The end of the year was quiet in terms of local events related to the war between Israel and Hamas. There were no major marches, antisemitic incidents or instances of public officials opening their mouths and inserting their feet.
Jeffrey Lasday, the senior chief of external affairs at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, said he watched the news on CBS on Jan. 2 and didn’t see Israel mentioned. At all. For 30 minutes.
That said, Lasday is not taking a breath.
“People were just focusing on the holidays,” he said.
Now though, the holidays are over.
“Now that schools are back in session, we’re going to be going back to the work at hand,” Lasday said.
That work includes monitoring Philadelphia-area school boards and their handling of incidents, staying aware of antisemitism in general and going on offense, according to Lasday. That means integrating pro-Israel messages into upcoming local events such as Purim carnivals. It also refers to working with Jewish organizations, such as the Anti-Defamation League and American Jewish Committee, to educate students at K-12 schools and on college campuses.
“Combating antisemitism and educating on Israel,” Lasday said.
Lasday believes that it’s a good thing that Israel was not mentioned on the morning news.
“If you’re not getting a constant stream of ‘look at poor Gaza, look at what’s happening in Israel,’ the anti-Israel demonstrations may quiet down,” he said.
(Photo by Dvasha Stollman)
There was one incident worth noting in the Philadelphia area over the past week.
The Cynwyd Heritage Trail
Dvasha Stollman, a Jewish resident of Merion Station, often goes walking on the 2-mile Cynwyd Heritage Trail. On a late December day, she was walking the trail with a friend when she started seeing anti-Israel messages written on the pavement.
“While you’re walking bombs are dropping. Ceasefire now,” said one.
“20,000 plus civilians killed. Stop the Gaza genocide,” said another.
“Peace frees hostages war kills them,” read a third.
There were several more, too.
“The whole trail, there was no escaping it,” Stollman said. “It was obnoxious. It was loud. It was meant to upset people.”
“A serene, peaceful landscape, and you’re making it unfriendly,” she added.
Stollman did not have to report the graffiti to the Lower Merion Township Police Department. An officer was already on site. Stollman and her friend walked up to her.
According to Stollman, she said, “We’re here because people called us about the graffiti. We’re trying to document and do as much as we can. There’s only so much we can do. We patrol the area, but we can’t be here 24 hours a day. Unless the township invests in cameras, there’s not much more we can do.”
The Cynwyd Heritage Trail connects to Manayunk on the Philadelphia side. There are cameras on the Manayunk portion of the trail. There was no graffiti there.
“The villains, so to speak, knew what they were doing. They didn’t want to get caught,” Stollman said. “It doesn’t impact anything. It doesn’t change people’s opinions. It just makes people see the perpetrators as destructive individuals.”
This happened once before, too, according to Stollman. And it was cleaned up by local authorities.
