A leading human rights lawyer who marched at the Stand for Israel rally in Washington, D.C., says she has never seen “such a rise in Jew hatred” across the globe as what has transpired in the days following the devastating Hamas terror attacks on Oct. 7.
Brooke Goldstein, executive director of The Lawfare Project, spoke with Fox News Digital on Tuesday on the National Mall in the nation’s capital, where nearly 300,000 people rallied in support of Israel’s right to exist and in support of the Jewish community around the world who have been subject to antisemitic rhetoric and calls for violence in the weeks following the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
“I’ve been doing this my whole life, and I have never seen such a rise in Jew hatred as we have seen after October the seventh,” she said. “Our clients are being treated differently.”
“I know that some of my clients are feeling completely unsafe, even just to walk on the street. They’re removing their kippahs or they’re hiding their Stars of David necklaces because they do not feel safe in this country,” she said.
Brooke Goldstein, the Lawfare Project executive director and human rights attorney
“And that is completely unacceptable. It is 2023. We are in the age of minority rights movements and the Jewish community is the oldest, most persecuted minority community in human history. The time is now for a Jewish civil rights movement. The time is now to demand an end to Jew hatred,” Goldstein said.
The Lawfare Project provides pro bono legal services to protect the civil and human rights of the Jewish people worldwide. Goldstein told Fox News Digital that she believes people in the West who are marching and protesting in support of Hamas are exhibiting “a disgusting display of colonialism.”
“I don’t think that the marches happening are anywhere near pro-Palestinian,” she said. “If you care about the Palestinian-Muslim community, then you would have an anti-Hamas march. But as the Western people who sit in their place of privilege and support a terrorist group that is terrorizing a local, indigenous community, the Palestinian Arab community – they don’t want Hamas to rule after them. They don’t want Hamas to use them as human shields. They don’t want Hamas to be recruiting their children as suicide, homicide bombers or child soldiers.”.
“And yet it is those in the West – it’s a disgusting display of colonialism, who are preaching pro-Hamas rhetoric, who are supporting the Hamas terrorists’ occupation of the Palestinian-Muslim people,” she said.
Elite universities around the country such as Harvard, Columbia, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Virginia have hosted anti-Israel protests since the October attacks that killed over 1,200 Israelis. Some demonstrations featured chants like “one solution, intifada” and “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” – both inherently carrying calls to violence against Jews.
“Every day we are being contacted by dozens of Jewish students and professors who are experiencing an alarming amount of anti-Jewish discrimination on campuses, and we are providing them with legal counsel,” Goldstein said.
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Tens of thousands of people participate in the March for Israel at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, Nov. 14, 2023. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
“My message to students on campuses that are dealing with Jew hatred is that you do not have to tolerate this. You have civil rights. You have every right to stand up for yourself and to be who you are without being targeted because of your cultural, religious or ethnic identity or even your national origin,” Goldstein said.
“I encourage you to stand up for yourself and seek advice and seek counsel. There is no shame in it, and you will not be retaliated against and we will protect you. The community is here to protect you,” she said.
Goldstein said she is grateful the Biden administration on the whole is “standing strong” with Israel. But she is concerned about lawmakers like Rep. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich., who are “espousing genocidal ideas.” But Goldstein said she is encouraged by what she believes is the majority of the American people support Israel.
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Tens of thousands of people gathered together Tuesday to stand in solidarity with Israel and call for the release of Israeli hostages. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
“I think it’s so important that the Jewish community continue to protest today and every day after today until the hostages are released and until Hamas is defeated, because we must show the world that this is not right,” Goldstein said.
“We must show the world that it takes courage and it takes effort and it takes stamina to stand on the side of truth and what’s right,” she said.
