MEDIA ADVISORY
Email: philly [at] jewishvoiceforpeace [dot] org

IfNotNow and Jewish Voice For Peace - Philadelphia to March from Rally Against Hate to Toomey's Office

Two groups express solidarity with Jewish community and all others targeted by Trump-enabled white supremacy

Today IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace will jointly attend the Jewish Federation’s Rally Against Hate, under banners reading: “Stand With Jews, Muslims, Immigrants, Black and Brown People: White Supremacy Targets Them All.” We stand with our fellow Jews against the horrific anti-Semitic attacks in our city and around the country, especially the desecration of Mt. Carmel Cemetery, where many of us have been helping to restore the graves. The desecration of over 500 Jewish graves is not something we thought we would see in our lifetimes in the United States of America. And yet it is far too predictable that anti-Semitism would find quarter amidst the fascist, white supremacist, and xenophobic politics of Donald Trump.

We applaud the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia for leading the cleanup at Mt. Carmel Cemetery and for organizing today’s Rally Against Hate. In order to fully stand against all the forms of hate that this administration has fomented, we demand that the President and his ally, Senator Pat Toomey, apologize for the administration’s role in emboldening anti-Semites, Islamophobes, and white supremacists. This includes recanting the absurd accusation that Jews might have fabricated the anti-Semitic attacks, and firing the deeply hateful Stephen Bannon.

We will be marching from the Rally Against Hate to Sen. Toomey’s new office at the U.S. Customs House, to demand that Sen. Toomey condemn these anti-Semitic attacks as part of a broader trend of hate crimes against Muslims and immigrants, enabled and emboldened by Trump's rise to power.

In the spirit of solidarity and friendship, we invite the Federations and other Jewish organizations to join us in standing against all forms of hate by being as vocal about Islamophobia and xenophobia as about anti-Semitism, and by refraining from demonizing Muslims, Palestinians, or their advocates as inherently anti-Semitic, which only advances Trump’s agenda of hate and does not make us safer.

We have all been deeply inspired by the solidarity of Muslim-American leaders Linda Sarsour and Tarik El-Messidi, who raised over $100,000 to help repair the gravestones in St. Louis, and are now directing extra funds from that effort to Philadelphia. In that spirit, we redouble our commitments to show up for our Muslim neighbors like they have for us – to show up for immigrant communities, LBGTQ+ communities, and all who are victims of hate - and we ask that you do too.

As we approach the Jewish holiday of Purim, when Esther’s heroism saved the Jews from the Stephen Bannon of their day, we affirm that this mutual solidarity is the most moral and the most effective kind of safety we can ultimately find.

WHO: IfNotNow Philly and Jewish Voice for Peace - Philadelphia.

WHEN: Thursday, March 2, 12 pm.

WHERE: Independence Mall, Philadelphia, PA, followed by Sen. Pat Toomey Office, 200 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA

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