The blistering sun was searing the skin of those who were standing at the entrance to the Cannon House Office Building at Capitol Hill, just a stone throw from the capitol dome - the site of the storming of Donald Trump supporters on January 6, 2021. The Cannon building is where all 435 members of the US House of Representatives have their offices. There was a time when you could just walk in, but since the events of 6-1 security has been beefed and you need to be escorted in.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
This was the last day before Congress breaks for its summer recess. In room 317, 34-year-old Congressman Ritchie Torres is waiting to meet us. His tough upbringing has become the stuff of legend in the African American community: He grew up in a public-housing project in the East Bronx with his mother and two siblings after his father left the family. The home was full of mold, resulting in young Ritchie developing asthma and having him occasionally hospitalized. On top of that, it caused clinical depression. He ultimately dropped out of school and went on a journey to find himself, and he did. After turning to public service, he reached stardom.
Video: Congressman Ritchie Torres / Video: Shmulik Almani
At 25, he was elected to the New York City Council, and since 2021 he has been representing New York's 15th congressional district in Congress. Torres, who is gay, considers himself part of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. That puts him at the extreme Left of the party.
With such a background and political views, you could not be blamed for thinking Torres is anti-Israel for the simple reason that in recent years anti-Israel voices have become much more vocal among Democratic fringe elements. This has resulted in people sounding the alarm on Israel losing the support of African Americans and Puerto Ricans in the party. There is also the other important thing to remember: in 2015, black Democrats in Congress chose to boycott then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech before Congress.
Some members of Black Lives Matter have joined the calls to boycott Israel and have even called it an apartheid state that promotes white supremacy. Then-President Barack Obama's attitude toward Israel did not help improve Israel's standing, as well as the violence by some in the black community toward Jews in several instances. The perception in Israel is that the black community, which used to be an ally of the Jewish community and the Jewish state, has now switched sides.
But is Israel really losing African Americans? In order to put a finger on the pulse, I went on a journey in America. I looked for the positive initiatives that aim to connect the Jewish, black, and Israeli triangle. After all, the negative developments have been covered through and through. But if enough positive stories are found, perhaps there would be a paradigm shift that the battle is not lost.
First stop: Capitol Hill
July 27, 2022: "I am black, but they say I am for white supremacy"
Torres cuts right to the chase and warns of a self-fulfilling prophecy. "The Jewish people have always been persecuted," he begins. "That is why I have great regard for Israel and the right of the Jewish people to have a state of their own. Antisemitism is still simmering beneath the surface and can erupt at any moment, and that is why it is imperative that a Jewish state exist."
Q: How does the Democratic mainstream view Israel? It has been well reported that in recent years, the anti-Israel voices have gained strength.
"Allow me to correct your underlying premise. The US has deep support for Israel. A clear majority in the party support Israel; support for security assistance of Iron Dome funding passed with great bipartisan majorities. There is a small vocal minority in the Democratic Party that is a rival to Israel, but I would advise people to be careful in their assessments of Israel; they should not mistake the minority for the majority. The Democratic Party is pro-Israel to its core; I believe that this will stay this way in the foreseeable future. Remember President Biden is Democratic"
Q: But you have warned of things that could impact Israel happening inside the party?
"Yes, I have my worries. We have seen the rise of a new kind of Left in American politics. I am very much concerned that this new Left in the Democratic Party would have the effect that Jeremy Corbyn had on British politics. So the task that lies before traditional Democrats like me is to oppose the Corbynization of the party."
Q: If an overwhelming number of Democrats support Israel, what is your response to those in Israel or among pro-Israel supporters in America who say Israel has lost the Democratic Party?
"There is a consistent effort on the part of Republicans to turn Israel into a political issue and to claim that only their party supports Israel. But politicization of relations with Israel is just destructive because the ties to Israel are historically bipartisan support. Anyone who turns Israel into a political matter doesn't serve this issue but does the opposite. I can tell you that anyone who claims the party does not support Israel is telling you utter lies and fairytales."
Q: What about Black Lives Matter, which I believe chose to support the most radical Palestinians?
"This is also a false premise. The support for the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement does not usually come from the minority groups in the party. I can assure you that in the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which supports the boycott of Israel, there are more Jews than black members. So my concern is over the next generation of Jews and its commitment to Israel. This is a question that only the Jewish community or the pro-Israel community can answer. But the claim that the African American community is hostile to Israel has been debunked by facts. The black community is a moderating force in the party."
Q: Lobbies such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Democratic Majority for Israel have come under criticism because they have been expending a lot of effort in promoting pro-Israel candidates in the party. What do you think about this?
"There is a double standard here. The anti-Israel lobby can raise funds and get involved and that is fair game, but if you are pro-Israeli you are accused of corrupting the system with big money. Those who target pro-Israel lobbies are those who give a green light to anti-Israel lobbies. You have to be consistent."
When it comes to the ties between the Jewish and African American communities, Torres believes that there is indeed tension and that it is part of the overall trend in America of communities turning inward. "The Jewish community has been reaching out with great initiatives to non-whites, including toward my constituencies in the Bronx, but it is hardly guaranteed that the people living there know about those programs. If you ask the Latino and African American voters I represent what their view on Israel is, they would tell you that they don't think about it. They struggle with putting food on the table and paying rent and keeping their families together. They are focused on bread and butter issues. That is why what I ask of Israelis is not to find hostility where it does not exist; I implore the pro-Israel community to continue being engaged in the political process. I am not one of those who think the battle has been lost. I am a gay, Afro-Latino from the Bronx who has not had Jewish voters in his district, but even so, my pro-Israel voice is one of the loudest. Israel-US relations should not be taken for granted. There are powerful forces who want to undermine what they consider to be one of the greatest friendships the world has known. You have to protect this friendship in a proactive way through politics."
Torres has come under fire for his open support of Israel. "I have been criticized on this more than on any other issue. I am attacked precisely because I come from an ethnic minority as if I am some traitor. I have received death threats and insults; I have been accused of apartheid, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. White activists on Twitter even said – how ironic – that I am a white supremacist because I support Israel. I asked him in response if he saw what I look like before he tweeted. I am a tough guy from the Bronx with thick skin, but it pains me to see what those attacks have done to the people I love, like my mother."
Torres is hardly the only black politician who has voiced public and unqualified support of Israel. The most prominent black lawmaker to do so is Hakeem Jeffries, the head of the House Democratic Caucus. He is expected to become speaker after Nancy Pelosi leaves office, which would make him the second in line of presidential succession. He is the most powerful black leader who is publicly pro-Israel.
But there are other black lawmakers who have been pro-Israel: Raphael Warnock, Karen Bass, and Shontel Brown. They may not agree with every decision made in Jerusalem, but when they face critical choices – like whether the US should veto an anti-Israel resolution in the United Nations or add more funding to the Iron Dome – the vast majority of the caucus will vote "yes".
Only eight out of the 235 Democrats currently serving in the House voted against the Iron Dome funding measures a year ago. Of them, only four were African American. In other words, Israel may have a challenge in winning over the African American community, but that is a far cry from losing their support.
Another thing to keep in mind is that not all progressives are anti-Israel. In fact, only a minority are. Michigan Congresswoman Haley Stevens, like Torres, is both pro-Israel and progressive. Only recently she trounced her Jewish opponent, Andy Levine, in the Democratic primaries over the nomination in her district. Levine had been endorsed by J Street.
This, in a nutshell, is the situation in Congress. But what about the sentiment among African American voters? Are they pro-Israel?
Second stop: Brooklyn New York
July 28: For partnership, against cholent
Welcome to Crown Heights, the place where you can cut the tension between African Americans and Jews with a knife, sometimes even literally. Some 20,000 Chabad Hassids live here alongside some 100,000 African Americans.
A week before my visit, one of the leaders of the local Chabad organization – Yossi Hershkop – was violently attacked in broad daylight. Stone-throwing attacks on school buses bringing children to and from Jewish schools have become routine, as have sounds of gunfire and random cases of homicide. Not a day goes by without some violent incident, sometimes as much as three a day.
Although most of the violence takes place within the black community, the relations still carry the baggage from the past tensions between the Hassidim and African Americans. In 1991, the convoy carrying the Lubavitcher Rebbe accidentally killed a black child. The riots that broke out in response lasted for four days and resulted in one Hassid being killed as well as another person who was targeted after being mistaken for a Jew. In the wake of those events, the leaders of both communities resolved to do all their can to make sure relations don't deteriorate to such a state ever again.
One of the leaders is Anthony Beckford, who is the head of Black Lives Matter in Brooklyn. He has been a community activist for the past 30 years even as he has had to struggle to keep his head afloat. I spoke with him in an office building near the Sterling Street subway station.
"The problem is that the system and the politicians want the two communities to be separate because that is easiest for them. Rather than address the concerns of their voters, everyone just points to the other community and says, 'It's their fault.' That is why my goal is to create a unified community where everyone, regardless of their skin color, takes part, even though for me the black community is obviously the main community."
Beckford does not sugarcoat things by pitching a vision of love and tolerance but rather talks straight. One of the hot-button issues in the neighborhood is the leasing of homes by Jewish landlords to black tenants.
"When you have to pay higher rent than others, when landlords don't do proper maintenance, and when they try to evict the tenants, people get angry and generalize. There are also those who want to foment hostilities. 'Jews are exploiting us; they don't want us here,'' they say. You may say this is antisemitism, but I would respond that people here are struggling to get by and that most of the problems stem from a lack of education. That is why my job is to explain that not all Jews are rich landlords and that there are also poor Jews who have the same problems that everyone else has, or that there are also black landlords who rent out homes to African Americans. The way to deal with these problems is to join forces and together ask City Hall for the proper resources to address these problems."
Q: Can you educate 100,000 people?
"Yes, it's possible. You hold events for Latinos, African Americans, and Jews, you stream them on video and send the message that we are one community. The media will not broadcast this because it seeks to divide and it's convenient for it to have this narrative of African Americans being uneducated and lazy. They don't show the efforts people take to move forward."
Q: What is the significance of your position at BLM?
"My job sends the message that I don't take the violence lightly, because it hurts everyone in the community. African Americans are the biggest victims of this violence, in every aspect, but it doesn't mean that I only care about them. When someone is beaten up, it doesn't matter what team he is on – I will be the first to come to his defense."
Beckford backs these words with action. He was one of the first to offer help to Hershkop after he was attacked and helped the police in finding his assailants. He disagrees with the Jewish community over the need for more police presence and instead wants to focus on education and outreach. But despite this debate, he has not burned bridges.
Q: BLM chose to stand by the Palestinians and even support the boycott against Israel. Do you agree with these views?
"You can find extremists in every organization. Not everything is binding when it comes to the official positions of BLM leadership and not all of those who call themselves leaders are indeed part of the leadership. As far as the Palestinians are concerned, I believe there must be two states and two peoples who coexist, without anyone dying, just like we are trying to do here. But I will never tell you that the problem lies squarely only on one side."
Q: What about the claim that Israel is a white supremacist state that applies a policy of apartheid on the Palestinians?
"Here in New York, you have whites who hate African Americans and Jews and would have killed both groups together. Jews and African Americans, as one of the Chabad rabbis, told me, are cousins and should live together. And as for what has been taking place in Israel – I am not going to talk about things taking place overseas without having seen them firsthand. All I can say is that I am against the loss of life and that there shouldn't be war. I am not anti-Jews and not anti-Israel. Apart from that, I do not look at governments; I look at people."
After the meeting, Beckford goes back to work. Our point man for this visit to the BLM offices is Yaacov Behrman, who is the liaison for Chabad's headquarters. Having grown up two houses from the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Behrman knows the neighborhood like the back of his hand and remembers all the incidents throughout his lifetime.
While walking the streets with him, he points to various places where violent attacks have taken place recently. Not all have been against Jews. "Jewish children, as well as adults, instinctively associate African Americans with violence. This is unjustifiable and not right. We must reach a situation where Jewish kids who see a black man approaching him won't cross over to the other side of the street."
To break the mutual stigmas and preserve the peace, as well as to bolster the political clout of Chabad, Behrman has been building unlikely alliances. Every door he opens has a story hidden behind it. The mother of one of his neighbors – an African American living across from him – was murdered several blocks from here in what was a random act of killing. Behrman and other neighbors sent a sympathy package to the neighbor and continued to help him. They also forged a deep bond with a city council member, Crystal Hudson, who became their representative.
Hudson, who is African American and gay, has made sure that the city provided towels to the local mikveh. Another initiative saw Behrman bring together imams and local politicians for a neighborhood iftar meal at the end of the Holy Month of Ramadan to break the fast. Many jokes on rabbis, priests, and imams who walk into a bar could be told at the event – and the food was kosher mehadrin. One of the people there was Geoffrey Davis, a resident of Crown Heights, who allowed me into his home as if we were longtime friends. His mother, 95-year-old Silma, joins the conversation. The Davises paid the heaviest price for the out-of-control violence: Jeffrey's brother James was a rising star in the local New York politics. The fight to eradicate violence in urban America was his flagship effort, but in 2003, a local activist killed him in the city council building in front of everyone.
The blow did not break the family, and Geoffrey has taken it upon himself to continue his brother's project. He gave a children's book that he authored in which the Rebbe tells two black children – Geoffrey and James – that it is important not to fight.
After the 1991 riots, he says, he and his brother came to the realization that they have to work to bring together African Americans and Jews. "There was anger and blame coming from both sides. They were talking past each other. There were no joint initiatives, nor community programs aimed at forging connections between the two groups. That is why we formed the organization and launched the program. The goal was – as my brother said – to bring people to work together. We held marches and meetings. Some 50,000 people marched near my home. There were rabbis, priests, Muslims, Hare Krishna followers – everyone you can think of. And it worked. The Crown Heights community worked together. Jews and African Americans told each other about their tough history 0- the Holocaust and the discrimination – and the message was that the community was healing together. My brother went on a visit to Israel and Africa and came back with the message that both groups must work together, but then he was killed shortly afterward.
Q; How does Israel fit with all this complexity? Israel is the Jewish state after all, and here there is tension with the Jews.
"I don't have much to say about this. From what I hear, Israel is a great country with many historic sites, but it is not germane to the debate."
Q: What about prominent African American figures who advocate the boycotting of Israel because it is supposedly a white supremacy state or an apartheid state?
"I am against that. It's silly. What are they talking about? Why boycott innocent people? Why boycott because of politics? That's just wrong."
Rev. Kevin McCall, another local leader, joins the conversation. He represents Terrence Floyd, the brother of George Floyd, whose killing in 2020 by several cops caused massive riots worldwide, making Black Lives Matter a household name.
McCall's bond with the Floyd family has not made him view Israel as an oppressive state or discriminatory toward the Palestinians. "BLM is a movement, not an organization. It is global. There are four women who support one another and are connected to the Palestinians and they are essentially antisemites, but as for the others – absolutely not. If you meet a guy on the street who supports BLM, that does not in any way mean you had just someone with anti-Israeli views. Everyone chanted Black Lives Matter during the protests – Jews, whites, and others were all part of the demonstrations," he says.
Q: What is your view?
"I don't support it. They went too far. Why boycott an entire country? That doesn't make sense. That land is where our roots are. That is where the messiah (Jesus) was. How can you say such a thing (about the boycotting)?
McCall – just like Beckford and many other black leaders I would meet on this journey – notes the importance of education. "You must understand that some people here have never stepped out of the New York City limits; they have no idea what Jews look like in other places. They don't understand or know others' cultures, but they are keen on learning about them and getting to know them."
When the conversation ends, McCall, Behrman, Davis, and other guests who came to say hello stand up for a group picture. Behrman updates the group on Hershkop's situation and the latest in the investigation. Davis said that he has recently funded gender-segregated pool operating hours for the women of Chabad so that they can get some time off from raising the children.
"This is what black-Jewish relations look like," he says with pride. He adds, "Three times a week they try to destroy what we build here, but we stay the course."
A similar sentiment is apparent when I speak with Pastor Gilford Monrose, the head of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships, which was created by New York Mayor Eric Adams. Monrose arrives late because Vice President Kamala Harris made a surprise visit to Brooklyn and the streets were blocked.
The towering and charismatic Monrose is very eloquent and has an impressive way of explaining his worldview. Aside from his job at City Hall, he also guides groups in Israel in his other hat as a pastor. "Most Americans view Israel through a spiritual and religious lens, not a political one," he says.
Q: What do you mean?
"They believe in the Bible, and for them this land is holy. They pray for Jerusalem and they all want to visit Israel. When they arrive there they view it as a place where Jews came back from the dead. They see Massada, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and all the other places. This automatically turns them into supporters, and I am not sure if Israelis understand that this is not just another form of tourism."
Q: What about political issues? Some people compare the treatment of African Americans by whites to what Israel has been doing to Palestinians and all the resulting consequences.
"First of all, between Jews and African Americans, there is a history of partnership in fighting together against racism. This is how the black church I am a member of came about. When I was in Israel we held for the first time an event in memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. A journalist came up to me and asked me how I could support BLM and still be in Israel. I answered that the one has nothing to do with the other. People know how to separate their faith from politics. Just like people won't leave America just because of all the problems here."
Q: In Israel, people are worried that politics will increasingly become the determining factor
"The spiritual-religious support for Israel will never be weaker than the political one. That is not temporal, and it's not related to how Congress votes. I don't think Rashida Tlaib or Ilhan Omar are the future of the Democratic Party. People have been vocal in their support for Israel and will continue to support the Holy Land, and at the same time expect there to be a just political deal [to the conflict]."
Monrose believes that Israel must embrace the black church, something that is hardly happening these days. "We bring 1,000 people to Israel every two years. That is not a small feat, but we have never had a government official talk to us."
Meanwhile, Behrman tells Monrose about the horrific killing that took place at the neighbor's home across the street. "We made sure to send a fruit basket," he told the mayor's representative. "I will hop over there," the pastor responds, saying he is hungry. "It's Thursday, we have cholent, do you want some?" Behrman asks. "What is cholent?," Monrose responds. Behrman's answer, despite his successful efforts at community outreach, fails to whet Monrose's appetite.
A week after leaving New York, as Israel launched Operation Daybreak, protests erupted in New York against Mayor Adams. "Palestinian child killer," the demonstrators called him, and it's not hard to guess why: He supports Israel.
Third stop: Parkchester Library, the Bronx
July 29: Six out of ten are against Israel
In January of this year, the city had the worst fire in 30 years. Eight children and nine adults were killed. It engulfed a high rise with immigrants from Gambia and the survivors needed emergency shelter.
"The Jewish community was the first to reach out, Sheikh Musa Drammeh tell me. "Food, clothes, medicine - they gave me everything I asked for. They even funded the transport of the bodies back to Gambia. They have also helped in the past when such events happened, they always come and help."
In the Bronx, unlike in Brooklyn, there are hardly any Jews left. "They left. They had synagogues and schools; some are still the landlords, but they don't live here," the sheik says as he points to a building that used to be a synagogue.
Drammeh arrived in the US from Gambia in 1986 and soon became a religious leader. He now heads a local mosque but that doesn't mean he is anti-Israel. The opposite is true. He says that radical Palestinians hijacked human rights groups after the 9/11 attacks. "They took advantage of those organizations because they understood that after the attack there would be zero tolerance to their ideas," he says. "But the black community has been in the struggle for human rights well before them and does not conflate the two issues. There are 22 Arab nations that have their own proud language and heritage but you are telling me that the Jewish people are not entitled to a state of their own? That's total rubbish."
But the sheik's personal views do not reflect the overall sentiment on the street. "We live in very challenging times. Even within the Jewish community, you have figures such as Bernie Sanders who have a negative view of Israel. I believe that out of every 10 people you ask, at least six will have views that are similar to Sanders. Even if they are not pro-Palestinian, they would have a negative view on Israel and in many cases have antisemitic opinions."
To get to the root of the anger by African Americans and Latinos, Drammeh says that you have to look at the economic forces at work. Jews are the landlords, and non-whites are the tenants. "That is why they develop antisemitic views," he says. "Not because of Palestine."
Jewish communities are well aware of those problematic views that often lead to violence. That is why they have launched initiatives in recent years to increase their outreach to African Americans, Latinos, Muslims, and other minorities using Jewish Community Relations Council. Drammeh says such action is very impressive and that Israel should adopt that model.
"The Jewish community's actions help save lives, not just individuals," he said. "Yes, not everyone will know about these efforts, and in many cases, those who get the support don't know that it is thanks to the generosity of the Jewish community. But we are working on this, on building bridges and ties. This is a productive dialogue that has taken place since 9/11. The goal is to normalize the attitude toward Israel among Muslims. If for example, the Israeli Consulate sponsors a local baseball competition, it would be a big step that costs very little. We need more visibility from Israel's government. Change is still possible."
He then says that "relations between Israelis and Palestinians are one thing, but denying Israel's right to exist is another thing altogether. It doesn't mean that I accept every policy the Israeli government pursues, just like I don't accept all the US government's decisions or those in Africa, but Israel must be an independent, safe Jewish state, like every other state. Period."
Q: If I walk with an Israeli flag here, how will people react?
"They will probably not say anything directly to you. But they will recognize the flag. In any event, as soon as you say you are pro-Israel or pro-Palestinian you create enemies."
Fourth stop: Cleveland, Ohio
August 1: "And I thought that I was suffering"
"Just like Tel Aviv is not Israel, so too is New York not America," the common saying goes. To get a taste of what America is like beyond the Big Apple, I took a flight west and arrived at the home of Matt Fieldman in Beachwood, a suburb of Cleveland. I found him by googling "partnerships between Jews and African Americans." He is a successful businessman and nonprofit executive.
He and Charmaine Rice, who guides African American groups, are the co-creators of Rekindle, which seeks to bring Cleveland's Black and Jewish communities together to accelerate social justice in a five-week fellowship program.
The fellowship includes four sessions of discussion in which equal-sized groups of African Americans and Jews take part for a total of 12 hours of discussions. Each participant also commits to a personal project to show their commitment to the causes of the organization. There is no monetary compensation or otherwise. The program was launched in the spring of 2020 and has so far had more than 50 participants in each of the four cohorts. By the end of 2022, Rekindle will have over 70 alumni of the program. Fieldman's wife, Alyson, welcomed me to their home. The oldest daughter is away at camp, as is common among many Jewish households during the summer months.
The colorful sign in the front yard encapsulates the worldview of my hosts:
"We believe black lives matter
Love is love
Women's rights are human rights
Science is real
Water is life
Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.
In other words: The household is clearly aligned with the Democratic-liberal side of the spectrum of Jewish American politics. But this does not lie in contrast to the fact that they keep kosher and feel a deep sense of commitment to Israel.
My arrival leads to a gathering outside the home. We talk for hours about the pain and anger of African Americans – both in the past and now. The good news is that the ethnic strife in Brooklyn is not common here. There aren't many Jewish landlords to black tenants, and the anger of the black community is not directed toward the Jews. In fact, African Americans are split on whether Jews should be considered part of the oppressive white majority or whether they are also a minority that has been subject to discrimination and violence and can therefore relate better to the pain of a black person.
"The two communities already do so much work together," one of the participants, Kate, says. "This is a force multiplier. Cleveland is a small city and we have many common acquaintances. We are natural allies."
Chris, one of the cohort leaders, has a more critical take. "The black community sees Jews as whites. Had I not met you here, I would have not known you are Jewish. Jews are definitely enjoying the benefits whites enjoy."
Kelly, another member of the cohort, echoes this sentiment. "There are tensions between the Jewish community and the black community here in the city. I try not to take it to heart but this table is a bubble. Because the feeling is that the Jews have two layers of defense: You are a minority, but you can always be white as well and get all the opportunities white people get, while a black person will always be left out. If you drive five miles from here you can see how African Americans really live. You will never have my skin color. What this organization is trying to do is to create bridges and to have people acknowledge the pain and suffering of each side."
Sam, a Jewish participant in the program, confirms what the others are saying. "I initially joined because I primarily wanted to talk about Israel, but then I discovered that actually, I need to learn more about the black community. As a Jew, I thought that we were the ones who had been suffering from racism and violence, but right at the first session we learned about how we are actually white, and that our suffering right now pales in comparison to what they have to go through."
Q: How does Israel fit in when you talk about these issues? Is it an apartheid state of white supremacy?
Fieldman: "Israel is the elephant in the room."
Alyson adds, "When Israel first came up, there were heated arguments between us – the Jews in the cohort – but the African Americans could not understand why we were so passionate about this."
The oldest fellow in the program, Kelly Rice who runs the Keratin Barber and Cosmetology College says, "This has nothing to do with Israel, at least not where I come from. The issue is the relationship between Jews and African Americans. The systematic discrimination and oppression and the lack of opportunity that we, the dark-skinned, suffer from. In this cohort we build bridges, and that is why I am here. But Israel is not an issue that requires an urgent discussion. Trying to make African Americans and Palestinians part of the same issue is a hostile takeover."
Some of the younger fellows disagree. "Israel is very much part of this discussion," a woman by the name of Paris says. Another one says, "We have to say it like it is: What is happening to the Palestinians is related to what is happening here. The US has been providing Israel with military aid and they use it to bomb a people who have dark skin and has to deal with white power. I don't think we will agree on what is important and what is not. But this program attempts to make us better understand one another."
Charmaine adds, "The system is broken. We all want to defend our communities and defense means attacking those who we think are the aggressors. But I cannot explain why BLM has become tied to the Palestinians. Someone is trying to draw comparisons between the two groups in order to prevent progress."
Despite the disagreements, it appears that everyone agrees on at least one thing: Supporting the idea that BLM does not advocate support for the Palestinians. Lindy, a reform Jew, adds that "perhaps the role of progressive Jews is to explain why this comparison makes it hard for them to support BLM."
Demetrius, who is Executive Director of Beat the Streets Cleveland, which seeks to help take children out of poverty and violent households, elaborates on what his organization has done in some of the hardest-hit communities in America. He adds that some of the children he has been helping will soon visit Israel. "We chose Israel this year because two of the board members live there," he explains, once again proving that the bridges built by the Jews in the US eventually reach all the way to Israel.
Fifth stop: Detroit, Michigan
August 1, Singing the black anthem alongside Hatikvah
A massive sign bearing the logo of car manufacturer Ford appears next to the road. The drive from Cleveland to Detroit, which used to be the glorious capital of automakers, lasts three hours along Lake Erie.
Detroit is one of the most troubled places in the US, which has no shortage of such places. Two-thirds of its residents left it in the 20th century. Seeing the deserted neighborhoods is just heart-wrenching. On the other hand, I could not see any of the horrors described on Wikipedia on how pit bull dogs supposedly roam the streets freely or how crime is rampant.
The city is a bastion of Democratic progressives It is also where Palestinian-American Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib lives. Tlaib is one of the most prominent anti-Israeli voices in the party. Some 80% of the people living here are black, and another 80% are Jewish. One of their leaders is Rabbi Asher Lopatin, a proud Zionist on the liberal end of the Orthodox community. One of his many initiatives includes outreach efforts to the black community. He is also the Executive Director at American Jewish Committee's Jewish Community Relations Council
He arrives at our meeting with Rev Kenneth J. Flowers., the head of the Greater New Mount Moriah Missionary Baptist Church in Detroit. The pastor had asked to arrive at the Jewish Federation of Metro Detroit building. "For the first time ever, Detroit might not have a black representative in the House," Flowers says with concern.
Q: What about Rashida Tlaib?
"She is by no means black and is not representative. She is Palestinian-American and expresses her views, but was not elected because of those views. Her views on Israel are not those shared by the African American community."
Q: But she gets elected time and again?
"Just because there was no better-suited candidate."
Q: Some say that her views on Israel will soon become the mainstream view in the party.
"Her views will not become more popular in the party. The Squad (referring to four progressive congresswomen) has been losing in many cases. Black Democrats are much more moderate. We are not part of the radical Left on any matter; we are not radical at all. The Republicans want you to think that the Democrats are pulling away from Israel, but the party is not going in that direction."
Flowers does have criticism of Israel. He says that the 2015 speech by then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before Congress railing against the Iran nuclear deal was an affront to then-President Barack Obama, the first black president. He also has harsh words against former Israeli minister Miri Regev used racist language when she came out against undocumented immigrants in southern Tel Aviv, which
I love Israel and the Jewish people. The church views Israel in a positive light. This is the land of Christ; a land of milk and honey, the Holy Land. That doesn't mean I don't have criticism but my approach is religious. In academia, in the black intellectual class, there is much more intense criticism. They see Israel as a nation formed by the United Nations and usurped Palestinians of the land where they had lived. But the black church sees Israel as the Promised Land that was given from Jews to the chosen people.'
Flowers is convinced that viewing Israel through a religious lens is what most African Americans do. He has visited Israel 9 times, and he plans to come again. Some 30 years after he first set foot in the Holy Land, he seems to reconcile the fact that some Israelis don't view their identity through the prism of Judaism. "I have realized that there are various streams, just like we have here."
Q: What about Black Lives Matter? If you support them does that make you anti-Israeli?
"It's true that the heads of the organization are anti-Israeli but I do not support the organization itself, just the idea that black lives are equal. We are the victims of police brutality and today everyone around the world sees this with the help of social media videos. The idea is to say that our lives matter. We have to distinguish between the prominent group and the idea."
Rabbi Lopatin shares another experience as if encapsulating the entire conversation. "We once arrived at his church here, to represent the Jewish community. We sang together the unofficial blank anthem, Lift Every Voice and Sing, followed by Israel's national anthem Hatikvah, which includes the words ``to be a free people in our land" and "look east toward Zion." This is the language used by African Americans. This is a very basic tenet. Based on this we have to ask: Has Israel been living up to its mission? Is it a light unto the nations? Right now, Israel's great advantage is because of its religious component."
Lopatin says that a lot depends on what Israel and US Jews do. "There is no underlying hatred; it's mainly a function of education. If we make mistakes – primarily when it comes to racism and the treatment of Eritreans and other African immigrants in Israel – we may ruin this. But saying that the black community is against us now is just flat-out wrong."
Prologue: Everything starts with King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba
July 11
"How are you dear," I hear the words coming from the screen. The question, asked by Dumisani Washington, the founder, and CEO of the Institute for Black Solidarity with Israel (IBSI), is directed at his young daughter-in-law, Olga Meshoe.
He is in North Carolina, and she is sitting next to me at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. The IBSI has been his lifelong project and it is dedicated to bolstering support for Israel among African Americans.
Meshoe grew up in South Africa at the home of an Israel-loving pastor who came out against popular opinion. Her marriage to Washington's son, George, is partly because of the deep sense of connection the two families have toward the Jewish people, Israel, and the alliance between Jews and African Americans.
Dan Diker, the director of the Political Warfare Project at the JCPA and a former journalist, has been a longtime friend of both families. We meet for lunch at the center, which is also frequented by Jewish students currently in Israel.
"In the past, it was clear to Jews and African Americans that they were marching together," Olga says. "But now things are different; you find people who blame the Jews for their problems and the pain. What was once a conflict over land has morphed into a question of human rights and racism. There is ignorance among African Americans, and our goal is to have them more informed."
Her father-in-law Dumisani adds: "The black people in the US comprise some 50 million people. Some 70% of them go to a church, mostly a pro-Israel one. Some 9 million are die-hard pro-Israelis. Those that describe Israel as an apartheid state are just a small but vocal minority. It's all a question of education, and that is what we try to do. We inform people and send them to churches to tell the truth about Israel and the alliance between the Jews and African Americans, which goes all the way back to the time of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba."
Epilogue: Waking up the silent majority
I arrived back in Israel just two days before Tisha B'Av. Considering America's immensity, it's clear that what I saw is just a minuscule portion dealing with a very complex issue. But still, the message I kept hearing – from those in Congress and those in various towns and cities – was very similar at certain points.
As far as the views on Israel the vast majority of African Americans are silent, and definitely not hostile to the Jewish state. And in light of the religious messages, it appears that their posture is a priori positive. One thing is clear: Israelis must drive up their efforts to engage African Americans. If we sit idly by and just echo the doom and gloom of how support among black might collapse – this will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. But if we make the case for what we believe in, the battle is far from lost.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
