Pro-Israel protesters gathered Sunday night outside Port Washington’s Bellissimo Pizzeria, which was hosting a pro-Palestinian organization’s fund-raiser for Gaza aid. The protesters said they were not against the fund-raiser but opposed the hosting organization.
“There are a lot of innocent people who have been severely harmed and left with nothing after this war, both in Israel and Gaza,” protester Orly Dotan said. “I think it’s important to acknowledge that there’s a lot of suffering and this is what happens when you have such a brutal war. But what the issue was was not about fund-raising—it was about the sponsoring organization.”
The fund-raiser was hosted by Palestine Action Long Island to raise money for a Gaza soup kitchen, multiple sources said. Efforts to solicit comment from the organization were unavailing. The group’s private Instagram bio states they are based on Long Island and focused on “promoting peace and justice.”
Schneps Media Long Island called Bellissimo Pizzeria for comment, but an employee declined to provide one.
Multiple protesters described Palestine Action Long Island as anti-Zionist and antisemitic, saying the group calls for the end of the State of Israel and refers to Israel’s actions toward Palestinians as genocidal.
The protest came together within an hour after Port Washington resident Dave Kerpen became aware of the event around 6 p.m. that day. He followed with making a social media post and sending text messages throughout the community assembling the group of nearly 200 people.
The protesters gathered in the cold temperatures, holding signs with pictures of Israeli hostages and chanting “hate has no home here” for about two hours. Dotan said the protest was peaceful, filled with songs, music and words from local clergy members.
Gathered for the protest were not just Jewish community members but also local elected officials and residents from throughout Port Washington.
“It speaks volumes to the nature of how wonderful our town is and how ultimately unified our town is,” Kerpen said. “There will always be differences of opinion, there will always be Democrats and Republicans, there are people that will disagree on a lot of topics, but one thing that really unifies us is our stand against hate of any kind.”
Kerpen said the protest was not against the organization raising money to feed the hungry in Gaza but was held to speak out against an organization being welcomed into his community that he said “spews hatred.”
“Spreading lies and hatred has no place here,” Kerpen said. “And that sort of rhetoric can’t be acceptable because it leads to worse things and we’ve seen this as a Jewish people over and over. We cannot stand for it.”
Kerpen said there was a silver lining in the turnout as it brought the community even closer together. He said this will help them mobilize and be stronger in the future.
Rabbi Michael Mishkin from Temple Beth Israel, who spoke at the protest, said he hopes the event can spur further dialogue with Palestine Action Long Island and other community organizations.
“We care about Israel and we care when we believe that Israel’s name is slandered,” Mishkin said. “I would like to see something productive and cooperative come out of this. I don’t know if it can, but I’m certainly willing to try.”
