Zionists Out of the Peace Movement

Several people who attended yesterday's Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice (ICPJ) Steering Committee (SC) meeting have reported that ICPJ Director Chuck Warpehoski was upset that I identified SC member Ruth Kraut as a racist and one "who shills for apartheid Israel" in an August post to this blog. Here's a bit of doggerel for Chuck:

Stick and stones
may break your bones
But vehicular assault
can kill you.

I have seen what Chuck sent to SC members in their agenda packet in advance of the meeting. Chuck conveniently left out any reference to the main subject of the post--the vehicular assault by a member of the Beth Israel Congregation.

This is typical and ICPJ has consistently been silent about physical assaults against local anti-Zionist dissidents by Zionists and so-called peace activists. This writer witnessed some of these assaults. So far, none of them have resulted in serious injury but if things continue as they have then it may eventually come to that and without ICPJ or Michigan Peaceworks ever having uttered a peep against it.

For instance, in 2005, then-President of Peaceworks Eric Van De Vort physically assaulted a fellow peace activist at the September 24th Peaceworks march because he didn't like the sign the man was holding.¹ According to the victim, who asked that his name not be disclosed, Van De Vort repeatedly shoved him, "slammed his body" into him, and physically impeded his attempts to evade Van De Vort. The victim said he repeatedly asked Van De Vort to stop but he continued his attack until Peaceworks Board member Nazih Hassan intervened. An eyewitness to the assault, Dr. Thomas Kaeding, has confirmed details of the incident. Responding to a September 28th e-mail message sent to Van De Vort, Peaceworks staff, and the rest of the Board members, Hassan confirmed his knowledge of the incident and of the victim's identity. His only other response was: "If he has a complaint he can send it directly to the Board." Van De Vort and other Board members did not respond to another inquiry sent on October 8th. Neither Van De Vort nor Peaceworks has ever publicly acknowledged, nor apologized to the victim for, the incident. This writer spoke directly with the victim, Dr. Kaeding, and authored the above-mentioned e-mails to the Peaceworks Board of Directors; ICPJ has also been silent about this incident.

Hint to self-styled peace activists: You don't have to wait for direct, personal knowledge of the facts to speak out against violence. Here, I'll even give you an example of what you could say if you cared to:

I don't know if the allegations are true but I am concerned that a pattern of actual, physical violence may be emerging from the division in our community concerning Israel and Zionism. As an advocate of peace and nonviolence I urge all responsible parties to take this issue of violence seriously and to take steps to stop it now, before anyone is seriously injured.

But no, Chuck and others seem far more concerned about "verbal violence" than they are about actual physical violence. It has even been communicated to me that entries on this blog are considered a hindrance to the ongoing mediation between the ICPJ SC and the ICPJ's Middle East Task Force (METF). This is absurd.

This blog will be a hindrance only if SC members choose to make it a hindrance. The SC has suspended the METF and Chuck has used the ICPJ newsletter and blog to present a one-sided view of the dispute. Yet, the METF has not let any of that be a hindrance to mediation--two METF members attended a mediation meeting just last night with three ICPJ SC/staff members. Furthermore, this blog is completely independent of the METF and does not purport to represent the views of that organization.

The frequent tut-tutting over strong language and "verbal violence" is, in part, a "strategem of power" (see "On Propriety, Power, and Social Protest"). And I doubt that Isaiah could pass muster with the ICPJ SC. Here's part of what the prophet said--his words still ring true today:

The prophecies of Isaiah son of Amoz, who prophesied concerning Judah and Jerusalem ...

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth,
For the LORD has spoken:
"I reared children and brought them up--
And they have rebelled against Me!
An ox knows its owner,
An ass its master's crib:
Israel does not know,
My people takes no thought."

Ah, sinful nation!
People laden with iniquity!
Brood of evildoers!
Depraved children!
They have forsaken the LORD,
Spurned the Holy One of Israel,
Turned their backs [on Him].

... Trample My courts no more;
Bringing oblations is futile,
Incense is offensive to Me.
New moon and sabbath,
Proclaiming of solemnities,
Assemblies with iniquity,
I cannot abide.
Your new moons and fixed seasons
Fill Me with loathing;
They are become a burden to Me,
I cannot endure them.
And when you lift up your hands,
I will turn My eyes from you;
Though you pray at length,
I will not listen.
Your hands are full of blood

Source: Isaiah 1:1a, 1:2-4, 1:12b-15.²

Finally, in the text that Chuck lifted from this blog and sent to SC members the word "racists" was underlined. However, Chuck, I'm told, did not explain to anyone that this underline was not for emphasis but indicated the presence of a hyperlink in the original blog post. The hyperlink takes one to the text of UN General Assembly Resolution 3379--"Elimination of all forms of racial discrimination" wherein the UN "Determines that zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination."

I called Ruth Kraut and others racists because they are Zionists--supporters of the Jewish supremacist state of Israel--and Zionism is racism. Nevertheless, if Kraut can demonstrate to me that she is not a Zionist or that Zionism--in its real world manifestation, not some ethereal, pie-in-the-sky Zionism--is not racism then I will give Kraut a full apology here on this blog.

Notes

1. Information on this incident comes from the Huron Valley Greens' May 8, 2006, "Resolution on Michigan Peaceworks."

2. The last phrase in the last verse (verse 15) is from the 1917 Jewish Publication Society (JPS) Tanakh translation. The rest of text is from the 1985 JPS translation. Bizarrely, the 1985 JPS translation changes "your hands are full of blood" to "Your hands are stained with crime"--a mixed metaphor, to say the least. The 1917 translation accords better with most other English language translations of the phrase (see table below). For example, the 1917 JPS translation is identical to the King James Version and the New Revised Standard Version renderings (the JPS, KJV, and NRSV all rely upon the Masoretic text of Isaiah).

The Hebrew word ךָּמִים (transliterated "dâm") is translated as "blood" in verse 11 in both the 1917 and 1985 translations but the 1985 translators change it to "crime" in verse 15. The 1985 translation of the Hebrew מָלָא (transliterated "mâlê'") as "stained" instead of "full," as in the 1917 translation, also seems contrived.

Perhaps, the 1985 translators felt uncomfortable with the contemporary resonance of this biblical excoriation of Israel. After killing thousands of Lebanese and Palestinians, including its role in the infamous Sabra and Shatilla massacres, in the 1982 Lebanon War, Israeli troops completed their withdrawal to a self-proclaimed "security zone" in southern Lebanon in 1985. There, they settled in for a brutal 15-year-long illegal occupation until they were driven out by Hizbullah in 2000.

Comparison of Four Translations of Isaiah 1:15
King James Version	New Revised Standard Version	Douay-Rheims	Apostle's Bible
And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear: your hands are full of blood.	When you stretch out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood.	And when you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away my eyes from you: and when you multiply prayer, I will not hear: for your hands are full of blood.	When you stretch forth your hands, I will turn away My eyes from you; and though you make many supplications, I will not hearken to you; for your hands are full of blood.
Sources: KJV, NRSV, and Douay-Rheims--The Unbound Bible; AB--The Sword Project

The Douay-Rheims version relies upon the Latin Vulgate version of Isaiah. The Hebrew dâm is rendered there in Latin as "sanguine." The Apostle's Bible relies upon the Septuagint. The Hebrew dâm is there rendered in Greek as αἵματος (transliterated "haimatos").

Last revised: 04/25/07

Labels: Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, Jewish violence, Michigan Peaceworks, violence, Warpehoski, Zionism

Synopsis: Rabbi Robert Dobrusin puts on a good show of opposition to torture but, ultimately, it is clear that, in truth, he believes that torture can be "justified" as an "act of self-defense."

Have a good look at the photo at right. It is probably the only visible opposition to torture that you will ever see outside of Ann Arbor's Beth Israel Congregation (BIC). The banner is displayed by members of Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends (JWPF) in support of Torture Awareness Month, sponsored locally by the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice (ICPJ).

The ICPJ is headed by none other than BIC member Ruth Kraut. All the evidence suggests that Kraut has been unable to persuade BIC members to join either the local ICPJ anti-torture campaign or the parent campaign by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. Kraut has, apparently, been more successful in getting ICPJ to shun Sabeel's upcoming conference in Detroit. She reportedly told the ICPJ directors that "as a Jew" she felt uncomfortable with Sabeel. Indeed. In any case, none of Ann Arbor's other synagogues are on board with the anti-torture campaign, either. This is not surprising.

You see, Jews have a problem with torture--they support it. Not all of them, of course, but as Felice Gaer, director of the American Jewish Committee's Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights, puts it: "There was a shocking silence of the Jewish community on the issue of torture, and there is still a lacuna on this vital issue, to my eye." One of the world's most prominent proponents of torture is Alan Dershowitz, a Jew and an ardent defender of the Jewish state. According to a 2006 scientific poll conducted for the BBC in 25 countries, Israel led the world in public support of torture with a majority of Jewish Israelis in favor of its use. Further, Israel is the only state in the world to have legalized torture. In the US, last November, three Jews in the Senate crossed party lines to save Michael Mukasey's nomination as Attorney General. Mukasey, "a believer and devout Jew," notoriously refused to state in confirmation hearings that the form of torture known as waterboarding was illegal under US law.

However, BIC's spiritual leader, Rabbi Robert Dobrusin, has not been entirely silent on the torture issue. He gave a sermon on the subject on June 7 whence he told the congregation:

At the Board meeting last month, the board of Beth Israel Congregation voted to join a new effort in the Jewish community called K'vod Habriot, respect for human dignity. This effort, was launched by Rabbis for Human Rights - North America, and begins as part of an interfaith effort to address one particular issue, an issue which is a critical one for our nation.

He doesn't say why BIC, apparently, stayed out of the two "interfaith effort[s]" I have mentioned above. Nor does he say what "nation"--"the Jewish people ... as a nation" or America--he is speaking of but that soon becomes evident.

The position is clear: that this country should not engage in torture of prisoners in any situation and that there should be no ambiguity to this prohibition. In the past few years, several different letters against torture have been produced, one of which was signed by hundreds of Rabbis across the political and religious spectrum. This month has been designated as Torture Awareness Month ...

When Rob Dobrusin talks about torture he means the United States and he means Americans: "... the K'vod Habriot network has been formed to make a statement to our government that United States sponsored torture is wrong and must be prohibited by law." The absence of any discussion of torture in Israel in Dobrusin's sermon, except indirectly by reference to an article by Yehezkel Dror, is striking ("torture" is not mentioned in Dror's op-ed--"When Survival of the Jewish People Is at Stake, There’s No Place for Morals").

It is striking because of the centrality of the Jewish state to Beth Israel, lit. "House of Israel". BIC is part of Conservative Judaism and here is some of what Ismar Schorsch, former chancellor of the Jewish Theological Seminary--the flagship institution of Conservative Judaism, has to say about "The Sacred Cluster: The Core Values of Conservative Judaism":

The centrality of modern Israel heads our list of core values. For Conservative Jews, as for their ancestors, Israel is not only the birthplace of the Jewish people, but also its final destiny. Sacred texts, historical experience, and liturgical memory have conspired to make it for them, in the words of Ezekiel, "the most desirable of all lands (20:6)." Its welfare is never out of mind. Conservative Jews are the backbone of Federation leadership in North America and the major source of its annual campaign. They visit Israel, send their children over a summer or for a year, and support financially every one of its worthy institutions. Israeli accomplishments on the battlefield and in the laboratory, in literature and politics, fill them with pride. Their life is a dialectic between homeland and exile. No matter how prosperous or assimilated, they betray an existential angst about anti-Semitism that denies them a complete sense of at-homeness anywhere in the diaspora.

Dobrusin echoed these remarks when he told his congregation in a sermon delivered on the most important day of the Jewish liturgical calendar that "the two most vital places of myth" in Judaism are "the State of Israel and the synagogue." He then described the "State of Israel" as "not only a haven ... but a place of inspiration for all of us" and declared that "As Israel faces difficult times, it is essential that we rally behind her to insure her survival as a Jewish state." On January 2007, he wrote in the Ann Arbor News: "Beth Israel Congregation affirms without any hesitation or equivocation the legitimacy of the existence of the State of Israel as a Jewish state". Furthermore, BIC reportedly displays the Israeli flag in the synagogue. They dissemble to visitors about JWPF. They send their kids to Israel and pose them with Israeli soldiers with the Rabbi's blessing. And when Israel turned Lebanon into a "free-fire zone" in 2006, BIC leaders responded by publishing on their web site a photo of four Israeli flags along with a statement of support for the "people of the State of Israel at this time of crisis" and stating that "We pray for the safety of those who defend Israel …"

So, Rabbi Dobrusin and BIC are not usually shy about speaking about Israel. Why, then, the recent reticence? Perhaps to speak truthfully about torture in Israel would be a shande far di goyim--an embarrassing exposure of the false pretenses of Israeli democracy and high Jewish moral standards.

Tellingly, the gist of Dobrusin's argument with Dror is not that he is entirely wrong in his premise: "When Survival of the Jewish People Is at Stake, There’s No Place for Morals." And he certainly does not object anywhere to Dror's manifest Jewish exceptionalism. Dobrusin's argument is that you can't or shouldn't openly commit to Dror's position in advance.

Dobrusin writes:

Professor Dror later says that: "... human history refutes the idealistic claim that in order to exist for long, a state, a society or people has to be moral." This, also regrettably, may be true. Unfortunately, it is not always clear that survival goes along with moral behavior for a nation or an individual.

But what his entire article misses is the difference in Jewish Law between lichatcheela and bidayavad, decisions we make "before the fact," intentional actions, and those which we must take in a given circumstance to face difficult realities.

He later says (emphasis added):

Some might ask: Doesn't making torture illegal tie the hands of our military in the event that an act of torture might possibly save thousands of Americans? Think about how we would respond if, God forbid, our family members were in danger. We would do what we thought we had to do, and then would seek to defend ourselves as having committed a justified act of self-defense. But we don't go into situations saying that morals don't matter in how we live our lives.

The implicit answer to the question Dobrusin poses is: No, "making torture illegal" does not "tie the hands of our military ..." It's obvious that he believes that torture can be "a justified act of self-defense." His beef with torture is not with torture per se but with the failure to maintain the pretense of morality--always say you're against it but torture if you have to. Not unlike the contortions of UM Regent Andrea Fischer Newman et al. this is simply a sleight of hand employed to dishonestly claim the high ground.

Not coincidentally, this is also the position the Israeli Supreme Court took when they ruled on torture in 1999 in The Public Committee Against Torture in Israel vs. The Government of Israel et al. To quote Alan Dershowitz, "the Supreme Court left open the possibility that a member of the security service who honestly believed that rough interrogation was the only means available to save lives in imminent danger could raise this [necessity] defense." This is exactly what Dobrusin has done--he has left open an ex post facto or bidayavad exception for torture.

As he explained elsewhere:

... there is a distinction in Jewish law between lichatcheela and bidayavad. Lichatcheela refers to something which is intended from the beginning. That is to say, can we plan to do a certain thing or is it prohibited? Bidayavad refers to something which is already done. Can we benefit in a certain way from something we have done for another purpose or something which we have done not knowing it was prohibited? Often times, actions which are prohibited lichacheela in Jewish law are permitted if it is in a bidayavad situation.

Torture to Dobrusin's mind is "prohibited lichacheela [sic]" but not necessarily "in a bidayavad situation" i.e., after it has already occurred. Thus, he cannot bring himself to clearly and consistently speak against torture anytime, anywhere, or for any reason. It would have been a simple matter to do so but he did not.

So, how does Dobrusin stand with respect to the "international law" he mentions? Where the Rabbi allows for torture as a "justified act of self-defense," the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment is unequivocal: "No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political in stability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture" Art. 2, Para. 2.

Rabbi Dobrusin's sermon is not a complete loss, though. After all is said and done, he arguably provides us with a fine example of the "art of moral anguish" that Barack Obama claims to have "learned ... from Jews" and that is surely worth something.

I'll close now with an aside about Yehezkel Dror's article. Much of the global Jewish community is claiming that Iran represents an existential threat to Israel. It is interesting then to read Dror saying (emphasis added):

When the requirements of existence conflict with other values, therefore, realpolitik should be given priority. From the threat of a disastrous conflict with Islamist actors such as Iran, to the necessity of maintaining distinctions between "us" and "others" in order to limit assimilation, this imperative ought to guide policymakers.

Dror just likened the "threat" posed by Iran to the "threat" of assimilation. Now, bear in mind that the title of his article is "When Survival of the Jewish People Is at Stake, There's No Place for Morals." So, how far is Dror prepared to go? He further writes:

... a people that has been regularly persecuted for 2,000 years is entitled morally, in terms of distributive justice, to be very tough in taking care of its existence, including the moral right and even duty to kill and be killed if this is essential for assuring existence — even at the cost of other values and to other people.

It requires no great leap in logic to justify killing to prevent assimilation per Dror's argument. You would kill to stop "The Holocaust," wouldn't you? Well, the "silent Holocaust"--assimilation--is "killing America's Jews," according to an op-ed by Ephraim Buchwald and published in the LA Times. But, Dror is just an isolated nut, right? Here's what his bio in the Jewish Daily Forward says:

Yehezkel Dror, the founding president of the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute, is a professor emeritus of political science at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. A recipient of the Israel Prize, he served as a member of the Winograd commission of inquiry into Israel's war with Hezbollah in 2006.

In my next post I plan to analyze the "Rabbinic Letter on Torture" signed by Rabbi Dobrusin and the "Jewish Statement Against Torture."

See also:

• Israelis No. 1 in Supporting Torture
• Jews and Torture
• Jews and Torture Update
• Chuck Don't Need No Stinkin' Facts
• Jews and Torture Update II

Labels: Beth Israel, halacha, Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, Israel, Jewish supremacism, Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends, Obama, torture, US politics

Writing to the Ann Arbor Peace list, one of the (mis)leaders of the local peace biz, Chuck Warpehoski, takes a jab at JWPF leader Henry Herskovitz regarding last week's vigil report. Warpehoski writes:

1. Checking whether or not Temple Beth Emeth displayed a "torture is wrong" banner does take doing a bit more work than sitting at a computer, but it's not hard to verify. All it takes is a walk or drive to the building. As of today, the "torture is wrong" banner is still hanging at Temple Beth Emeth/St. Clare's Episcopal Church.

2. Regarding Beth Israel Congregation's opposition to torture, I see no reason to believe that a survey of citizens of Israel would have the same results as a survey of American Jews in general or Beth Israel Congregation members in particular. In fact, last year Beth Israel Congregation participated in the Rabbis for Human Rights "Honor the image of God: Stop Torture Now" campaign. This year, Rabbi Dobrusin has submitted a joint Op-Ed column to the Detroit Free Press along with Imam Dawud Walid and Bishop Wendell Gibbs calling for an investigation of U.S.-sponsored torture since 9/11 as well as stronger U.S. laws banning torture.

This year the Jewish community has had the highest participation in Torture Awareness Month activities of any faith tradition. A much higher participation of the synagogues have participated than the churches, sanghas, mosques, or other congregations.

But hey, since when has Henry let a few facts stand in the way of a good rant?

In reality, simply walking by Genesis--the name of the building shared by TBE and St. Clare's--is not sufficient to verify that TBE rather than St. Clare's put up a banner. In his report, Henry doesn't dispute that there is a banner present in front of Genesis but claims that TBE is apparently not on any NRCAT endorsement list accessible by Google. As of Tuesday, that was still true. Eleven Ann Arbor congregations are listed from last year but none of them are Jewish. JWPF, however, comes up as a member of NRCAT and is listed on the 2008 participating congregations list of 5/29/08.

As for "facts," Warpehoski claims that "This year the Jewish community has had the highest participation in Torture Awareness Month activities of any faith tradition" but he doesn't offer any evidence for this. Is he including JWPF? Even if his assertion is true, it doesn't erase the fact that last year Rabbi Dobrusin, from the bima, made a case for justifying torture as self-defense under Jewish religious law. Nor does it change the fact that the only anti-torture banner that has ever flown outside Beth Israel Congregation--'spiritual' (I use the term loosely) home of ICPJ president Ruth Kraut--is the one carried by JWPF members.

Warpehoski claims to see no reason to suppose that American Jewish support of torture parallels Israeli Jewish support. Consider the following points that Warpehoski can't see:

• When, in Senate confirmation hearings, former Republican attorney general Michael Mukasey, "a believer and devout Jew," refused to declare waterboarding illegal under US law, his nomination was rescued by two Jewish Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee, Diane Feinstein and Charles Schumer, who voted with Republicans to send the nomination to the full Senate. They were joined there by Joseph Lieberman, another Jew who voted against his caucus. Mukasey was confirmed by a 53-40 vote--"the narrowest margin to confirm an attorney general in more than 50 years."
• Alan Dershowitz is one of the world's foremost apologists for torture and for Israel. Need I say he is Jewish?
  
• Leaders of Reform Judaism movement admit: "Jewish law presents some conflicting principles that effect how Jews view torture."
• In December 2007, Marc Perelman, wrote an article entitled "As Torture Debate Heats Up, Jewish Groups Stay Mum." Here are a few select passages from that article:

The American Jewish Committee last week became the first, and to date only, mainstream Jewish group to give strong public backing to proposed legislation that would ban the use of torture by American military, intelligence and law-enforcement personnel ...

Most other Jewish organizations with prominent advocacy efforts in Washington, however, have been noticeably absent from efforts to push through the anti-torture legislation ...

"There was a shocking silence of the Jewish community on the issue of torture, and there is still a lacuna on this vital issue, to my eye," said Felice Gaer, director of the AJCommittee’s Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights. ...

The executive director of Rabbis for Human Rights-North America, Rabbi Brian Walt, said that the reluctance of a large segment of the organized Jewish community to speak out against harsh interrogation techniques [sic] stems partly from the belief that torture may help to prevent terrorist attacks, as well as from concern that heightened scrutiny of American security forces’ methods could draw increased attention to Israel’s own interrogation practices.

Of course, Chuck Warpehoski sees none of this. Indeed, one wonders if Warpehoski can see anything that his paymasters don't want him to see, let alone speak about.

See also:

• Israelis No. 1 in Supporting Torture
• Jews and Torture
• Jews and Torture Update
• Rabbi Dobrusin Tortures the Truth
• Jews and Torture Update II

Labels: Beth Israel, Henry Herskovitz, Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends, torture, Warpehoski

With gross receipts of $91,442, according to their 2007 IRS 990, one wonders what Ann Arbor's Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice is doing with that money. Granted, there are plenty of individuals in this city that make far more money than that every year but as budgets for local peace organizations go, $91,000 is nothing to sneeze at.

In any case, the organization's IRS 990s from 2005-2007 give some clues. Average spending on "THREE MAJOR APPEALS ANNUALLY" and the monthly newsletter was over $25,000 in each of the last two years. The 990s also show that spending on salaries as a percentage of gross receipts jumped from 48.4% and 46.8% in 2005 and 2006, respectively, to 67.2% in 2007. The salary increase from 2006 to 2007 was 35.7%. This came even as gross receipts dropped by about $5,000 in the same period.

Perhaps the salary boost was a reward for Director Chuck Warpehoski's diligent, if dishonest, effort to expel the ICPJ's Middle East Task Force. In late 2006, Ian Macgregor, who was hired as part of a special fund raising effort linked the two, reportedly saying "The conflict with METF" was "affecting fundraising abilities."

The report of Warpehoski's visit to the Beth Israel Congregation's Board of Directors meeting on May 30, 2007, is interesting, too. It says, "He spoke about his group's work and some missteps regarding the Middle East situation." Missteps, indeed, but we got that all worked out didn't we Mr. Chuckles?

Beth Israel is a local bastion of Zionism and, just coincidentally, the 'spiritual home' of ICPJ's current president, Ruth Kraut. In 2007, the synagogue sponsored a trip to Israel where they dutifully posed their children with armed Israeli soldiers. In response to a national anti-torture banner campaign last summer the synagogue didn't display a banner but Rabbi Rob Dobrusin gave a sermon that helpfully explained how to defend the use of torture as "a justified act of self-defense". Neato!

But I digress. What inspired this rant was seeing a leaflet for an upcoming event. The ICPJ is hosting "a Dinner & Movie event" featuring a screening of Knowledge is the Beginning about the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra. Instead of putting those $91, 000 to work for peace and justice, ICPJ does insipid stuff like this so that organizers and participants can feel warm and fuzzy about themselves and each other while actually accomplishing virtually nothing.

And in case you think I'm way off-base in thinking that showing this film isn't peace work then consider the remarks of conductor Daniel Barenboim in the Guardian (UK) last July: " 'The Divan [orchestra] is not a love story, and it is not a peace story,' he says in conversation at La Scala. 'It has very flatteringly been described as a project for peace. It isn't. It's not going to bring peace, whether you play well or not so well.' "

If the orchestra isn't "a project for peace" then I hardly think one can claim that showing a movie about it qualifies. Disturbingly, the Divan orchestra also seems to function as a sort of way station for young Israeli Jews such as Doron Alperin, Noa Ayali, Amichai Grosz, and Kyril Zlotnikov in or going to or from the Israeli military.

Zionists have brutally occupied Palestine for sixty years and the ICPJ still can't bring itself to take a stand for justice or peace in Palestine. Thus, in its special "interfaith" way, ICPJ exemplifies the concerns of the late William Sloane Coffin:

I think the bright flames of Christianity are now down to smoldering embers, if not ashes, of feeling comfortable. The church is pretty much down to therapy and management. There's really little prophetic fire. ... we have mediocre politicians, and the clergy is pretty mediocre also. ... The greatest recession in this country is not economic; it's spiritual. And so the great biblical mandates of pursuing justice and seeking peace are shortchanged.

Labels: Beth Israel, Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, torture, Warpehoski, Zionism

I apologize, dear readers, for not reporting on this matter sooner. I have communicated now with several persons who attended the meeting and three weeks ago, a majority of the members of the Board of Directors of the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice (ICPJ) of Ann Arbor voted to disband the organization's Middle East Task Force (METF). Led as it was by Joe Summers and Chuck Warpehoski, this heinous betrayal of the very values for which ICPJ purports to stand was not unexpected. It seems that popularity and dollars (see comment of Ian Macgregor at bottom) figure more highly than interfaith, justice, or peace in the ICPJ. Healthy doses of ignorance, dishonesty, and cowardice on the part of other Board members also contributed to the decision. In any case, now that the 'liberal' Zionists have been assuaged the cash and cooperation can flow more freely.

In May, the ICPJ Board, then called the Steering Committee, decided "to suspend the work of our Middle East Task Force while we pursue mediation." No mediation ever occurred and after a couple of preliminary meetings all pretense of a 'pursuit' was abandoned and the METF terminated. With the apparent exception of ICPJ staff member Jason Crosby, all of the attendees (of which I was one) of the pre-mediation meetings found them to be positive and productive. Two mediators were selected and a mediation proposal put forward but despite solid member support for it, mediation was nixed before it ever got started.

Below are the meeting notes of Henry Herskovitz of Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends.

Former METF'ers:

At approximately 1:05pm, Tuesday Oct. 10, 2006

Proposal: To disband the current Middle East Task Force and commit
ourselves to reconstitute a new group as soon as possible
By Lisa Dugdale
Second by Arlene Huff

Votes FOR:

1. Lynn Meadows
2. Joe Summers
3. Jan Wright
4. Lisa Dugdale
5. Tim Ziegler
6. Russ Fuller
7. Barbara Fuller
8. Irvin Green
9. Jason Crosby
10. Laura Spencer
11. Arlene Huff
12. Amy Rosenberg
13. Ruth Kraut
14. Chuck Warpehoski
15. Art Bublitz

Votes AGAINST:

1. Bob McMurray
2. Susan Jacobsen

Votes to ABSTAIN:

1. Odile Haber

These votes were recorded by Henry, and may not be the official tally. Irvin Green was asked his vote and confirmed his 'yea' vote.

Stream of consciousness note taking during the Go Around, prior to the vote:

Chuck: Describes Imagine group...lessons that didn't work before...Religious and ethnic diversity needed in new group. Quoted Wadad Abed: "Right people"... "don't fall into the same traps we've fallen into in the past"

Russ: We confess our failure... the time spent on this has been excessive ... there's no more time ... we should thank them and send them on their way [them = us - hh]

Irvin: If the new body is to be selected by the Board, then all Task Forces should be chosen like that ... groups should not be "hijacked"

Tim: new group needs to be truly interfaith... needs of the community - what are they? ... he "leans towards" Imagine

Laura: Way too much energy and time have been spent... likes Imagine ... should include other task forces in our decisions

Bob: favors mediation "very deeply"... ICPJ is a teaching organization ... tall order to be patient ... "faith" is what we can do together with God in the process ... METF is "OUR" name and ICPJ is identified with it

Arlene: Agrees with Russ' "failure" ... we should cut our losses ... Move on ... wants to terminate METF ... perhaps ICPJ is "not obligated" to deal with Israel/Palestine at this time

Amy: ...suspend (sic) METF

Ruth: End the METF ... to Russ: it's OK to fail ... if we mediate, who's on the 'other side'? ... people have "maligned me" ... "clean slate club" ... need breathing space

Odile: Reads from the Jerusalem Declaration on Christian Zionism [I had distributed that doc to all ...hh] ... I was maligned also, but still think we should mediate... the times now suggest that Divestment is an ok topic ... phyllis bennis says it is ... Gaza is desperate ... be practitioners of what we preach

Chuck: Mediation is driving people away ... it inhibits ICPJ ability to work on ME issues ... ad nauseum, let's refocus

Susan: My sister warned me to run away from ICPJ ... let's keep things clear

Jason: part of the mediation team "however"... practitioners of what we preach can also mean creating the space where people don't get hurt

Joe: Knew of the METF conflict before he joined ICPJ ... thought it would be an easy fix [laughter] ... I/P is core for me personally ... End METF and Reconstitute with "appointed members " on all task forces. I'm in favor of appointing members

Lynn: If we can't create peace here, how can we ever try to create peace in the world ... on the fence ... we need mediation ... but I like the Imagine Group

Lisa: need people to support each other ... METF can go out and do their own thing

Jan: "It's time to lay down the METF" ... don't have unlimited time and energy ... in favor of appointed members

Barbara: personal story of inital foray into Palestine issue way back when it wasn't on the burner

Art: We have a structure problem ... end mediation ... support appointing members

Henry: The issue has been framed thus: there's a problem dealing with ME issues, and people in the METF are the problem. The issue could have as easily been framed thus: Israel, the Jewish State, is supported by the local Jewish community. The Jewish community is part of the Interfaith community. I'm not arguing to throw them out - I identify strongly as a Jew - but instead use Bob's words to "own" the Jewish community, to recognize that they are acting badly in supporting Israel, and attempt to change that behavior. Shift the paradigm.

Bill: There has never been any communication between ICPJ and METF

Ian [Macgregor, the fund rasing expert]: The conflict with METF is affecting fundraising abilities. People are concerned about the conflict ... they ask what is the rift all about?

Labels: Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, Wadad Abed, Warpehoski, Zionism

Beth Israel Congregation (BIC) is the favored house of worship of several Zionist interlopers in the local peace movement. Ruth Kraut--who shills for apartheid Israel on the Steering Committee of the Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice--Rebecca Kanner, and Ernest Fontheim are just a few of the racists who call BIC their spiritual home.

Recounted below is an incident that occurred at BIC and was witnessed, in part, by this writer. The report and photo come from Henry Herskovitz of Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends. In true Zionist style--where the perpetrators always pose as victims--it was BIC people who first called the police to complain about trespassing after a couple of protestors went into the BIC parking lot to photograph the man pictured below.

Vehicular Assault

Beth Israel Congregation calls for an extra prayer for the people of Israel Friday evening (8/4/06) and 14 protestors show up to once again remind these congregants that their support for State Terrorism will not be tolerated. Caught in his rage that his racism is being exposed, the man pictured below drove his car [MI Lic. ABE7727] across the centerline on westbound Washtenaw Avenue to take a assaultive run at peaceful protesters on the lawn extension. A small boy and an infant in arms were in attendance. A formal complaint has been filed with the Ann Arbor Police Department (Complaint No. 06-12607), but no action has been taken by the detective bureau at this time. Anyone reading this report and knows this perpetrator's name, please advise the writer [hersko@umich.edu].

See also:

• More Violence Against anti-Zionist Dissidents
• Beth Israel Attackers Identified; One Charged
• Whatever Happened to Abraham Seligman?
• Eli Avny Update

Labels: Beth Israel, Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, Jewish violence, Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends

To see a leaflet concerning the dispute between the METF and the ICPJ Steering Committee click here (PDF). The leaflet has not been approved by the METF as a body.

Approved by the Middle East Task Force at its regular meeting on May 2, 2006. We wish to express our appreciation to the Steering Committee for choosing dialogue and the search for common ground instead of disbanding the METF. We recognize that in some respects disbanding the task force might have seemed the easier choice and there was, indeed, pressure to do just that. We are grateful for your gesture of good faith in rejecting that choice. We would also take this opportunity to ask the SC to commit to at least six months of structured dialogue with us concerning the substantive issues raised below, in the statement we presented for consideration at your April 25, 2006, meeting, and in the statements issued by the EC. To be clear, individual METF members (and non-members) who attend SC meetings have not been delegated to represent the task force and such encounters are not the dialogue we envision. The vigils of Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends (JWPF) have repeatedly been raised as an issue in favor of disbanding the METF. For example, in its statement of April 4, 2006, the Executive Committee asserted, "This weekly protest at a house of worship has so alienated many other members of ICPJ that they are unwilling to participate in actions with vigil members, whether outside of the Synagogue or under the umbrella of the Middle East Task Force." Given the lack of formal organizational ties this really ought to be a non-issue but others have chosen to make it an issue and, so, we feel compelled to briefly address the matter. We first note that the presence of vigil participants in METF and on the SC has not prevented Ruth Kraut, a Beth Israel congregant, from serving in ICPJ as both an SC member and an officer nor has it hindered Ernest Fontheim, another Beth Israel congregant, from serving on the METF. Thus, we see no reason for the ICPJ to capitulate to the anonymous "other members of ICPJ that … are unwilling to participate in actions with vigil members … " To disband the METF on their account is to engage in a form of collective punishment that seems inconsistent with the ICPJ's core values. Why must JWPF members and other members of the task force be cast off simply to please those who have conditioned their own participation in the ICPJ on the rejection of others? While few would object to protests outside government or corporate offices, some deem protests outside places of worship inappropriate. Although we are not all members of JWPF, we all reject this notion. Arguably, institutions and individuals who deal in values and ethics deserve to be held to a higher standard of conduct. Scripture tells us that Jeremiah stood "in the gate of the LORD'S house" and rebuked Israel. As Abraham Heschel explains:

The prophet knew that religion could distort what the Lord demanded … To the people, religion was Temple, priesthood, incense: "This is the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord" (Jer. 7:4). Such piety Jeremiah brands as fraud and illusion. "Behold you trust in deceptive words to no avail," he calls (Jer. 7:8). Worship preceded or followed by evil acts becomes an absurdity. The holy place is doomed when people indulge in unholy deeds.

Also, in the Christian tradition, Jesus chased the money changers out of the Temple and Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenberg. We make no claims concerning the prophetic nature of the JWPF vigil, we merely wish to point out that such protests are consistent with religious tradition. On the question of the "effectiveness" of the vigils, we observe that, by tradition and according to scripture, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all had rather inauspicious beginnings. Right after his covenant with Abraham, God's next act is to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. Jesus is crucified after a ministry of, at most, three years. Mohammed is threatened with death and driven from Mecca years before Islam becomes widely accepted. The vigils are, obviously, not an undertaking of comparable magnitude but our point is that without the benefit of hindsight it is hard to know the ultimate outcome of one's efforts. Humility and reason argue against harsh judgments based upon the criterion of effectiveness. In closing we, again, ask the SC to commit to at least six months of structured dialogue with us concerning the substantive issues raised below, in the statement we presented for consideration at your April 25, 2006, meeting, and in the statements issued by the EC. See also:

• First Statement of the METF to the ICPJ Steering Committee
• Reconciliation Resolution of the METF
• Fourth Statement of the METF to the ICPJ Steering Committee

Labels: Interfaith Council for Peace and Justice, Palestine, Warpehoski, Zionism