Last week marked 100 consecutive demonstrations on Sunday afternoons at Five Corners, aimed at raising awareness about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. This intersection in Vineyard Haven has become one local vantage point on the global tragedy in Gaza.
Local protesters have gathered at Five Corners every weekend since the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, on Israeli civilians. During those attacks, more than 1,200 people were killed, and 250 people were taken from their homes in Israel and held hostage in a dark labyrinth of Hamas tunnels in Gaza.
That attack provoked an immediate and punishing military response by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), which has gone on for two years. The relentless IDF war on Gaza has killed an estimated 67,000 Palestinian men, women, and children, and wounded many more, according to ministry of health officials in Gaza and news outlets worldwide.
On Oct. 10, both the Israeli government and Hamas’ political leadership agreed to the terms of a staged process for a cease-fire in which some 20 living Israeli hostages were returned, as well as the remains of 15. About 2,000 Palestinian prisoners who were held without due process were released from Israeli jails to their homes or to third-party countries.
The ravages in Gaza from repeated bombings will take multiple generations to rebuild. The loss of trust on both sides may never be repaired. Somehow, a few have found room for guarded optimism that both sides can find a way forward.
The resounding sentiment throughout many protests, gatherings, speaking engagements, and conversations has been deeply emotional. Many in the community have struggled, and at times despaired. This week, I reached out to several in the community to gain their assessment on where we are in what feels like a fateful moment in the Middle East.
“Our community was overwhelmingly relieved and joyful that the surviving hostages have been released, and pray for a quick return of the bodies of those who were killed in captivity, as well as an influx of food and medicines and for the people of Gaza,” Rabbi Caryn Broitman of the Hebrew Center in Vineyard Haven said in an interview.
The group of Islanders who have been protesting at Five Corners are known as MV for Palestine. They’ve been focused on condemning American policy and Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza, and they have joined the international condemnation of civilian deaths as a result of Israel’s military campaign. Their message: Local action and solidarity matter, even when the subjects of concern are thousands of miles away.
“People often wonder what they can do,” said David Mintz, who has organized the protest group on Sundays with his wife, Amy Hartford, since November 2023. “But we ordinary people — the great majority of the population — are the productive force that keeps the wheels of the economy turning, and as such, if organized, we can affect revolutionary change.”
Linda Cohen, owner of Olive Branch, a store on Main Street in Vineyard Haven that sells Palestinian goods, cited a moment in her own life when she learned about Israeli settlements in Gaza. It didn’t sit right with her.
So she started reading the history. Cohen, who is Jewish and went to Hebrew school, is now passionately dedicated to bringing to light what she believes is a persecution of the people native to the land.
“A democracy that only has rights for people of one religion is not a democracy,” Cohen said, holding a Palestinian flag and waving it as cars passed by, honking intermittently.
Cohen is part of yet another group that has met weekly since the fall, two years ago. Expanding the Conversation meets in the West Tisbury library, and is a multigenerational gathering of Islanders, most of whom are Jewish, who discuss the conflict in Israel and Palestine, learn about the history in the area, and hold documentary film screenings for the public.
Participant Illia Nichol said the group’s purpose is to “collectively process the atrocities that had occurred, and are ongoing, and also to discuss ways in which our community could provide support to people who were being impacted in Palestine and Israel.”
Nichol said Expanding the Conversation is about holding space for multiple truths. Holding the Israeli state accountable and stopping the violence and being “loving neighbors, colleagues, and relatives to Jewish people,” they said, can occur simultaneously.
The group held a fundraising walk, a Walk for Children, at the end of September that raised more than $8,000 for the Middle East Children’s Alliance and drew a few hundred participants. They all walked through downtown Vineyard Haven from Owen Park, weaving through the streets while holding signs.
Another gathering, the Jewish Cultural Festival, uplifted voices of Jewish heritage and invited Israeli leaders to the Island. Held by Chabad on the Vineyard, an Orthodox branch of Judaism, the event garnered more than 300 guests, and was rife with celebration, traditional music, and cultural offerings.
Rabbi Tzvi Alperowitz of Chabad on the Vineyard said his congregation is still grieving the events of Oct. 7. He said people of Jewish descent are like one cohesive family, and pain that happens — even far away — has an almost tangible impact in the community.
“The Jewish community is very much healing with the return of the hostages. We prayed every single week and every single day for the hostages to come home,” Rabbi Alperowitz said in an interview with The Times. “Many, many Jews thought of these hostages all the time, and felt very close to them. We cried when they were taken. We celebrated when they were returned. It is a huge, huge moment for the Jewish community.”
When Rabbi Alperowitz saw the protests occurring on Sundays for the people of Palestine, he wondered why they were leaving out the other group deeply affected by the conflict. He said holding space for those people of Jewish and Israeli descent is important, too.
“I’m not suggesting that I know what’s in anybody’s heart. God knows people’s hearts,” Rabbi Alperowitz said. “The protesters’ total ignoring of the hostages was incredibly hurtful to the Jewish community, and their continued call to dismantle Israel puts the millions of Jews who live there in danger, and alienates the overwhelming majority of the Island’s Jewish community.”
Chabad on the Vineyard has made efforts to educate the public about the conflict in Israel and Gaza — they’ve held speaking events that were well-attended during the past two summers. In one event, released Israeli hostages traveled to the Island to talk about their experience being held by Hamas.
In a speaker series at the Hebrew Center over the summer, Rabbi Broitman hosted various talks as well. She said the goal of her congregation is to hold space for differing viewpoints and cultivate compassion throughout.
“We have different perspectives on these issues in our community, and our priority is to have a safe place to listen to and learn from each other,” Rabbi Broitman said in an interview with The Times.
“It is very difficult to navigate discourse at a time of war when people understandably have such fear for their and their loved ones’ safety, and when there is so much loss to violence all around,” Rabbi Broitman said. “But that makes conversations across perspectives all the more important, right? We must speak and listen with compassion and have empathy not only for our own ‘side,’ but for everyone.”
Why is a country the size of New Jersey and one third the size Latvia my birthplace, always in the news? Constantly a cultural wedge in places nowhere near the Middle East and intensely loved or hated by the entire world. A country most legislated against in the UN. If our country and indeed MV were torn asunder over Latvia year after year, would no one be curious enough to solve the mystery? One probability that most will not agree on is the spiritual answer that Israel is unique among the nations because God chose it as a vehicle for his salvation plan. Jeremiah 3 17 ” Jerusalem will be called the throne of the Lord and all nations will gather there to honor God” That is why demonic forces keep attacking it. Israelis are no longer open to a hostile Palestinian state. 70 percent supported in 2007 and in 2025, 81 percent opposed. Israel gave them Gaza and the West Bank and still eradication on the minds of the recipients. So much for war and protests that results in the opposite effect.
Andy– when did Israel “give” the West bank and Gaza to the Palestinians ?
“From 1517 to 1917 the West Bank was part of the Ottoman Empire. Turkey renounced its territorial claims in 1923, In 1948, Jordan occupied the West Bank and annexed it in 1950.
In 1967, Israel captured the West Bank from Jordan Since 1979, the UN UN General Assembly the US, and many other world organizations affirmed that the Palestinian people have the right to sovereignty over the area
The Supreme Court of Israel has ruled that the status of the West Bank is that of military occupation.
The territories between the Green Line and the former eastern boundary were occupied by Israel in 1967 . Under customary international law, the Court observes, these were occupied territories. Subsequent events have done nothing to alter this situation.
The International Court of Justice found that the West Bank is territory held by Israel under military occupation, is unlawful. The ruling also added that Israel’s “legislation and measures violate the international prohibition on racial segregation and apartheid.”
As of June 2024, 146 of the 193 member states of the United Nations have recognized the State of Palestine https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Bank
As long as the true believers on either side of this conflict maintain veto power over any solution, peace is nothing but a pipe dream. Religion is the cause of this conflict and the number one barrier to solving it. The dogmatic true believers will never be placated and as a result innocent women and children will continue to die.
Less than 3 days after the terrorist attack on Israel “protesters ” came out waving Palestinian flags and carrying anti Israel signs.
Their message was crystal clear, the people who died and were kidnapped deserved what they got
That’s the point where they lost any of my support
If you’re that passionate about your cause, get on a plane and go help drive out Hamas
There is quite a bit of incorrect information here. It goes deeper than contested or debatable statements when verifiable untruths are accepted as justification for a bias. For example, Israel welcomes all religions, unlike in Gaza where there are no nonMuslims. And Israel has no settlements in Gaza, a territory that is entirely muslim Arab.
It was suggested in this article that Israel is not a democracy and yet, all religions have freedom to worship and are represented in the Israeli parliament. I post the following announcement by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
“Erika Kirk, the widow of assassinated US conservative activist and Israel supporter Charlie Kirk, will accept an award on his behalf at the Christian Media Summit in Jerusalem this week. Israel is hosting over 100 influential Christian figures for the event. Representatives of leading Christian media outlets, opinion leaders, religious figures, and heads of organizations from various countries are expected to attend to deepen understanding of Israeli society, confront the phenomenon of antisemitism on social networks, and present Israel as an innovative, diverse, and open nation.”
Just a couple points of clarification.
(1) Anyone who would like to know our position on the hostages and the October 7 attack is encouraged to refer to our website. See https://mvforpalestine.org/questions and https://mvforpalestine.org/october7
(2) When we speak of dismantling Israel, we mean we advocate a single, secular, democratic state with full freedom and equality for everyone. It is evident that the current Zionist ethnostate will not allow that. Therefore, in order for there to be peace, freedom, equality and justice for all, the existing state will have to be radically restructured. It must also be emphasized, however, that in our view it is not up to the United States to dictate the outcome.
(3) Among all credible experts and human-rights organizations, there is overwhelming consensus that Israel has been carrying out a genocide against a defenseless Palestinian civilian population — a fact which this article omits. Murder and abduction of civilians are also war crimes. However, international law does not recognize revenge or security pretexts as defenses to genocide. As with other terrible crimes against humanity (the African slave trade, the Holocaust), there can be no legitimate “multiple perspectives” or both-sides narratives where this genocide is concerned.
(4) We of MV For Palestine (formerly known as CeasfireMV) are willing to discuss these issues calmly and respectfully with anyone.
Finally and least important, I didn’t say that the productive forces of society can “affect” but rather “effect” revolutionary change.
Being willing to listen to different views, I did as David Mintz suggested. I looked at MV for Palestine and also at his public Facebook page. Neither is benign, well-meaning or peace-oriented.
On December 2, 2023, David wrote this for public consumption:
“So anyone who is obsessed with revenge for October 7 really should put the complicitous Netanyahu and company at the top of the hit list”
Not only is this a blood libel accusation against Netanyahu and “company”, and Netanyahu did not cause the attacks on Israelis, but this statement calls for and justifies putting him and “company’” on a “hit list”. We know what that means and how violent the implication is. What we don’t know is who the AND COMPANY are supposed to be. The IDF? Israelis? Jews who support Israel? All Jews? David, your comments are not in line with reality or the wish among most of us for peace. Your comments are disturbing.
“. . . the existing state will have to be radically restructured.”
That’s vague as can be. Please illustrate, in great detail, exactly what you mean by radical in this instance. What would such a restructuring look like for Israelis in practical terms?
Fair point: it is vague. We do know, however, that whatever the implementation details, the end result would per force look radically different from the status quo. And that’s an understatement.
It saddens me to see this much anger, distortion, and misunderstanding in the article and in some comments. Israel is the only nation, and a tiny one at that, where Jews are not discriminated against for being Jewish.
If you ask any Jewish adult person in this country if they’ve ever experienced antisemitic needling or outright bullying, been excluded from an activity, been singled out as “other” in school or at work, especially on college campuses these days, if they’ve ever forced themselves to laugh at a Jewish joke, or said nothing when someone uses an antisemitic slur to describe a lawyer, the answer is always yes. In a country supposedly tolerant of minorities, I’m seeing little compassion for Jews, especially Jews who recognize Israel is part of our Jewishness. We recite the Shma Yisrael prayer, the Hear O Israel prayer, every day and have for century after century. We should not have to ask for your understanding. We should not have to apologize for or keep explaining why Israel’s existence is important.
“To call Israel’s war against Hamas a genocide is to empty that term of all moral meaning.”
https://www.aei.org/society-and-culture/the-genocide-lie/
First of all, yes, the Israeli war of annihilation against the Palestinian people fully qualifies as genocide under the 1948 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. See for yourself: https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/convention-prevention-and-punishment-crime-genocide
Second, I am 96% Ashkenazi jew (according to a DNA analysis by 23andMe.com). As such, I can attest that yes, antisemitism exists, and no, I am NOT feeling especially victimized lately. But I can assure you that nothing does more to ramp up real antisemitism than the conduct of the Israeli state. It is Zionists like yourself who insist on identifying genocidal violence with Judaism (anti-Zionists don’t do that; you do). So don’t be surprised when some people who are ignorant, unsophisticated and backward also identify Judaism with genocidal violence! What do you expect? You yourself are encouraging that by advocating for mass murder and then claiming to be the victim.
You can have the last word if you want it. I will stop here.
Annie Alow thank you for that link you gave us. Very few will read it. Yes it describes very well what all of us should believe about the conflict. Jewish persecution has gone on for 2000 years and is accelerating world wide.
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