With the war between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas now well into its second week, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu had a personal message Wednesday for city residents with ties to the region who are feeling its impact here at home.
“There are so many of our neighbors and friends and family who are directly and personally experiencing the grief and trauma that comes from events that seem so far away, but are [felt] here in Boston as well,” Wu said during an interview with WBUR’s Radio Boston program.
“As we watch the ongoing loss of life and horrific violence taking place, we need to ensure in Boston that we protect each other,” Wu continued, adding that residents need to “hold fast to what the city stands for: being a safe harbor … and creating space for everyone’s voices to be heard. I want to ask everyone to remember how connected we are.”
At more than 248,000 people, the Greater Boston area is home to the fourth-largest Jewish community in the nation, according to research by Brandeis University. Nearly 80,000 Arab-Americans call the Bay State home, with 7,500 living in Boston, the Daily Free Press at Boston University reported in 2021.
“It really feels like there are so few degrees of separations, these days, in the interconnectedness,” Wu said. “With Boston being such an international city and such strong ties to the region. I don’t think I’ve talked to a single person who doesn’t know someone who knows someone, or has a connection ... there’s a strong sense of grief and mourning throughout the community, and anxiety on hateful incidents or backlash. Or worse.
“Boston is going to be a place where everyone is safe and all our views and perspectives have the space to be in conversation without any tolerance for threats or intimidation,” she said.
With antisemitic incidents at an all-time high nationwide and in Massachusetts, and with tensions escalating because of the war, Wu said Wednesday that her office is working with Boston police and community leaders to keep people safe. That includes Palestinian-Americans, Wu said.
Last week, the Massachusetts chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations called on the city to treat an incident of vandalism against Palestinian and Islamic organizations as a potential hate crime, WCVB-TV reported.
A picture shared by CAIR, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, shows the word “Nazis” spray-painted over the sign for the Palestinian Cultural Center for Peace, the station reported. The sign also included space for the Islamic Seminary of Boston.
“We’v already seen across the country, the potential for violence, and for such depravity that can come with hate when it is acted upon, thousands of miles away from what’s happening in Israel and Gaza,” Wu said, referring to the stabbing death of a 6-year-old Palestinian-American boy in Illinois that authorities are treating as a hate crime.
“We have experienced in Boston, for instance, with the graffiti, and months and years past, anti-Semitic incidents, [the] violence taken place outside houses of worship and religious schools in our neighborhoods,” Wu continued. “The way to safety is through community. We are working very closely with Boston Police and all our community partners.”
Senators call on State Department
As Wu stressed her office’s outreach to Boston’s Jewish and Palestinian-American communities, the Bay State’s two United States senators released a letter calling on the U.S. State Department to do everything it can to assist New England residents who are trying to flee the region.
That includes helping a family from Medway that is stranded in the region, Democratic U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren and Ed Markey, joined by U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., wrote in the letter to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinker and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.
“We appreciate all of the work the State Department is doing to secure humanitarian aid and safe passage for these families, as well as the support and communication we have received from the State Department regarding assistance for Americans, including those from Massachusetts,” the lawmakers wrote.
“But we continue to have questions about what assistance will be provided to these families, including transportation assistance and security assurances of the crossing area, as well as more information about when these families can be confident there will be safe passage through the Rafah crossing,” they continued.
President Joe Biden traveled to Israel on Wednesday to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where they discussed humanitarian aid to the region, among other matters, according to the Washington Post.