D.C. protesters trying to link Black Lives Matter to Palestinians chant, ‘”Israel, we know you, you murder children too.”
By Benjamin Kerstein, The Algemeiner
Protesters attempting to link the Palestinian cause with the Black Lives Matter movement shouted anti-Israel slogans and recited anti-Semitic poems in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday.
The Washington Examiner reported that the march of roughly 200 people was headed by Harvard University senior Christian Tabash, who led the marchers in the somewhat awkward chant, “Israel, we know you, you murder children too.”
An Examiner journalist, Nicholas Rowan, posted a video of the marchers chanting on Twitter.
The Examiner stated that the crowd quickly switched to shouting “Black lives matter” and “Palestinian lives matter” while flying Palestinian flags.
Tabash then read an anti-Semitic poem that called Israel the “puppet master of continents.”
The march was independent of the Black Lives Matter movement itself and did not appear to be officially affiliated with BLM.
Amanda Berman — executive director of the progressive Zionist organization Zioness — told The Algemeiner, “While activists for Palestinian rights have every right to make their voices heard, it is distracting, divisive, inflammatory, and blood libelous to exploit this moment to accuse Israel of ‘murdering children,’ shout ‘Palestinian lives matter,’ and pull attention away from this crucial domestic fight for equity and equality for our Black siblings.”
Berman urged American Jews not to be deterred by attempts at co-opting the BLM movement, saying, “Those who are working to insert their personal agenda are a fringe element of the progressive left, not remotely representative of our diverse domestic justice movements as a whole — and the more that American Jews show up as allies to our Black siblings, the clearer that will be to our own community, and to the progressive movement itself.”
“White supremacy,” Berman stated, “is a shared threat that demands a united front among Black and Jewish people.”
The Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) stated, “We are horrified by this vicious hate mongering by Black Lives Matter protesters. The Black Lives Matter charter is filled with anti-Israel and anti-Semitic lies.”
“It is deeply disturbing, but not surprising, to hear those sentiments chanted in the streets of Washington, D.C.,” the RJC said.
“We call on former Vice President Joe Biden, as the standard bearer of the Democratic Party, to condemn these anti-Semitic chants by BLM protesters,” the RJC added.