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Shalom Somerville –

For most of us, Somerville in the fall is a pretty great place—fruit trees overhanging the crowded sidewalks, a band in the park, pickleball and backyard grills. Most of us look around and feel the excitement of the college students returning and kids with backpacks headed to school with their parents in the morning.

But Jewish people in Somerville see something else that most other people walk by without noticing. Stickers on street signs blame Israel for unspeakable crimes; signs snidely showing the flag of Israel with a poop emoji replacing the Star of David—the symbol of Judaism. (The message is clear—our country and religion are shit.) Politicians speak in coded language, pretending the well-documented rise in antisemitism is somehow not affecting our community. Jewish and Israeli students at Somerville High are forced to traverse a coercive anti-Israel gauntlet to get into their school building. Children are screamed at, neighbors kicked and spit on, accused of being “baby-killers” during supposed protests for peace. Jewish people are literally afraid for their safety.

This was the message from the numerous Jewish people and their allies who showed up to a virtual hearing on Tuesday, September 8 to oppose the anti-Israel ordinance currently under development by city councilors.

Like the text of the ordinance, those supporting it explicitly targeted Israel and only Israel. That painted an almost comic backdrop for councilors who promoted it by claiming that, somehow, the ordinance is not about Israel. That “all are welcome here.” But every speaker who spoke in favor of it spoke specifically against Israel.

The testimony of Jewish residents painted a starkly different picture:

“My child has been told more than once that he can’t be friends because he’s Jewish.”

“My child’s school is not a place where it feels safe to express connection to Israel.”

“I exited a city council meeting to an angry mob and was threatened by name, alarming police, who insisted on escorting me to my car.”

“While standing outside of the Kennedy School holding a sign, someone walked past me, kicked me, and yelled, ‘Go away, you fucking Zio.’”

“My mother refuses to speak Hebrew in public in Somerville, because she is afraid of how people will react.”

“I have an Israeli flag at my property; they’ve pulled it, they’ve thrown it on the dirt.”

“I was verbally attacked in Davis Square while walking home from daycare with my son in his baby carrier. My husband had antisemitic slurs yelled at him while dropping our toddler off at daycare.”

“My middle school son was shouted at because he wears a yarmulke, as if a ten-year-old could stop the violence in Israel. My daughter was exposed to multiple swastikas at Somerville High.”

And on and on and on.

This is the reality in Somerville for Jewish residents. These are our daily experiences in the context of an ordinance that names only Israel, of all the countries in the world, for condemnation. Meanwhile, as one resident astutely pointed out, there is no mention of the 400,000 Black Sudanese people murdered, the constant warfare and killing of Ukrainians at the hands of Russia, the one and a half million Rohingya who have fled genocide in Myanmar, the million Uyghurs detained and oppressed in China. Instead, this ordinance continues to single out the only Jewish state for “criticism.” All while the people pushing it say they are being fair and we are overreacting.

As one resident stated, “If another minority group came to you with their lived experience and told you, over and over, that a proposal before this council were causing that group the kind of harm you’ve heard about tonight, would you continue to pursue it? No—you would condemn it, and rightly so.” Another shared her exhaustion: “I am tired of being told, directly or indirectly, that the fear Jewish families are feeling in this city is not real.”

Her warning to the city councilors about the harm caused by their actions was clear and direct. “You may not intend this ordinance to target Jews, but when you single out the world’s only Jewish state, Jewish residents tell you that it is making an already hostile environment feel more isolating and more unsafe. You have a responsibility to listen. Please reject this ordinance. Do not take something false and harmful and give it the dignity of city policy. Do not make Jewish families in Somerville feel even more alone than many of us already do.”

We shall see if the councilors listen, or continue to charge headlong down this path that makes Somerville increasingly unsafe for its residents.

Shalom Somerville is a community organization standing up for Jews, Israelis, and Zionism in Somerville. Learn more about us at shalomsomerville.org.