Local Jewish Residents Gather to Protest Israeli Violence
Destruction in the Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, after the withdrawal of Israeli Occupation Forces, January 23, 2025. Photo: Hashem Zimmo (thenews2) c/o Deposit Photos (https://depositphotos.com/stock-photography.htm)
On April 6, the sixth night of Passover, Jews from across the Valley gathered in Northampton to speak out against Israel’s ongoing violence targeting Palestinian people in Gaza as well as rising settler violence in the West Bank, and the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran and Lebanon.
The evening featured a speech by local resident Rivka Nisinzweig, who described violence and murder of Palestinian people in the West Bank, where she visited as a witness with the Jewish Center for Nonviolence in 2022.
Rabbi Shahar Colt, who leads Congregation Ahavas Achim in Westfield, spoke about her experience visiting the West Bank. She also described visiting Minneapolis with a delegation of clergy as thousands of ICE agents flooded that city to target immigrants for arrest and deportation. She drew a connection between these events and the Passover story, specifically the need to speak out against unjust circumstances and an unjust leader.
The event was organized by Judi Wisch, a member of Congregation B’nai Israel in Northampton, and Theo Peierls, a congregant and board president of the Jewish Community of Amherst.
Wisch reflected on the purpose of the gathering, saying “Why are you here today? As someone quite involved with the local Jewish community, I am motivated to organize efforts to raise Jewish voices against the relentless, deadly violence of the Israeli and American governments wreaking havoc on the lives of Palestinians, immigrants, and the peoples of Lebanon and Iran. I often think about the question asked of elders ‘What did you during the holocaust?” Down the road when we have navigated through these hard times, I don’t want to hesitate answering a question like that. I want to be able to retell the ways in which I and others spoke up and took action.”
Amherst resident Mattea Kramer, who assisted Wisch and Peierls in organizing, told the Indy: “We came together as Jews during Passover to protest atrocities committed by Israel. We shared our outrage and grief. And that helps support each of us in continuing to speak out – because speak out we must.”