CHICAGO, Illinois — Pro-Palestinian protesters tried — and failed — to block a public sidewalk on Monday as pro-Israel Christian and Jewish counter-demonstrators staged a counter-protest around the perimeter of Union Park.
Roughly 3,500 anti-Israel activists had gathered in the park for a rally at the starting point of the “March on the DNC.”
Anti-Israel activists, including left-wing independent presidential candidate Cornel West, urged voters to oppose Vice President Kamala Harris and the Democrats unless they cut off U.S. support to Israel.
Joel Pollak / Breitbart NewsThere were fears of violence in the city as a result of the radical pro-Palestinian protesters — who included open Hamas supporters.
But a group of about two dozen activists, led by Pastor Jim Scudder of the In Grace Church in Lake Zurich, made a stand.
Several groups were represented in the march, including Generation Zion, a Christian pro-Israel youth organization; Israel 360, a group of young Jewish professionals; and the Philos Project, another pro-Israel Christian group.
Holding Israeli and American flags, as well as posters of the Christian anti-Nazi theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer, they walked peacefully around the park, staying on the sidewalk and out of the park itself, where the pro-Palestinian group had a permit. Police on bicycles rode cautiously alongside them.
At one point, a group of “safety” personnel from the pro-Palestinian protest formed a human chain along the edge of the sidewalk, as if to keep the pro-Israel group out of the park. Several “safety” personnel — in fluorescent jerseys and masks — then tried to block the pro-Israel group, unlawfully, from walking down the public sidewalk itself.
Led by Pastor Scudder and Generation Zion organizer Isaac Woodward, the pro-Israel group simply kept walking.
The pro-Palestinian protest appeared taken by surprise by the counter-protest. Several shouted pro-Palestinian slogans; one pro-Palestinian activist cursed at the police for protecting the pro-Israel demonstrators from them.
A crowd of journalists, who had been waiting for the pro-Palestinian rally to begin, crowded around the pro-Israel counter-protesters once they had crossed the street, interviewing them and asking their opinions on the issue.
Woodward told Breitbart News: “There were definitely some attempts to strong-arm us and stop us from proceeding. But we know our rights, we know our mission, and we just want to peacefully see it through.
“I think this has definitely been a success, because we want the world … to know that these claims and these [anti-Israel] voices don’t go unanswered, that there’s a strong coalition of Christians and Jews that believe in the right of Jewish people to live free of antisemitism in this country, and for a safe and secure Israel.”
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
