Reports of several synagogues in the U.S. and Canada reportedly selling Palestinian land for illegal settlements behind closed doors have sparked outrage.
One of these meetings, organized by the Texas-based real estate company Keller Williams, was protested in Englewood, New Jersey.
Dozens of protesters, including pro-peace Jews, gathered outside the Ahavath Torah Synagogue in Englewood, holding Palestinian flags and protesting the sale of properties to American Zionist Jews from illegal settlement areas.
Surrounded by tight police security measures, the protesters gathered near the synagogue, for hours chanting slogans such as "Freedom for Palestine," "End the Israeli occupation," and "Illegal settlements must stop."
In pouring rain, protesters carried banners saying: "You can’t sell stolen lands," "This is land theft," and "Do not do business on stolen lands."
Leila Hazou, the daughter of a Palestinian who was born in Jerusalem, said that she came from Milford, Pennsylvania, nearly two hours away, to protest "the greatest injustice of our time."
Decrying the meeting inside the synagogue, Hazou told Anadolu Agency (AA): "It's a disgusting situation for me that lands and properties that don’t belong to them and are illegally settled are being sold. It's illegal and morally wrong in many ways. This shouldn’t happen in this country or anywhere else. That's why we had to be here to reject it."
The New Jersey office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) also condemned the sales.
"Places of worship should be sacred. The use of places of worship like synagogues to sell stolen lands by violating international law is deeply concerning," CAIR said in a written statement.
The sales meetings, organized by realtor Keller Williams along with the illegal Israeli settlers group "Your Home in Israel," are being held privately in New Jersey, New York, Toronto, and Montreal.
Pre-registration is required for the meetings, and only Jewish members are allowed to enter.
Estimates indicate about 700,000 Israeli settlers live in roughly 300 illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.
All Jewish settlements in the occupied territories are considered illegal under international law.
