“Mayor Parker, you are about to legitimize a movement that has as its goal the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel,” the Zionist Organization of America wrote in a scathing letter.
A planned “Palestine Day” celebration at City Hall next week has provoked backlash from Jewish organizations, who say the event’s timing and official recognition send a concerning message amid rising antisemitism in the city and nationwide.
Scheduled for Nov. 24 in Mayor Cherelle Parker’s reception room, the event includes a city proclamation honoring Palestinian and Arab Philadelphians.
“Join us as we celebrate the longstanding social, economic, and historical contributions of Palestinian Philadelphians and the broader Arab community, whose roots in this city reach back to the mid-1800s,” reads a flyer advertising the event.
But critics, including the Zionist Organization of America – Greater Philadelphia (ZOAGP), say the date, which is just days before the Nov. 29 anniversary of the United Nations vote to partition British Mandate Palestine, is no coincidence.
ZOAGP delivered a certified letter to the mayor’s office last week urging the event’s cancellation, calling it “politically charged” and an implicit endorsement of anti-Israel sentiment.
Greater Philadelphia ZOA letter to Mayor Parker: Stop the Jew-Hatred BEFORE There Is a Calamity Here – Cancel “Palestine Day”
Read the full letter: https://t.co/qCQrHlIxoU #ZOA1897 @MortonAKlein7 #PalestineDay #Israel @JewishExponent @BroadAndLiberty pic.twitter.com/CND2HiqyY3
— Zionist Organization of America (@ZOA_National) November 19, 2025
“Mayor Parker, you are about to legitimize a movement that has as its goal the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel, and you will validate a cause whose participants have murdered thousands of people – mostly Jews, and including scores of Americans,” the letter explains.
The ZOAGP goes on to note that the event date appears to have been chosen because of its proximity to the resolution that re-established “the Jewish state of Israel on the Jewish People’s historic and legal homeland.”
Tensions continued to escalate when the School District of Philadelphia was accused by a Jewish families group of promoting “Palestinian Solidarity Day” while omitting November 30’s Mizrahi Jewish Commemoration Day from its cultural calendar. The district has denied any formal connection to the City Hall event, though organizers previously claimed support from district-affiliated groups.
Jewish advocacy groups warn that such events risk deepening division, especially at a time when multiple federal complaints have been filed alleging antisemitic incidents in city schools.
Caren Lowrey, a member of a grassroots antisemitism watchdog group, says that “Instead of fostering dialogue or understanding,” the Palestine Day event “appears to elevate groups that have repeatedly spread falsehoods and dangerous rhetoric about Jews and Israel, while actively resisting Jewish inclusion in academic, civic, and cultural settings.”
Event organizer Jude Husein declined to address calls for cancellation, stating only that the day is meant to honor the Palestinian community’s “longstanding contributions” to Philadelphia. Mayor Parker’s office has not issued a public response.
The event marks the fifth consecutive “Palestine Day” in Philadelphia, but this year’s City Hall venue and official proclamation appear to signal stronger backing from the mayor’s office than in recent years.
“Our nation’s 250th anniversary is coming up,” the ZOAGP letter concludes. “Philadelphia will rightly be a focal point. We do not want the city’s reputation harmed or the city embarrassed as a haven for Jew-hatred and support of violence.
