Zionists Out of the Peace Movement

In December of last year, I wrote "Beth Israel Attackers Identified; One Charged". The post was about Eli Avny and Abraham Seligman, who, in separate incidents, assaulted people protesting at the Beth Israel Congregation. As I wrote then, "After a thorough and professional investigation, the Ann Arbor Police Department (AAPD) recommended that Avny be charged with Assault with a Dangerous Weapon but Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Susan Junck of the Washtenaw County Prosecutor's office refused to authorize the charge." Incidentally, court records* show an Eli Avny was previously charged in Ann Arbor with some non-traffic infraction.

As another aside, Susan Junck is the same person who did authorize the totally bogus, trumped up charges against Catherine Wilkerson, MD. You can visit the web site of her defense committee at defendwilkerson.org. I also wrote about the incident that led to her being charged in the following posts:

• Police Brutalize Nonviolent Protesters at University of Michigan
(video link here)
• UM Police Brutality Update
• Another Article on Police Repression at UM; Prof. Babayan Replies
• Campus Watch Targets Kathryn Babayan
• Scenes from a Cop Riot

But back to Abraham Seligman. Here is an excerpt from what I originally wrote:

Less than a month after the Avny incident, another assault was committed against a member of Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends (JWPF). At right is the scanned image (click to enlarge) of the criminal complaint against Abraham Seligman of South Euclid , OH, for assault and battery. Seligman was in town to attend a bat mitzvah. Seligman had just returned from Israel--where they know how to take care of protesters--and, according to the "Incident Report Narrative," Seligman told police, "he could not believe people were allowed to stand around and behave as 'these folks are.' "

When the officers failed to behave like Israeli storm troopers Seligman, apparently, decided to take matters into his own hands and walked across the street to assault, in full view of police, a JWPF member who was videotaping him (I've seen the videotape of this incident and I hope to get it uploaded to the internet soon). Contrary to the claims of Helen Aminoff in her letter to the Ann Arbor News (11/16/2006), Seligman was not "entering a house of worship" when he committed his assault and battery against a nonviolent protester.

The video camera was present to deter BIC members and guests from cursing, assaulting, and spitting on JWPF protesters. Two witnesses told police that, before striking him, Seligman told his victim that he "was lucky the police are here because if they were not ..." According to the police report, officers heard Seligman tell his victim that "his mother is a mother of Hitler." Another witness said that before the incident Seligman told her "she needed to get her coffin ready ..."

When he was arrested, Seligman was miffed, "Officer, I don't understand what you need my name for" and then told officers they hadn't just seen what they had just seen: "I didn't hit the guy ... I didn't do anything." This, friends, is the arrogance of power and privilege speaking. The Jewish state and its supporters have gotten away with murder--literally--for so long that they sometimes think they can act with impunity in this country, too. Unfortunately, the Avny case suggests they may have some reason for believing this.

At long last, I have finally found out what happened to old Abe. According to the court records,* Seligman was arraigned on January 8, 2007, and "stood mute." The prosecution, City Attorney Stephen Postema, was so disoriented by this stunning and novel legal manuever that he moved to dismiss the charges at the pre-trial hearing in March.

Now, I've worked in law enforcement at the federal and local levels and it is customary in such cases to, at the least, charge the defendant for court costs but the record shows that Abe Seligman walked away without ever paying the court anything for what he did. This just goes to show you that while crime may not pay, in Ann Arbor it probably won't cost you anything, either, if you're a Zionist assaulting anti-Zionists.

* If necessary, select "ANNARBOR" and then enter last name in the form on the following page.

See also:

• Assault at Beth Israel Congregation
• More Violence Against anti-Zionist Dissidents
• Beth Israel Attackers Identified; One Charged
• Eli Avny Update

Labels: Beth Israel, Catherine Wilkerson, Jewish violence, Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends, Zionism