New York Official Refuses to Remove His Yarmulke in Ramallah

Security personnel for the US consul-general of Jerusalem asked a Jewish New York official, on a visit to Ramallah, to remove his yarmulke (skullcap), a symbol of his Jewish identity. He adamantly refused.

The streets of Ramallah. (Photo: Flash90)

US officials requested that a New York City Council member remove his kippah (skullcap) during a visit to the American consulate in the Palestinian city of Ramallah, JP Updates reports.

David Greenfield, an orthodox Jew and a Brooklyn councilman, had participated in a delegation, headed by Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, on an eight-day tour of Israel that was funded by the Jewish Community Relations Council.

Upon returning home, Greenfield sent out a series of tweets on the incident, which occurred during the delegation’s meeting with the US consul-general of Jerusalem at his Ramallah office on Sunday.

The consul-general’s security detail pulled him aside and “insisted that I not wear yarmulke [kippah] when leaving US Ramallah office.” Greenfield asked whether he was endangering the group, to which the answer was no. In that case, he refused to remove his kippah.

“I’m still flabbergasted that a Jew cannot wear a yarmulke [kippah] walking out of the US consulate in Ramallah, Israel,” he tweeted.

In conversation with JP Updates, Greenfield said, “We had an amazing trip to Israel. However, I was surprised that in the supposedly ‘moderate’ city of Ramallah, the unofficial capital of the Palestinian Authority, it’s unsafe for a Jew to wear a yarmulke.”

“After all, I wasn’t strolling through the streets,” he continued. “I was simply walking 10 feet from the door of our bus to the entrance of the American consulate’s office.”

By: United with Israel Staff

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