the protesters hold up a banner in front of the speaker. banner says "Hagee: 'Hitler was sent by God'" and "Bibi: 'CUFI is our greatest ally.'"
IfNotNow activists Binya Koatz (right) and Adam Hirsch unfurl a banner in front of speaker Victor Styrsky at a CUFI event in Stockton, June 2017. (Courtesy/IfNotNow)

The Jewish anti-occupation group IfNotNow disrupted a Christians United for Israel event at a Stockton church on June 4.

When the final speaker was introduced at the Jerusalem Jubilee event, eight IfNotNow members maneuvered to the front of the stage and unfurled banners with messages condemning CUFI’s mission.

Christians United for Israel is a conservative, pro-Israel organization with more than 3 million members across the country.

“No one should fear being shouted down, bullied and harassed inside their house of worship, be it a synagogue, church or mosque,” said Pastor Dumisani Washington, CUFI’s diversity outreach coordinator. “CUFI’s event was a gathering of a highly diverse group of Israel’s supporters, including friends from the Hispanic, Asian and African American communities. I and my church members are having a hard time distinguishing between this harassment and the appalling racist harassment we have suffered previously in our lives.  We who seek to protect civil society must be careful not to let differences of opinion grow into this kind of ugly intimidation.”

To counter the protest, the closing speaker, CUFI Eastern regional coordinator Victor Styrsky, sang “Am Yisrael Chai” into the mic in an attempt to drown out the IfNotNow members before security personnel removed them from the premises.

Slogans on the banners included “Jewish Community: Stop Complicity in CUFI’s Hate” and “Young Jews Reject CUFI’s Anti-Semitism.” The action was a part of IfNotNow’s weeklong campaign to protest 50 years of Israeli presence in the Palestinian territories.

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Max A. Cherney is a former J. staff writer.

25 replies on “Jewish protesters disrupt Christians United for Israel”

  1. The banners are tallitot, which is entirely significant re: CUFI’s tradition of appropriating Jewish symbols and cultural objects.

    Shkoyach to those who bravely and beautifully disrupted this action.

    1. Oh, puh-leez Aaron. If you are respecting the tallitot, don’t deface them with “feel good but have no idea what I am actually saying” nonsense.

    2. “Appropriating” Jewish symbols?!? I’m Jewish, was raised in a Jewish community, and am very active in the Jewish community. I’ve also spent thousands of hours with hundreds of CUFI members. They don’t “appropriate” Jewish symbols. They HONOR them. And they honor them more than most Jews. Your comment stems from ignorance and bias.

    3. would rather have them appropriating jewish symbols than hurting jews. which is what inn does

    4. It sure looked to me like INN were the ones maliciously appropriating Jewish symbols and cultural objects for their own antisemitic purposes. If you make common cause with those who would destroy Israel, you are Nazis in fact, no matter what or who you think you are.

    5. Bravery? You have to be kidding/delusional. Just a bunch of spoiled, privileged nincompoops.Their disruption of the CUFI event was disgusting. They are jackasses – COWARDLy jackasses.

  2. Credit to CUFI and our other Christian friends. Disruption of a peaceful and important gathering is a embarrassment to main stream Jews and should not be given credit for anything but disrespectful arrogance. No one should ever go into another house of worship and act like this. Shame on these people.

  3. IfNotNow is a bunch of useful idiots, ignorant of their people’s history, bought into a fake narrative. Shame on them.

  4. These confused kids are Jewish only to the extent necessary to bash their fellow Jews. That’s all they do. Like infants throwing a tantrum. What a shonda. It is unfortunate that they get any press as they represent nobody but themselves. The entire Jewish community rejects them.

  5. This write-up reads more like an advertisement for If Not Now than an actual news article. Perhaps fewer videos and links to their propaganda — or at least an equal number of links to CUFI — would make it less so.

    1. The J. staff notoriously gives lots of columns to IfNotNow, and threatens those who object with exclusion from the J.’s pages. Maybe the J. is not quite as neutral and on the up-and-up as they claim? Maybe it is time for the JCRC to reconsider retaining the J. staff as currently constituted?

  6. This looks more like an advertisement (for ifnotnow) as opposed to a news piece. Next time how about a little more balance/information?

  7. I wasn’t at this event, but I’ve been to dozens of such CUFI events and there are always more Jews inside supporting CUFI than outside protesting. So your video was 12 minutes of 100% anti-CUFI propaganda. That’s a pretty pathetic and biased excuse for “journalism.”

    1. Maybe the J. staff is more part of the problem of local anti-Israel agitation and less part of the solution?

  8. I call fraud. More and more, If Not Now is positioning themselves as an anti-Israel group. Notice their silence when doctrinaire haters such as Alison Weir or Gilad Atzmon come to town. Its not about protecting Jewish values for them. And its not about the so called “occupation” and the need for a two state solution, or they’d concentrate their efforts on groups such as the AROC or SJP. No, If Not Now seems more and more like a JVP sock puppet, allowing JVP cover as their concentrate their efforts on lobbying

  9. so they chose not to take dr harris’ advise and instead acted like children
    very sad

  10. The news story carried in the J should have been about the hundreds gathered in support of Israel- not the half dozen cowards who interrupted the event. The J enables bullies by giving them the soapbox and the attention they crave.

  11. Interesting that this group doesn’t protest groups that oppose a 2 state solution- like SJP or AROC. Instead they direct their ire at groups that support Israel’s right to exists as the nation state of the Jewish people. This in itself makes them an anti-Israel group. If their goal was really self-determination for both people, we’d find them protesting extremist groups in the bay area- but instead, they only protest pro-Israel groups. Do they think they are fooling anyone?

  13. I have met a number of active CUFI members. I was embarrassed by them. I felt morally shabby compared to their moral idealism and their acting on it. Pretty much everyone should be embarrassed knowing that such goodness is possible and that so few beside CUFI actually live it. Their ideology is painfully simple – Faith, Hope, and Charity. CUFI restored my faith not only in Americans but in people.

    Those disrupting CUFI’s assembly humiliated themselves and made themselves contemptible. Baruch Hashem, their moral clarity is such that they will not waver because of these shameful attacks.

  14. If Not Now is an organizations masquerading as pro-Israel group who claim to wish to end the occupation, when what they really wish to end is Israel. That would explain the peculiar statement on If Not Now’s website: “We do not take a unified stance on BDS, Zionism or the question of statehood.”

    They do not take a unified stance on Zionism or Israel? That tells you all that you need to know about this “pro-Israel” group.

  16. When I was a Tea Party Organiser, before I walked away in disgust at it going Zionist/Republican, Pastor Chuck Baldwin was all over Glenn Beck, and the Liberty Movement with the Christian Zionist mantra.
    I just found out today that he too, has awakened and now is repentant of his previous blindness.
    so if you are a Christian, please take another look. -Smithfix

    https://chuckbaldwinlive.com/

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