The article below by DYR Board of Advisers member Susan Abulhawa is reposted from The Huffington Post.

Bernard-Henri Levy, the French pop star of philosophy and intellectual elitism, authored an essay that featured my novel, Mornings in Jenin, as one of three distressing developments that led him to ask “is there no end to the demonization of Israel?” It was titled: “The Antisemitism to Come.” The other two happenings that concern him, he says, are the growing boycott of Israel and an acclaimed documentary film called Tears of Gaza.

First, a look at Mr Levy’s targets:

1) Mornings in Jenin is a work of historic fiction, where fictional characters live through real history; and I encourage anyone to do their own research to verify the accuracy of the historic events that form the backdrop for the novel. 2) Tears of Gaza is a documentary film by Vibeke Lokkeberg, in which she reveals the horrific impact of Israel’s bombing of Gaza in 2008 to 2009, especially on children and women. 3) The activists participating in and encouraging an economic boycott of Israel are ordinary citizens all over the world who are heeding the call of their conscience to take a moral stand against a grave injustice that has gone on far too long against the indigenous population of Israel and Palestine; namely, the Palestinian people.

Rather than offer an intelligent analysis of any one of these three things that trouble him, Levy essentially resorts to name-calling. He simply slaps on the word “antisemitism” to discredit any negative portrayal of Israel. This word — with its profound gravity of marginalization, humiliation, dispossession, oppression, and ultimately, genocide of human beings for no other reason but their religion — is so irresponsibly used by the likes of Levy that it truly besmirches the memory of those who were murdered in death camps solely for being Jewish. And I thank Kurt Brainin, a Holocaust survivor who wrote a touching letter expressing exactly that in response to Levy.

Nowhere in Levy’s essay does he identify anything truly antisemitic in any of the three elements to which he refers. Because he cannot. If he could, I think he would. In fact, the people who today are being marginalized, humiliated, dispossessed, and oppressed for the sole reason of their religion are Palestinian Christians and Muslims. That is the real antisemitism of today.

Israel has been wiping Palestine off the map, expelling us and stealing everything we have. All that remains to us is less than 11 percent of our historic homeland, now in the form of isolated Bantustans, surrounded by menacing walls, snipers, checkpoints, settler-only roads and the ever-expanding Jewish-only settlements built on confiscated Palestinian property. We have no control over our own natural resources. The amount of water one receives is based on one’s religion, such that Palestinians must share bathing water, while their Jewish neighbors water their lawns and enjoy private swimming pools. According to Defence for Children International, in Jerusalem alone, Israel has imprisoned 1,200 Palestinian children this year, who are routinely abused and forced to sign confessions in Hebrew, which they do not understand. Israel routinely targets Palestinian schools and has created a full generation of lost souls in Gaza, who are growing up knowing only fear, insecurity, and hunger. Documents pertaining to Israel’s brutal siege of Gaza and its merciless attacks on that civilian population show the cold mathematical formulas designed intentionally to produce food shortages and hunger in Gaza. Christian Palestinians have all but been wholly removed from the place of Jesus’ birth. And on goes the inhumanity — the constant expulsions, home demolitions, systematic theft, destruction of livelihoods, uprooting of trees — especially olive trees which are so precious to Palestinian culture — curfews, closures, institutional discrimination, and on and on.

Instead of upholding the best of Jewish ideals that champion justice and the uplifting of the oppressed, Mr. Levy rushes to Israel’s defense, repeating the tired mantra of “the only democracy in the Middle East.” Apartheid South Africa, too, called itself a democracy, while it mowed down little boys in Soweto (with arms, incidentally, supplied by Israel). So did the United States, during a time when at least 20 percent of its population lived as slaves, bought and sold like cattle.

Equally outrageous is Mr. Levy’s wholesale labeling of anyone who criticizes Israel as “antisemitic”. For exposing Israel’s extensive crimes, we must face the defamation that we are immoral, racist, and hateful. In the case of Vibeke Lokkeberg, Levy makes it a point to inform the reader that she is a former model, ignoring her accomplishments as an experienced filmmaker and author. Apparently, in addition to suggesting she is racist, he perhaps wants readers to think she is also not intellectually qualified to create anything of merit. This tactic of attacking and trying to discredit the messenger rather than address the actual message is an age-old propaganda method.

Mr. Levy accuses us of “demonizing Israel”, when in fact, all we do is pull back the curtain, however slightly, to show a dark truth he wishes to keep hidden. I suspect that Mr Levy feels, as most Jewish supporters of Israel do, that he is more entitled to my grandfather’s farms than I am. After all, that is really the foundation of Israel, isn’t it? The question that should be asked is “why?” and “how?” Why should Jews from all over the world be entitled to enjoy dual citizenship, both in their own homeland and in mine, while we, the natives of Palestine, languish in refugee camps, a diaspora, or patrolled ghettos and bantustans? How is it that a country with one of the most powerful militaries in the world, that has been committing well-documented war crimes against a principally unarmed civilian native population for six decades now, is depicted as the victim? And worse, the real victims, who are trying to resist their own extinction, are depicted as the aggressors?

Nelson Mandela once said: “We know all too well, that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.” Now, in addition to such notable personalities speaking out, people all over the world are slowly joining the struggle for justice and freedom for Palestinians; and it seems inevitable that Israel’s systematic ethnic cleansing will at last be opposed by a critical mass of people that will compel Israel to abandon its institutional racism, such that the native non-Jewish population might at last live with the same legal and human rights as Jews in the Holy Land. This is clearly what really worries Mr. Levy.

Susan Abulhawa is the author of Mornings in Jenin (Bloomsbury 2010)

Jewish Onslaught in Seattle

As we again borrow the title of Tony Martin’s book and his accurate portrayal of attack by the Jewish community of Boston, Massachusetts, our west coast ambassador turns our attention to a similar Jewish onslaught in Seattle, Washington.

The Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SMAC) had contracted with the King County Metro Transit Agency to run paid ads on a number of city buses, which read “Israeli War Crimes, Your Tax Dollars at Work”. These ads were to have been started on the second anniversary of Israel’s deadly Hanukkah Massacre in which 1,417 Palestinians were killed, a number that included 313 children.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hersko/Photos/Seattle%20Ad.doc

As we understand it, the contract between SMAC and Metro Transit was a done deal. But that was before the Jewish community sent its seek-and-destroy minions out there to silence this attempt to exercise SMAC’s first amendment rights. And when we say ‘Jewish community’, here’s a list of heavyweights:

The Anti-Defamation League of B’Nai Brith – Northwest office
The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle
Stand With Us
The American Jewish Committee
J-Street.

And you read that right … J-Street sheds its sheep’s clothing to stand right with rightwing Zionists to proclaim their true agenda. The infiltration of Jewish Zionists in the peace movement has long been a conversation in these pages. Jewish hawks for Israel like Pamela Geller and David Horowitz also joined in the fray.

Bottom line is that it took less than a week for King County to cave from the Jewish Onslaught; the ads were pulled. Starting with a strong expression from Metro spokesperson Linda Thielk “We can’t reject [the ad] based on any reasons that we have established over the thirty-six years we’ve been accepting advertising” to the meowing from County Executive Dow Constantine six days later: “… I have consulted with federal and local law enforcement authorities who have expressed concern, in the context of this international debate, that our public transportation system could be vulnerable to disruption.”

Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends’ weekly vigils in front of Beth Israel Congregation were legitimized by Wendy Rosen of the American Jewish Committee: “It is important to note that our community came together and spoke with one voice on this important issue”. And as they do, so will JWPF continue our stand against this powerful community in their unbridled support of Israeli crimes.

We Remember Ken Parks

AnnArbor.com remembers Ken Parks as a “Vietnam and Iraq veteran and a long-time resident”, but JWPF remembers him as a thoughtful student who attended our vigils and breakfasts after meeting us through his history teacher at a nearby community college. Ken would bring his hunting dog Shirley and both would always have a cheery smile to greet their friends on the vigil line. Ken spoke some fiery words at City Council, when some developers eyed his property for profit, not unlike the resistance of Palestinians as they protect their homeland.

Ken vigiled with us from December, 2007 through December 2009, on an irregular, but always appreciated basis. He passed away on December 8th and will be missed.

Eight Vigilers
Zionism – Kosher Apartheid
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friend

Access Denied

Names have been changed to protect the decent, but here’s a short story of how one local faith-based organization self-capitulated to potential threats and demands.

We asked Alfred, head of the social justice organization in his local church, to have his group host a panel of Vigilers. Alfred brought up our request at the committee’s next meeting, and wrote back that, after careful consideration, the committee had denied our request.

Lest any reader feel this is an attack on Alfred or his social justice committee, let’s set the record straight: It is not. What makes this event report-worthy, is that it showcases an all-too-familiar fear of community groups and leaders to feature peace groups like JWPF, which openly challenge the status quo.

Alfred wrote that the committee feared a backlash from some members of his church that would curtail the committee’s efforts to reach out to other members. We harbor no doubt Alfred is right: Jewish and non-Jewish members of the church and the outlying community would play the “Guilt by Association” card, and then feel justified in shunning Alfred’s committee.

We’ve seen this before. Peace groups who somehow “know” that standing in front of a synagogue is strategically wrong, will allow the opinion of others to stop them from doing what in their hearts they know is right. There is no logic to the charge that because group A grants venue to group B, that the ideas of group B are supported, or endorsed by the hosting group. As Vigiler M. observes: “It’s gotten so bad that if Jesus himself came back, he wouldn’t be allowed to speak in most churches. There’s that whole Temple incident and then there’s Jesus calling the Pharisees a bunch of snakes. ‘Forget about it, we can’t have Jesus in our church, what would people think?'”

Alfred is known and respected within our ranks, and it is our Christmas wish that he and leaders like him focus on the crimes of the Jewish state, and place the feelings of a small but vocal minority second. What further crime must Israel commit before good people will rise up and hold those who support these crimes accountable? Or, at least, to grant us the ability to take our message to engaged congregations?

What a Free Press Really Means

Last week we reported on Helen Thomas’ struggle with her alma mater, Abe Foxman’s Arab Defamation League, and Robert Cohen’s Jewish Community Reprisal Council. We held our new sign announcing “Helen Thomas Fan Club”. This week, however, we recognize that no article has appeared in the local mainstream paper since December 9th. A few letters to the editor followed, but even they have dried up.

Perhaps the smearing of Helen Thomas generated too much heat for the Jewish community, and she has now been “dynamically silenced” as author Benjamin Ginsberg describes the phenomenon. Our definition of a free press is: once you own or control one, you’re free to report or ignore anything you want.

A Call for Honesty

Our newest Vigil supporter was excited to view “Occupation 101” with this writer, and though the film speaks truth in some parts, vast and obvious omissions loom. And the majority of speakers in this documentary are Jewish. No problem, right?

Wrong. For instance, which ethno/religious group is Phyllis Bennis protecting when she proclaims that “This is an American issue”? Why are we listening to admitted Zionists like Rabbis Erik Ascherman, Michael Lerner and Rebecca Lillian? They think that Zionism is a national liberation movement for Jews. That must really set well with dehumanized Palestinians. And why can’t why can’t Jews like Noam Chomsky honestly state: “Hello, my name is Noam Chomsky, and I have never recanted my Zionist past, nor my active participation in the Zionist Kibbutz movement?” Why doesn’t Jeff Halper say: “Hi, my name is Jeff Halper and I support Israel’s claimed right to exist as a Jewish state, and my right to live there as an American-born Jew.” Gila Svirsky could chime in: “I support Zionist goals, I always have”.

These Jewish activists seem to protect the Jewish state. In spite of their criticism of settler crimes in the West Bank and Gaza, Israel’s legitimacy is never discussed. Certainly Jewish responsibility for support of this criminal state is likewise nixed.

The answers to these questions are pretty obvious to us. We would not trust a German peace activist in 1942 who would not denounce Nazism. Why do folks give rapt attention to Jews who do not denounce Zionism?

Nine Vigilers
Zionists Out of the Peace Movement
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friend

Anti-Zionist Anna Baltzer Tabbed as National Organizer

This week the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation (ETO) announced the hiring of Anna Baltzer as National Organizer. We feel that the addition of an anti-Zionist bodes well in shifting ETO in a new direction, since previously it has seemed that ETO toed a Left Zionist, “two-state solution” line.

We welcomed Anna to our anti-Zionist ranks based on her response to a question during her presentation at Ann Arbor’s First Presbyterian Church on Nov. 16, 2007. When asked if she agreed with Rabbi Dobrusin in supporting Israel’s claimed right to exist as a Jewish state, Anna quickly and clearly replied “No”.

A friend of ours points out, however, that the “right to exist as a Jewish state” does not appear on Anna’s website: http://annainthemiddleeast.com/, and as far as we know, this site has been around for quite a few years. So maybe Anna can clear the air, and make her feelings known publicly. We know her answer; we think the wider peace community would benefit by knowing it as well.

Helen Thomas, the Rosa Parks of the 21st Century

Just as Rosa Parks took a stand against White Power in Selma, Alabama, so has Helen Thomas taken a stand against Jewish Power in Detroit, Michigan this past week. As reported in the Detroit Free Press, Helen said, “Congress, the White House, and Hollywood, Wall Street, are owned by the Zionists”.

The howls and shrieks from the organized Jewish community of Detroit could have been heard unamplified in all parts of the country. These “drama queens of the planet” (ascribed to Vigiler G) went to the usual anti-Semite mill to grind out their insults. Abe Foxman, twenty years Ms. Thomas’ junior, sputtered: “[Thomas] is full of vitriol and prejudice and stereotyping and conspiracy”.

The correct response to being called an “anti-Semite” is to say “Thank you.” Thank you for publicly admitting you have no argument to counter the facts we present. Thank you for showing yourselves once again to be the bullies you are. We agree with Hajo Meyer: “Formerly an anti-Semite was somebody who hated Jews … nowadays an anti-Semite is somebody who is hated by Jews.”

Foxman’s ADL (Arab Defamation League*) demanded that universities disassociate themselves from Helen, and in a show of total obsequiousness, Wayne State University – Helen’s alma mater – immediately withdrew their “Helen Thomas Spirit of Diversity in Media” award in a matter of hours. As Vigiler S puts it, Helen claims that Jews are disproportionately powerful, and then they prove it by muscling the sheep into bleating repudiations of the claim.

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hersko/Photos/Barack%20and%20Helen.jpg

Action This Week

Vigiler L focused her energies on local government shenanigans, and produced a musical presentation to Ann Arbor City Council at their bi-monthly meeting. She can be heard at 1:10:07 into the video found here.

Also we note that the Palestine Office in Dearborn scheduled a demonstration Friday morning at Wayne State’s Faculty Administration Building to demand that the university reinstate the Helen Thomas award in journalism. We regret that we received notification of this meeting too late to send members of JWPF to support this fine action.

Interfaith Round Table Changes Its Stripes

George Lambrides, Executive Director of the Interfaith Round Table of Washtenaw County, repeatedly demanded – in his efforts to silence the voice of Palestinian resistance – that political speech was to be parked at the door of all meetings. This rule was always honored, but now it seems that the IRT is waffling.

George and his group are now getting their political feet wet, as they team up with the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice to promote Religious Freedom Day activities. These activities include an upcoming panel discussion at the local library entitled “Can I Get Some Respect? Flashpoints and Controversies on Religious Freedom”.

Thursday, January 13th, 7:00PM at the Ann Arbor District Library. Mark your calendars!

Eight Vigilers
Helen Thomas Fan Club
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friend
* – credit to our friend Alison Weir

Jewish Federation Bans Peace Activists

In a replay of the Maccabean civil war that gave rise to Hanukkah, David Shtulman, Executive Director of the local Jewish Federation, mustered up his inner thug to write:

It is my position that no person who harasses the Jewish community through picketing with hateful signs outside a Jewish house of worship is welcome at a Jewish Federation event. I find it reasonable to believe that anyone who is purposefully disruptive and disrespectful outside of a Jewish community event will do the same inside. Therefore, you and your fellow vigilers are not welcome at any Federation sponsored activity so long as your protests at Beth Israel Congregation continue.

Should you attempt to enter the building we will ask you to leave. I hope you will spare yourself the embarrassment.

Have a nice Chanukah holiday.

Shtulman was responding to an RSVP his organization received accepting an invitation listed on a publicly accessible web site to hear Middle East Analyst Asaf Romirowsky speak on “The Deligimization of Israel: What, Why, and How to Combat it”. He also conveniently overlooked the fact that from his own personal experience, he has never witnessed this writer disrupting a meeting. And given the topic, it would seem there would be no reason to do so.

Circling the Wagons

The Jewish community has always done their laundry in private. This writer recalls these words of Beth Israel Congregation Rabbi Allan Kensky (1971-1988) long before I ever decided to become a Palestine solidarity activist. Now it looks like they’re enforcing it, by excluding people who might not keep the lid on the Jewish community’s dirty little secrets. It’s not clear why Shtulman would think we would be embarrassed by expulsion since this writer wasn’t embarrassed the first time they pulled this stunt in September, 2009.

A Revealing Statement

Mr. Shtulman attended Romirowsky’s presentation Wednesday evening on the University of Michigan campus, and entered into a discussion with this writer about our peaceful vigils. An interested Jewish man listened in, and Shtulman explained to him that Beth Israel has contacted the local police, the FBI, and the Department of Homeland Security about securing our removal from public property. The man was told by this writer that our vigils were not necessarily a permanent fixture, but that the Congregation and the Federation would do themselves more of a service if they were to just sit down with the vigil group to discuss mutual options.

Romirosky’s Whoppers

Employing a rapid-fire style of speaking, similar to Alan Dershowitz’s, Mr. Romirowsky traipsed out the usual misdirectives: that the problem lay at the “cleavage” between West Bank Palestinians and Gazans, Hamas and Hezbollah pinching “Israel” from the North AND South (Oy!), and the outrageous fact that Yassir Arafat’s wife drove an expensive, red BMW convertible.

But the biggest lie in his repertoire was this: That immediately after Jewish gangs ethnically cleansed 750,000 Palestinians from their homes and villages in 1948, that 350,000 were given the opportunity to return to these homes, and those unreasonable Palestinian refugees refused. When asked about supporting this claim, he referred to “recently unclassified documents” that he had access to. Anybody know what he was referring to?

Ed Pinkney Visits Detroit

Three members of Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends accompanied the Rev. Ed Pinkney from Benton Harbor, as he continues to work for justice in that town where the governing bodies have run amuck. We met with State Assistant Attorney General Richard L. Cunningham to ask his assistance in exposing the corruption of Berrien County officials, who continue to harass the predominantly black population of Benton Harbor. Mr. Cunningham listened attentively and sympathetically as a local woman described the frame-up of her son, now in jail awaiting trial in January. He promised to contact the prosecutor’s office in Berrien County to convey the messages he received. See photo below of the activists received by Mr. Cunningham:

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hersko/Photos/Ed%20Pinkney%20Visit/CIMG1610.JPG

Nine Vigilers
Zionism is Racism
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friend

A Glimpse Into Media Manipulation

In place of the daily print edition of the defunct Ann Arbor News stand two on-line news sites: AnnArbor.com and The Ann Arbor Chronicle. The former allows independent news articles to be posted on its Community Wall section, and JWPF selected our most verbal Vigiler to write up a short piece entitled, “Synagogue Vigil Group Celebrates Seven-Year Anniversary,” which was posted last week.

This article elicited 73 responses before commenting was closed by AnnArbor.com staff, and it’s instructional to review the nature of the comments received. The most ominous remarks were not the standard ad hominem attacks, but those maligning the news organization itself. Bedrog writes:

ann arbor.com….unbelievable! You have now, knowingly and willingly ( because you are well aware of the history of this sorry lot!!) become a propaganda- bearer for a true hate group ,some of whom have predictably weighed in with their own fatuous and accuracy-devoid self congratulations!.

mazal tov. you must be so proud of your journalistic standards.

In a later comment Bedrog continues taunting AnnArbor.com staff:

moderators: it’s not too early to reflect on New Years resolutions, particularly about self-promotion by hate groups on ‘community walls’…which, to continue the metaphor, is sort of obscene graffiti, i trust you agree .

We note the pleas for silencing others, while substantive discussion is avoided. Another commenter, Rulieg chimes in:

what IS surprising is that annarbor.com has given these people a comfortable perch from which to propagandize. this is the second anti-Israel article in as many weeks that you’ve posted.
hey, annarbor.com, is it ok if I post a story about a Hitler Youth meeting I attended recently? the signs were all really nicely drawn.

We are once again reminded of The Jewish Onslaught by Tony Martin, the “dynamic silencing” of Fr. Charles Coughlin, and the repeated, but unsuccessful, attempts at silencing our own voices. Zionists are in the driver’s seat in this country; for now, they largely control US foreign policy and the cultural discourse on Palestine-Israel. It’s clear that they want to drive out opposing facts and opinions even from such limited public forums as AnnArbor.com’s Community Wall. AnnArbor.com stood tall this week; we hope they continue to publish news articles that concern our local community.

Found On-Line

One of our strong supporters located a short interview of this writer on WhatReallyHappened.com under the headline: “Jews Exposing Zionist Grip on America – Moderate Jewish Voices”. A new posting of a seventh-month old video.

Eight Vigilers
Jewish State or Peace? – Our Choice
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friend

“No Jewish State” Requested at Ann Arbor City Council

If you want to solve a problem, you need to get to its core to make the necessary corrections. Window dressing goals and tactics will provide window dressing solutions. In the case of justice in the Levant, these solutions, e.g. “end the occupation”, do not address the core issue which needs to be cracked if justice is to be served. City Council Reporter Dave Askins of the Ann Arbor Chronicle writes:

Henry Herskovitz addressed the council on the topic of conditions in Palestine. He described how the current mainstream media portrays the peace talks as stalled, which is really a euphemism for doing nothing, he said. They begin, they stall, then they’re terminated. Herskovitz allowed that the group that demonstrates on Washtenaw Avenue every Saturday outside the Beth Israel Temple, calling for a boycott of Israeli goods, might seem small. But he expressed confidence that just as a white-supremicist state had failed in South Africa, a Jewish-supremicist state would fail in Israel.

Full speech below signature, and video available here (talk begins at 34:50)

Veterans for Peace and Michigan Peace Team

Elliott Adams, past president of the national Veterans for Peace, shared a podium with the venerable Fr. Peter Dougherty of Michigan Peace Team, and spoke to about 40 students at Michigan State University this week. This writer now considers Mr. Adams to be a friend and associate, and Father Peter is, well, he’s the kinda personality whom, if you came away disliking him, it’s about time you took a long look in the mirror.

Both presenters gave award-winning accounts of what’s currently happening to Palestinians in Gaza, and if one listened carefully, one even heard the “B” word – boycott. Good for them, but asking “What we can do?” is different from asking “Why” bullet-pock-marked buildings and bombed out buildings exist? One of our vigilers often asks, “What are European Jews doing in the Palestine?” Now, there’s a start to provide a solution!

Expressing a tiny bit of anger, a Palestinian student bristled at the claim made by a classmate that Israel was only reacting to Kassam rockets when it committed the Hanukkah Massacre in Gaza last year. He suggested that perhaps 62 years of racist, military rule might have explained the rocket attacks in the first place. Of course, it is well-established that Israel, not HAMAS, violated a ceasefire that had held for six months to begin its deadly (as documented in the Goldstone Report) assault on Gaza. In any case, the classmate and two buddies departed the room shortly after this young Palestinian man challenged their mythical assumptions. If you can’t stand the heat …

Six Vigilers
Israel is the Villain, Not the Victim
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friend

Speech at City Council

November 15, 2010

Good Evening,

The current mainstream news media is now reporting that the so-called peace talks in Palestine are stalled. But Americans are beginning to realize that the term “peace talks” is a euphemism for doing nothing. How many times have we heard that negotiations begin, then they are stalled, then they are terminated? Time passes, and peace talks are “restarted”. I don’t think that Americans are buying this, and they’re getting more and more tired of seeing their tax dollars going down a rathole, when there are potholes in Ann Arbor that need fixing.

What about the accepted peace community? We only hear “End the Occupation”, as if that mere slogan will bring justice to Palestine. Consider: The Gaza Strip is no longer occupied. Jewish families no longer live there in Jewish only settlements, nor send their kids to Jewish only schools, nor shop in Jewish only shopping centers.

But who can argue that a just peace has been restored to the beleaguered residents of Gaza? A call to end the occupation is merely cover for protecting a Jewish state, and these peace groups have an agenda that thereby get exposed.

Oddly enough, peace activists like Jonathan Cook and Alan Hart get inspiration from the words of the most militant Zionist, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. As the noose of public opinion slips tighter and tighter around his Israel, he gives us the key to achieving justice in Palestine when he demands from Palestinians that they must accept Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state.

Israel has been defining itself since its Declaration of Statehood in 1948 as a Jewish state. The father of the Zionist movement – Theodor Herzl – wrote Der Judenstaat, The Jewish State, in 1896. And now we have Netanyahu exposing the nerve center of his racist state for all to see.

That’s the nut that needs to be cracked. Just as white supremacism failed in South Africa, just as Aryan supremacism failed in Europe, so will Jewish supremacism fail in Palestine.

Y’know we appear to be a small group standing Saturday morning after Saturday morning in front of Beth Israel Congregation. But we represent just the tip of the iceberg of those in the world who know what it will take to bring a just peace to the region. Join us in just saying NO to a Jewish State in Palestine.

Thank you