About 250 people were on hand Friday for an unauthorized rally for Palestine that was held after a town sanctioned flag raising was canceled.
“Our goal today is to shine some light on the Palestinian community,” said Noor Shamim of West Orange For Humanity, which planned the event.
The rally was held after a Palestinian flag raising scheduled for the same day and time was canceled by Mayor Susan McCartney. The town had approved the flag raising, issued a permit, and publicized it before deciding to cancel it.
“This was due to racist and Islamophobic accusations equating raising a Palestinian flag with support for Hamas and advancing the absurd notion that the phrase included on the event announcement, “Palestinian joy is resistance,” was hateful terminology that could incite violence,” West Orange For Humanity said in a statement.
McCartney said the reason why the event was initially approved then canceled was due to “what I believed was a hateful phrase submitted in the permit application.”
“I had every intention to break the Palestine silence and to celebrate with you our Palestinian residents’ culture with food, music and dance while remembering the many innocent victims in the Israeli – Hamas conflict,” McCartney wrote in an email to organizers.
“However, the graphic that you submitted with the special event permit to announce the ceremony contained language that, I believe, invoked a message that would polarize and mobilize the community thereby defeating the purpose of the proposed peaceful event, which, of course, it did, affirmed by the 1,000 emails received thanking me for my decision. Unfortunately, what was initially proposed, is not what transpired, tarnishing our agreement for the ceremony.”
Shamim said the phrase “Palestinian Joy is Resistance” is a way of “claiming our humanity through joy and resisting the sadness and the deaths we are seeing in Palestine.
This is our way of honoring the families of Palestine,” she said.
Following the Oct. 7 attack, local elected officials in West Orange raised the Israeli flag and issued a public statement supporting the state of Israel.
“Showing support for the people of Israel was an understandable response to the horrific events that took place that day,” West Orange for Humanity said in its statement.
“However, the flag was kept up until the end of Chanukah during the subsequent three months of Israel’s constant bombardment of Gaza and the killing of more than 20,000 Palestinians – half of whom are children – not a single town official or statement even mentioned the word “Palestinian.”
West Orange for Humanity describes itself as a diverse group of justice-centered residents who came together in October 2023 in response to the silencing of Palestinian voices and the indifference to Palestinian suffering. They said they were initially encouraged by town officials to organize a Palestinian flag-raising event and cultural celebration.
After the event was canceled, organizers decided to go ahead with a rally, encouraging people to bring their own flags. The event included the singing of the Palestinian national anthem, dancing and food. Police closed Main Street from Mount Pleasant Avenue to Northfield Avenue for the event, which began at 4 p.m. on Friday, Jan. 5.
Two members of the West Orange Council, President Bill Rutherford and Member Asmeret Ghebremicael did not agree with the decision and both attended the event on Friday and spoke before the crowd.
“I think it’s important to showcase our diversity and be inclusive,” Ghebremicael said. “We pride ourselves on our inclusivity. People have a right to showcase their culture.”
Rutherford, who is a minister and pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Orange, said the event was appropriate.
“In a world that is filled with hate, it is important to remember that hate has no home here,” he said of West Orange. “When you see someone who might be on the other side, go out of your way to be kind. How do we solve the problems of West Orange? By speaking with each other, not at each other.”
Asmeret, who took the podium with her young son, said it is essential that every individual have a voice.
McCartney said she stood by her decision.
“I am secure in my decision; yet it is still so disheartening that the organizers and two councilmembers deny the interpretation of the phrase ‘Palestinian Joy is Resistance’ and continue to ignore the fact not tolerating such speech was the reason why the event was canceled,” McCartney said. “I even explained to the council president that I would not reconsider my decision to authorize the event for public safety purposes once I learned the township had been added to a national protest calendar.”
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