{"id":22983,"date":"2026-06-18T03:54:27","date_gmt":"2026-06-17T22:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/jewish-groups-rally-in-support-of-milwaukee-muslim-leader-detained-in-ice-jail\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T03:54:27","modified_gmt":"2026-06-17T22:24:27","slug":"jewish-groups-rally-in-support-of-milwaukee-muslim-leader-detained-in-ice-jail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/jewish-groups-rally-in-support-of-milwaukee-muslim-leader-detained-in-ice-jail\/","title":{"rendered":"Jewish groups rally in support of Milwaukee Muslim leader detained in ICE jail"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div itemprop=\"articleBody\">\n<p><iframe title=\"Everlit Audio Player\" src=\"https:\/\/everlit.audio\/embeds\/artl_nP9zWi2kVWQ?ui_title_intro=Listen+now%3A&amp;client=wp&amp;client_version=3.1.5\" width=\"100%\" height=\"136px\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">(RNS) \u2014 <\/span>The closest Kareem Sarsour had come to seeing his father in more than two months was standing outside an Indiana county jail where he is being held by immigration officials.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Salah Sarsour, a Muslim Palestinian leader and green card holder, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March. Kareem Sarsour\u2019s visit requests have been repeatedly denied.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cIt\u2019s heartbreaking and deeply upsetting to know my father is only a few steps away, yet I can\u2019t see him, check on him, or give him a hug,\u201d Kareem said. \u201cIt was a very painful ride back knowing we left my father there.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>But on Sunday (June 14), Kareem Sarsour\u2019s spirits were buoyed as he stood beside dozens of American Jews who drove in from neighboring states to rally outside the Clay County Jail to demand Sarsour\u2019s release.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4264606\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"width: 427px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/webrns-jews-for-salah-sarsour-5-20260617\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4264606 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-5-20260617-427x285.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"427\" height=\"285\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-5-20260617-427x285.jpg 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-5-20260617-807x538.jpg 807w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-5-20260617-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-5-20260617-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-5-20260617-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-5-20260617-380x253.jpg 380w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-5-20260617.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\"\/><\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">Jodi Melamed, leader with the Milwaukee chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, speaks during the event. Photo courtesy of Jews for Salah<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Many American Jews feel an obligation to support Sarsour, said Jodi Melamed, an organizer with the Milwaukee chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is very rare, especially since Oct. 7, 2023, to have so many Jews from such a wide variety of perspectives on Israel come together to defend a Palestinian for Palestinian speech,\u201d said Melamed.<\/p>\n<p>National Muslim advocacy groups see Sarsour\u2019s arrest as part of a politically motivated campaign to stifle pro-Palestinian speech in the United States. That view is increasingly shared by other faith groups in the U.S., including some Jews.<\/p>\n<p>Progressive Jewish advocacy organizations condemn what they view as a misguided attempt to fight antisemitism by targeting Palestinians like Sarsour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe administration is specifically conflating the fight for Jewish safety with the ways that people are standing up for Palestinian rights, and then using that as a strategy to push an anti-immigrant agenda and crack down on civil liberties broadly,\u201d said Jamie Beran, chief executive officer of Bend the Arc, a Jewish social justice organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Homeland Security officials have described Sarsour as a national security threat with ties to terrorist groups.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In an April statement, the agency said Sarsour, who grew up in the occupied West Bank, had been convicted of throwing molotov cocktails at armed Israeli forces before being granted entry to the United States in 1993. A spokesperson also alleged that Sarsour lied in his green card application.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sarsour\u2019s lawyers have argued that U.S. officials knew about his history since 1993, when his visa application was approved. They say his detention was politically motivated.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>In a status hearing on June 8, Sarsour\u2019s attorneys asked a federal judge to release him, saying his health has deteriorated.<\/p>\n<p>Sarsour was also denied a Quran and has been repeatedly interrupted by guards when he is trying to pray, his attorneys wrote in a May 29 letter to U.S. District Court Judge James Patrick Hanlon. When Sarsour, who is diabetic, asked for an adequate diet, his lawyer Luna Droubi said he was told to purchase barbecue pork rinds from the commissary, which would violate Muslim dietary laws, which forbid pork products.<\/p>\n<p>U.S. Rep. Gwen Moore, D-Wis., who was able to visit Sarsour on the day of the protest, said he was not receiving adequate medical care for his diabetes.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSalah is being targeted for his advocacy for Palestinians, but his mistreatment is part of the Trump administration\u2019s larger campaign of hate against immigrants,\u201d she said in a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/gwenmoore.house.gov\/news\/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=5949\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">statement<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Sunday.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Sarsour was president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee, the largest mosque in that city, before his arrest. He was also a board member of American Muslims for Palestine, a national organization focused on education about Palestinians.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"gallery-1\" class=\"gallery galleryid-4264551 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail\">\n<figure class=\"gallery-item\">\n<div class=\"gallery-icon landscape\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/06\/17\/jewish-groups-rally-in-support-of-muslim-ice-detainees\/webrns-jews-for-salah-sarsour-2-20260617\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-2-20260617-240x240.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-4264603\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-2-20260617-240x240.jpg 240w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-2-20260617-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\"\/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text gallery-caption\" id=\"gallery-1-4264603\">\n\t\t\t\tKareem Sarsour, Salah\u2019s son, spoke during the event calling for the release of his father. Photo courtesy of Jews for Salah<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"gallery-item\">\n<div class=\"gallery-icon landscape\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/webrns-jews-for-salah-sarsour-3-20260617\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-3-20260617-240x240.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-4264604\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-3-20260617-240x240.jpg 240w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-3-20260617-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\"\/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text gallery-caption\" id=\"gallery-1-4264604\">\n\t\t\t\tAttendees gathered with banners and shirts in front of the county jail after traveling from states around the Midwest. Photo courtesy of Jews for Salah<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"gallery-item\">\n<div class=\"gallery-icon landscape\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/webrns-jews-for-salah-sarsour-4-20260617\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-4-20260617-240x240.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-4264605\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-4-20260617-240x240.jpg 240w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-4-20260617-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\"\/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text gallery-caption\" id=\"gallery-1-4264605\">\n\t\t\t\tSalah Sarsour was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in late March and has not yet been released. Photo courtesy of Jews for Salah<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure class=\"gallery-item\">\n<div class=\"gallery-icon landscape\">\n\t\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/webrns-jews-for-salah-sarsour-7-20260617\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"240\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-7-20260617-240x240.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"\" aria-describedby=\"gallery-1-4264609\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-7-20260617-240x240.jpg 240w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-7-20260617-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\"\/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text gallery-caption\" id=\"gallery-1-4264609\">\n\t\t\t\tU.S. Rep. Gwen Moore speaks with Kareem Sarsour, son of Salah Sarsour. Moore was one of multiple elected officials to attend the event. Photo courtesy of Jews for Salah<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Melamed, a longtime friend of Sarsour\u2019s, described him as a bridge builder with strong ties to interfaith communities in Milwaukee. As a board member of the mosque\u2019s K-12 school, Sarsour helped create a strong Holocaust education program, helping bring Holocaust survivor Hedy Epstein to the school more than once.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe\u2019s the papa bear of our interfaith community, and that\u2019s why it\u2019s so hard and so shocking and really cruel,\u201d Melamed said of Sarsour.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>American Jewish communities are divided over support for Israel. But there is wide agreement among American Jews that the Trump administration\u2019s massive deportation agenda is unjust and in many cases unlawful.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt should be a given that we\u2019re here because we are Jews,\u201d said Rabbi Bruce Elder of Congregation Hakafa in Glencoe, Illinois, who spoke at the protest. \u201cYou cannot separate the Jewish immigrant experience from other immigrants that are coming through. Our Jewish textual tradition calls for us to be here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Elder, who is also affiliated with the Jewish Council on Urban Affairs and T\u2019ruah, the rabbinical human rights group, said he does not think support for the Palestinians should be tied to antisemitism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe cover of fighting antisemitism from an administration that has some of the most racist antisemites \u2014 using that to try to divide us against other folks, to me, is an incredible concern,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_4264608\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"width: 427px;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/webrns-jews-for-salah-sarsour-6-20260617\/\"><img loading=\"lazy\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-4264608 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-6-20260617-427x285.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"427\" height=\"285\" srcset=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-6-20260617-427x285.jpg 427w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-6-20260617-807x538.jpg 807w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-6-20260617-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-6-20260617-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-6-20260617-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-6-20260617-380x253.jpg 380w, https:\/\/religionnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/webRNS-Jews-for-Salah-Sarsour-6-20260617.jpg 1500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 427px) 100vw, 427px\"\/><\/a> <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-caption-text edd-enabled\"><span class=\"caption\">A group of attendees takes a photo together, many wearing shirts that read \u201cFree Salah\u201d on the front. Photo courtesy of Jews for Salah<\/span><span class=\"credit\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Progressive Jewish groups have also supported and advocated for several international student leaders targeted with detention or deportation for their pro-Palestinian activism, including former Columbia University students Mahmoud Khalil and Mohsen Mahdawi.<\/p>\n<p>In Colorado Springs, Colorado, local Jewish advocates and Christian groups have supported Hayam El Gamal and her five children, who were released after 10 months from ICE custody. <span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ICE had been trying to deport the family since El Gamal\u2019s ex-husband was charged with attempted murder for throwing molotov cocktails at protesters who\u2019d gathered in support of Israeli hostages in Gaza \u2014 an attack his family said it knew nothing about.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Erin Adlerstein, who organized a Jewish-led rally last month asking for due process for Hayam El Gamal and her children, <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">acknowledged the horror of Mohamed Soliman\u2019s attack on the Boulder Jewish community.\u00a0<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cBut as a neighbor of the El Gamal family, it just does not serve me in any way to hold these children responsible for the actions of their father,\u201d Adlerstein said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>For Kareem Sarsour, the presence of Jews at the protest demanding his father\u2019s release was meaningful.<\/p>\n<p>Interfaith unity, he said, counters ICE\u2019s goal of \u201cbreaking us as a community and picking on us one by one.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><!-- CONTENT END 1 -->\n        <\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/religionnews.com\/2026\/06\/17\/jewish-groups-rally-in-support-of-muslim-ice-detainees\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>(RNS) \u2014 The closest Kareem Sarsour had come to seeing his father in more than two months was standing outside an Indiana county jail where he is being held by immigration officials.\u00a0 Salah Sarsour, a Muslim Palestinian leader and green card holder, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in March. Kareem Sarsour\u2019s visit [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22984,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22983","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22983"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22983\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22984"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22983"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22983"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/banitoday.com\/hi\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22983"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}