Ann Arbor Quakers Put it to Josh Ruebner

Floating across our desk this week appears a letter to several top dogs in the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and Jewish Voice for Peace from the local Quaker peace group, Palestine Israel Action Group (PIAG). Obviously concerned about USCEIO and JVP’s recent ouster of Alison Weir, this letter asks for assurance that “USC and JVP’s investigations of coalition members will end.”

PIAG reports to their constituents: “PIAG is sad to report that US Campaign is unable to give the assurance they requested in the final line above. Policy Director Josh Ruebner stated in a conference call with PIAG that if any further group were to request the ousting of another member, US Campaign’s standard procedures would mandate that such a request be duly considered.”

Perhaps PIAG members in attendance last April when Josh spoke at the Quaker’s Meeting observed his dodge of a vital question from the audience: Does Israel have a “right” to exist as a Jewish state, and if so, on what grounds? Then PIAG members witnessed the removal of If Americans Knew from the coalition which makes up Josh’s group and are now, hopefully, catching on to the nature of Jewish Power within the Palestine solidarity movement.

Go PIAG!

Questioning the US Campaign

The letter from PIAG highlights US Campaign’s Common Principles, which stand “opposed to Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, all forms of racism…” yet the authors fail to ask an obvious question: Why, if the USC stands against all forms of racism, don’t they stand firmly against Zionism and demand the peaceful dismantlement of the Jewish-privileged state? After all, even the United Nations “Determine[d] that zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination” in 1975, and, in spite of being strong-armed by Jewish Power to revoke the resolution in 1991, the UN never “determined” that Zionism was not a form of racism. A slight, but salient detail we think…

Last Reminder: Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day Wednesday

Readers are reminded that this writer will host a gathering Wednesday September 23 at 4:00pm for a celebration of the 6th Annual Bill Henry International Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day. Please call ahead or email your plans to attend so the correct amount of cheeseburgers may be grilled. And wherever Wednesday finds you, hoist a burger for Bill.

Correction

In last week’s report we mistakenly identified Alan Haber as one of the architects of the purge of the Middle East Task Force. He was not. We apologize for this error and hope that our rash conclusion did not do any harm.

Comments?

Seven vigilers
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
Challenging Jewish Power since 2003
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JWPF Completes Twelve Years Holding Jewish Community Accountable

Guest vigiler Michael Rabb joined our ranks this Saturday as seven activists continued the “only game in town” – holding congregants of Beth Israel Congregation accountable for their political, spiritual, and (especially) financial support for the Jewish state, which continues its genocidal program of cleansing Palestine of non-Jews. A football Saturday in Ann Arbor provided an increase in cars passing by and the number of occupants in those vehicles. So, well over 1,200 observers were exposed to political messages they will not receive through the mainstream media.

Sixth Annual Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day Approaches

Peacemonger reminds us that Wednesday, September 23rd will be the Sixth Annual Bill Henry International Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day. Members of JWPF invite you to attend a burger burn at this writer’s home, 4:00 pm, to celebrate the man who, through his memorable action 61 years ago, indirectly brought us the longest running Palestine liberation action Ann Arbor has ever seen.

ICPJ Hosts “Insipid” Rally for Iran

Four members of JWPF accepted an invitation from the deceptively named Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice’s “Vigil for Peace and Diplomacy with Iran” at Ann Arbor’s Federal Building on September 10. About 75 people showed up and listened to Chuck Warpehoski and Joe Summers and Alan Haber. Report readers will remember these guys as the architects of the purge of the Middle East Task Force, then the largest task force of ICPJ, for having the temerity to unanimously support BDS back in 2006.

The Michigan Daily article covering this event including a photo cleansed of our presence but author Allana Akhtar did give us a nod, “Attendees also included four noticeably anti-Israel activists, holding signs that read ‘boycott Israel’ and ‘defeat Israel.’ It also quotes Warpehoski saying the Iran nuclear deal “will help make the world safer for nuclear weapons”. As Peacemonger points out: “Chuck has that right, Israeli and American nuclear weapons are indeed ‘safer’ as they are unacknowledged and untouched by the deal. Iran’s repeated calls for a nuclear weapons-free Middle East go unheeded, virtually unheard, and certainly un-echoed by faux peace activists such as Warpehoski and Summers. Some diplomacy.”

For the vigil from our perspective, Vigiler C reports:

Last night was surreal. It was a protest without a protest. The biggest protest was when this guy came looking at Henry and R’s signs and then decided to stand in front of R’s.

… I couldn’t stand what the [guy] was doing, so I asked R to move around me. Baffled, he did and immediately the [guy] moved again making his place right in front of R. R saw now and said, “Oh, is this why I am moving?” And I said, “Yeah. He’s trying to cover up your sign.”

I told R to hold his sign up, but he didn’t understand [author’s note: R is extremely hard of hearing] and it seemed the [guy] was reaching to take it, so I grabbed it, held it high and said, “Ever heard of free speech?” He said, “What group are you here with? I’m with the Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice. Our message is one of peace. This is not our message.”

I told him, “See that sign?” and pointed to M’s – “That’s why we’re here and that’s why you should be here.” The [guy] said, “I’m here for peace and you don’t tell me why I should be here.”

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hersko/Photos/August%2031_Face%20of%20occupation.jpg

Five minutes after that, they stopped their ‘protest’, crowded into a small circle of about seventy and had different speakers preaching to the choir. The four of us stayed at the corner engaging positive and negative interactions with drivers and passers-by. As the first speaker started, M yelled, “The reason to protest is to end the occupation – end apartheid. What you are doing is not a protest. It’s a joke.”

She was right. That was a controlled protest to give an appearance which lacked substance. As she said, “They are so lame.” Beyond the insipid was trying to stifle our voice as if they owned the corner and the rights of free speech. I am so sick of the sham of their facade and the depth of the infiltration into our mindset, culture and institutions.

Comments?

Seven vigilers
Henry Herskovitz [with additions from PeaceMonger]
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
“You’re either a Zionist or an anti-Semite” – vigil supporter M
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Quality, Not Quantity

Sometimes it takes a d’oh! moment to hear the voice of reason. Last week’s report, you may remember, called for readers to express their opinion whether a certain cartoon sign should be posted at the vigils. The vote was 11-8 FOR displaying the cartoon.

But Vigil Supporter J posited a game-changer. He wrote: “Henry, I think that drawing will discredit your group. Use the copy…change the drawing.”

Here was an extremely positive compliment to Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends, wrapped in an innocent piece of free advice. J, like those of us who stand vigil week after week, recognizes that we are a pretty proud group. Some dress in our Sunday (or Saturday) best, not out of respect for the Jewish supremacist congregants of Beth Israel (although initially we did), but out of self-respect. Was hoisting the cartoon somehow diminishing our messages and self-esteem?

Vigil Supporter M also raised awareness: When shown the shoddy treatment of JWPF afforded by Ann Arbor’s Jewish newspaper, M reacted by saying both sides are just slinging mud. “They are, but we’re not” I attempted a correction. “You will be, if you hold that cartoon” was the succinct response.

So here’s what the sign/cartoon looked like this Saturday. Who says we’re not a reasonable bunch?

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hersko/Photos/Vigil%20Sign%20Aug%202015.jpg.jpg

Rally for Ed Pinkney

Three members of JWPF traveled to the Michigan State Office Building in Grand Rapids to join supporters in a two-hour protest to request that the three judges reconsider a bond request that would release Reverend Pinkney, currently held in the Lakeland Prison in Coldwater, Michigan. The rally drew about twenty supporters from Detroit, Ann Arbor and Lansing. This writer hopes to visit Ed some time soon after Labor Day.

Guest Celebrity Vigiler

Aimee Smith, now hailing from California, rejoined her friends and associates at our vigil, boosting attendance to eleven. Aimee was the Voice of the Vigils while she lived in Ann Arbor, always willing to verbally go toe-to-toe with the most virulent Zionist, and this week was able to engage and totally embarrass Professor Victor Lieberman. When the good professor realized he’d met his match, he quickly resorted to the Zionist’s weapon of choice: name calling. JWPF’s film editing department is currently producing a viewable video from the original provided by this writer. Stay tuned …

Comments?

Eleven vigilers
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
Zionists Out of the Peace Movement
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A Day in the Life (I)

A female bicyclist cruises by our vigils, checks out our signs, and moves on, only to return a few minutes later. From my distant vantage point, I sense a slight commotion, and saunter over. The woman has turned our sign, “Israel: No Right to Exist” around and is attempting to defend her attempt at censorship. She is told “It’s free speech” by Vigiler G, and the biker retorts “This [sign] is beyond free speech.” Nice to know the boundaries…

A Day in the Life (II)

Same day, towards evening: My mate accepts an invitation to an outdoor party and I tag along. Now, I’ve been booted out of a number of bars in my day, but this evening marks the first time I was booted from a private party. The host – a hippie kinda guy I’ve seen on the dance floor of the local bar (where I wear my colors) many times – was told by some Jews at the party that they were offended by my car. Initially, he said my mate and I could stay, but the front license plate

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hersko/Photos/License%20Plate%201.jpg

had to be removed, claiming it said “eliminate the Jews”. Mate tried to explain things to host (he’s primarily her friend) but he wasn’t listening, and claimed the plate was like waving a Confederate flag in front of blacks.

I was so shocked at his increasing upset and anger that I didn’t think to point out to him that the racism some see in the Confederate flag bears a great similarity to the overt racism in the Israeli flag, and is why the license plate negates it. Oh, well, hindsight’s 20-20.

Your Opinion Matters

Perhaps reacting emotionally to the above examples of Tribal-influenced silencing, I had a cartoon found on the internet printed on a sign. The cartoon is intended to convey the message of Jewish Power’s influence on US foreign policy. Internal discussions in JWPF have so far prevented its appearance at the vigil, two in favor, three against. We await your input; does the following enhance our attempt to address the general public or does it detract?

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hersko/Photos/us%20fight%20for%20israel.jpg

Comments?

Aug 8: 7 vigilers
Aug 15: 7 vigilers
Aug. 22: 7 vigilers
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
How many Jews does it take to screw up a peace movement?
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Raul Hilberg: “I am at a loss.”

Three members of JWPF gathered around a small table this week to discuss The Great Holocaust Trial by Michael Hoffman. Mr. Hoffman was a reporter at the “false news” trial of community activist Ernst Zundel in Toronto in 1985 and also at the 1988 re-trial. Though Ernst was handed guilty verdicts on both occasions, they were overturned by the Canadian Supreme Court in 1992, when they declared the country’s “false news” law unconstitutional.

Instructive in understanding revisionist history is the following exchange, reported by Mr. Hoffman, between Zundel defense attorney Doug Christie and Raul Hilberg, certified by the Court as an expert witness, and lauded by the Canadian Jewish News as “one of the world’s foremost authorities on the Holocaust”. This exchange was also reported in The Sault Star on January 18, 1985 under the headline “Scientific evidence of Holocaust missing.”

Christie: “Can you give me one scientific report that shows the existence of gas chambers anywhere in Nazi-occupied territory?”

Hilberg: “I am at a loss”

Christie: “You are (at a loss) because you can’t.”

When asked by the Crown to testify three years later at Ernst’s retrial (1988), Hilberg declined, writing “I have grave doubts about testifying in the Zundel case again… Were I to be in the witness box for a second time, the defense would be asking not merely the relevant and irrelevant questions put to me during the first trial, but it would also make every attempt to entrap me by pointing to any seeming contradiction, however trivial the subject might be, between my earlier testimony and an answer I might give in 1988. The time and energy required to ward off such an assault would be great …”

Hoffman: “Neither did a single ‘Survivor’ take the stand in the second trial. They too feared what would happen to the credibility of their tales when subjected to critical scrutiny by Zundel’s defense team”. [p. 95]

To the three JWPF’ers in the discussion, Hilberg’s revelation comes with breathtaking implications. Has the world indeed been duped into believing that the National Socialist government of Germany were the all-time perpetrators of ultimate evil in the world, or has the fabric of the standard Holocaust narrative been ripped substantially by Hilberg’s admission, now thirty years old? If claims about homicidal gas chambers are false, doesn’t that challenge the heart of Zionist defenses protecting the state of Israel? Is going after the Holocaust a worthwhile endeavor for the goal of liberating Palestine?

Paul Eisen thinks it is. In “Holocaust Wars” He quotes revisionist Robert Faurisson:

Zionists truly fear the weapons of the poor (children’s stones, their slingshots like that of David against the giant Goliath, the suicide attacks) and all that may endanger persons and business; they fear a demeaning of their brand image. But they are above all apprehensive of “the poor man’s atomic bomb”, that is, the disintegration, by historical revisionism, of the lie of the gas chambers, the genocide and the six million; they dread this weapon that kills no-one but that would not fail, if properly used to explode their big lie like a bag of hot air… to lose the “Holocaust” is to lose the sword and the shield of Israel as well as a formidable instrument of political and financial blackmail.

Visiting Ernst Zundel in prison

This writer remembers visiting Ernst in Mannheim Prison with friend and associate Dan McGowan in December of 2006. Readers can view Dan’s report, A Visit with Ernst Zuendel in Prison, published on Dissident Voice shortly after our return. I share with Dan the warm feelings felt at the end of our hour visit: Ernst Zundel, the reputed anti-Semitic devil, did not merely shake hands with me; he held mine in his. Eight years later the memory remains strong.

Comments?

July 18: 7 vigilers
July 25: 7 vigilers
Aug 1: 9 vigilers
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
Six minus Three equals Six
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Je suis Alison

We wonder about the powers behind the organization when three officers of the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation sign a document calling our friend Alison Weir onto the carpet to answer to charges from an un-named source. The three officers signing onto the document described are:

Felicia Eaves, Co-Chair, Steering Committee
Yousef Munayyer, Executive Director
Sandra Tamari, Member, Steering Committee

One cannot review the credentials and descriptions of these well-meaning folks – two Palestinians, one African American – without hearing the voice of Malcolm X, who warned us of this calumny:

But, anyway, I know that every time that whites join a black organization, you watch, pretty soon the blacks will be leaning on the whites to support it, and before you know it a black may be up front with a title, but the whites, because of their money, are the real controllers.*

We ask: Who is calling the shots on this letter of inquisition? One needn’t wear special sunglasses to observe telling evidence which can be found by examining the eight questions put to Alison, to which she must respond by August 3. Of these eight questions, fully five of them raise “anti-Semitism” as an issue, and a sixth talks about Jewish “blood libel”. Are the three signatories to this document REALLY that concerned about Jewish sensibilities in what’s supposed to be a Palestinian LIBERATION movement?

Or, is the hidden hand of the Jewish leaders behind the scenes writing the script that these three affix their signatures? Readers are left to draw their own conclusions.

Alison, I speak for every member of Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends, when I write: “We are with you. Nous sommes, Alison.”

No, You Can’t

I noticed a small gathered group at our vigil on June 13, 2015, and proceeded over to see what the flap was about. I recorded this event, which you can view here and listen to the woman speaking to our group. After she finishes airing her views, I ask: “Could I say something?” and her reply “No you can’t” is a classic example of Jewish arrogance. See what you think.

JWPF Attends Al-Quds Day in Dearborn

Three members of Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends attended a political/religious event in Dearborn, Michigan this week. Al-Quds day mixes Islamic prayer with politics, inviting “people of conscience [to] express solidarity with the oppressed of the world, particularly the innocent of Palestine. We invite all the peace-loving people to voice their opposition against the unjust occupation and the usurpation of Palestine by the oppressive Zionist regime.”

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hersko/Photos/Al-Quds%20Dearborn.jpg.jpg

One impression from this event: were it not for Professor David Skrbina who spoke at this event, the J-word, apparently forbidden in this most Arab-populated city in the US, would not have been uttered. Good job, David, to remind his audience that “Israel” is the Jewish state, and that the “Jewish Lobby” wields great power in our nation’s capitol.

Once again we return to Paul Eisen to observe that the crimes “against the Palestinian people [are] being committed by a Jewish state with Jewish soldiers using weapons displaying Jewish religious symbols, and with the full support and complicity of the overwhelming mass of organized Jews worldwide.”

Comments?

July 11: 8 vigilers
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
* The Autobiography of Malcolm X, p. 384
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Hanging Germans Out to Dry

Much has been made of the recent debate between Yousef Munayyer and Peter Beinart, where, according to Gilad Atzmon, Munayyer exposed Beinart’s Jewish tribalism. Actually, Beinart did it to himself, telling his audience

“Is my view shaped by the fact that as a Jew I’m attached to the idea that in a post-Holocaust world, there should be one state on earth devoted to Jewish self protection and Jewish self-expression? Yes. I plead guilty”

A few of us noted that Yousef – while he did an excellent job rebutting and exposing Beinart’s “need” for a Jewish supremacist state – allowed his opponent to get away with the big one. The Holocaust – seen through Beinart’s “Jewish prism” – has been used as the 800-pound Jewish Gorilla who says “Don’t go there” to intelligent, thoughtful and well spoken people like Yousef Munayyer. Don’t challenge Jewish claims on unique suffering, even though Germans never made bars of soap out of Jewish prisoners, nor lampshades out of their skins, nor who-knows-what-else. Don’t challenge these Jewish claims, because if you do – and are successful at doing it – Jews will be unable to convince the world to look away while they continue to bludgeon Palestinians like yourself into oblivion.

It’s very clear to those paying attention that Jewish Power has targeted the people of Palestine. There are other targets selected by this powerful minority that get lost – intentionally or otherwise – in the focus on Palestinian “solidarity”. Haven’t the German people – seventy years after the real or alleged crimes of WWII – suffered sufficiently? The media, especially Hollywood, exults in flogging Germans.

Mr. Munayyer elected not to “go there” in his debate with Beinart, more willing to remain silent while his co-victim of Jewish Power – the German people – get tossed under the wheels of the Jewish Power bus. He did not question his powerful opponent on Beinart’s claim to unique suffering during WWII. In fact, Munayyer even plays along with this gag, quoting Menachim Begin who likened the policies of Israel “to the laws of the Nazis”. Could anything be worse?

Now Hold On a Minute

This report is NOT a criticism of Yousef Munayyer; he made a clear case for the Palestinian Right of Return, and made a mockery of Beinart’s racist request for a “two-state solution”. It is unrealistic to expect that Yousef would challenge the 800 pound Jewish Gorilla in such a setting. After all, his opponent was a columnist for an Israeli newspaper and the supposedly evenhanded moderator was Sigal Samuel, the Jewish Daily Forward’s deputy digital media editor. And we note – like Yousef might have – the fates suffered by Will Smith, Arun Ghandi, Charles Freeman and others who have crossed the Gorilla.

The purpose of this report is a heads-up to ALL of us when a Jewish opponent tries to hammer us with the Holocaust Cudgel. The late Shulamit Aloni knew “the trick”. To deflect criticism of Jewish Power and its crimes, merely unleash the Holocaust Gorilla at your opponent. We should challenge, rather than accept, this trick.

Perhaps the next time we find ourselves in a debate with a Jewish intellectual and the Holocaust card is played, we can invite him/her to sign onto Paul Eisen’s “Jews for Justice for Germans” statement, which demands in part:

We call on all Jews to demand that the interactions between Germans and Jews 1933-1945 be open to discussion in the same way as any other events in history

In this connection we call on all Governments to repeal, with immediate effect, all Holocaust denial laws and immediately publicly apologize to and compensate all who have suffered under those laws.

If the Holocaust card is allowed to be played unchallenged in the Palestine debate, Jews win the day in the field of public opinion. John Doe will find it difficult to side with the Palestinians because he will have more sympathy for the oppressors of Palestinians than the Palestinians themselves. Challenging the orthodoxy of the standard Holocaust narrative could be an effective way of leveling the playing field. Beinart and other Jews need to be warned that the next time they introduce the Gorilla, that action may open a can a worms they’d rather have remained sealed.

Comments?

Five vigilers
Free Ernst Zundel
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
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