Anti-Israel activists carry out pre-dawn protest, try to wake Jewish Illinois governor
"We might be tired the next day, but they won’t stop us from proudly being Jews."
Anti-Israel activists protested outside the homes of Illinois Gov. Jay Robert Pritzker and Congressman Brad Schneider in weekend predawn demonstrations designed to interrupt their sleep, according to pro-Palestinian organizations.
Activists associated with the US Palestinian Community Network, American Muslims for Palestine Chicago, and Students for Justice in Palestine Chicago banged drums, sounded sirens, and chanted with bullhorns on Saturday and Sunday.
The activists accused Schneider of supporting a genocide in Gaza and called for the reinstatement of US funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East while cutting aid to Israel.
Schneider was accountable for starvation and death in Gaza, according to the anti-Israel groups, because he had voted to cut UNRWA funding and in favor of additional military aid to the IDF.
“We must hold him accountable for the deaths of over 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza,” Direct Actions for Palestine wrote on Instagram. “Gaza doesn’t get justice, then you don’t get no sleep. This is just the beginning.”
At the Sunday protests against Pritzker, activists called him a war criminal and decried him for associations with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
The activists demanded that Pritzker divest Illinois from Israel and not invest millions into prisons.
Money for housing and education, not for genocide and incarceration!” The activists said on Instagram.
As with Schneider, the protesters said the Pritzker demonstration was just the beginning.
'Jewish community stands proud'
Illinois state representative Bob Morgan condemned the protest for specifically targeting Jewish politicians.
“Peaceful protest is as American as apple pie, but harassment of elected officials and terrorizing neighborhoods is the opposite – it has no place in America and should be universally condemned,” Morgan said on social media on Sunday.
“Someone waking up a Jewish neighborhood won’t stop us from supporting Israel’s right to exist, and they won’t stop us from proudly being Jews. We might be tired the next day, but the Jewish community is fierce and will prevail."
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