Rabbis, cantors and lay leaders from across the country, representing dozens of liberal and progressive Jewish organizations, gathered to emphasize the Jewish nature of their protest against deportation, while highlighting Jews' own role in the greater story of American immigration

Originally published in Haaretz

By Ben Samuels

WASHINGTON – Hundreds of U.S. Jews on Wednesday held a landmark demonstration outside Immigration and Customs Enforcement headquarters in Washington, marking the community's most pronounced denunciation of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown to date.

Rabbis, cantors and lay leaders from across the country – formally backed by dozens of liberal and progressive Jewish organizations – gathered to emphasize the Jewish nature of their protest while highlighting Jews' own role in the greater story of American immigration.

The Jewish imagery throughout the protest was inescapable. Demonstrators alternately blew whistles and shofars, chanting songs and slogans with immigration-themed biblical verses from Leviticus, Exodus and psalms, in between speakers that included Jewish organizational leaders and rabbis.

Protesters further held signs with slogans such as "Resist Pharaoh: Love Your Neighbor" and "ICE is a Shonda."

"We're out here to say that Jews are not going to stand by as ICE kidnaps our immigrant neighbors off the street and invades our cities," Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T'Ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights – one of the primary organizations behind the protest – told Haaretz.

The demonstration comes as ICE crackdowns on immigrants across the United States, and the ensuing debate among U.S. Jews on whether comparisons to Nazi Germany and the Gestapo have any place in modern political debate, have become one of the defining narratives of Trump's second term in the White House.

Jacobs, for her part, stressed the immigration issue was indeed a Jewish issue, highlighting this week's Torah portion notes the need to protect the vulnerable while insisting that the majority of U.S. Jews share a similar view of the issue.

"Immigration has historically been a consensus issue among American Jews," she noted.

Jamie Beran, CEO at Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (the other leading sponsor of the protest), similarly noted that the protest demonstrated the Jewish consensus over the issue.

"We are demonstrating that American Jews are opposed to the horrific policies of this administration that is harming immigrants and abducting and deporting people. It feels extra critical in this moment to show that we, as a Jewish community, are united against that. We are deeply aware of where these types of policies lead," she told Haaretz.

Referring to what organizations have called the "largest-ever protest of Jewish clergy against ICE" to date, Beran said it illustrated "the really wide coalition of Jewish organizations to stand up around this thing that we have shared values around. I'm feeling really proud of that."

Beran noted that while there was mobilization surrounding the issue during Trump's first term – including protests led by Bend the Arc: Jewish Action – the events of recent weeks have undoubtedly hit a nerve for many U.S. Jews.

"Seeing what's happening on the ground in our cities across the country, this level of militarization and overreach really echoes a familiar past for the Jewish community, that is scary and hits close to home," she said.

"We have a lot of clarity that Jews are safer in a multiracial democracy, and that we don't want to be used as an excuse to enact these types of draconian policies. It feels extra important to speak out," she said. "The faith community is really seeing the important role we have to play collectively to counter the right-wing narrative."

Among the rabbis attending from across the country are Rabbi Emma Kippley-Ogman, a rabbi at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota – the epicenter of ICE crackdowns in recent weeks, as well as lethal force deployed against non-violent demonstrators.

"It feels really important to make the connection between the reality on the ground in the Twin Cities – where ICE is devastating our communities, taking our neighbors, acting with impunity and harming our communities – and to make the connection to the city where that's where the direction is coming from," she said.

"This matters to us as a community that has found safety in a multiethnic democracy of the United States. We get to be responsible for continuing to build that multicultural reality of this place. The way we do that is by standing with our immigrant neighbors and by taking apart the forces trying to destroy that," she continued.

Rabbi Kippley-Ogman described the impact of ICE raids throughout the Twin Cities as "devastating," noting, "there are Jews who are immigrants, who have immigrants who are terrified. There are Jews who are out protecting their neighbors."

She added that many local Jews have hosted constitutional observer trainings in partnership with immigrant-led justice organizations, while others are deeply involved in the mutual-aid networks that are sustaining folks who are profoundly vulnerable.

Though protests were intentionally devoid of any linkage to Israel, among the participating organizations included those primarily known for their opposition to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he was meeting with Trump at the White House.

Some of these leaders, aware of the discrepancy, insisted that there is space to protest both – even if that meant their presence was missing a few blocks away.

"Fighting for justice and democracy and standing up for our values in America and in Israel are part and parcel of who we are and what we do," New Jewish Narrative CEO Hadar Susskind told Haaretz, noting the protest had been in the works for weeks, predating Netanyahu's announcement of his flash visit to Washington.

"Speaking out against ICE and their campaign of terror – we felt like this was a place where we could show up and really make our voices heard," he continued.

While his organization recently put out a statement urging Trump to push Netanyahu against West Bank annexation, Susskind acknowledged that the anti-ICE protest offered "more urgent opportunity for us to be heard standing here in partnership today."