Metro

Fringe Leftists from page 21

supports the idea that Jews will "live safely
in the world, as they generally do today,
but never at the expense, or the disposses-
sion, of any people, as with the Palestinian
people of today."
At the same time, she says, actions
taken to defeat Israel are for Palestinians
to decide and others to support.
"Palestinians will determine how we get
there Katz Kishawi said. "It's our struggle
to continue the long legacy of Jewish
movements that have supported self-
determination."
Katz Kishawi is looking forward to her
first visit to Detroit.
"We've been warmly embraced within
the peace and justice solidarity move-
ment and the U.S. Social Forum : ) she said.
"We're evoking a lot of curiosity:'
She hopes the Assembly will launch "a
new movement of Jewish strategizing and
thought within a Jewish anti-Zionist per-
spective and with a Jewish context."

Disputes Among Anti-Zionists
But not everyone inside the "movement" is
so welcoming.
The June 3 "Open Letter" on the
Assembly website states that the Assembly
"is already receiving criticism based on
inaccurate assumptions or apparently dif-
ferent political goals."
One source of criticism is Henry
Herskovitz of Ann Arbor, who leads the
weekly Shabbat picketing of Congregation
Beth Israel in Ann Arbor, and Michelle
Kinnucan of Ann Arbor, who led the pro-
tests at the celebration of Israel's 60th anni-
versary at the Michigan State Fairgrounds
in Detroit in 2008.
In an essay on the "Zionists Out of the
Peace Movement" website, they charge
that IJAN is a Jewish front for Zionists "to
prevent the naming of Jews as responsible
for the Jewish-led genocide against the
Palestinian people." Herskovitz will be lead-
ing a session at the U.S. Social Forum titled
"Synagogue Vigils: Six Years of Challenging
Judaic Zionism."
In a passage that appears to address
Herskovitz and Kinnucan, the "Open Letter"
states: "IJAN will not align itself with those
who either seek to use the struggle against
Zionism for their own ends, individual
or collective, or who proclaim themselves
anti-Zionist, but whose divisive actions
serve only to further a Zionist agenda,
undermining Palestine solidarity work and
anti-Zionist organizing."
The picketing of Congregation Beth
Israel has been widely condemned by Ann
Arbor political and religious leaders, win-
ning Herskovitz and his cohorts more igno-
miny than support. It appears both sides
— Herskovitz and the IJAN — are willing
to brand each other with the ultimate

22

June 17 • 2010

insult; each portrays the other as assisting
Zionism.

Zionist Response
But the biggest challenge to the anti-Zionist
Jews comes from, not unexpectedly, Jewish
Zionists.
Ben Cohen, who runs the Z Word blog, an
online journal published by the American
Jewish Committee, has
focused on the Z word
— Zionism — for years.
He doesn't buy what Katz
Kishawi is selling.
"Anti-Zionism,
whether from Jews or
non-Jews, has become
indistinguishable from
Ben Cohen
the call to eliminate the
State of Israel," Cohen said from his New
York office. "However one might couch
anti-Zionist rhetoric in the language of
justice and human rights, when you look
at the realities of the Middle East and the
prevalence of terrorist groups like Hamas
and Hezbollah, it becomes clear that anti-
Zionism means not just eliminating the
State of Israel, but the people of Israel, too.
"Jewish anti-Zionism is about narcis-
sism; about saying the community I was
born into is bad, but I'm good. It has very
little to do with what the best potential
solution is:"
Locally, the Jewish Community Relations
Council, the Anti-Defamation League and
the American Jewish Committee have
brought Jewish groups together to inform
them of the anti-Zionist conference and
prepare a unified statement of support for
Zionism.
Conference calls have been held that
include the gamut of Jewish organiza-
tions both liberal and
less so — "A to Z"
or "Ameinu to ZOA
(Zionist Organizaiton
of America)" is the way
the AJC-Michigan's Kari
Alterman describes it —
including the Washtenaw
Kari Alterman
Jewish Federation and
Ann Arbor synagogues
as well as national organizations like J
Street, which has a special cache with pro-
gressive groups. Ideas and information are
also shared though an Internet discussion
group. An action plan for the U.S. Social
Forum still is in development.
Just as Katz Kishawi sees the Zionists as
hijacking the Jewish community and paint-
ing a bleak future for Jews, local Jewish
leaders see the Jewish anti-Zionists as
doing the same.
"We reject the Jewish anti-Zionists out of
hand': said Alterman, director of the AJC's
Bloomfield Township office. "They espouse

"All Israel
wants is to
live securely,
in peace, with
her neighbors.
That is what Zionism is
all about."

- Robert Cohen,

Cohen is coming from Chicago to conduct
a workshop on homosexual rights in the
Middle East. There are many workshops
concerning LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual
and transgender) issues and StandWithUs
intends to show how progressive Israel is
on these issues, and draw a contrast with its
immediate neighbors.
"I thought it was important to show
another side of the Middle East and Israel':
Cohen said. "All that is being shown is the
worst of Israel and little about problems in
Arab countries. I want to show an Israeli
success story so the participants can see
the diversity that Israel represents and
embraces."

Jewish Community Relations Council

Fighting Anti-
Zionism

hate, but talk of themselves as just left-
wing, peace-loving activists. We have room
in the Jewish community for voices from
the far-left to the far-right, but those who
reject Zionism — who reject that Jews have
rights as a nation — are beyond the pale."
"Their definition of Zionism is not our
definition," agreed Betsy Kellrnan, ADL
Michigan regional director. "Their defini-
tion is disturbing and distorted. They reject
Jewish power, Jewish self-determination
and the Jewish future. We are trying to walk
a careful line between challenging them
and drawing undue attention to them."
Robert Cohen, executive director of the
Bloomfield Township-based JCRC, says
anti-Zionists, particularly Jewish ones,
help perpetuate violence by giving support
and joining forces with those who want to
destroy Israel.
"All Israel wants is to live securely, in
peace, with her neighbors': Cohen said.
"That is what Zionism is all about. The
organizers [of the Assembly] rewrite his-
tory, suffer from moral blindness and
hold Israel to a standard to which no
other nation in the world is held. Israel,
as a Jewish state, is a great asset for all of
humanity, not just the Jewish people."

Brett Cohen

Balancing Act
Brett Cohen might be
one of the loneliest guys
at the U.S. Social Forum.
As Los Angeles-based
StandWithUs' Midwest
regional coordinator, he
is used to standing up
for Israel in less-than
friendly situations.

Yitzhak Santis, direc-
tor of the Middle
East Project of the
San Francisco Jewish
Community Relations
Council, has seen IJAN
Yitzhak Santis members chain them-
selves to front doors of
the San Francisco Jewish Federation to
protest the Second Lebanon War in 2006, a
disruption that resulted in legal action.
While not statistically significant, he
says IJAN members can cause trouble and
be used by others who present a real dan-
ger to Israel and Jews.
Santis sees today's anti-Zionists as
"neo-Bundists," clinging to the idea that
Jews should wait for the emancipation of
all oppressed people and not advocate for
themselves as a people.
"I would tell IJAN that the weight of his-
tory is against them': he said. "That argu-
ment was settled after the Holocaust."
He pointed to the Russian Jewish assim-
ilationist Leo Pinsker, who, in the 1800s,
changed his tune after a violent pogrom.
He authored Auto Emancipation, argu-
ing that Jews can't wait for world revolu-
tion, but must have a state like all other
peoples.
While concerned about actions the IJAN
engages in and the ideas they promote to
others, Santis pointed to recent polls that
show Jewish anti-Zionists are making little
headway in the Jewish community.
"Any poll of American Jewish life shows
that Jews are overwhelmingly support-
ive of Israel," he said. "The Jewish anti-
Zionists are tiny and fringe. I don't think
they have any strength whatsoever:'

-

For more information, go to United States Social Forum (www.ussf2010.org ),
2010 U.S. Assembly of Jews (www.jewsconfrontapartheid.org ), StandWithUs
(www.standwithus.com ), Z Word Blog (blog.z-word.com ). The Jewish News is
interested in your experience at either of the two conferences. Send an e-mail
message to letters@thejewishnews.com . Put USSF in the subject line.