The recent demonstrations against ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement) in Minneapolis are beyond belief. Yes, it’s true that a seemingly innocent woman, Renee Nicole Good, was gunned down by an ICE agent, but the jury is still out on whether her death was murder or an episode of self-defense.
What cannot be denied is that Ms. Good was part of a violent group of demonstrators against ICE. So, the protests were loud and boisterous, well before Ms. Good met her fate.
You must wonder: what are these protesters protesting? ICE is rooting out violent criminals, such as rapists, pedophiles, and murderers. How can you be against that? Don’t these people want to live safely in their neighborhoods?
Governor Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey did not help the situation by egging on the demonstrators, occasionally with foul language.
Yet trashing ICE became the cool thing to do. At the Golden Globes Awards, several actors and actresses piled on ICE and the Trump administration. Rock icon Bruce Springsteen dedicated a song to the abolishment of ICE and quoted the foul message of Mayor Frey.
Yet, at the same time, one wonders where all these champions of civil rights are when it comes to supporting the brave protesters in Iran. At some estimates, up to 12,000 civil protesters were killed by the Iranian regime, plus 300,000 wounded.
It is all the same makeup as the Palestinian supporters. They protest because it’s the hip thing to do, regardless of facts. Some people cynically ask where is Greta Thunberg’s flotilla in solidarity with the hapless protesters being slaughtered in Iran?
I guess it doesn’t fit with the narrative of Muslims being killed by Muslims. Jews killing their terrorist and genocidal Arab enemy? Now that’s a story! It works on college campuses and in Hollywood. Take on the Palestinian cause, but when it comes to the Iranians, crickets.
A wonderful article was written in The Wall Street Journal by Gerard Baker on Tuesday, January 13. In it, he wonders out loud how come none of the celebrities have spoken out against the Iranian regime while being awfully noisy about Israel in Gaza. What he does not mention is the fact that one has to do with Jews while the Iranian story does not.
So, all these protests leave me ICE cold.
Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, former President of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the Rabbinic Consultant for the Queens Jewish Link.
