Polis addresses Global Conference for Israel as protesters oppose event

Gov. Jared Polis told a gathering of hundreds of attendees at the Global Conference for Israel on Thursday night that “this is a profoundly difficult time” for the Jewish state in the wake of the “abject cruelty and hatred” wrought by Hamas against civilians nearly two months ago.

The gathering opened as pro-Palestinian protesters geared up to oppose — and potentially disrupt — the event in downtown Denver this weekend. A group of about 60 protesters gathered Thursday evening at the Colorado Convention Center’s blue bear and chanted, shouted and banged on the windows.

“We want to be loud, visible and hostile to our enemies,” an unidentified speaker said through a megaphone.

The disruption could be heard inside the convention center, host to the annual conference, which is put on by the Jewish National Fund-USA. The conference has become a local flashpoint in the weeks since Hamas carried out a deadly surprise attack on southern Israel, killing more than 1,200 and capturing nearly 250 people to be held as hostages.

The Israeli military’s response to the Oct. 7 raid has left more than 13,000 Palestinians dead in the Gaza Strip, according to the Hamas-controlled Health Ministry, inflaming tensions around the world.

On Thursday, Denver police closed a section of 14th Street, between Stout and Welton streets, to vehicle traffic as a security measure, and it put up concrete barriers. The closure will be in effect until 8 p.m. Sunday.

About 10 police vehicles blocked access to the front doors of the convention center Thursday night, as protesters marched past the windows of the facility with signs and Palestinian flags. Security was tight at the event, with heavily armed law enforcement officers stationed throughout the convention center.

Polis delivered welcoming remarks at the conference, which is scheduled to last through Sunday.

“There’s a lot of pain, and it’s made worse by the rise of anti-Semitism and hate,” the governor said. “Our greatest strength is our ability to stand together. Together we must fight all forms of hate.”

The governor’s appearance at the conference was denounced by the Colorado Palestine Coalition. The group labeled Polis “hypocrite-in-chief” on its Instagram page and accused him of welcoming “some of Israel’s most noted Islamaphobes and racist genocidaires” to Denver.

The organization is calling for a shutdown of the conference. And on Monday, Pro-Palestinian demonstrators speaking out against the Global Conference for Israel took over the chamber of City Council, causing the meeting to be postponed.

Yaron Marcus, an Israeli-American who serves as the vice president of the Mountain States region of the Jewish National Fund-USA, said his parents were called “Zionist, racist pigs” as they entered the conference Thursday.

“It’s disheartening,” he said inside the convention center.

NOW: Pro-Palestine activists getting loud and banging on convention center windows, while also blowing whistles and banging pots and pans in downtown Denver. They are opposed to the Global Conference for Israel happening inside. Governor Polis is scheduled to address the event pic.twitter.com/tfRThCofsz

— John Aguilar (@abuvthefold) December 1, 2023

The protesters this year are “angry, hostile and threatening,” said Marcus, who grew up in a Tel Aviv suburb and now lives in Denver. And they erroneously conflate the American arm of the organization to the Israel-based Jewish National Fund organization, he said.

“We own no land (in Israel),” Marcus said. “We are a nonprofit whose mission is to carry out humanitarian and other philanthropic endeavors in Israel.”

Polis, who is Jewish, told The Denver Post through a spokesman last week that “Israel has a right to defend its citizens against Hamas and to respond to the brutal murder of hundreds of Israeli citizens, and to work to facilitate the return of hundreds of hostages.”

Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.

Polis’ spokesman, Conor Cahill, added that hate against any faith in Colorado “will not be tolerated, and that includes ensuring that any effort to intimidate or prevent people from speaking to a group of Jewish Americans convening in Denver does not succeed.”

Many pro-Palestinian activists accuse the Jewish National Fund of supporting policies that have displaced Palestinians from their land and have resulted in the severe curtailment of their rights as they seek to create a nation-state of their own.

Sarah Kaplan Gould, a member leader of the Denver/Boulder chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, said the Jewish National Fund-USA “supports a vision in Israel that does not support equality for Palestinians and for all people.”

Jewish Voice for Peace calls for an end to U.S. support “for Israel’s oppression of Palestinians” on its website. It also calls for a permanent cease-fire in the current war. A tenuous cease-fire that began a week ago was extended Thursday to release hostages, but it’s not clear how long it will last.

“The JNF doesn’t represent Jews everywhere,” said Kaplan Gould, who is Jewish. “I’m here to say: ‘Not in my name.’ ”

Jewish Voice for Peace plans to hold an “interfaith solidarity picket” near the convention center on Friday and another downtown protest Sunday. The actions are among a number of events being promoted by the Colorado Palestine Coalition this weekend, including a planned Friday walkout of Denver Public Schools students and a rally and march at the state Capitol on Saturday.

“I hope that people in Denver who are not sure they should speak out for Palestinian rights know they have a place and a community here and in Israel who recognize the intertwined fates of Jews and Palestinians,” Kaplan Gould said.