The Bronx Anti-War Coalition held a second rally in The Bronx on Tuesday, Oct. 24, to call for a cessation of the bombing of Gaza, after tensions escalated severely in the Middle East following a Hamas terrorist attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, and Israel’s subsequent bombing and ground invasion preparation of Gaza.

 

CBS News reported on Oct. 18 that Palestinian officials said Israel’s bombardment of Gaza had killed about 3,000 people and wounded around 12,500 others, a majority of them women and children [since Oct. 7]. Meanwhile, as of the same date, in Israel, officials said Hamas’s terror attack on Oct. 7 and ongoing rocket attacks had killed some 1,400 people and wounded 3,500 others. The outlet reported that Hamas is said to be holding almost 200 hostages, though a small number have been released in the interim.

 

The first pro-Palestinian rally by the Bronx Anti-War Coalition was held on Fordham Plaza on Sunday, Oct. 15 [story to follow]. Representatives from The Bronx Anti-War Coalition, Black Alliance for Peace, Bronx Boricua Resistance, Workers World Party, and Neturei Karta International (Jews United Against Zionism) were amongst the speakers at the first rally.

 

The second rally was held on East Fordham Road, outside the office of Congressman Ritchie Torres (NY-15) as an estimated crowd of around 150 denounced his support of Israel’s military response in Gaza, amid continued bombing, and where according to intelligence officials, Israeli hostages are likely being held captive.

Demonstrators gathered outside Torres’ Bronx office at 540 East Fordham Road in Belmont with chants of, “Not another nickel, not another dime. No more money for Israel’s crime,” and “Ritchie Torres, you can’t hide. No more money for Israel’s crime.” Standing outside Torres’ office, which was closed, Richard Merino of the Bronx Anti-War Coalition told the crowd, “So, this is the letter that we wrote to Ritchie Torres that caused him to block us on social media.”

 

Addressing Torres, in absentia, Merino continued, “You began your Twitter tantrum by falsely claiming that we are largely pretending to be from The Bronx.” Then, addressing those gathered, he added, “I want you to shout right now if you’re from The Bronx.” Many in the crowd shouted, “Yeah!”

 

Stating that more than 4,000 Palestinians have been killed, and more that one million people displaced [since Oct. 7], Merino issued three public demands of Torres: end [U.S. military] aid to Israel, stop the bombing of Gaza, and end the Israeli occupation of Palestine.

 

According to the Council on Foreign Relations, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict dates back to the end of the nineteenth century. In 1947, the United Nations adopted Resolution 181, known as the Partition Plan, which sought to divide the British Mandate of Palestine into Arab and Jewish states. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was created, sparking the first Arab Israeli War. The war ended in 1949 with Israel’s victory, but 750,000 Palestinians were displaced, and the territory was divided into 3 parts: the State of Israel, the West Bank (of the Jordan River), and the Gaza Strip.

 

According to one EU agency, some 4.5 million Palestinians live in the Occupied Palestinian Territories of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza. Amnesty International has said of the Israeli government, “Laws, policies, and institutional practices all work to expel, fragment, and dispossess Palestinians of their land and property, and deprive Palestinians of their human rights.” It concludes the treatment amounts to an institutionalized regime of oppression and domination defined as apartheid under international law.

Back at the rally, continuing to address Torres, Merino said, “You don’t represent us. 96.3 percent of your campaign’s funding came from outside the 15th Congressional District. You represent luxury real estate developers who are eager to turn the South Bronx into the next Williamsburg.” Norwood News reviewed the latest campaign contributions to the congressman and found that just 2.17 percent of total contributions came from inside Congressional District 15 [the poorest congressional district in the United States] from Jan. 3 to June 30. Out of the $1,979,512.56 raised during this period, $1,952,422.56 came from outside District 15, and only $27,090 came from the district.

 

We also found that 18.1 percent of contributions to the congressman’s campaign came from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee PAC, a total of $222,040, the second highest contributor after Act Blue (a Democratic Party PAC). The 15th Congressional District spans the length of borough from the south to the northwest and covers some or all of the neighborhoods of Port Morris, Morrisania, Melrose Mott Haven, Highbridge, Tremont, East Tremont, Van Nest, Morris Park, Belmont, Eastchester, Williamsbridge, Baychester, Pelham Parkway, Allerton, Little Yemen, Olinville, Norwood, Bedford Park, Woodlawn, Riverdale, North Riverdale, Spuyten Duyvil, and Fieldston.

 

Rabbi Dovid Weiss of the True Torah Jews who leads “an anti-Zionist congregation” in Monsey, New York, later told the crowd, “Greetings to all on such a sad occasion, an occasion of bloodshed, of death, suffering. Every minute that goes by is precious because…..another bomb, more lives destroyed.” Weiss added, “Our history in the Torah is 3,000 years old. We accepted a covenant with God to be subservient for 3,000 years already. We strictly adhere to that. Zionism is 150 years of a political movement. They [other Jews] have no right whatsoever to speak in the name of my religion.”

 

Speaker Claudia de la Cruz, codirector of the People’s Forum and presidential candidate of “Party for Socialism & Liberation,” who said she once attended Theodore Roosevelt High School, located a block from the protest venue, said of Torres, “At the end of the day, he lacks the backbone to make the connection that his people, Puerto Rican people, have been under the boot of U.S. imperialism.”

After the rally, “Debra,” a resident of Parkchester and a woman of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent, told Norwood News, “I’m here today first because Ritchie Torres is my congressman and I want to stop genocide. He needs to stop sending money to Israel.” Protesters then marched across East Fordham Road to the U.S. Military Recruiting Station on the Grand Concourse.

 

At the same time as the second pro-Palestinian rally was held, a separate pro-Israeli, pro-Torres rally was being held at Seton Park at West 235th Street in Riverdale, which one source initially estimated and told Norwood News was attended by around 250 people, including Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (A.D. 81) and Councilman Eric Dinowitz (C.D. 11.). The same source later estimated the crowd to be around 500. [Norwood News did not have the resources to cover both rallies on the same day due to a prevailing print deadline.]

 

The assemblyman later posted photos and a video of the Riverdale event in which large crowds were seen carrying Israeli flags while the speakers stood behind a podium on which the following was printed, “Thank you Congressman Ritchie Torres for fighting for The Bronx Jewish Community.”

 

The assemblyman is heard in the video saying in part, “I am so proud to represent this community in which we live. I am holding here one of the posters of one of the 200+ people who were kidnapped by Hamas,” he said. “This is a picture of a person, 12 years old… 12 years old….many of the people who were kidnapped are children. Some of them are very elderly; it’s disgusting.”

 

He went on to say, “We are dealing with good versus evil: Israel versus the terrorist organization called Hamas, good versus evil.” He said Oct. 7 would be remembered for the rest of everyone’s lives, adding that it was the largest mass murder of Jewish people since the Holocaust,” a point which has been cited by various sources several times since the Oct. 7 attacks.

The assemblyman later wrote on social media, “There was a massive turnout for our rally in support of Israel in Seton Park. Our community spoke with one voice: Free the hostages now. Thank you Congressman Ritchie Torres, Council Member Eric Dinowitz and Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson for your staunch support of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East.”

 

Jessica Haller, who ran against the councilman in the 2021 District 11 race, was also seen in the video at the rally. She later became executive director at The New Majority NYC. Virginia Krompinger, vice-chair of the Bronx Democratic County Committee and president of the Benjamin Franklin Reform Democratic Club, also was present, along with other clergy and community leaders. Krompinger has written an ep-ed published in the latest edition of the Norwood News condemning the Oct. 7 attack.

 

The assemblyman had previously confirmed that he, the councilman, U.S. Senate Majority Speaker Chuck Schumer and other Jewish leaders joined thousands of  others for a rally in Times Square on Friday, Oct. 13, to raise awareness and call for the immediate release of the Israeli hostages kidnapped on Oct. 7 and held in the Gaza Strip by Hamas. The assemblyman said they were there “to support the families of some of the hostages held by the vicious terrorist group by Hamas.” He later wrote on social media, “@ericdinowitznyc and I stand proudly with Israel in Times Square. Over 2500 people showed up to say in one voice, #BRINGTHEMHOMENOW Am Yisrael chai [the people of Israel live].”

 

After the dueling rallies, Torres tweeted, “My congressional district saw two rallies regarding Israel. An astroturf, anti-Israel, hate rally with less than 100 people (mostly from outside my district) chanting “resistance is justified, [and] a grassroots pro-Israel rally with 1000 people, from the Riverdale community, standing with me for speaking out forcefully against the barbaric terrorism of Hamas. I am grateful for the overwhelming show of support from my Jewish community in The Bronx. I will keep fighting for you!”

 

Although the congressman was not in attendance, Torres alleged 1,000 people attended the Riverdale rally. Councilman Dinowitz later released a video of the Riverdale rally on Instagram, showing the crowds in attendance.

Chants of “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” were heard at recent Pro-Palestinian rallies. According to the American Jewish Committee (AJC), the refrain, which is also the title of a book, is a common rallying cry for pro-Palestinian activists, and seemingly calls for the establishment of a State of Palestine from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, eliminating Israel entirely.

 

We asked the Bronx Anti-War Coalition if they wished for such a Palestinian governing, one-state solution. They responded, saying, “It calls for the liberation of Palestinians from Zionist settler-colonialism, genocide, military occupation, apartheid, and displacement. The single state that will result from that liberation will provide equal rights to all people living in Palestine.”

 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14), who represents parts of The Bronx and Queens had called for a ceasefire in the Middle East during an Instagram Live session with her followers on Sunday, Oct. 22, saying human rights had to be upheld by all sides of the conflict. On Oct. 25, according to Congressman Jamaal Bowman Ed.D. (NY-16), Congress voted on a resolution that does not acknowledge a two-state solution in the Middle East and does not call for a de-escalation of violence. Bowman had previously condemned the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7.

 

The congressman, who represents Westchester and parts of The Bronx, said, in part on Oct. 25, “In order to save Israeli and Palestinian lives now and in the future, and fight the rise of antisemitism, islamophobia and all hate, we need to respond in this moment with leadership, balance, and a spirit towards true and long-lasting peace, not war.”

Norwood News reached out to Torres’ office for comment on the second Fordham rally. We did not receive an immediate response but managed to speak with the congressman very briefly at an event on Monday, Oct. 30, after an unrelated press event. We asked him about the latest calls for a ceasefire and what he would say to those who say the Israeli military response to the Hamas attacks on Oct. 7 is disproportionate.

 

He replied, “There’s a need for a humanitarian response. Every effort should be made to minimize casualties, to provide humanitarian aid to Palestinians in need in Gaza, but there are members of Congress who introduced a resolution calling for a ceasefire, without calling for the release of the hostages which I found to be profoundly irresponsible.”

 

He continued, “And keep in mind nobody expected the United States to enter into a ceasefire with the Empire of Japan when 2,400 Americans were murdered in Pearl Harbor. Nobody expected the United States to enter into a ceasefire with Al Qaeda when 3,000 Americans were murdered on 9/11, so why should Israel be treated any different to any other country on earth?”

 

He added, “Israel has a right to defend itself. The Palestinians in the Gaza strip also have a right to receive humanitarian aid, which the world should provide, including the United States, and so you can call for a humanitarian response without going as far as a ceasefire.”

We put it to the congressman that without knowing what the military resources of Hamas are, nor who supports it militarily, since it’s a terrorist organization, it is nonetheless widely cited by many Palestinians that there is no equivalence between Israel’s military strength, backed by the U.S., and the military resources of Hamas, or of Palestine to defend itself.

 

He replied, “Well, there’s no moral equivalence between the terrorism of Hamas and the self-defense of Israel. There is a moral difference between the murder of civilians and the incidental loss of civilian life in the context of the war. There’s a world of difference between the two. Every war is a humanitarian crisis. Every war is a tragedy. I want nothing more than to live in a world without more human suffering. That world is not possible when you have terrorist organizations like Hamas in power.”

 

Meanwhile, in efforts to oust Torres from office over his stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Uptown Bronx section of the Democratic Socialists of America campaigned against him on Saturday, Oct. 28, at 5581 Broadway, Kingsbridge, which is actually located in Congressional District 13, and is represented by Rep. Adriano Espaillat.

 

On Monday, Oct. 30, various news outlets confirmed that death of German-Israeli female hostage, Shani Louk, 23. 

 

For those wishing to donate to help humanitarian efforts in the region, UNICEF is coordinating aid for those affected by the conflict. Visit https://www.unicefusa.org/.

 

To read our previous coverage on this issue, click here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, as well as the referenced recent op-ed.

 

*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.