Eleven members of the New York State Assembly and four other New Yorkers were on a weeklong trip to Israel sponsored and funded by the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) last month during a winter break from their political duties.
(The four non-Assembly members were Lanessa Owens, top aide to Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie; Michael Miller, executive vice president and CEO of the JCRC; David Pollock, JCRC’s associate executive director; and JCRC board member Jay Hershenson, husband of Democratic Assemblywoman Rebecca Seawright, who was also on the trip.)
On February 22, while lawmakers were meeting with Dr. Khalil Shikaki, a professor of political science and director of the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, a local polling company in Ramallah, six miles from Jerusalem, Palestinian protestors began shouting anti-American sentiments. Lawmakers said this made for “tense,” “nerve-wracking,” and “alarming” moments that lasted anywhere from thirty minutes to nearly two hours, according to according to differing accounts of those who were there.
“There were some projectiles thrown at us when we departed the facility,” said three-term Assemblyman Walter Mosley (D – Crown Heights). “[Two people] got hit but they were okay. The Palestinian government and the police force that came to the site were very professional.”
Eggs, vegetables, and rocks pelted the lawmakers as they made their way to an armored van brought in by the Palestinian Authority police. While the delegation was running from the building to the police van, freshman Assemblywoman Tremaine Wright (D – Bedford – Stuyvesant / Crown Heights, Brooklyn) was hit with eggs.
“As I exited the door toward the police vehicle I heard what sounded like hail hitting metal and I said, ‘hey they’re tossing stuff, cover your heads. That’s what I did and that’s what everyone else did,’ recalled freshman Assemblyman Al Taylor (D – Harlem, Manhattan). “I’m an ex-military police officer, a pastor now. I was pulling people into the van.”
Four-term Assemblyman Tom Abinanti (D – Greenburgh, Westchester County) said he “was waiting for everything that was being thrown to hit the ground and then I ran into the van before the next volley came…. It was tense at the beginning when we didn’t know what the circumstances were and what the intentions of the protestors were. I felt much more confident once the Palestinian Authority police arrived.”
“They got us to the main police station in Ramallah,” freshman Assemblyman Robert Carroll (D – Park Slope, Windsor Terrace and Kensington, Brooklyn) told The Jewish Press. “Then we were transferred to a bus and given a police escort to the checkpoint to go back to Jerusalem.
“It was nerve-wracking but I never feared for my safety. It’s definitely not the way to have a productive conversation.”
The chaos may have been the result of mistaken identity. Prior to the state delegation’s meeting with Shikaki, “there was a delegation of U.S. senators, which also received a similar briefing,” recalled Wright. “That meeting was publicized. When folks saw us entering the think tank facility they thought we were the senators and they wanted to come up and protest and let their voices be heard. They were upset that the president announced that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and that he intended to move our embassy.”
At least one state lawmaker thanked noted that things could have been worse.
“We saw first-hand the animosity, the dissent, and the discord from Palestinians in regards to [the Jerusalem] decision,” said Mosley. “We were very fortunate because the next day we were planning on going to Bethlehem, which is a much bigger city than Ramallah with many more Palestinians.
“That subsequent day was the announcement that the embassy would be moved to Jerusalem coinciding with the 70th anniversary celebration of Israel. Again this showed the level of animosity and discontent that Palestinians have toward that decision. So we’re very fortunate in the fact that we weren’t in Bethlehem when that decision was made.”
Four-term Assemblyman Marcos Crespo (D – Soundview, the Bronx) said “It was a scary moment but it puts into perspective what a lot of Israeli citizens live with every day. The threat that at any given moment tensions can escalate may be something new for us as Americans but it’s certainly not something new for folks from other parts of the world, Israel being one of them. The visit overall was extremely educational.”
“I was concerned that the demonstration was going to grow and that it would be hours before we would get out of there,” said two-term Assemblywoman Rebecca Seawright (D – Upper East Side, Roosevelt Island and Yorkville, Manhattan). “Obviously the safety of my colleagues, and myself, were top priority. Thank goodness it all ended up okay and everyone went safely home to their districts.”
Yarmulke-wearing freshman Assemblyman Daniel Rosenthal (D – Flushing, Queens) had an interesting perspective. “The JCRC-run tour tries to show legislators a lot of Israel. They try to be fair and show both sides. It was an intense situation. It was a nervous situation, no question about it. Obviously growing up in the yeshiva world and as someone who follows Israel for a long time you hear about a lot of the horror stories in Israel that start in a similar manner so it was a very tense situation but thank God we got out safely.”
Asked about the incident, the JCRC’s Miller said, “I had a job to do, which was to make sure my group was able to emerge from that situation safely, and we did. The Palestinian Authority security forces enabled us to secure the safety and security of our group.”
Miller would not commit on the possibility of tightened security measures during future tours. “Depending on the situation, we will get what is necessary to assure the safety and security of our group. We will assess what the situation is and act accordingly,” he said.
In addition to the lawmakers interviewed for this article, three other freshman members of the state Assembly made the trip: Carmen De La Rosa (D – Inwood, Manhattan), Christine Pellegrino (West Islip, Suffolk County), and Brian Barnwell (D – Woodside, Queens).