This Op-Ed appeared in the Spokesman Review on December 11, 2024.
By Mike Barenti and Jackson Pincus
Inaction has consequences. Not long after Hamas terrorists invaded Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, protesters stood outside Spokane City Hall telling us “There is only one solution, intifada, revolution,” and of the need to “globalize the intifada.”
Mayor Lisa Brown and much of the City Council, so quick to rightly condemn hate directed at other minorities, stayed silent about what was said outside their offices.
For people who don’t or won’t remember the last intifada – a little history. In 2000, after Israel offered a peace proposal creating, for the first time , a Palestinian state in all of Gaza and almost all of the West Bank, with East Jerusalem as its capital, the radical Hamas and the “moderate” Fatah joined forces to stab, shoot and bomb Israelis on buses, at family dinners and in nightclubs, killing more than 1,000 – almost all civilians.
Those chants outside City Hall were not a call for peace, but for mass murder. Maybe the mayor and council members didn’t understand what the chants meant; maybe they hoped that the protesters would tire and go away. Maybe.
Not long after the Oct. 7 massacre, Plymouth Congregational Church, a small congregation on the South Hill, displayed a sign that read “We Stand with Israel.” In January, somebody sprayed an expletive about Israel on the sign with orange paint.
Undaunted, the church, housed in what was once a synagogue, bought a new electronic sign and again proclaimed “We Stand with Israel.” Then, around Thanksgiving, somebody sprayed “genocide” on that sign in blue paint.
Councilman Jonathan Bingle, as he has consistently, condemned the antisemitism and called for action by the City Council. Council members Paul Dillon and Lili Navarrete also denounced the vandalism, which is appreciated, but is still far less than what was done when other groups in Spokane became the target of hate. The mayor and the rest of the City Council have remained silent.
Maybe they didn’t understand that an attack on a church for supporting Jews is still an attack on Jews, in the same way vandalism to a pride flag or a Black Lives Matter sign is an attack on LGBTQ+ people or African Americans even if those displaying support are straight or white. Maybe they didn’t want to bring more attention to the vandalism.
Defending oppressed communities includes defending Jews, period. Spokane’s leaders must know that failing to speak up in support of Jewish safety, Jews’ right to self-determination in Israel, our ancestral homeland, and the right of every citizen to express their views without intimidation, renders the city a less safe place today than it was prior to these hateful acts.
What’s happening in Spokane is happening all around the U.S. Since the Hamas massacre, antisemitism has spiked. Jews make up just 2% of the U.S. population, but according to the FBI, in 2023, were the victims of 15% of all hate crimes and 68% of all religion-based hate crimes. That’s a 63% increase from the year before.
According to the State of Antisemitism in America 2023 Report, from American Jewish Committee, almost half of American Jews have changed their behavior over fear of antisemitism.
Even in the face of growing hate and abandonment from some community leaders, the Jewish spirit remains unbreakable.
Jews are not asking to be treated with respect and dignity. We demand it – as a people indigenous to Israel, and as Americans to whom the rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness apply just as much as anyone else.
It is up to our elected officials to set an example. Fear of how others will respond is no excuse for remaining silent.
Mike Barenti is a Spokane resident and a founding member of Inland Empire for Israel. Learn more at inlandforisrael.org.
Jackson Pincus is the assistant director of American Jewish Committee in the Pacific Northwest. Learn more at ajc.org
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