Another Vigiller Assaulted

To the assaults by Eli Avny and Abraham Seligman we now add another attack perpetrated against members of JWPF. A man wearing a yarmulke (pictured below) has, for the past few weeks, made a point of walking in front of our peaceful vigillers, in spite of the fact that we stay off the sidewalk. We stand in the lawn extension (the grassy area between sidewalk and street) to conduct our weekly protests.

This week he found Vigiller S right at the curb, and rather than walk into the street to be in front of S, he walked right into him, making physical contact. Vigiller S did not see the man approaching and only had enough time to stiffen his body; had he not he might have been knocked down, or worse, into the passing traffic. Our team photographer was immediately dispatched, producing the photo below, and this photo was turned over to the Ann Arbor Police Department; a complaint was filed. If readers know the identity of this man, please contact this writer, and/or the AAPD (Incident Report CR 10-39229).

http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hersko/Photos/Assualt%20perp%2008-07-10.JPG

JWPF will not countenance physical attacks on individuals; every assault will be reported to the authorities and prosecuted. We welcome sidewalk conversations, even slightly heated ones. But those pedestrians and motorists who cross the line from verbal to physical should be advised that we will protect ourselves and our right to free speech.

JWPF Supports Ed Pinkney

Two members of JWPF joined Reverend Ed Pinkney in Benton Harbor this week, as he conducted a protest of the opening of the Harbor Shores Golf Course. Part of this Jack Nicklaus-designed course exists on what is rightly termed “stolen property” (sound familiar?). Whirlpool Corporation, with the help of some crooked City Commissioners, was allowed to “purchase” a beautiful tract of Lake Michigan shoreline property, Jean Klock Park, that had been given to the residents of Benton Harbor for use, in perpetuity, as a park. In short, public community property was privatized in order to fulfill corporate interests and friend Ed Pinkney has championed efforts to protest this corruption. A report on this protest can be found here.

Zionists Have a Friend in the People’s Tribune

Israel’s ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people will not be reported by the Chicago-based People’s Tribune, according to Sandy Reid, covering the Pinkney protest on Tuesday. Ms. Reid was identified by Tribune staffer Chris Mahin as a member of the Board of Directors of the newspaper.

I accepted a copy of Volume 37, No. 7 and soon noticed that none of the nine articles reported on the crimes of the Jewish State. When I mentioned this to Chris, he recommended I speak to Sandy, which I did. When I pointed out there were no articles about Palestine in this issue, she remarked that the Tribune would not be covering the topic. The reason: they will focus on national issues, not international ones unless of course it involved starvation or other such human rights issues.

“What about the starving children of Gaza?” I asked.

“Look, I don’t want to have an argument about this”

“It’s not an argument. I’m asking that the crimes against the Palestinian people, which are committed by a Jewish state with Jewish soldiers …”

With that Ms. Reid turned her back and walked away. A vivid imagination could hear the cheers of Zionists in response to her brave stance against the truth. Maybe they should change the name of their publication to the “Some People’s Tribune“. Or they could do the right thing …

This Wednesday (Aug. 18th) at St. Joseph Parish in Dexter, Michigan

A slight correction to the announcement last week: the presentation by Jon Heffelfinger and Henry Herskovitz will take place at St. Joseph Parish in Dexter (3430 Dover St.), not at St. Joseph Church, located 3 miles to the north. After hearing the description of our presentation, Father Brendan Walsh suggested the title “Working for Peace in Palestine”.

Jon will review our mission to Palestine with the Michigan Peace Team in the spring of 2005, and I will address the question of why so many tragic events occur in Palestine by examining the source and cause of conflict in the Middle East. Time: 7:00 – 8:00 pm. A very short presentation by First Presbyterian member Rod Bentz will precede my talk.

Six Vigillers
Flotillas are attacked because Jews want the land
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends

Hiatus Over

Just because you haven’t received a vigil report since June doesn’t mean Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends hasn’t been maintaining our vigilant vigils. Vigiller G has kept accurate records, and we thank all the extra participants who kept up the struggle for Palestine here in Ann Arbor:

July 3 – Seven Vigillers
July 10 – Seven
July 17 – Six
July 24 – Eight
July 31 – Six

And of course, our work continues, even out-of-town. This writer was fortunate to be the guest speaker at a salon held in Seattle, WA on July 8th, where he addressed twenty-four peace activists on the history, goals, and effectiveness of our vigils. Touching briefly on the claim that Zionism has such a strong religious component that to call it a secular movement is in error, we received an all-too-typical response from the one Jewish lady in attendance that she was feeling “uncomfortable” with the direction of the conversation. And when it was stated that JWPF operates the only synagogue vigil in the world, this 81-year old claimed that she knew of a peace group in Philadelphia, which, for eight years has been conducting vigils in front of a synagogue on Friday evenings.

A Google search, however, has not revealed any information on such a vigil. When “Synagogue Protest” is entered into this search engine, only JWPF’s name surfaces. So we ask readers to provide us a link to other synagogue protests, whether in Philadelphia or elsewhere.

And speaking of other activist groups, I was impressed with a group in Eugene, Oregon called “The Al Nakba Awareness Project”, headed by Jack D. and Mariah L, website www.al-nakba-history.com . These guys run a tight ship, and use their experience in the civil rights struggle to draw parallels to the racism inflicted upon Palestinians by the Jewish State.

Fishhooks

As one motorcycles across the country with his “colors” on, i.e. “Stop Israel” baseball caps, “No Jewish State” t-shirts, “Boycott Israel” bumper stickers, it’s amazing how many folk will come up and start a conversation. Equally amazing is the number of people who “get it”, who recognize Israel for the bully it is, and how the Israel lobby in this country uses its inordinate power to maintain the flow of US taxpayer dollars to the Jewish apartheid state. The “map cards” provided by Ann Arbor’s own Anne Remley are also helpful and provide well received gifts to those who strike up a conversation.

Heads Up: Speaking Engagement at St. Joseph Catholic Church

Everyone is invited to a presentation by this writer and his close friend Jon Heffelfinger, at St. Joseph Catholic Church in Dexter, Michigan*, Wednesday, August 18th at 7pm. Jon will review our mission to Palestine with the Michigan Peace Team in the spring of 2005, and I will address the question of why so many tragic events occur in Palestine by examining the source and cause of conflict in the Middle East.

Short Notice: Help Support Benton Harbor this Tuesday

As Whirlpool Corporation tightens its grip over the economically-strapped community of Benton Harbor, Michigan, our friends at MECAWI have invited all to protest the opening of a Jack Nicklaus-designed golf course which now sits on stolen public property. Sounding familiar to the Jewish theft of Palestinian land, the corporate bigwigs in Benton Harbor and next-door St. Joseph, Michigan, moved into Jean Klock Park – a park dedicated in perpetuity to the citizens of Benton Harbor to erect this playground for well-heeled golfers.

Benton Harbor is a majority black community, and neighboring St. Joseph is predominantly white. And years ago, when our friend Reverend Ed Pinkney completed a successful recall campaign against a corrupt city councilman, he was promptly tried by a white prosecutor in front of a white judge and an all-white jury. Found guilty (surprise!) he spent many months in prison before citizen pressure forced a tethered return to his home.

Members of JWPF will be traveling across the state on Tuesday to confront course-designer Jack Nicklaus, and to bring attention to this modern day land theft. See you there: Call David Sole from MECAWI if you need a ride 313-680-5508 and live along the I-94 corridor.

End Jewish Supremacism in Palestine
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends

* 3430 Dover St. Dexter, MI 48130

Below are all three parts of Rochester Indymedia’s video of a talk by Gilad Atzmon in a presentation by Atzmon and Rich Siegel on June 29, 2010 at the “The Flying Squirrel Community Center” in Rochester, NY. You can also watch the videos on Rochester Indymedia’s Indy TV channel on blip.tv.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

The dialogue and jazz performances by Gilad Atzmon and Rich Siegel in Rochester, NY and in Geneva, NY were a great success in spite of Zionist attempts to silence them and our organization, Deir Yassin Remembered. Both events drew “a full house” with audiences saying how much they enjoyed meeting Rich and Gilad. Typical was one gentleman who wrote, “To hear your individual stories and your political analyses, combined with world-class music, doesn’t get much better.”

Rich Siegel (right) and Gilad Atzmon in Geneva, NY

The Rochester event was to have been held at the First Unitarian Church, but a simple protest from the local rabbi caused the church to roll over and cancel the event, with no compensation, a mere five days before its scheduled time on June 29th. Fortunately, Rochester Against War, offered us even better space at “The Flying Squirrel Community Center,” complete with audio hook ups. We are indebted to Brian Lenzo and Doug Noble for their support.

The Geneva event was a $100-head fundraiser at Billsboro Winery overlooking beautiful Seneca Lake. In spite of pressure on the winery to not host us and on local people to shun the event, we filled the space and raised $4,800. This is (almost) enough for two additional DYR Scholarships for young people wishing to study in Palestine. (One man drove over 300 miles from Boston just to hear Gilad.)

Both Gilad and Rich addressed the audience on their personal experiences of overcoming political Zionism. Gilad’s grandfather was a commander in the Irgun, the Jewish terrorist gang that committed the massacre at Deir Yassin. Rich was the president of a Zionist youth group as a teenager.

Both Gilad and Rich share my belief that within the borders controlled today by Israel (that is, all the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River) there already exists a single state. It has one electrical grid, one road system, one monetary authority, one postal authority, one water system, etc. etc. The problem is that over half the population within this existing state or those people that are non-Jews, have lesser rights or none at all.

Zionists refuse to recognize this simple fact, because they continue to dream of a state where Jews are in a majority and have superior rights to non-Jews. That dream is based, to a large extent, on “chosenness” or superiority to non-Jews or goyim, a more derisive term. And that obsession has led to the apartheid state that Israel/Palestine now is and to the racist transfers and ethnic cleansing plans that it currently employs.

Here are my opening remarks to give you a better idea of what Deir Yassin Remembered is and why were so proud to have hosted Rich Siegel and Gilad Atzmon. Hopefully we shall see them return next year, perhaps as the NTFADA Ensemble.

The Times, They Are Indeed Changing
(opening remarks by Daniel McGowan for Gilad Atzmon DYR Fundraiser)

A month ago the whole world saw Jewish Power attack unarmed humanitarian activists in international waters with no existential threat to Israel. It was another clear demonstration of the criminal side of political Zionism, meaning the quest to build a Jewish state in Palestine, ignoring the fact that over half the population is not Jewish. It was a demonstration of the colonialism, the discrimination, the collective punishment, the racism, the siege and starvation techniques, the ghetto-ization of the Palestinians, namely the indigenous population.

It was also pivotal event. First, Gaza became recognized as the obscene ghetto Israel created. Second, for the first time, The Holocaust was not used as the shield to justify naked Israeli aggression. Third, the myth of the United States as an “honest broker” was rendered inane. Our government denied the facts, failed to call for an international inquiry, ignored our own citizens’ participation, passed resolutions condemning the victims, and turned against our NATO ally Turkey whose citizens were killed and wounded.

General David Petraeus said that the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict is endangering the lives of American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. Senator Schumer, Howard Berman, and other Israel-Firsters couldn’t care less. When Petraeus fainted last week at a Senate hearing, some of them viewed it as divine punishment.

Deir Yassin Remembered is a not-for-profit organization of Jews and non-Jews working to build a truth and reconciliation center at Deir Yassin, site of a massacre on April 9, 1948 of over 100 Arab men, women, and children by Jewish terrorists of the Irgun and Stern Gang. The massacre was a pivotal moment in Palestinian history, one known to virtually every Palestinian and a historical fact that has been deliberately flushed down the memory hole by political Zionists and those who tell only the Jewish narrative of the conquest of historical Palestine. (By the way Gilad’s father, a devout Zionist, was a member of the Irgun.)

Deir Yassin Remembered was founded in 1995 at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Over the years The Colleges hosted several of its Board members, including Sahar Ghosheh, Mubarak Awad, Edward Said, and Hanan Ashrawi, and The Colleges were to have been the repository for the DYR Archives. Today, the only memorial to the dispossession of the Palestinian people, the only one in the United States, is located on the lake frontage of Houghton House, which is the Colleges’ art department.

As part of our mission the Deir Yassin Remembered Scholarship Fund is designed to help young people receive college education in Palestine/Israel under the motto of “Peace Through Education.” Last year we gave seven scholarships. Tonight’s fundraiser, donated by Gilad Atzmon and Rich Siegel and by contributions from DYR members from all over the world will allow us to give an additional two scholarships this year.

Rich Siegel is a free-lance pianist/vocalist/songwriter/bandleader. He has appeared as a piano-vocal soloist in various venues including the Carlyle, the Waldorf Astoria, the NY Inter-Continental, Tavern on the Green, 21 Club in New York; Nova Park Elysees and Maxim’s de Paris in France, Bowden Square Club in the Hamptons, Upstairs in Montreal, Le Jazze in Quebec, Club Baron Shimaguchi in Japan, and “Bleu Marine’ in Abidjan, West Africa.

You may have seen him in the national ad for Steinway Pianos or accompanying pop stars like Laura Branigan or various other jazz and cabaret artists in NY scene.

Before becoming a pro-Palestinian activist and a Board member of DYR, Rich was a former teenage president of a Zionist youth group.

Gilad Atzmon is a world renowned jazz musician, author and blogger. He was born in Israel and trained at the Rubin Academy of Music in Jerusalem, where he learned to play saxophone and clarinet.

But Gilad is not just an outstanding musician. He is an unrestrained political activist who serves music with raw political passion and a message. His views, born from experience can be unsettling – especially to an American audience taught to avoid all criticism of Israel for fear of being destroyed with the tar brush of anti-Semitism.

Gilad’s main instrument is the alto saxophone. His jazz style is bebop/hard bop, veering at times into free jazz. The London Times calls him, “the hardest-gigging man in British jazz … the music here is subtle, ambiguous, often beautiful  … a saxophonist playing deep from the heart.”

But if his eclectically inclusive music prompts rave reports, his stance on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and his intensely anti-Zionist views have provoked outrage, not least among some other anti-Zionists, and he has been condemned as an anti-Semite and even a Holocaust denier.

Ask him about such claims and he sounds cheerfully, indeed pugilistically, unrepentant. He refutes accusations of Holocaust denial, arguing that it should be treated as historical fact rather than as “religious myth.” So far as being labeled in some quarters as a “self-hating Jew,” he responds: “Self-hating Jew is almost correct. I would say a proud self-hating Jew,” and continues, unabashed, “I would remind you that great thoughts have been contributed by Jews who were self-hating – Christ, or Marx, or Spinoza… whenever you come across a mega-Jewish thinker, there’s always this element of anger against oneself.

Gilad has earned many jazz awards including the “Best Jazz Album of 2002” (BBC Jazz Award) and is regarded as one of the greatest saxophonists of this generation.

In 1982 he completed obligatory military service during the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, where his experiences brought about a major change in his thinking. He currently lives in exile in Great Britain and regards himself as a Hebrew-speaking Palestinian.

Sabeel’s Sister Elaine Kelley Supports JWPF Vigils

Sister Elaine Kelley has served as the Administrative Officer of Friends of Sabeel – North America (FOSNA) for almost a decade and is one of four FOSNA Steering Committee officers. Sister Elaine lived in the Bethlehem area for four years and was a contributing writer to the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs. She has joined the Rev. Dr. Stephen Sizer, Anglican vicar and a respected authority on Christian Zionism, by adding her name to “Religious Leaders Support Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends“. With her signature she “affirm[s] the tactic of protesting outside a place of worship as appropriate and consistent with our prophetic and religious traditions”. We welcome Sister Elaine’s support and hope that her courageous example will be the signal call for other religious leaders to support our vigils, which are now approaching their seventh anniversary.

Thank you, Sister Elaine.

A Workers World Observation

The most recent edition of the Workers World Newspaper was distributed at last week’s US Social Forum, and its lead headline was “Global solidarity with Palestine”, with the subheading “More fallout from Israeli massacre”. So far, so good. Then, on the inside were three additional articles: “Protests across U.S. condemn Israeli massacre”, “Israel’s atomic ties to apartheid South Africa documented”, and the Workers World Party Statement: “Israeli terror must not pass”. They write freely about the attendance of Jewish activists at these protests, point out that “Jewish people from Germany” were on board one of the Free Gaza Movement caravans, but nowhere do they mention that the root cause of Palestinian suffering is the creation and maintenance of a Jewish supremacist state. They even throw a bone to a Philadelphia protest endorsed by Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that even the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) had listed as soft Zionists. Hm-m-m…

We understand that the crime against the Palestinian people is 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 organised Jews worldwide*, but the casual reader could not determine this from the four articles in the Workers World newspaper. And so we wonder why Workers World gives Jews a pass, when, as a group, they enjoy no other peer in their support for the Jewish state. Talking about Israel without mentioning Jewish supremacism is like talking about South African apartheid or Jim Crow without mentioning White supremacism.

We went to their website and searched for the phrase “Jewish state”. We got one lone article as a result, and the phrase in the article was taken from an unreferenced quote by John Bolton. Then we searched for the phrase “Imperialist Nation” and got 2,911 hits. Searching for “Imperialist” netted 12,188.

Now we at JWPF have nothing against criticism of U.S. Imperialism, but when the largest, most easily identifiable community that supports Jewish supremacism in Palestine is not held to scrutiny, and the genocide of the Palestinian people is at stake, we wonder if there’s another agenda at play. If there are readers out there who know that WW does not support the “right” of Israel to exist as a Jewish state (the way Benjamin Netanyahu wants us to), please inform us, and include the appropriate references that support this claim.

Seven vigilers
Hiatus coming, don’t blame your ISP!
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends

* “Jewish Power” by Paul Eisen

IJAN Will Protect Jewish Sensibilities

Strike One: For about six weeks, JWPF had been asking Sara Kershnar, “international organizer” for the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, to distribute an invitation to join our anti-Zionist vigils at Beth Israel in Ann Arbor on June 19th, just preceding the start of the 2010 US Assembly of Jews: Confronting Racism and Israeli Apartheid. With only three days left, we received the following reply:

Henry Herskovitz,
The purpose of the Assembly is to build long term anti-Zionist Jewish
organizing; we are not gathering for the purposes of demonstration. The
Assembly is not endorsing, promoting or supporting any events outside of
those we have coordinated together, and will not support participation in
your event.
We hope that this clarifies,
The U.S. Assembly

We immediately wrote back, explaining that we were not asking for endorsements or promotions, we just wanted individual members of IJAN to have the opportunity to choose for themselves whether they wanted to stand with us. IJAN’s response was … no response.

Strike Two: At one of the presentations, lecturer Barry Trachtenberg, associate professor of Jewish studies at the University of Albany, raised the topics of Tsar Nicholas II, and of European anti-Semitism. When I asked whether the Jewish-led execution of the Tsar and his family produced fear in Germany, which could have led to anti-Semitic feelings there, Ms. Kershnar rose and claimed “I must interrupt here, because I don’t think the question is in line with the goals of this workshop.” I pointed out that Barry had brought up both the Czar and the issue of anti-Semitism. She reiterated her statement, explained a little more, and said “With the approval of the group, I’d like to re-track this back to soft Zionism”

At this point, an audible “Oh, Please!” came from a woman in the audience, as in “Please do get us back on track. Save us from yet more persecutory questions.” There was general agreement; almost everyone, it seemed, wanted to push on, and get rid of pesky questions like the last one that might have helped interrogate the narrative of innocent Jewish victimhood that Zionists of all stripes have used to great effect.

Strike Three: This m.o. of gate-keeping ran into the US Social Forum. After the umpteenth time of hearing that “Zionism is a political movement”, I raised the fact that in 1942 over 800 Rabbis opined that “Zionism is the Affirmation of Judaism”, and that people should realize the huge component of Zionism that was religious in nature. Not only was I again told that this comment was out of line, but Sara said “Henry, we all know you have an agenda”. Too taken aback to reply that we all have agendas and mine included open debate and the pursuit of truth, I merely reiterated that we should take the rebbes seriously.

But the real strike three occurred when our friend Muhammed* from Ohio asked why IJAN would prefer to separate Jews from the 60+ year old Arab struggle against the colonial, racist movement that is Zionism. Why wouldn’t IJAN show true solidarity with Palestinians by joining an existing movement, rather than leading one of their own? For this, he was told that his question was disruptive, and was invited to leave the room. He left and a delightful woman from Ethiopia also took her leave, commenting on the rigid structure of this IJAN group.

A new friend from the UK sends some comfort with his analysis:

This is so familiar, Henry. If you are not hounded out for saying the kind of things you said, you are excluded by that ‘for God sake let’s get back to discussing nothing’ syndrome. Discussing nothing, in all sorts of interesting ways, is a great pastime. Discussing something is threatening, so you dismiss it as boring! Almost all the discussions within Jewish circles, and Jewish-loving circles, are an endless recycling of myths, from which a warm glow of superiority and self-righteousness is derived.

We suggest that IJAN consider changing its name to International Jewish Network, and get on with it …

JWPF Presents at the US Social Forum

Eight people attended our presentation, “Synagogue Vigils: Six Years of Challenging Judaic Zionism” on Friday. A lengthy Q&A followed and was marked by a noteworthy openness. Two Jewish men aired their concerns, and we listened. The younger one expressed how he was very new to anti-Zionist views, and appeared to be in full-learning mode, thankful for our views. The other man was a member of JVP (Bay area), and maybe he’ll think about later what he heard on Friday. The same Ethiopian woman whom we met Wednesday gushed praises for JWPF, and was absolutely floored by the revelation that Jews have to be taught how to “advocate” for Israel. She was told how to get her own copy of the Hasbara Handbook.

Seven vigilers
Zionists (and many “anti-Zionists”) Out of the Peace Movement
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
Comment on our Reports at https://blog.deiryassin.org/
* – name changed to protect the innocent

JWPF Prepares for the US Social Forum

Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends will be conducting a workshop entitled “Synagogue Vigils: Six Years of Challenging Judaic Zionism” as part of the US Social Forum next week. Our presentation will take place on Friday, June 25th from 3:30 – 5:30, location: TWW1 (151 W. Fort St., Detroit, MI 48226). The workshop will consist of three short presentations by JWPF members followed by a Q&A period. The topics to be discussed include:

Origin, tactics and goals of the Vigils
The Vigils from an Arab participant’s view
Shock and outrage from actions of the Jewish state

Perhaps the most revealing aspect of our program will be the introduction and discussion of a document, which challenges the widely held belief that Zionism is mainly a secular movement. As the workshop description (in full, below signature) indicates, a 1942 document signed by “the largest number of rabbis whose signatures are attached to a public pronouncement in all Jewish history”, reveals the opposite, that in fact Zionism is “an affirmation of Judaism”. These Rabbis write: “Anti-Zionism, not Zionism, is a departure from the Jewish religion.” If you’re registered with the USSF, then please join us next Friday.

JWPF Members to attend IJAN Assembly

Members of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, along with the Middle East Children’s Alliance, have called for an assembly of anti-Zionist Jews to be held prior to the US Social Forum. At least two JWPF members are planning to attend this three-day event. We are excited to combine forces with other anti-Zionist Jews (and their friends). For more details, see http://www.jewsconfrontapartheid.org/

Six Vigilers
No Jewish State
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
#

JWPF Workshop Description:

Since September 2003, a small group of determined people of conscience and faith have held weekly nonviolent vigils outside Beth Israel Congregation in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Members of Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends stand vigil to protest and draw attention to the synagogue’s open and unabashed support for apartheid Israel. Rabbi Robert Dobrusin has stated publicly that his Congregation ” affirms without any hesitation … the legitimacy of the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish state …” As with any other supremacist state, a “Jewish state” can never fully include, nor respect the rights of, non-Jews living under its rule, let alone the millions of Palestinian refugees whom Israel prevents from returning home. We will help inform and empower participants to oppose Judaic Zionism. Participants will learn about the 1942 statement by 757 rabbis that “Zionism is an Affirmation of Judaism” and how, locally, Judaic Zionism (like Christian Zionism) underpins US support for the apartheid state of Israel. Participants will learn why the JWPF vigils began and how they have succeeded in drawing local and national attention to the plight of the Palestinian people and the role of religious Jews in their suffering.