Three years ago, I had the opportunity to partake in Neilah prayers on Yom Kippur at Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation in Chicago. Near the shores of Lake Michigan, with only symbolic separation between men and women, the synagogue that day was young and diverse. I felt I had found the right place to observe one of the most important moments in the Jewish calendar.
Among the hundreds of worshippers was also Rahm Emanuel, the city's Jewish mayor and former White House chief of staff under Barack Obama. At the end of the Neilah service, just before the congregation began the evening prayer after Yom Kippur had ended, everyone stood, including the mayor, and launched into an emotional rendition of "Hatikva," Israel's national anthem.
For many Jews who choose not to live in Israel, "Hatikva" is much more than a national anthem. It connects them to another aspect of their identity. The Neilah prayer binds their religious beliefs with their Jewish identity, which they also link to Israel through the singing of the Israeli anthem.
To the best of my knowledge, Emanuel's political rivals haven't exploited the fact that the mayor of Chicago stood to sing the Israeli national anthem, to question where his loyalties lie. Obviously, Emanuel's yearning for the ancient holy land doesn't impinge on his ability to serve the American public as an elected official.
It is through this prism that we should view the people waving Palestinian flags in Tel Aviv while protesting the nation-state law. To be sure, unlike the special relationship that ties together Israel and the United States, the bloody conflict between the Jewish national movement and the Palestinian national movement separates them. However, American Jews' emblematic belonging to Israel and its symbols doesn't detract from their civic commitments to their home country, its symbols and laws. In the same vein, an overwhelming majority of Arab Israelis can wave the Palestinian flag and also want to be an integral part of the State of Israel with equal rights.
The few Palestinian flags visible at the demonstration were not inherently contradictory and must not be used as a premise to negate the basic demand voiced by the tens of thousands of Arab and Jewish protesters – equality among Jews, Arabs, Druze and Circassians. Instead of the nation-state law, which distinguishes between Jews and others, granting special rights to the former, the demonstrators demanded equal rights for all, regardless of religion, race and gender – nothing less.
Despite the efforts to demonize the participants, the protest against the nation-state law was a touching display of devoted citizens, Jewish and Arab, who are first and foremost loyal to the place they live. After almost 70 years of divide and conquer, the protest was perhaps the opening salvo of a joint Jewish-Arab attempt to make this country a better place. The very fact that Israeli and Palestinian flags waved side by side made the event a gathering of patriotic women and men, people who are confident in their national identities and want to forge a better future together.
