Real Estate Events To Sell Stolen Palestinian Land Met With Protests Internationally
“The Great Israeli Real Estate Event” toured the United States and Canada, exhibiting property for sale on stolen Palestinian land. Each event has been met with mass protests by Palestine solidarity activists.
The events featured the real estate company My Home in Israel and were hosted in: Montreal; Toronto; Teaneck, New Jersey; Lawrence, New York; and Brooklyn, New York.
These showcases of illegal settlement properties are not uncommon in U.S. Jewish communities, but due to the genocide in Gaza, Palestine has received increased scrutiny in North America. The Palestine solidarity movement sprang into action, protesting outside of all five events across the U.S. and Canada. The final event, in Brooklyn, scheduled for March 13, was canceled in response to a scheduled protest and after the four prior events were met with demonstrations. Each of these events was held at a synagogue, which made any protests susceptible to accusations of antisemitism.
Grant Miner, a Jewish graduate student at Columbia, spoke at a protest in front of the Brooklyn Public Library, a rally that was originally going to be right in front of the real estate event in Flatbush, Brooklyn. However, due to successful protest and public pressure, this last iteration of the “Great Israeli Real Estate Event” was canceled. “As people of conscience, we would be opposed to this, no matter where it took place,” Miner said. “But why did they put it in a synagogue? It’s because they want to be able to cry antisemitism when we as a multinational movement of people, which includes Jews like myself… come together to confront this illegal act.”