On November 12, in the cool Brooklyn evening air, a line several people abreast snaked around the block that houses St. Ann and the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church. They were waiting patiently to enter the impressive sanctuary that seats over 600 people.
"What's going on?" one passerby asked me. I told her that Sally Abed and Alon-Lee Green, the co-directors of Standing Together, were on a panel. "Do you know who they are?" I followed up. "Yeah, I've heard of them,' she replied before walking away.
A young guy was handing out leaflets about the need to primary Rep. Dan Goldman. (He had the right crowd.) Ironically, the evening's moderator, City Controller Brad Lander, has been dropping hints that he is interested in Goldman's seat.
I was standing next to Rabbi Abby Stein (a tenth-generation descendant of the Baal Shem Tov, founder of the Hasidic movement), who gave my friend an impromptu primer about the views of various Hasidic sects on the state of Israel and the role of the Crusaders in the history of Jerusalem.
Inside, New York City Friends of Standing Together had their volunteers checking people in, handing out literature for an upcoming training session, and announcing their presence by wearing deep purple T-shirts that read, "Where there is struggle, there is hope." A one-pager announced its mission with the sentence, "Find your voice in the struggle against authoritarianism in Israel-Palestine and here in NYC."
When everyone was finally seated, the three speakers came to the podium. The audience greeted them with a big round of applause. Lander began the conversation, announcing that they had both given him the courage to address the Occupation publicly.
Abed, who went first, said, "We come here holding so much grief and pain. We are in this together. We are one movement fighting authoritarians here in the United States and Israel-Palestine. It is a war against all our humanity." Pointing out that the Israeli army now holds 50 percent of the Gaza Strip and that the bombing and starvation continue, Abed emphasized, "This is by no means a ceasefire. The West Bank is on fire. The West Bank is screaming."
A new mother, Abed, 34, was the first member of the Joint List to serve in the Haifa City Council. She discussed building "a new alternative to the politics oppressing us," creating a society where "justice, peace, and liberation" were linked to advancing better housing, transportation, education, and other municipal concerns. She noted that "a decade ago, there was no space to be a Palestinian citizen of Israel" while being herself. "Our political project is the most revolutionary thing I can do."
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