First Round
Not Just a
Store
'Nuff Said
First in a two-part series:
S
ometimes you don't have to
give much of anopinion ...
A grassroots organiza-
tion called Jewish Voices for Peace
announced the formation of a Detroit
chapter at a meeting at the Southfield
Public Library on Aug. 8.
According to its mission statement,
the Oakland, Calif-based Jewish pro-
gressive group seeks: A U.S. foreign
policy based on promoting peace,
democracy, human rights and respect
for international law; an end
to the Israeli occupation
of the West Bank, the Gaza
Strip and East Jerusalem; a
resolution of the Palestinian
refugee problem consistent
with international law and
equity; an end to all violence
against civilians; and peace
among the peoples of the
Middle East.
The Detroit chapter was
introduced at an event pre-
sented by the Palestinian Office, the
Michigan Peace Team and Friends of
Sabeel (a Palestinian Christian group).
A nine-minute film explained the
views of the JVP — Jews spoke in
quick segments, explaining how great
they felt to be peace activists and have
a voice against war and for peace.
Here's where it gets sticky.
Entertainment was provided by
Californian David Lippman, billed as
"The World's Most Dangerous Musical
Satirist:' to a crowd of 75 participants,
of whom about 30 were Jewish.
Lippman, an activist-entertainer for
35 years, played his satirical media pre-
sentation,"Star of Goliath," based on a
visit to Palestinian territories and Israel
in the summer of 2004 with a group
called Middle East Children's Alliance
of the Bay Area — a San Francisco-
based group that doesn't include Israeli
children in its "alliance."
Before the presentation, however,
Lippman, who is Jewish and lost distant
family members in the Holocaust, gave
a lecture on Zionism and the Middle
East.
Some snippets:
Napoleon Bonaparte came up with the
idea for a Jewish homeland in 1799 while
in the Middle East, but Zionism didn't
take hold until 100 years later, he said.
"Zionism, of course, in the end
gets linked to the Holocaust," he said.
"People have different responses to the
Holocaust, one of which is 'Never Again,
and another one is never again for the
Jews ... An understandable point of
view, but one that's created great debate
in the way it's been carried out, which
is to take other people's land.
"Even when land was being bought, as
opposed to outright stolen, it was being
bought through a complex of different
levels of law," he said. "Israel and Zionists
had a habit of using whatever law was
convenient to them to get land."
As Lippman Sang in the
background, photos were
shown of Israeli bulldoz-
ers destroying Palestinian
homes, Arab children sing-
ing of nature and beauty
behind barbed wire or
amid rubble. Jews were
shown as heavily armed
soldiers, bulldozer opera-
tors or simply Orthodox.
There was only one photo
of a suicide bombing, and
any photos of violent Palestinians were
of children throwing rocks.
Bill Meyer, coordinator of the event
and organizer of the JVP Detroit chap-
ter, invited the crowd to an organiza-
tional meeting of JVP after the event.
"This is quickly becoming the
national organization for Jewish activ-
ists. You should know that you don't
have to be Jewish to be a member of
this group," said Meyer, who is not
Jewish. "You can be Palestinian and be
a member in this group."
I asked the national office how an
organization that supposedly speaks
for a segment of the Jewish community
can have non-Jewish members and
organizers. A 501c3 can't exclude people
on religion or ethnicity, said Cecilie
Surasky, JVP communications director.
"We don't actively recruit non-Jewish
activists, but we don't bar non-Jews and
neither do AIPAC and some other simi-
lar groups for that matter. That said,
our board and staff is and always has
been 100 percent Jewish."
I had some more questions about the
event, but that's for next week. ❑
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August 17 • 2006
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