White House Urges Israeli Government to Respect Peaceful Protests. As the White House spokesman said yesterday: - “We urge authorities to protect and respect the right of peaceful assembly,” a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council said. This is a very moving, interesting, and important statement and as an Israeli, I value the care the United States is expressing to the freedom of speech in Israel.
In Israel, during COVID, tens of thousands of people demonstrated against the Prime Minister every Saturday night. In the last few months, at the beginning, every Saturday night, and now every day, there have been massive demonstrations in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and other cities in Israel for and against the new legislation. In both cases, the police are there to keep the peace and safety of the surroundings and the safety of the demonstrators themselves. Indeed, about fifteen people were injured altogether, but there was never any possibility of the demonstrations not taking place and the demonstrators’ safety being secured.
Now, does the United States issue a similar statement regarding itself? Does the United States have such a record? IS the United States to issue an “opinion” about peaceful demonstrations”? Let us see…
Following the George Floyd murder in 2020, demonstrations broke out all over the United States of America. Nineteen people were killed, at least 200 cities imposed curfew in early June 2020, and the National Guard was employed, with thousands of police officers injured. 14,000 were arrested.
In 1992, riots known as the Rodney King riots broke out in Los Angeles. 63 people were killed, 2,383 wounded, and 12,000 arrested. Not to mention incidents like the Brianna Taylor case on March 13th, 2020. During the demonstrations in Louisville following the killing of Ms Taylor, two LMPO officers were shot.
The demonstration in Atlanta following the shooting of Rayshard Brooks. During these protests, an 8-year-old girl was shot.
The Kanosha unrest of 2020 resulted in 2 protestors being killed. The Walter Wallace riots of October 2020 resulted in 30 officers being injured.
This is a very short list of recent years' demonstrations in the USA that ended differently than the demonstrations in Israel. This, not including other incidents around the USA where police killing individuals resulted in demonstrations which, although had no tragic death consequences, were violent and resulted in injury and the destruction of property.
So, for the White House to offer such a caveat to Israel is a demonstration of an utter lack of integrity. The Jewish Talmud offers the following advice: - “First adorn yourself and only then adorn others”.
If I had a choice to demonstrate in Jerusalem or New York, for my own safety, I would demonstrate in Jerusalem. Because here you do not pay a capital price for using the holly tool of democracy – the right to demonstrate.
We believe the White House statement is ill-intended, unnecessarily patronizing, and insulting to a stable democracy. Comparing the demonstrations in the United States and those in Israel, we believe the United States could learn a thing or two about exercising democracy and free speech in challenging times.
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