New York Bangla.com exclusive 

A counter demonstration by anti-Zionist communities of Brooklyn NY is scheduled for Sunday, January 2 at 12 noon, at Bay Pkwy & 86th St, Brooklyn, NY to protest a pro IDF rally.

According to pro-Israeli reporting, a Zionist college student last week. Blake Zavadsky was hanging out in the Palestinian/Arab neighborhood of Bay Ridge, in Brooklyn New York, wearing an Israel Defense Force sweatshirt. Zavadsky was approached by two men who were deeply offended by his IDF logo, and asked him to take it off. When he refused and stated that he is proud of supporting the IDF, a confrontation arose and one of the men called him a dirty Jew, punched him twice in the face and poured iced coffee on his sweatshirt.

Pro-Israeli groups have viewed this incident as an act of anti-Semitism and started a campaign to address it. Brooklyn councilwoman Inna Vernikov proposes a demonstration in Brooklyn with Israeli flags and as many Israeli military sweatshirts as possible. 

Rabbi Dovid Feldman of Neturei Karta International, a spokesperson for the counter demonstration said: 

“The anti-Zionist Jewish community of greater Brooklyn is outraged. Instead of criticizing this act of provocation against a Palestinian neighborhood, which is deeply pained by the endless oppression of their family members by the Israel Defense Force, they plan to escalate this provocation and include the wider Jewish community. This painting of Jews in general with a broad brush will only ignite further tension and more trouble. This demonstration will in no way reduce anti-Semitism; it will worsen it.

“People who denounce this incident and parade the IDF logo would do well to look themselves in the mirror and consider the violence committed by the Israelis during over 70 years of occupation of Palestinian land.

“The right way to solve the problem of hatred towards Jews, provoked by Zionist offense in Palestine, is to differentiate between Judaism and Zionism, to disassociate Jews from all these crimes and publicly denounce them. We need to condemn the ongoing illegal occupation of Palestine and criminal actions of the IDF.

“We must state that Palestinians being offended by an IDF symbol is not anti-Semitism. It is merely a reaction to the actions of a specific government and it’s military apparatus. 

Opposition to violations of international law and defiance of Judaism, is a position shared by the vast majority of world nations and major Jewish communities. 

“There is a long history of religious Jews opposing the entire Zionist occupation of Palestine. Traditional Jewish belief teaches that Jews are in a Divinely decreed exile, are forbidden to create a sovereign state of our own, or rebel against any nation. Killing and stealing, or oppressing an entire people are basic violations of Judaism. 

“We look forward to the end of the occupation of Palestine, when Jews and Palestinians will once again be able to live in peace as they did before the era of Zionism