It’s no secret that our Jewish communities are on edge, as we watch the news in Israel and the reactions in this country. So when word spread that anti-Israel agitators were planning to show up at the Highland Park Mayor and Council meeting on Tuesday, October 24, to ask that the Palestinian flag be raised in town, local Jewish community activists mobilized and nearly two dozen showed up at the meeting. Ultimately, no one at the meeting spoke out in support of the Palestinians or to condemn Israel. The Jewish activists used the occasion to thank the mayor and council for their strong support of the Jewish community, to point out the poor responses to the Hamas massacre in some circles, and to support Israel’s right to defend itself.

Rabbi Eliot Malomet of the Highland Park Conservative Temple/Congregation Anshe Emeth spoke about the “moral bankruptcy” of Israel’s critics and shared his wish that “good people would recognize and condemn” the cruelty of Hamas.

Michael Gordon praised the mayor for visiting different shuls in town the day after the massacre and shared that “the worry on your face meant so much to us.”

Rebecca Cypress decried that “inevitably, the deniers have their day” and thanked the mayor and council for their strong support; she said she hoped that “if the council plans to make a statement on the war” it do so “with a moral clarity that stares at the truth unflinchingly.”

John Kovac said, “Thank God for decent people in town, like Mayor Foster,” and added, “I know we will say no to the Palestinian flag.”