Pennsylvania AG Condemns Planned Boycott of Jewish Businesses in Philadelphia

Pennsylvania's Attorney General's office has issued a statement expressing significant concern over plans by pro-Palestinian activists to hold a bicycle ride in Philadelphia advocating for a boycott of Jewish businesses. The event is scheduled to take place on the anniversary of Kristallnacht, a series of Nazi-orchestrated pogroms against Jews in Germany in 1938 that preceded the Holocaust. The Attorney General's office stated that targeting businesses based on their owners' Jewish identity constitutes discrimination rooted in ancient antisemitic stereotypes and tactics. The office emphasized that the planned action is not a protest against Israeli policy but rather an act directed against Pennsylvania residents solely because they are Jewish, holding them responsible for matters unrelated to them. The statement declared such actions "unacceptable in our city of brotherly love." However, the prosecutor's office did not indicate whether the bicycle ride would be prohibited. In a joint statement, the Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Committee, the Jewish Federation of Philadelphia, and the organization StandWithUs condemned the planned event, stating unequivocally, "This is antisemitism. Hatred of Jews."