Doing Our Share

When our small group of friends in Dearborn call for a demonstration against Israel’s so-called Operation Pillar of Defense, Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends rev up the taxi squad and show up. We hope – as we mount our vigils every Saturday morning – that these activists would recognize the continual nature of the Jewish state’s aggression and maintain regular protests calling for its dismantlement. But in the meantime we report that three JWPF members participated in a protest adjacent to the Detroit-Windsor tunnel on Friday, Nov. 16. This event was covered by local press and a camera crew was able to give a few moments of fame to this writer. Click here for video from WXYZ_TV Detroit. Parenthetically, we can’t help but note that with is previous major assault on Gaza –Operation Cast Lead– the Jewish state has with Operation Pillar of Defense once again cloaked its brutality in religious terminology.

Lawyer’s Logic Presented to City Council

Ann Arbor City Council was addressed this week on the ability to ferret out answers to seemingly difficult questions merely by the application of Lawyer’s Logic, aka common sense. Do Ashkenazi Jews hold a right to return to the land they never came from? Read the three-minute talk below signature to find out.

Vigil Supporters Question New Councilman

The same Chuck Warpehoski who holds the position of Director at the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice and was credited with eviscerating ICPJ’s Middle East Task Force, has been elected to Ann Arbor’s City Council. Shortly after swearing to uphold the US and Michigan Constitutions, he was reminded by two vigil supporters that ICPJ sponsored a resolution entitled “Arms Divestment and Cessation of U.S. Aid to Israel” as reported in the ICPJ’s July 2003 newsletter. The resolution called for a development of “a campaign to call on the governing bodies of our religious institutions, the City of Ann Arbor, the University of Michigan and on our fellow citizens (1) to use their influence to encourage the United States government end its complicity in these violations of human rights by suspending its military aid and arms sales to Israel, and (2) to use their influence to encourage the United States government end its complicity in these violations of human rights by suspending its military aid and arms sales to Israel…” Dedicated activists wanted to know when Mr. Warpehoski would implement the changes he formerly sought. The local on-line newspaper annarbor.com covered the story as “Protesters ask new Ann Arbor City Council member to spearhead resolution to ‘boycott Israel'”.

For a video of the three presentations to City Council this week click here and advance to 00:26:16.

Comments?

Nine vigilers
Holding the Jewish community accountable
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
#
November 19, 2012 [409 words]
Good Evening,

Much is made about the state of Israel’s Law of Return. Simply stated this law grants a right to Jews anywhere in the world to “return” to Israel and gain citizenship there. The term “return” is used to signify a claim that Jews lived in Palestine thousands of years ago.

Is this true? Is it true that the European Jews who created the Zionist movement actually came from Palestine? Well, there’s two methods one can use to answer this question. First, you can read this 313-page book, The Invention of the Jewish People by Shlomo Sand, who explains historically that there was no expulsion of peoples from the Holy Land and hence no return.

Or, you can just apply Lawyer’s Logic to the situation and determine the answer. Lawyer’s Logic is just another expression for common sense, and it is with respect for our lawyer friends that we’ve coined it. Ralph Nader did not need to know the inner workings of the internal combustion engine to bring General Motors to its knees. He just thought out of the box and drew his own conclusions about automotive safety.

Here’s my personal example of Lawyer’s Logic: Four years ago I attended a demonstration in Lansing demanding a moratorium on home foreclosures, when I noticed a fellow hawking Barack Obama t-shirts. I asked if Obama supported this moratorium, and the fellow could not answer the question. So I applied Lawyer’s Logic, and asked myself what would occur if Obama did in fact support the moratorium. Every major news outlet would have carried the story, and the headlines would have been huge.

But there were no headlines, and Lawyer’s Logic taught me that in fact Obama did not support the moratorium.

So let’s apply this tool to the question of whether Ashkenazi Jews originated in the Middle East. Type in “DNA Ancestry” into Google and you’ll get over 50 pages of responses. Now imagine if American Jews were able to determine through scientific DNA testing that every Jew in the US had ancestry in Palestine. It would again be splashed on the headlines of every newspaper in the country, and the story would be repeated again and again.

But there are no headlines like that, no repeated stories. And we can conclude with great certainty that the claim that today’s Jews originated in Palestine is yet another myth foisted upon us. The choice is ours: 313 pages of historical document or Lawyer’s Logic.

Thank you