(Editor’s note: we’ll have coverage from inside First Avenue from the concert – once our writer has recovered).
Inspired by protesters forcing shows by Matisyahu, the Jewish and pro-Israeli musician, to be canceled in Arizona and New Mexico, the Minnesota Anti-War Committee tried to do the same for Wednesday night’s show at First Avenue.
A Minneapolis police officer directs a protester away from the front of First Avenue in Minneapolis. (Photo by Lonny Goldsmith/TC Jewfolk).
When that failed, around 200 protesters – fewer than organizers had predicted – stood on the corner of First Avenue and Seventh Street in Minneapolis, across the street from the famed music venue, and for more than two hours were chanting, drumming, and in some cases trying to intimidate the more than 900 people who were filing into the concert.
“We’re here to show that we don’t support Matisyahu performing at First Avenue,” Leila Yeshaye, a Jewish member of the Anti-War Committee, said before the protests started. “If you are openly supporting the IDF, like on the ground performing for them, we are not in support of you [being] in Minneapolis.”
Matisyahu performed a benefit concert for the organization Bring Them Home Now, supporting the families of hostages taken by Hamas on October 7, in January. Last month he played for IDF soldiers in the Golan, where the soldiers sang along as Matisyahu played his hit song, the peace anthem “One Day.”
Meredith Aby, an organizer with the Anti-War Committee, said that the petition that they started got 1,000 signatures in an attempt to force First Avenue to cancel the show.
“It’s not only that he’s Zionist but…he has directly tied himself to the IDF and to what’s going on in Gaza,” said Aby, who added she’d be surprised if fewer than 500 protesters showed up. “We’re not protesting his religious beliefs at all.”
A protester shouts pro-Palestinian slogans at people in line to see Matisyahu at First Avenue. (Photo by Lonny Goldsmith/TC Jewfolk).
Once the chanting started, one of those who took the microphone – who identified himself as Jewish – said: “Liberation knows no religion. Those aren’t Jews over there (pointing at First Avenue). Those are fascists.”
Montana, who said they worked for an immigrant rights center and were an anti-Zionist Jew, said they “don’t want to see Zionists in our city.”
As the protests dragged on closer to the start of the show at 8 p.m., a group broke off from the main pack and crossed the street to the venue. The chanting of “Free, Free Palestine” was directed at the people waiting to enter who were behind a barricade. Undeterred, the people entering the venue ignored the shouts from protesters.
As the volume and number of people grew in front of the venue, Minneapolis Police officers increased their presence on the corner and brought in another set of barricades to keep people off the sidewalk unless they were walking past the venue. One officer reminded one of the protesters that covering their faces to conceal their identity, which several did, was not allowed by state statute. Many wore KN-95 masks which are allowed by the statute.
Protesters were there past the start of the show as people of all ages entered the venue. One of the final people on the microphone said that a ceasefire was the tip of the iceberg.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” he said, leading the crowd in the antisemitic chant, while another took the microphone to say it wasn’t antisemitic at all.
Aby, at an event commemorating the Chinese Revolution, is reported by the conservative news website the Washington Free Beacon to have said that she doesn’t support a total ceasefire between Israel and Hamas because she “only want[s] one side to stop fighting.” She reportedly concluded her remarks with “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
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