Barghouti Clarifies: All of Palestine is NOT Occupied Speaking to a crowd of about 100 people on the University of Michigan campus, BDS organizer Omar Barghouti gave a masterful presentation of the crimes of Israel and focused on the 1967 invasion of the West Bank and Gaza because “it’s more easily understood in America”. He […]

Chomsky Catfight? OK, I might have reacted too quickly to a message on an email list by someone who offered a YouTube video of a speech by Noam Chomsky on the 14th amendment. I asked why, since the list description “rejects all anti-Semitism” and is “also opposed to all other forms of racism”, the writer is promoting […]

A Story of Chris A few weeks back my friend Chris spoke excitedly to me about a New Yorker article he’d just read and he wanted my opinion. So I read “Lydda, 1948” and though we’ve spoken since, I feel an opportunity was missed during our brief follow-up discussion last night. Chris “gets it”, that is, he […]

Five Broken Cameras – a Look Inside About eight JWPF members and supporters attended a showing of “Five Broken Cameras” at the Ann Arbor District Library this week. The film, which has won a couple of awards and was nominated for an Oscar, depicts the non-violent protests originating in the West Bank village of Bi’lin. […]

Bending the Rules at City Council Slightly frustrated by being sidelined by Ann Arbor City Council rules, this writer used a tenuous connection to play by the rules, yet get a point across. Readers remember the vigil report of Nov. 16 when my talk exposing the blacklisting of companies by MasterCard was delayed. This week’s talk […]

Dodging the Question A handful of JWPF members joined about 150 others at the University of Michigan’s Dearborn campus last Monday to listen to speakers Josh Ruebner, Ben White, and Susan Abulhawa avoid the topics we listed in last week’s report: 1. The legitimacy of the Jewish state 2. Jewish Identity Politics 3. Influence of Jewish […]

Dynamic Silence Redux With a touch of irony, this writer was “Dynamically Silenced” by an Ann Arbor City Council rule even as I was about to speak to that body [bold]about dynamic silence. Prior to about 2004, citizens wishing to address Council on any topic were allotted four minutes provided they signed up in advance. […]