that we are real Jews. Political leaders, media silent.”
Yaacov Behrman, a public relations official for Chabad Lubavitch and public safety chair for a local Democratic Party district committee, tweeted, “Orthodox Jews violently attacked by mob @ BLM protest last night in Philly. They told protesters they were there to show solidarity. Mob shouted anti Semitic & racist hate as they assaulted victims. Spoke to victim, says he feared for his life. This needs to be condemned by all!”
Liora Rez, director of the Stop Antisemitism.org watchdog, told the Jewish Journal, “From the Civil Rights Movement to Ferguson to today’s BLM protest nationally, Jews have been right by the side of the African American community. This physical and verbal assault is a spit in our faces and we demand this be addressed by the likes of Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and the NAACP. We have enough division in this country, the African American leaders need to step up and denounce this immediately!”
One woman wrote, “fighting racism with antisemitism is not fighting racism. it’s just spreading more hatred.”
*story by Heavy.com