City of Philadelphia distances itself from third annual Palestinian Day of Solidarity

Mayor Jim Kenney’s administration will allow the city’s third annual Palestinian Day of Solidarity to take place next week. But in a break from tradition, organizers said they cannot hold the event next to City Hall, they are barred from using the city’s official logo, and no city representative will speak at the third annual community celebration honoring the city’s Palestinian residents.

The decision comes after a month of tense deliberations in which city officials tried to postpone the Nov. 29 celebration and also withdraw the city’s involvement due to the incendiary political climate around the ongoing war in the Middle East.

In a meeting with organizers Monday, officials agreed to keep the Nov. 29 celebration date — the United Nations-designated day of international solidarity with the Palestinian people — on the condition that organizers host the event at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, another city-owned property, rather than outside the Municipal Services Building where it had been held in years past. Officials said the relocation was necessary due to ongoing construction and Christmas Village near City Hall.

A Kenney spokesperson on Monday said that the city’s participation this year would also be a “distraction.”

“Given the current conflict and climate, we feel that prominent participation by the City will distract from the true meaning of this event, which is for Philadelphia’s Palestinian community to have an equal opportunity to celebrate their heritage,” the mayor’s office said in a statement. “We are grateful to the Palestinian community in Philadelphia and the Arab American Community Development Corporation for their advocacy.”

The city declined to answer questions about the deliberations over the last month. But according to emails shared with The Inquirer, city officials expressed concern to organizers about “local tension due to the conflict abroad,” images on the promotional literature, and lack of control of speeches at the event. At one point, officials asked organizers to continue with the event as a “demonstration” rather than a city-sponsored ceremony.

Jude Husein, a Ramallah-born event organizer, said the day was never billed as a political statement on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but as a local recognition similar to what the City Hall offers other communities.

Husein said officials apologized Monday for the protracted negotiations. Still, the final decision felt like a slap in the face.

“It feels like they don’t care — and they don’t want to care,” Husein said Monday. “This doesn’t happen to any community but ours.”

The Palestinian Solidarity Day was initially pitched as an alternative to the kind of flag-raising ceremony that other national communities receive to recognize their impact on Philadelphia. The city has flown over 40 flags since launching the Philadelphia Honors Diversity Flag Raising Program in 2018. That includes raising the flag for Israel on its national Independence Day, which recently observed its 75th anniversary in May.

To qualify for a flag-raising, a national community must either be recognized by the U.S. Department of State, maintain a U.S. consulate or embassy, or show “significant historical, ethnic, or commercial ties to Philadelphia.” Husein argued to officials that Palestine met the final criteria, but the Kenney administration ultimately agreed to solidarity day, without a flag raising.

The first International Palestinian Day of Solidarity came and went in Philadelphia in 2021 with little pushback, save for the Israeli consulate in New York asking Kenney to reconsider — a first for the mayor during his tenure.

“I don’t know what motivates another country or counsel to take their position,” Kenney said at the time. “My position is: I represent everybody who lives in Philadelphia, no matter what ethnicity or what religion they are, and I have a responsibility to show them respect, and to show that we care that they’re here and that we’re happy that they’re here.”

Husein said there was a small counterdemonstration during the second annual event in 2022. During last year’s event, City Representative Sheila Hess spoke in the mayor’s place.

Husein said officials on Monday agreed to provide a podium and a sound system for the event next week on the Art Museum apron. Beyond that, Husein said, the city’s role would be almost invisible.

In an Oct. 27 email, Amy Eusebio, executive director of the Office of Immigrant Affairs, offered to move the event to a different date based on unspecified “community feedback.” Eusebio also asked that the image of a raised fist — a political symbol used by numerous resistance movements — be removed from the promotional materials. On Nov. 13, she suggested that proceeding as a demonstration rather than a city-sponsored event would provide “the greatest freedom” and mean “the community is at liberty to share whatever they would like without reservation.”

Husein agreed to amend the flier, but insisted the city keep the Nov. 29 date and maintain its role as the official cosponsor of the event.

“All because maybe a few people will scold you for acknowledging that Palestinian Philadelphians are human that actually exist, you all choose to look the other way,” Husein wrote.

Husein also pushed back on the city’s proposal to treat the day as a demonstration and argued the city was imposing a double-standard about political speech that did not apply to other groups.

“It’s not a demonstration. The whole purpose of this day is to uplift, amplify and empower the Palestinian community in Philadelphia,” Husein said. “We’re here, and unfortunately we can’t raise the flag, but we’re going to recognize them as a community that matters.”

The dragged-out negotiations have left her with just over a week to put together the itinerary for the event. She said she also wasn’t sure whether the city would provide a written acknowledgment recognizing the day as it did in years past.

“It’s heartbreaking,” she said. “I have to go back to a community and say ‘Hey, not only are they sticking us at the Art Museum, they don’t want their logos, they don’t want to speak, but maybe we’ll walk away with some acknowledgment.”

“But yeah, we’re gonna take it,” she added, “because we’re stepchildren.”