Photo: Fatih Aktas/Anadolu via Getty Images
On early Sunday afternoon, local police began shutting down the streets around Keter Torah synagogue in Teaneck, a normally quiet suburb in New Jersey. A wall of cops assembled on the street in front of the building, dividing two angry throngs: on one side demonstrators with Israeli flags, and on the other demonstrators with Palestinian flags. The groups hurled increasingly familiar insults at one another ranging from “asshole” to “baby killer.” Inside, approximately 400 prospective buyers were attending a real-estate convention called the Great Israeli Real Estate Event.
The Great Israeli Real Estate Event is an annual exhibition produced by Gideon Katz, a self-described “expert in marketing Israeli real estate to the global Jewish community.” Its aim is to help American and Canadian buyers answer questions about buying property in Israel, and to showcase available properties. This year, the event had planned stops in synagogues in Montreal and Toronto before Teaneck; then it would be onto Lawrence and eventually, on March 13, Flatbush. Initially, he’d considered canceling because of the war. But ultimately, he decided to lean in instead. This was actually an ideal time for Americans to invest in Israeli properties, Katz said on local Israeli news channels, due to rising fears of antisemitism, along with the fact that real-estate experts predict that land value in Israel will increase once the war is over. “In a world where uncertainty looms and anti-Semitism shows its face more boldly than ever, the decision to invest in a home in Israel is not just wise,” he wrote in an advertisement for the event. “It’s exhilarating!
At most of the events was a company called My Home in Israel, brought along to showcase available properties in both Israel and the Palestinian territories it occupies: multiple units in a building near Givat HaMatos in East Jerusalem, townhouses in near Ari’el University in the heart of the West Bank, and a five-bedroom villa with a pool in the luxury enclave of Efrat south of Bethlehem. The latter apparently “transcends mere housing; it embodies architectural brilliance. Conceived by the esteemed architects at Shahar Ben Hamo, this project graces the slopes of Fig Hill, promising a setting of unrivaled serenity.”
From the first stop, in Montreal, protesters have shown up to condemn the sale of houses built on settlements illegally expropriated from Palestinians in the West Bank. In Toronto, a man attacked pro-Palestinian protesters with a nail gun. Things escalated ahead of Teaneck, when a video of a Jewish resident named Rich Siegel denouncing the event went viral. “There’s a genocide going on,” he said in the video. “What this real-estate event is going to do is fan the flames.” The Teaneck protests were especially large, drawing both locals and out-of-towners.
The event began getting so much attention that an unrelated company, with an extremely similar name, got caught up in the fracas. Home in Israel, a Netanya-based company that works in partnership with Keller Williams, has also been touring through Canada, New Jersey, and New York over the past month. Because of their names, people began conflating the two. After the Teaneck event, Home in Israel attempted to publicly distinguish itself from My Home in Israel. A representative from Home in Israel told the Times that they have no properties in the settlements, though some of their listings are in neighborhoods available exclusively to Jews (unlike the U.S., restrictive covenants are legal in Israel). And in response to the imbroglio in Toronto earlier this month, Keller Williams also clarified that it is not affiliated with My Home in Israel and advised agents to “stay away” from further events that might draw protests. (Adding to the confusion: There is also a third company, called My Israel Home, which has also recently been on a North American tour. Its available properties are largely in the Jerusalem area on the Israeli side of the 1949 armistice line, though its website shows one property sold in the West Bank settlement of Ganei Modiin.)
The Great Israeli Real Estate Event ultimately decided to cancel its final stop, which was supposed to be held at Flatbush’s Khal Bnei Avrohom Yaakov synagogue. “At the recommendation of the NYPD, an Israel real estate sales event that was scheduled to take place at the Shul on Avenue N and East 27th Street tomorrow will not take place at this location,” the Flatbush Jewish Community Coalition wrote in a notice to its community. “The Rabbonim are asking all those who were planning to counter-protest to please not attend.” But according to the WhatsApp channel “Flatbush Scoop,” the event actually did go forward — it was just moved to Zoom. “Israel real estate event in Flatbush with planned protest MOVED TO DIGITAL LIVESTREAM,” read one message in the chat. “Recording will be available afterwards. Everything you need to know about buying in Israel!”
Zionist protesters confronting members of Neturei Karta participating in a pro-Palestine protest in Cedarhurst, Long Island.
“The Great Real Estate Event” has been touring 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, sometimes leading to clashes with Zionist attendees and protesters.
The events have been organized by the real estate company My Home in Israel, and sponsored by real estate firms such as the Emanuel Group, International Marketing and Promotion (IMP), and JewishPress. Events have been organized in the Canadian cities of Montreal and Toronto, and in the US in Teaneck, New Jersey, Lawrence, New York, and Brooklyn, New York.
The event website offers attendees the opportunity to “own a piece of the Holy Land!”
My Home is Israel is designing the process of illegal Israeli settlement to be as simple as possible. On the company’s Frequently Asked Questions page, it claims that a foreign resident (anyone not a tax resident of Israel) “can carry out a real estate transaction in Israel, from start to finish, even without coming to Israel.”
These showcases of illegal settlement properties are not uncommon in US Jewish communities, but due to the ongoing genocide in Gaza, the issue of Palestine has received increased scrutiny in North America. The Palestine solidarity movement sprung into action, protesting outside of all five events across the US and Canada. The final event, in Flatbush, Brooklyn, scheduled for March 13, was in fact canceled in response to a large scheduled protest and after the four prior events were met with nonstop demonstrations. Each of these events was held at a Synagogue, which made any protests uniquely susceptible to accusations of anti-semitism. Grant Miner, a Jewish graduate student at Columbia, spoke at a protest in Brooklyn, which relocated to another location after the real estate event in Flatbush was canceled. Hundreds gathered in Grand Army Plaza, 30 minutes north of the original event location, to celebrate the victory of shutting down the event.
Miner spoke about what he viewed as “a particularly insidious part” of the event, which was its location in a synagogue. “As people of conscience, we would be opposed to this, no matter where it took place,” he said. “But why did they put it in a synagogue? It’s because they want to be able to cry anti-semitism when we as a multi-national movement of people, which includes Jews like myself… come together to confront this illegal act.”
Indeed, as stated by the Palestinian Youth Movement, “At the event, Israeli real estate companies were planning to sell real estate in illegal settlements such as Neve Daniel, Efrat, Ma’ale Adumim… Most of these properties will only be made available for sale to Jewish buyers, in a racist violation of both domestic and international law.”
VICTORY: Due to our pressure, today’s event in Flatbush to market and sell stolen Palestinian homes has been CANCELLED.
At the event, Israeli real estate companies were planning to sell real estate in illegal settlements such as Neve Daniel, Efrat, Ma’ale Adumim. pic.twitter.com/LSUcYkZGBm
— Palestinian Youth Movement (@palyouthmvmt) March 13, 2024
Pro-Palestine activists protesting the real estate event in the Long Island city of Cedarhurst on Tuesday March 12, were met with a crowd of hundreds of racist counter-protesters.
A real estate event to illegally sell stolen Palestinian land in Long Island, NY was met by a protest of Palestinians and anti-Zionist Jews.
Across the street Zionist protesters hatefully chanted “NO CEASEFIRE!” and “There is NO Palestine.” pic.twitter.com/UOwkg8eIzB
— BreakThrough News (@BTnewsroom) March 13, 2024
Witness video captures Zionist counter protesters shouting a confusing medley of slogans at the Palestine solidarity demonstrators—chanting “Palestine doesn’t exist!” while also telling activists to “go back to Palestine!” One Zionist counter protester was dressed in IDF uniform, waving an IDF flag out of a moving car, making rude gestures at demonstrators. According to witness reports, counter protesters also displayed symbols of racism and violence against Black people, with one individual having tied a noose attached to a Black doll around his neck.
Like in Brooklyn, some members of the Jewish community also took part in the Pro-Palestine protest of the real estate event. A rabbi from famously pro-Palestine Jewish group Neturei Karta spoke to the crowd on the Palestine solidarity side outside of the real estate event, “Those selling the stolen properties, those purchasing the stolen properties, are thieves,” said the rabbi. “Internationally, the world recognizes that the settlements are stolen property.”
Pointing across the street at the Zionist counter protesters, the rabbi directly addressed them, “Now you are fighting not Palestine, you… are fighting the entire world with no exception.”
Rachel Hu, an activist with the Party for Socialism and Liberation, who lives in Long Island, spoke to Peoples Dispatch about her experience protesting the real estate event. Hu recounted hearing homophobic slurs, seeing trucks carrying “Make America Great Again” flags, and witnessing a car attempt to drive into pro-Palestine protesters.
Speaking on the power of having members of the Jewish community visibly on the pro-Palestinian side within a Zionist stronghold in Long Island, Hu said “I saw a bunch of young teenagers that were Jewish come over and start talking to [Neturei Karta], and you could just see the wheels turning in their brain, of something they didn’t expect.”
“I think they were really surprised by the way that all the different kinds of people that were there,” Hu said. “We had people literally of all backgrounds like attending. And I think that really did surprise some of them, at least some of the young people. They came over and they were talking to the rabbi and you could just see their worldview changing.”
“We’re not here to protest the synagogue. We’re not here to tell you to be cowed, or be afraid by the tactics of the Zionists. They were definitely trying to intimidate us on every front, but we are a coalition of people that truly represent people all around the world that stand with Palestine.”