BDS harassment of Jews by hate groups like If Not Now, JVP or T’ruah is an ongoing issue. But what’s been going on in Ann Arbor is in a league of its own with BDS bigots engaging in the ongoing harassment of one synagogue for 16 years.
I wrote about this back in 2012.
In Ann Arbor hate-filled left-wing protests have taken place in front of a synagogue every Sabbath for a decade.
There has been astoundingly little media commentary on this, though if a right-wing group had been harassing a synagogue every Shabbat for a decade, there would have been four documentaries and eight books out on it by now.
One told him, “Jewish prayers should be disrupted. You pray for genocide.” A white-haired woman holding a sign denouncing Israel rushed over to add, “It’s true! It’s true!”
Gloria Harb said she participates because she believes the United States’ political system is corrupted by Jews intent on furthering Israel’s agenda before America’s.
FEH has been covering the harassment of Beth Israel Congregation by BDS bigots. Much of my writing was based on their work.
By now it’s been 16 years and one frustrated member has filed a lawsuit.
A member of a synagogue in Michigan has filed a federal lawsuit against Ann Arbor city leaders and demonstrators over weekly anti-Israel demonstrations that have reportedly gone on for more than 16 years outside the Beth Israel Congregation.
The Associated Press reports the lawsuit filed on behalf of Marvin Gerber, a member of the congregation, argues the demonstrations have been provocative and amount to hateful, anti-Semitic speech that the city has allowed to continue without restrictions.
Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor is among the defendants along with protester Henry Herskovitz and his two organizations, Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends and Deir Yassin Remembered. The organizations say they were founded to advocate for Palestinians.
Taylor told the AP that he had not yet seen the lawsuit, adding that the city has worked continuously with the synagogue regarding the protests for years.
“The city has worked with synagogue leadership and congregants for years on this issue,” Taylor told the news outlet. “I recognize the pain caused by the protesters and it’s disgusting. We believe we’ve acted in accordance with our legal obligations.”
This level of harassment is virtually unprecedented. The First Amendment is very broad in scope. But this lawsuit might, if nothing else, help bring some attention to this situation which the media has conveniently chosen to ignore.
Protest signs have carried messages such as “Resist Jewish Power,” “Jewish Power Corrupts,” “No More Holocaust Movies,” “Boycott Israel,” “Stop U.S. Aid to Israel” and “End the Palestinian holocaust.”
Gerber is a longtime synagogue member and the messages offend and anger him, cause extreme emotional distress, significantly diminish his enjoyment in attending sabbath services and adversely affect his willingness to attend, the lawsuit states, also raising concerns about the impact on children in the congregation.
This is BDS. It’s BDS hate by exactly the sorts of people you expect.
WFP was founded in 2003 by Herskovitz, a former Beth Israel (Ann Arbor) congregant, to protest the synagogue’s support for Israel. WFP has protested outside Beth Israel Congregation on most Saturdays since 2003, after Herskovitz, who describes himself as a “former Jew,” says he “was denied permission to speak to the congregations of local synagogues after he visited the Middle East.”
On Facebook, Herskovitz’s anti-Semitic views are even more clear. On March 18, Herskovitz wrote: “Bumper sticker suggestion: ‘Anti-Semitism: It’s my right,’” later adding “isn’t it time we threw off the Jewish shackles?”
In an April 2018 blog post, Herskovitz defended white supremacist and anti-Semite Richard Spencer, writing that Spencer’s self-proclaimed “white identitarianism” can be compared to the fear some Jews have about assimilation and intermarriage: “Perhaps it is the same fear which drives the Jews…that also drives White identitarians like Spencer.” Herskovitz, who had recently attended one of Spencer’s public events with a couple of his WFP cohorts, added that he is neither “for or against” Spencer and that he “wouldn’t mind having a beer with” him.
According to the Michigan Review, a student-run newspaper at the University of Michigan, Herskovitz had a “warm” meeting with Holocaust denier Ernst Zundel in 2006 and “appears periodically at the Ann Arbor City Council to explain why the Holocaust is a fraud.”
And Bernie Sanders defenders claim that people with Jewish last names can’t be anti-Semitic.
Now where are the organizations condemning Giuliani for criticizing Soros when it comes to calling out 16 years of harassment?
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