A Peep from City Council

Newly elected Ann Arbor City Councilman Chuck Warpehoski lashed out at our vigils at Council’s January 7th meeting after fielding some critical remarks from vigil supporters B and M. He falsely accused us of displaying a swastika painted over the star of David, and distorted our claim that Beth Israel Congregation takes innocent children on purposeful trips to “Israel” where they are indoctrinated into an ideology that monstrously kills Palestinians, steals their land and claims a mythical “right” to their actions. It is some, but not all, of these vulnerable children who are twisted into monsters, who may grow up to embrace a viewpoint exemplified by Ovadia Yosef.

Yosef is the former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel – a government employee – and the founder and current spiritual leader of the Shas political party. Shas is Israel’s fourth largest party in terms of Knesset seats and four of its members currently hold posts in Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet. In 2010, the Jerusalem Post reported on Yosef’s claim that “Goyim were born only to serve us [Jews]. Without that, they have no place in the world – only to serve the People of Israel”. Then there’s another government employee, Rabbi Yitzhak Shapira, who wrote “The complete guide to killing non-Jews”. And another former Sephardic Chief – Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu – said in 2008: “… it is important to make one thing clear – the life of one yeshiva boy is worth more than the lives of 1,000 Arabs.” Pretty monstrous, wouldn’t you say?

Old Tactic, Same Results

Over a year ago we reported that the tactic of Zionist Jews was to make donations to the American Friends of Magen David Adom, and to send small Christmas cards to this writer facetiously encouraging our peaceful weekly vigils. This year I received a similar, but larger congratulatory document suitable for framing from Helen and David Aminoff of Ann Arbor.

No time was wasted calling the Aminoff household to thank them for this award, and to invite them for coffee so that our similarities and differences could be openly and discussed in a friendly atmosphere. Helen called back immediately, corrected my pronunciation of “Magen David Adom”, and said:

Good evening Henry Herskovitz, this is Helen Aminoff returning your call … thank you for your good wishes but neither my husband nor I feel that it would serve any useful purpose to sit down with you at this stage.

Last week we reported that our voice – and more importantly the voice of Palestine – had been once again denied a radio audience by our friends at WEMU, a local NPR affiliate station. Now we get a one-on-one invitation similarly refused. But we take heart in the fact that our nine-year-long venue at Beth Israel Congregation is the one media source within our control, and we continue to receive overwhelming support from passing traffic. Perhaps it is this reason that our friends and opponents fear our message so much that we are denied these opportunities for communication.

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Five vigilers, Sixteen Degrees Fahrenheit
Remember Rachel Corrie
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends

*Ilan Pappe, January 4, 2013, “Can we find compassion for Israelis in 2013?” on RighteousJews.org

Public Radio Remains “Fair and Balanced”

An NPR affiliate station, WEMU, tried to set up a debate between this writer and Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor Executive Director David Shtulman over three years ago, but retracted the offer after Mr. Shtulman refused to cooperate. This week, we asked again for some air time and, recognizing WEMU’s delicate situation vis-a-vis the Jewish community, requested only a fraction of the time initially discussed:

It occurs to me that David [morning news host] could spend 15 minutes or so interviewing me one-on-one some morning at the radio station. This might be perceived as less portentous as an hour-long scheduled program of a contentious topic [ref: The Lynn Rivers Show].

Israel is still certainly in the news, most notably its failure to oppose UN recognition of Palestine, and our weekly protests have endured over nine years. As far as political activism is concerned, these vigils appear as the “only game in town.”

David supplied the bad news quickly:

Thank you for your interest in pursuing an interview on WEMU. In talking with [Program Director] Clark Smith, we have concluded that a long-form interview is not the way to go at this time. We will continue to cover the locally-related issues in our newscasts in the fair and balanced manner we always have.

We appreciate your willingness to be accessible, and hope you will remain so in the future.

We responded that we will indeed remain willing and accessible for any chance to have our views and, more importantly, those of the ethnically cleansed Palestinians, reach a wider audience.

Bitter Opponent of JWPF Dies

Allow JWPF to go on record as saying that we wish only the best of health, and long, happy life to everyone, supporters and detractors alike. This includes Beth Israel Rabbi Rob Dobrusin, Federation Director David Shtulman, and even Beth Emeth Rabbi Bob (“I love genocide”) Levy.

So it is with mixed emotions that we report the death of Stephen Pastner and offer condolences to his family for their loss. In truth, Stephen was not a gentle opponent of JWPF and was responsible for scathing ad-hominem attacks in the local on-line and print media. He was also suspected of being instrumental in the firing of our friend Dr. Catherine Wilkerson from the Packard Community Clinic. We note that his age at death corresponded to our own Sol Metz, probably the only thing these two men had in common.

AATA Again Denies First Amendment Rights

Three members of Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends attended a special meeting at the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority offices, where once again the Zionist dominated Board of Directors and Corporate Counsel – acting under an order from Zionist Federal Judge Marc Goldsmith – found that an advertisement from Blaine Coleman violated their new and improved guidelines. See the result of their two-hour, closed-door deliberations here.

During public commentary at that meeting this writer spoke about the obvious conflict of interest that exists both among the Board and the Judge. For clarity, a hypothetical situation was envisioned where a citizen wished to place an anti-handgun poster on a bus and found, to his dismay, that key AATA Board members were staunch NRA members. And to make matters worse, the judge in this case was an NRA member, a member of the Michigan Coalition for Responsible Gun Owners (MCRGO), sent his daughter to marksmanship school, and possessed many long rifles, pistols, and assault rifles in his vast collection.

What would observers think about this citizen’s chance of getting a fair hearing on his poster? And why wouldn’t it be expected that staunch supporters of a Jewish supremacist state be just as unlikely to rule in favor of a poster exposing the Apartheid nature of such a state?

Read coverage of this story here and here, and note how the pro-Israel comments quickly attempt to derail the issue into illogical, ad-hominem attacks.

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Six vigilers
Ending Racism: Israel’s gotta go!
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends

Amtrak Hosts Synagogue Vigil Summit

In the early hours of December 3, a meeting of the leaders of the only two known synagogue protests in the world was held at the Amtrak terminal in Denver, Colorado. The California Zephyr stopped for fuel and supplies while plans to continue protests in Ann Arbor and Boulder on Saturday mornings were shared. Since that time, Michael Rabb, of the Colorado University Divestment organization (cu-divest) has coordinated another protest at the Bonai Shalom Congregation on December 15. He writes:

We did it again!

Four courageous partisans for Free Palestine stood vigil in front of Congregation Bonai Shalom this morning, the last day of Hanukka. We were “greeted” by way more thumbs up and horn-honks than by people giving us the finger.

Read more about their successful protest here.

Déjà vu All Over Again

Michael is faced with Jewish peace activists quite upset with his efforts to ask American Jews to stop supporting Israel. Michael’s critics employ the same types of false premises and specious arguments directed against Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends. We used to get “well reasoned” letters explaining how our message was sound, but the location left room for improvement. Here’s a comment from a concerned Jewish friend of Michael’s:

Wouldn’t it be far better to focus your attention, now, in areas where you can be effective?

In other words, “Go away.” We Jewish activists (JWPF recalls the DEW* signals from Phillis Engelbert and Laurie White of Ann Arbor’s then-largest bit now-defunct “peace” group) will tell you what is effective and what isn’t, and brother, standing in front of a synagogue with protest signs sure as heck isn’t.

Michael’s critic continues:

Furthermore, my suggestions were not to Pause, but rather to consider carefully where you apply your current strategy, and it comes from my own experience as a Jew undergone significant and life altering transformation.

We see that Michael, afflicted with goyische limited intelligence, needs supervision and parental care to see that his efforts deliver the most bang for the buck. And who better to perform this task than peace activist Jews whose only goal appears to be preventing Jews from being held in any way responsible for the travesty that is the Jewish state. By the way, did you catch the “creds” delivered by this concerned friend of Michael’s?

Fortunately, Michael is not swayed by such argumentation. Nor is he swayed by the old “progressive” plea. Again, from Michael’s critic:

I just called into question your selection a house of worship and of a very progressive Jewish congregation – that next week will begin a series of Jewish-Palestinian dialogues with congregants, and one whose Rabbi is very sympathetic to the cause of Palestinian justice – he just doesn’t want to meet with you (he heard you are argumentative and unresponsive).

According to this critic – and to many an Ann Arbor Jew who will not hold their own community accountable – if we just go away, they will be able to bring their message of peace and understanding to the Jewish community in the only way that community will understand. Only then will there be peace in Palestine.

Except … that prior to these “ineffective” synagogue vigils, when Jewish intellectuals ruled the debate, little or nothing positive for Palestinians had been achieved; in fact, the wanton aggression and disregard for human rights by the Jewish state has only increased. So when upstart groups like CU-Divest and JWPF challenge Jewish supremacism in Palestine and in our own local communities, these advance sayanim [Hebrew: assistant] rush to the defense of the guilty, and in so doing, throw Palestine once again under the wheels of the train.

Ann Arbor Chronicle Covers City Council Address

Dave Askins details our presentation to Ann Arbor City Council of December 17. His report can be read here, and is reprinted after signature

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Five vigilers
Israel: No Right to Exist
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends

* – Distant Early Warning Line to detect incoming Soviet bombers in the 1950’s
#

Ann Arbor Chronicle

Comm/Comm: Palestinian Rights

Henry Herskovitz reported that he’d read in December’s Washtenaw Jewish News an article with the headline: “Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice condemns synagogue protests.” [.pdf of WJN article] [Herskovitz participates in the weekly demonstrations near the Beth Israel Congregation. Ward 5 councilmember Chuck Warpehoski is the executive director of the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice.]

In a previous issue of the Jewish News, Henry Brysk had criticized Warpehoski, who was then a candidate for city council, calling him a “‘nuanced anti-Zionist’ as if that’s a bad thing,” Herskovitz said. Herskovitz quoted from the piece by Brysk: “The ICPJ has refused to condemn the Herskovite harassment of Beth Israel Congregation …” Herskovitz indicated that he felt there’s a cause-and-effect relationship between the Brysk’s criticism of Warpehoski and the ICPJ’s condemnation of the demonstrations. [.pdf of Brysk’s letter in WJN, published in the summer 2012 issue]

Herskovitz stated that it was unfortunate that the Jewish community in Ann Arbor wielded more power than its relative percentage of the population. Herskovitz drew a comparison of cause-and-effect from eight years ago, when the council and the mayor received a letter from Barry Gross complaining about the council’s lack of action about the weekly demonstrations. Herskovitz quoted from the letter: “The time when your silence was acceptable is long past. The 470 family units in our congregation virtually all live in Ann Arbor. We are avid voters. We are watching closely for your response.” A short time later, the council passed a resolution condemning the weekly demonstrations, Herskovitz said.

Herskovitz noted that the previous month new councilmembers had been sworn into office. That oath includes a promise to uphold the U.S. Constitution, which includes the right of free speech. He indicated that he thought the council was abdicating its responsibility to uphold the Constitution, based on “bullying tactics of a small but powerful group.” He asked the council to remember its oath to uphold the Constitution.

Jewish Power in Ann Arbor Council Election

In the June-Aug 2012 edition of the Washtenaw Jewish News appears a letter by Henry Brysk entitled “A ‘nuanced’ anti-Zionist runs for the Ann Arbor City Council”. Brysk reveals his Jewish tribal loyalties as he excoriates candidate Chuck Warpehoski, director of the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, for among other things, being not sensitive enough to the feelings of local Jews: “That [Warpehoski] took such pains to avoid condemning anti-Semitism is troubling”. Brysk also scolds the ICPJ for “refus[ing] to condemn the Herskovite [sic] harassment of Beth Israel Congregation”.

What happened not long afterwards is revealing – ICPJ publicly condemned our weekly nonviolent vigils for justice and peace in Palestine. The December 2012 issue of the News ran a page two story, “Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice condemns synagogue protests”. As Laugh-In’s Marte Johnson would remark, “Very interesting.” And it would be laughable, were it not so serious. Apparently, the Jewish Lobby’s hold on the US Congress starts at the grass roots level and remains just as threatening and successful. Mr. Warphehoski won election to City Council and we surmise that his public denunciation of our vigils assisted him to the post.

We are reminded of another letter to City Council of August 23, 2004 written by Dr. Barry Gross who threatened our Mayor and Council members with the votes of 470 families of Beth Israel who all live in Ann Arbor, and “are watching closely for your response.” Readers will remember that the response included Council abdicating its First Amendment responsibilities and writing a Resolution condemning our free speech activities. This writer spoke to City Council on December 17 about the power the Jewish community brandishes and advised both Council and ICPJ to stand up to the bullying tactics of local Jews. See full comments below signature, and view the talk to council here. Please advance to 20:28.

Some Kind Words for JWPF

The work of Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends was referenced by Vigil Supporter B, who also addressed City Council in a speech at 23:52 in the link above. He says:

Every Saturday peaceful vigilers for Palestinian rights can be seen silently holding signs against Israeli atrocities on Washtenaw Avenue. They’re entering their tenth year of standing up for Palestine. When age and infirmity prevent them from standing, they lean on canes or sit in the rain and snow. When they are physically attacked or robbed of their signs they do not resist; they file police reports. Their attackers are never punished. When winter wind freezes their lungs they go to the hospital, then return to the vigil.

(Almost) Free Bumper Stickers

What’s the catch? You gotta promise to put these babies on your car, or some permanent public place. Just contact this writer and include snail-mail address.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hersko/Photos/Liberate%20Palestine%20lg.jpg.JPG

AIPAC Coming to Michigan

The Israel Public Affairs Committee* will hold its meeting in support of Apartheid Israel on January 28th at Shaarey Zedek Congregation in Southfield, Michigan, about a fifteen minute ride from Dearborn. This event will feature the former commander of British troops in Afghanistan, Col. Richard Kemp. This guy has great credentials in invasion and usurpation of another’s rights and properties: the obit lists his 14 active duty tours as a military commander in Northern Ireland. See Kemp’s bio here.

PeaceMonger informs us that Shaarey Zedek is no stranger to invasion and usurpation, either.

Rabbi Abraham M. Hershman, of Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Detroit was: [A]n ardent Zionist … In 1908 he organized the Kadimah Zionist Society, whose membership included business and professional men, and shortly thereafter founded the enduring Zionist Organization of Detroit. Through social activities, lectures, classes, and general publicity, the members under Hershman’s leadership actively spread the ideas of Zionism in the Detroit community. Hershman, who also was a pioneer in establishing the Conservative movement in 1913, continued his strong and dedicated leadership as a Zionist until his death in 1959.

*- Why kid ourselves? No member of AIPAC actually gives a rip about the interests of the United States. “American” has been omitted on purpose.

Comments?

December 15, Eleven vigilers
December 8, Five vigilers
Liberate Palestine, End “Israel”
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
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Presentation to Ann Arbor City Council
December 17, 2012 (392 words)

Good Evening,

I read in this month’s Washtenaw Jewish News an article entitled “Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice condemns synagogue protests”, and it caused me recall an article that appeared this summer. In that issue of the Jewish News Henry Brysk laid into then Council candidate Chuck Warpehoski with some pretty nasty accusations. Brysk called him a “‘nuanced’ anti-Zionist”, as if that’s a bad term. He continued his personal attack by writing “The ICPJ has refused to condemn the Herskovite harassment of Beth Israel Congregation” and claimed Mr. Warpehoski “out-maneuvered the [Human Rights] Commission to push through his one-sided version”.

What we have here is a now familiar case of cause and effect. Mr. Brysk is a member of a minority community here in Ann Arbor, the Jewish community. And regrettably it wields much more power than their 12% would indicate. Flexing that power, Mr. Brysk complains about the largest peace group in town, and like magic, that peace group goes public with their request that our synagogue protest group cease our support for Palestine at Beth Israel. Their director is then elected to Council.

What makes this cause and effect familiar is to recall a similar incident involving City Council which happened eight years ago. Then, our Mayor and City Council representatives received a letter from Dr. Barry Gross complaining about council’s inaction concerning our vigils. Dr. Gross wrote: “The time when your silence was acceptable is long past. The 470 family units in our congregation virtually all live in Ann Arbor. We are avid voters. We are watching closely for your response.”

What followed 50 days later was a resolution passed by Council condemning our peaceful vigils.

How could this be? Just last month the Mayor and five councilpersons stood where I’m standing and swore to uphold the US Constitution, which guarantees our right to free speech. How could Council abdicate its responsibility to uphold our Constitution based on the bullying tactics of a small, but powerful group?

And how can the largest peace group in Ann Arbor similarly kowtow to these tactics? How can a minority population intimidate and manipulate the majority population to obey its will again and again without notice? The answer is: As long as you let it; as long as you allow yourselves to be bullied. I ask Council to remember its oath to our Constitution.

Thank you

Can Stevie Wonder See Through “End the Occupation”?

This week we hear from the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (ETO) that they’ve taken credit for Stevie Wonder’s refusal to perform at a fund-raiser in Los Angeles which raises money for the Friends of the IDF. In and of itself, that’s a good thing, and Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends were happy to sign onto the document asking Mr. Wonder to reconsider his commitment.

But here we have another Jewish-led peace group (Josh Ruebner heads it up) bleating for an end to an occupation of only 22% of historic Palestine. A good time to review Paul Eisen’s “Speaking the Truth to Jews“, which we have excerpted here as “End the Occupation!”

Let’s take a somewhat cynical stroll down the path of ETO’s strategy and see how mean-spirited and anti-Semitic it really is. First, we note a few givens:

One, that Israel is a Jewish supremacist state
Two, that Israel is an expansionist state that may not stop at the borders of historic Palestine to achieve its goals
Three, Jews are the “Chosen People” and merely occupying their “Promised Land”
Four, “Occupation” is a means to achieve expansionist dreams of a Jewish “Greater Israel”(The map of “Greater Israel“, according to Wikipedia, shows us a Jewish state extending from the Nile to the Euphrates. This map was shown this to writer by Orthodox Rabbi Aharon Goldstein in Ann Arbor back in 2003 just prior to the start of our vigils.)

And now we ask:

Does ETO support Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state? By its deafening silence on this vital topic we assume they do. Objections?

Does ETO demand full and immediate Right of Return for millions of Palestinians displaced from their homes and villages by Jewish forces? True, they give lip service to ROR, but again the strong demand is missing.

Does ETO question “Israel’s” legitimacy as a nation-state? Nope, check it out.

Does ETO recognize the Zero Sum game that the Jewish state is playing, and call for its peaceful dismantlement? Negative.

So we note it is with a lot of Anti-semitic nerve that ETO calls for an end to this God-ordained process of establishing a Jewish “homeland” in Greater Israel, when ETO in fact supports the establishment and maintenance of a Jewish supremacist state. Who do they think they are that they can try to stand in the way of this natural phenomenon, and tell Bibi Netanyahu that he cannot have the 3,000 new settlements planned in the wake of UN recognition of Palestine?

Josh, if you believe that Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state, why are you attempting to limit its natural growth? Finally, are you truly a citizen of “Israel” as per Discover the Networks? The peace movement would really like to know.

It Makes You Want to Cry

Comments? [insert link]

Eight vigilers
Liberate Palestine, End “Israel”
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
#

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
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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