Smear and Innuendo Threats Made by Teaneck NJ Settlement Land Deal Supporters on Twitter
On March 6, NorthJersey.com reported for the first time the news about the controversy around a sale of illegal Israel settlement properties being organized at a location in Teaneck. The sale resulted in a protest outside the event on March 10. One of the arguments that was made by pro-Israel supporters of the illegal land dealing is that there is “Jewish Fear” and a safety concern about the protest that was to take place 4 days after the article was published. While that concern proved to be unfounded – the anti-genocide and anti-settlement land deal protest was peaceful and without incident – during and after the event several supporters of the illegal land dealing and of Israel took to twitter with racist smear and innuendo threats. One even made a thinly veiled call for death squads to deal with the protest movement!
A prevalent smear of the pro-Israel tweet crowd after the March 10 successful protest march against the illegal land sale is to accuse marchers of being “Hamas” or associated with Hamas. In a recent op-ed this editor argued that when the pro-Israel constituents accuse of Hamas association it is a suggestion of violence. I state this because those who accuse protesters of Hamas association also support the massive slaughter in Israel on the very same basis – supposedly to counter Hamas. To some in the pro-Israel crowd, anyone who criticizes Israel is anti-Semitic and nowadays – anyone who criticizes Israel is smeared as pro-Hamas. There is also the quick and fictitious accusation of being a Nazi because you criticize Israel.
The Hamas and the Nazi smear – for merely criticizing or protesting Israel genocide against Palestinians – are implied calls to violence. When pro-Israel advocates smear us as “Hamas” – they are definitely for one thing making it clear their view toward those of us who are opposed to genocide – they would gladly see us dispatched – taken out – in the same way as Israel is slaughtering children, 12,000 so far, Mothers about 8000 so far and another 10K plus all under the guise of anti “Hamas”. They are also making an argument in support of violent police action to attempt to stop our anti-genocide movement. They would not mind if the genocide operation was brought to the US streets – they are cheering on the idea with their “Hamas” baiting and “nazi” baiting.
Feelings of fear are natural in a time of crisis and instability like right now in the USA with the administration and both major political parties in lock step with a total genocide operation in Gaza and a growing protest movement recognizing the stakes and upping the ante about what means might be necessary to end the genocide.
But the fears that were expressed in the March 6 NorthJersey.com article about possible violence from the protesters proved to be absolutely unfounded.
The reality is that pro-Israel advocates are very clearly making threatening statements on twitter in the aftermath of the event.
We also need to fully appreciate the fact that when pro-Israel people start calling us Hamas – it is usually one of the first words out of their mouths in any exchange – they are stating their intentions toward us and they are also communicating to their cohorts that are in their audience that we are an acceptable target. They are also advocating for police and other government action against our participation in anti-genocide activities.
I am providing a few examples below of the tweets that very clearly show that it is we who have embraced the effort to end the US – Israel genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza that need to be concerned about OUR safety – not the other way around!
Tweets that made false smear of Hamas and Nazi toward the March 10 protest
https://twitter.com/ManhattanMingle/status/1766882012709683259
“Pro-Hamas protestors are marching through the Jewish community of Teaneck, NJ because they have an event at their local synagogue.
Jews are not able to gather at their places of worship without a security threat. Never again is NOW.”
Editor response:
The protesters are not against anything that normally takes place at a synagogue related to Judaism but against selling land stolen from Palestinians in illegal settlements in the West Bank – regardless of the location of such illegal activities.
https://twitter.com/Roy_Bntz/status/1766967558064775189
Pro-Hamas is the 2024 version of 1930 Nazis
https://twitter.com/jodi_geczi/status/1766937595588587886
Why do they think it’s ok to side with a terrorist group???? This is disgusting.
This pro-Israel illegal land deal supporter wants death squads to murder anti-genocide protesters:
https://twitter.com/fameinvisible/status/1766953319745147136
“Back in the day, the Jewish community had secret enforcers. Time to bring them back.”
This pro-Israel illegal land deal support wants to eliminate First Amendment Protection (free speech) for anti-genocide protesters:
https://twitter.com/AlexM_Artist/status/1766982038454685721
“There needs to be a ban on protesting in neighborhoods.”
One other tweet that I am not going to link had a graphic of protesters – depicted as zombies, wearing Palestinian flags defaced with the Nazi symbol.
So it is clear that the illegal land deal supporters who claimed that there is fear due to the protest are projecting – it is their camp that is cranking out actual publicly written threats on Twitter.
I invite the supporters of the illegal land deal to join me in condemning the false smears and implicit and explicit threats coming out of their constituency.
