A group of Jewish Charlotte residents are expressing their support for Palestinians and condemning Israel’s actions in Gaza — while also acknowledging the complexity of the issue at a time of rising anti-Semitism.
Under a pavilion in Freedom Park, dozens of Jewish residents from Charlotte gathered Sunday. They taped signs to the pavilion’s columns with statements calling for a ceasefire and demands for food to be let into Gaza. Many wore shirts that read “Jews say let Gaza live.”
The Families for Liberation event included a fundraiser for displaced Palestinians. Canvassers approached people walking in the park, asking them to sign petitions to halt the United States’ financial and military support of Israel. The event was organized by Jewish Voice for Peace.
Melissa Siegel Barrios is a member of JVP and attended the event. Alongside her children, she recounted why she got involved with the organization.
“About a year ago, I decided to join Jewish Voice for Peace because I just couldn’t stay silent anymore in the atrocities that were happening around Palestinians and so it was really important to me to take a stand and really get involved,” Siegel Barrios said.
Siegel Barrios said that speaking out on this issue has been isolating. The Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte, the predominant Jewish organization in the Charlotte area, has strongly supported Israel in the conflict. For Siegel Barrios, finding a community that shares in her advocacy has been a vital outlet. She also says that she hopes that not only Jews speak out on this issue.
“As a U.S. citizen myself, we cannot continue to let the U.S support and arm Israel. And so I really want to call for others to call their representatives and really take a stand to say that we are asking for the U.S to stand up against these atrocities that the Israeli government is doing against Palestinians,” Siegel Barrios said.
Charlotte's JVP chapter was established less than two years ago. The organization calls for solidarity with the Palestinian people and an end to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
In a recent Gallup poll, Americans' support of Israel's military action in Gaza fell to 32% — the lowest it's been since November of 2023.
Members of JVP say the issue is multifaceted, especially when it comes to the rise in antisemitism across the United States. The Anti-Defamation League reports a 344% increase in antisemitic incidents over the past five years.
JVP member Nina Tracy says this increase is from Jewish people often being conflated with the Israeli government, as well as ideologies such as Zionism.
“I’m a Jewish person and it’s not a monolith, right? All Jews aren’t Zionists. Here in this country, all Americans don’t support what our government is doing,” Tracy said.
The Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel from the Gaza Strip and massacred more than 1,000 Israelis, taking hundreds of hostages — some of whom still haven’t been freed.
Since then, conditions in Gaza have become increasingly dire. The United Nations’ statistics say that one out of three people in Gaza have not eaten for days and 80% of all reported deaths by starvation are children.
Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu has claimed that there is no starvation in Gaza. Donald Trump, who has been a strong supporter of Israel, disagreed this week with Netanyahu’s claim. Trump responded that there was “real starvation” and that “you can’t fake that.”
Tracy says that the food insecurity in Gaza is dire and irrefutable.
“What do you need to see to believe that people don’t deserve to be starved? And I don’t want to say just children because I think it’s really important adults also don’t deserve to be starved,” Tracy said.
Reuters reports the number of Palestinians killed in the conflict crossed the 60,000 threshold this week.
Tracy’s father, Mitch Bollag, is one of the founders of JVP’s Charlotte Chapter. He says the most difficult aspect of this conflict has been seeing what he says is blind support for the Israeli government.
“For a Jew to deny the genocide in Gaza is equivalent to non-jews who deny the Holocaust,” Bollag said.
Bollag and others in JVP hope their voices will spur others to speak out on the starvation in Gaza and envision peace in the region, despite the long road ahead.
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