After the May 21 assassination of Yaron Lischinsky and Sarah Milgrim, staffers at the Israeli Embassy at an event at the Jewish Museum in Washington, D.C., members of the Socialist Workers Party across the country and Communist Leagues in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom are joining protests condemning the killings and campaigning widely to discuss the stakes in defending Israel as a refuge for Jews and fighting against Jew-hatred.
They are using a statement issued by the SWP campaign in Los Angeles printed in the accompanying article, the Militant and books by party leaders. And they organized Militant Labor Forums across the country to discuss the roots of Jew-hatred in the imperialist epoch, a tool the capitalist rulers use in their deepening crisis to attack the working class.
“We gave Norton Sandler’s campaign statement to everyone we spoke with,” Chris Hoeppner told the Militant, reporting on campaigning in South Philadelphia May 26. “We explained the importance of the fight against Jew-hatred for the working class.
“Especially appreciative was a retired Jewish city worker who said he was shaken by the killings,” he said. “He thanked us for being out talking to people and standing up for the right of Israel to exist as a refuge for Jews.”
Not everyone was receptive. “At the door just next to his, a woman responded with hostility. She said, ‘Israel is killing children in Gaza,’ and ‘one of those shot wasn’t even Jewish,’ referring to Yaron Lischinsky,” Hoeppner said. Lischinsky was born in Germany to a Jewish father and Christian mother. “The woman’s companion slammed the door on us.”
But, Hoeppner said, a large majority of workers we talk to agree with us on the need to take on Jew-hatred and to back Israel’s right to exist.
Hoeppner said the SWP also sent the campaign statement to Penn Hillel at the University of Pennsylvania. They responded that they would share it around, saying, “Much appreciated and continued success.”
Campaigning on labor picket lines
The Minneapolis SWP candidates, Kevin Dwire for mayor and Edwin Fruit for City Council, joined an informational picket line organized by members of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 663 outside a Cub Foods store in Minnetonka.
They met a woman who, like Fruit, is a member of Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers Local 22 in Twin Cities. She condemned the killings in Washington, D.C., but argued the blame for the attack comes from the atmosphere of “hate and lies” spread by President Donald Trump.
“We say that it comes from the Stalinist and other ‘left’ groups supporting Hamas, who call for the destruction of Israel and the Jews who live there,” Dwire said. “The only way to end Jew-hatred and all forms of oppression is for workers to take power out of the hands of the capitalist class.”
She was interested in learning more and got a copy of the Militant and a flyer for the upcoming Militant Labor Forum, entitled “The fight against Jew-hatred, the fatal attack at the Capital Jewish Museum, and Israel’s war against the threat of another Holocaust.”
Laura Anderson, SWP candidate for mayor of Miami, and four campaign supporters joined a May 23 vigil of just under 100 people in Aventura, Florida, to protest the Jew-hating killings.
Anderson, wearing a sign saying, “Condemn Jew-Hating Murders,” was approached by Sergio Coello, who had come to the vigil with his wife and two children. He wanted to know more about the SWP.
Anderson explained the SWP looks at every political question from a working-class perspective and in continuity with the lessons of the Bolshevik and Cuban revolutions. The party points to the example of great revolutionaries like Malcolm X.
Coello said he had thought Malcolm was only focused on being Black and the fight against racism.
Anderson explained Malcolm’s political evolution, from the Nation of Islam to the last period of his life, when he became convinced of the need to build a revolutionary movement that would win workers of all nationalities.
Coello said he was glad to meet the party. He got a copy of the Militant and said he wants to stay in contact and read more of the party’s literature.
Rebecca Williamson, the SWP candidate for King County Executive in Washington state, spoke at a candidates’ debate attended by some 40 people and streamed online. She spoke out against the shooting of the young Jewish couple who worked at the Israeli Embassy.
“Fighting Jew-hatred is a life-and-death question for the working class,” Williamson said. “What Hamas and its sponsor in Tehran announced Oct. 7 was an attempt at another Holocaust.
“Israel is fighting a defensive war for its existence,” she said. “Hamas is also the biggest obstacle Palestinians face in defending their national rights.
“The capitalist crisis is driving toward a third imperialist world war. Only the working class taking power can stop this.”
One of the other candidates liked what Williamson had to say and bought The Low Point of Labor Resistance Is Behind Us: The Socialist Workers Party Looks Forward, a Militant subscription and Cosmetics, Fashion, and the Exploitation of Women.
The Communist League in the U.K. hand-delivered a statement of support to the owners of Benny’s Bistro in Manchester May 25. His restaurant had been targeted by antisemitic graffiti saying, “Nazi Jews Ar [sic] Scum.” The visit came four days after the killings in Washington, D.C. Other messages of support came from local community members, Jewish and non-Jewish, and are displayed on the bistro’s wall, covering up the graffiti.
The CL statement rejected the pro-Hamas apologists’ slander equating “Jews — the victims of the Holocaust perpetrated by the Nazis — with the Nazis.” It said the fight against Jew-hatred and the defense of Israel as a refuge for Jews are key questions for the working class. “We stand with you.”
To join the SWP in fighting Jew-hatred and defending Israel’s right to exist, go to the directory.
