A mayor’s cancellation of a Palestinian flag-raising in West Orange has stirred angry reaction in the community and debate over how to respond to the Middle East crisis.
In West Orange, the township had raised an Israeli flag to honor the lives lost in the Hamas attacks on Oct.7, but then Mayor Susan McCartney canceled an event by local organizations who wanted to do the same in lieu of the more than 20,000 Palestinians who have been killed in the Israeli retaliation.
Pro-Palestinian activists and others nevertheless gathered in front of town hall on Friday to push back.
Roula Ramadan, a resident in West Orange, said: “We stand against antisemitism, anti-Muslim, anti-Arab speech across the board. The language was not hateful in any sense. But what sadly, I believe happened, is that people fell into the anti-Muslim, anti-Arab trope that Palestinian existence, or Palestinian’s resisting their mourning, their pain, their grief at what’s happening to their community, somehow insinuates something against anybody else.”
Tova Fry, a Jewish resident who lost relatives in the Holocaust, said he supports raising the Palestinian flag: “I was born in occupied Palestine after the war. Criticizing any government, our own or any other, for their actions, is not antisemitic.”
And Noor Shamim of West Orange for Humanity said: “We had a great opportunity here with the mayor to work with her and to have her sponsor and champion for people who have been silenced, and really create an environment where all people can be heard, and give people a glimpse into Palestinian culture in a safe, peaceful, celebratory way.”
