WASHINGTON, D.C. (Press Release) –B’nai B’rith President Robert B. Spitzer and CEO Evan R. Bernstein have issued the following statement: B’nai B’rith International condemns today’s so-called “boycott ride” in Philadelphia, in which activists cycled through Center City to single out Jewish-owned restaurants and businesses. Organizers had called the owners “disgusting humans” and declared, “these Zionist establishments must go.”
This was not a protest of policy. It was a public campaign to intimidate Jews and drive them from their livelihoods because of who they are.
If any other community’s businesses had been singled out and paraded past by a group demanding they leave, people would be shouting from the rooftops, and rightly so. Why are Jews uniquely acceptable targets?
We have seen this before. On Nov. 9, 1938, 88 years ago tomorrow, mobs smashed the windows of Jewish shops across Germany and Austria during Kristallnacht. The persecution that led there began with boycotts and the singling out of Jewish businesses. We cannot ignore the echoes.
We thank Gov. Josh Shapiro, Mayor Cherelle Parker and Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday for condemning this ride. U.S. Sen. John Fetterman and U.S. Rep. Brendan Boyle also spoke out. But condemnation cannot fall only to a handful of officials and the Jewish community. Where are the civic leaders, cultural institutions and allies who speak out quickly when other communities are targeted? Silence sends a message, too.
B’nai B’rith stands with Philadelphia’s Jewish business owners and their employees. We urge everyone who believes all people should be able to live and work without fear to support them and to say plainly: This is unacceptable.
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Preceding provided by B’nai B’rith,