Jews Fear For Their Safety at the DNC

Jewish Democrats Meet in Secret Amid Fear

During the third night of the Democratic National Convention the American parents of hostage Hersh Goldberg Polin received a series of standing ovations as they pleaded for the release of all the hostages held by Hamas.  It was openly, an emotional moment.

Beneath the surface, however, Jews within the Democratic Party were expressing fear.

Jews from all parts of the Democratic political spectrum were forced to secretly organize meetings at the convention, miles from the main convention center and at locations that were enforced by heavy security. They were expressing a deep fear of antisemitic attacks, according to Wednesday’s Jewish Insider.  This fear apparently is the “new normal” for the Jews attending the Democratic National Convention in 2024.

The Insider suggested the atmosphere behind the scenes was what it calls an “uncomfortable reality” for Jews at the convention.

Insider reporter Gabby Deutch observed that to attend Jewish Democratic events, participants had to endure long lines as security officials carefully examined everything.

“On Wednesday, afternoon, a line stretched around the block at a restaurant in Chicago’s trendy Fulton Market district,” she wrote. “These people were waiting to be let in to a celebratory lunch hosted by Democratic Majority for Israel, but they couldn’t just walk in – security guards were allowing just three people inside at a time, screening them to ensure every person who walked inside was a registered and approved guest,” she reported.

Deutch writes that the all the Jewish-oriented events at the convention are “rooted in fear of antisemitic protests and loud disruptions of their programs.”  Virtually all their meetings are organized in secret and “attendees did not receive an email announcing the event’s location until hours beforehand.”

She further reported that the Jewish meetings were organized far away from the United Center where the main convention was occurring. “Jewish Democrats would rather gather on their own, miles from the convention center where day-to-day convention programming is happening, rather than risk leaving communal events open, with the possibility of disruption or violence.”

Deutch reported that most of the remote Jewish events “are even officially part of the DNC schedule.”  Deutch outlined the rules: “Interested guests must first RSVP, receive approval and hop in an Uber to a location far from (the convention) at McCormack Place.”

The new procedures were adopted by a wide range of organizations that reflected the entire political spectrum of groups. The new hidden meetings were implemented by the very progressive J Street to the moderate American Jewish Committee to the Democratic party’s Jewish Democratic Council of America.

Most of the private Jewish meetings were filled with praise for the Harris-Walz ticket, the Insider reported, “but they did so behind closed doors – on the record, but open only to those who knew where to find them.”

“The leaders of the convention within the Democratic Party need to speak out and say this is not acceptable. That our space is a ‘safe space’ for supporters of Israel,“ Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld, an activist Rabbi told me from Washington, DC where he has founded a Yeshiva or Jewish school.  

On Tuesday, an Orthodox Jewish group called Agudath Israel faced masked pro-Palestinian agitators despite the fact they notified its members only hours before its event.  Ironically, the meeting topic was about antisemitism.   The group shouted at the Jewish gathering, “brick by brick, wall by wall, Zionism has got to fall.”

The Anti-Defamation League said, “This Orthodox Jewish group was simply targeted for being visibly Jewish.”

There also was violence outside Chicago’s Israeli Embassy where 56 protesters were arrested.  CBS News reported that the vast majority were arrested for disorderly conduct and breaching the peace.

Outside the convention thousands of pro-Palestinian and pro-Hamas demonstrators have continued to roam the streets of Chicago, chanting  such slogans as “from the river to the sea” and “globalize the Intifada.”  The Intifada were two Palestinian terrorist campaigns that planted bombs at Israeli cafes, in bus stations and in shopping malls.  More than 1,100 Israelis were killed.

Rabbi Herzfeld said today’s antisemitic atmosphere is frightening. “It’s a scary time to be Jewish,” he said. “People are being intimidated to speak out in support of Israel.  And that’s very scary.”

Thursday is the last night of the convention when the pro-Palestinian demonstrators will be holding their second rally.  The rally will probably continue its rants against Israel and Jews.

Breakaway violence is again a possibility.