Sonja Karkar’s new article, “The Massacre at Sabra and Shatila, Thirty Years Later,” published by CounterPunch has been added to the Deir Yassin Remembered web site.

Reminder: Eat a Cheeseburger on September 26

Peacemonger reminds us of the 3rd Annual Bill Henry International Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day, coming soon. Sharpen your appetites for Wednesday, September 26, 2012, when we honor Bill Henry (né Herskovitz) for a decision that quite possibly saved an eight-year-old boy from a life of “Jewish chauvinism and exclusivism”. Since Eat-a-Cheeseburger Day follows the Jewish calendar, it actually starts at sunset on 9/25 and ends at sunset on 9/26.

For the full story behind this annual event please see last year’s post about this momentous day.

Atta Boy, AAPD

Sign thief Ira Levy might have dodged the justice bullet, but two vigilant Ann Arbor police officers nabbed a pickup truck driver who attempted to maliciously damage three of our signs by throwing them into busy Washtenaw Avenue. Before we could even say “stop that”, these two officers swooped down, barked “We’ll handle this” and properly detained the woman on the spot.

Driver of green Dodge pickup, Michigan plate BWG 0277

Join JWPF for CROP Walk

Our friends at the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice will again focus the attention of Ann Arbor on world hunger. From their web page, we find that CROP stands for Communities Responding to Overcome Poverty. JWPF will be represented at this year’s CROP walk in Ann Arbor, and we invite readers concerned with the poverty in Palestine resulting from the Jewish state’s ethnic cleansing program they call Zionism to join us and the Church World Service on Sunday, October 14, as we draw attention to the malnutrition in Gaza.

What: CROP Walk in Ann Arbor
When: Sunday, October 14, 2012 Registration @ 1:00pm (walk at 2:00)
Where: Bethlehem United Church of Christ
423 S. Fourth Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104

Comments?

Eight vigilers
War is Peace; Rachel Corrie killed herself
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends

Rachel Corrie and the Ku Klux Klan

Who is really shocked by the decision of the Jewish judge who ruled that Rachel Corrie was responsible for her own death? Certainly not Vigil Supporter E, who suggests a comparable situation where a white man, tried by members of the Ku Klux Klan for the lynching of a black man, is found not guilty and the black man’s family is found responsible for him stretching the rope.

This legal decision should remind all involved how empty the moral cabinet is of this “shitty little country Israel.”= There never was a moral compass in the decision to claim a land for the “chosen” people at the cost of others’ lives and homes. And it’s about time we asked our Jewish cousins in the peace movement where they stand on the Jewish state’s claimed right to exist.

Roll Call for Jews in the Palestine Solidarity Movement

So what’s it gonna be, Anna Baltzer, will you make more flash mob videos calling for boycotts only of settler-made products, or demand the end of Israel as a Jewish state? Medea Benjamin, will you tell us if Israel has a right to exist as a Jewish state, and if so, by what right? Jeff Halper: why don’t you show us and the world some real moral fiber and move back to Hibbing Minnesota where you were born and raised? Barbara Harvey, will you place a call to Right-Zionist Don Cohen, with whom you once debated, and his Bnai Brith International Detroit chapter and tell him that there is no possible moral reason for Jews to invade a foreign land, kill and rape its inhabitants, and coerce and bribe the US Congress into funding such a diabolical enterprise? Alice Rothchild, given this Orwellian verdict handed down by an “Israeli” court, will you now join Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends outside Beth Israel, or in any way hold your own community accountable for its overwhelming support of such a barbaric ideology? Mark Braverman, do you still “love Israel” and “think it’s a terrific place”? Or will you demand its peaceful dismantling? Josh Ruebner, isn’t it clear that the moral travesties that Israel commits are driven by specious claims to a right that doesn’t exist? Why doesn’t your organization speak to this core cause and expose the rest of the crimes as flowing from this flawed Zionist enterprise, instead of hiding behind some claims for justice in *only* the so-called occupied areas of Palestine? Will you all hold yourselves to yet another Jewish myth, that of Jewish “purity”? Will you pretend to demand “justice” while demanding that others genuflect at the alter of exclusive Jewish suffering *before* they defend Palestinian rights?

Another Game in Town

A group of conscientious and courageous folks have initiated a weekly protest on the steps of the University of Michigan’s student union. Following their protest, they attend the Michigan Student Government meeting and ask for a resolution to boycott “Israel”. Youth Against Normalization covers the event here.

JWPF Meets with Mayor, Clergy

At the request of Pastor James Rhodenhiser (St. Clare’s Episcopal Church), two members of JWPF met with him, Ann Arbor Mayor John Hieftje, and Senior Pastor Ken Wilson (Vineyard Church of Ann Arbor). At issue was a sense of perceived “bullying” at our vigils: some folk in Ann Arbor think that our appearance every Saturday morning at only one location “picks on” Beth Israel, where the blame for Israel’s crimes should be spread out at other locations. It was agreed that we all paid taxes for US support of the Jewish state. Mayor Hieftje wasn’t certain that JWPF knew the pain some of the congregants have expressed to him, especially the older ones whose memories of the holocaust remain. We responded by reminding him that the tears shed by our Palestinian friends in Gaza are happening from current Jewish assaults, and not from 70-year-old memories. Jewish support for the violent displacement, oppression and exile of millions of Palestinians makes a mockery of any claims to moral high ground based on past Jewish suffering. In any case, the tone of the meeting was upbeat and friendly, and after some clarifying requests are responded to, JWPF will issue a response to these gentlemen.

Comments?

Eight vigilers
Do Jews have a special obligation to hold Israel accountable?
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends

Another Visitor at our Vigil

A young student from the University of Michigan stopped by and gave us support. Vigil supporter J attended Columbia University before transferring to UM and commented on the Jewish community’s domination of campus activities in New York. J now sees the same influence at UM, and since J grew up in Ann Arbor, and even attended Beth Israel Congregation a few times, felt our protest was entirely valid and necessary. We hope J can return soon, and join JWPF.

JWPF Supports Day of Al Quds in Detroit August 17

Although time constraints and some poor planning on this writer’s part prevented JWPF members from attending this year’s Al Quds Day protest in Detroit, we were able to loan them some signs and our anti-Israel flag for their event. Their report kindly mentions us:

The Al-Quds Committee commemorated the International Day of Al-Quds in metro Detroit, with an ‘Auto-Rally’ followed by a protest. A procession of about 60 vehicles followed a 26′ lead Truck, featuring four banners mounted on the sides and a huge flag of Palestine in the front. The procession drove from the city of Dearborn’s Hemlock Park to Hart Plaza (Downtown Detroit). Most cars drove with a window-flag of Palestine. A good number of the youth helped in handing out maps, flags to the participants of the Auto-Rally. The protest, held at Hart Plaza, had an estimated participation of above 200 individuals. Participants included a significant number of families and good representation of youth. They held up several banners, placards and signs, some of which were provided courtesy of the JWPF (Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends). The protest featured poetry recitation by two youth, a youth speaker, a speech by Abayomi Azikiwe (MECAWI – Michigan Emergency Committee Against War & Injustice), and recitation of the Al-Quds Committee’s Resolutions for this year. The event was well-received for the most part. Dearborn’s Police Dept. was on hand at Hemlock Park to manage local traffic, and the Detroit Police Dept. was present at Hart Plaza to minimize congestion.

Comments?

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

Photo by joeskillet via Wikimedia Commons (CC-BY-2.0)

Most people recognize that the apartheid wall Israel has been building for the past ten years will one day be removed. But few have given serious consideration to how best to recycle hundreds of miles of this “separation barrier.”

Now RighteousJews.org, Gilad Atzmon, and several human rights organizations are offering a significant prize for the best proposal of how to recycle the concrete portion of this wall.

Prize: The initial prize is $1,000, but as paid sponsors are added the prize is expected to increase to $25,000.

Judges: Submissions will be judged by the Board of Advisers of Deir Yassin Remembered, a “balanced” group of human rights advocates, Palestinians, Jews, and others.

How to Apply: Written submissions can be sent to Deir Yassin Remembered, c/o Daniel McGowan, 9 One Mile Point, Geneva, New York 14456 (USA) along with a $25 submission fee, which will be waived if the submitter comes from the West Bank or Gaza.

Deadline: All submissions must be received by January 31, 2014. The winner will be announced the following Deir Yassin Day, April 9, 2014. Read more »

Vigilers Receive Surprise Visit

Two brothers (one from Pennsylvania, the other from Vermont) were visiting their Ann Arbor former home and noticed our vigil. They stopped and enjoyed speaking with protesters; at least one held a sign. From his home he writes:

My brother and I were on the way to visit our childhood home at [address deleted] when we happened upon the most welcome vigil. Since I’ve been worked up about the issue of our country (or at least everything inside the beltway) being a puppet of Israel’s AIPAC, I was keen to stop and see this most welcome and unusual show of reality…

If my wife weren’t a (untenured) professor I’d be out there again with your message and more real history. I don’t mind taking flak from the unwashed/brainwashed, but it would probably end her career at the university.

Keep up the good work!

We find his last statement interesting, and wonder how many more protesters the movement would have, were it not for the threat of the powerful and vindictive Jewish community ruining careers.

JWPF Makes International News

Canadian David Greenfield asks “Can you feel the hate?” in an article published by the Canada Free Press this week.

A great deal of attention has been paid to hate-filled protests in front of synagogues by the Westboro Baptist Church or school protests in Beit Shemesh, but in Ann Arbor hate-filled left-wing protests have taken place in front of a synagogue every Sabbath for a decade…

Much of Greenfield’s article seems to originate from The Herscovite BDS Movement, an article from the blog Divest This by Jon Haber. Haber’s article also focuses on the ad hominem attacks on our vigils and produces over 140 comments. Both scripts seem to rely heavily on the yellow journalism of Art Aisner and comments of Steven Pastner, two local Jews intent on obfuscating the issue of Jewish supremacism in Palestine and attempting to replace it with personal insult.

Comments?

Ten vigilers

Zionists Out of the Peace Movement!
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends

Jews Push America into Another War

Recent articles from The Washington Post and The New American highlight the small but powerful community which seeks to lead our country into yet another mid East fiasco with predictably deadly results. Zionist Jews Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Howard Berman and Chuck Schumer each place their tribal interests in supporting the Jewish state above the interests of the country they purportedly serve.

Nine years ago our friend Jeff Blankfort penned A War for Israel, describing how Jews heavily influenced the Bush administration’s decision to invade a foreign country. In this pamphlet he identified 28 individual Jews and eleven Jewish organizations who pushed strongly, and successfully, for nine years of brutality in Iraq. Eight years ago this writer attended an AIPAC conference in Chicago and found the Jewish community war drums – all blessed by rabbinical prayers – beating against Iran. Alison Weir informs us that this unwarranted focus on Iran dates back to the formation of Apartheid Israel. She now quotes an Israeli reporter, writing: “Israel and its lobby in the U.S. ‘have been leading the charge’ for an American war against Iran for years, Israeli journalist Larry Derfner reports, ‘and they’re hardly hiding it.'”

Ron Paul Speaks Out

The bill recently sponsored by Ileana Ros-Lehtinen and passed overwhelmingly by the sheep in Congress was strongly opposed by Ron Paul. In an impassioned speech to Congress, with time yielded to him by Dennis Kucinich, called this bill by its true name. He said:

I think this bill would be better named if we called it “Obsession with Iran Act 2012” because this is what we continue to be doing is [being] obsessed with Iran and the idea that Iran is a threat to our national security.
Iran happens to be a Third World nation; they have no significant Navy, Air Force, intercontinental ballistic missiles — the IAEA and the CIA said they’re not on the verge of a nuclear weapon.

It’s so similar to what we went through in the early part of this last decade when we were beating the war drums to go to war against Iraq, and it was all façade. There was no danger from Iraq.

When you put sanctions on a country, it’s an act of war, and that’s what this is all about. The first thing you do when war breaks out between two countries, is you put sanctions on a country, you blockade the country. So this is an act of war.

Mark Hannah Place Neighbors Seek City Assistance, Shun Reporter

This writer was informed that eleven days prior to receiving my response, at least two neighbors sent e-mail messages to the entire Ann Arbor City Council body, the Mayor, Chief of Police, City Attorney and City Administrator. The Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s office was also addressed. These messages identified “one Henry Herskovitz”, who pressed “hate speech” into his sidewalk, and

“…even more offensively, Mr. Herskovitz now has hung the flag of Israel with the red-circle-with-a-slash-through-it on his front lawn. I cannot begin to articulate how profoundly offensive and threatening I find this display. It is, quite simply, an overt and deeply unsettling display of hate and aggression…I want only a peaceful resolution to this situation, but I also must be able to live on a street where I do not feel threatened, menaced, and unsafe. I am urgently requesting your immediate response and action.”

pic

Mark Hannah Place “Hate Speech”

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hersko/Photos/sidewalk.JPG

The Arab American News has run a follow-up article on its report of neighborhood reaction to an anti-Israel flag being flown in Ann Arbor. Like all good journalists, this reporter sought to hear the neighbors’ voices concerning the flag and the response it generated. To his chagrin, however, he did not get the information he was after; instead he had doors slammed in his face immediately after identifying himself as a reporter for TAAN and concluded:

The irony in all of this was that I originally wasn’t too sure about Herskovitz’s decision to display an anti-Israeli flag in front of his house, although I agree with his cause, because the move may have been too bold. I went to the neighborhood to hear the other side. But now it has become clearer to me why Herskovitz put the flag there in the first place. It was to open people’s minds to a serious issue (Israel’s continued occupation and brutal treatment of Palestinians), and also to build toward a much-needed dialogue with people like the residents who refused to speak with us this week.

Comments?

Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
Challenging Jewish power for over eight years
Nine vigilers on July 14
Six vigilers on July 28
Ten vigilers on August 4