metro

Detroit Protest For Gaza

Israel is blamed by leftists at large pro-Hamas rally.

Demonstrators begin to gather for an anti-Israel rally.

Protestors carry signs vilifying Israel.

n Sunday, July 13, an anti-
Israel rally took place in mid-
town Detroit. Called "Detroit:
Emergency Protest for Gaza:' the rally
participants began gathering at 1 p.m. on
Woodward Avenue across from Orchestra
Hall.
By the time they started marching up
Woodward toward a corner park about
four blocks away, the crowd had grown to
more than 500 people. They carried signs,
banners and very large Palestinian flags
and chanted slogans, all of which made
clear that they completely blamed Israel
for all the present turbulence in Gaza. At
the park, they heard speakers who further
castigated Israel for its treatment of Gaza
and Palestinians in general.
The rally was sponsored by Jewish Voice
for Peace, an organization that has held a
number of anti-Israel events in churches
in our area. In addition, anti-Israel
articles passed out at the rally were from
the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action,
Integration and Immigrant Rights; By Any
Means Necessary (BAMN); Revolutionary
Workers League; Revolutionary
Internationalist League; International
Trotskyist Committee; and the World
Socialist website.
Also covered in some of the handouts
and raised by the speakers, was the issue
of shutting off the water to Detroiters who
hadn't paid their water bills. One speaker
spoke of the injustice of "water shutoffs
from Gaza to Detroit:' This link between
injustice in Gaza and in Detroit was rein-
forced as the crowd chanted "Detroit,
Gaza, Solidarity:'

which some participants were carrying,
would "not be tolerated at this rally." This
was probably in deference to Jewish Voice
for Peace.

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14 July 24 • 2014

The many signs at the rally car-
ried familiar messages like "Stop the
Holocaust:' "$3 billion dollars supports
terrorist state of Israel" referring to U.S.
aid to Israel, "Support BDS against Israel"
and "Stop Collective Punishment."
Between chants of "free, free Palestine
"from the river to the sea, Palestine will
be free and "end the occupation now:'
the speakers' messages were clear: Israel
has violated human rights more than any
other country; Israel was purposefully kill-
ing Palestinian children — 1,000 of them
according to one attendee
questioned by an Israel sup-
porter; Israel is not defending
itself but committing ter-
rorism; the media has been
lying about the violence of
Palestinians; this is a struggle
for self-determination and the
occupation must end; Israel is
practicing collective punish-
ment; Palestinians have the
right of return.
One speaker spoke in
support of the Boycott,
Divestment and Sanctions
(BDS) movement against
Israel. After a Gazan woman
related her family's bad experiences, her
message was that no U.S money and aid
should go to Israel, that "We are here for
the Palestinians" and "We want peace
which she had tried to achieve but it didn't
work. As for the "martyrs:' she said, "We
will continue the struggle:'
During the speeches, an organizer
announced that the anti-Semitic signs,

Standing Up For Israel
One pro-Israel attendee, who has thor-
oughly educated himself about Israel and
the Arabs, made a point of interacting
with as many people as possible, ask-
ing them questions that challenged their
assumptions. (Because he was threatened
with physical violence, I will call him
"John" in place of his real name.)
When John asked some
attendees what their grievance
was, most didn't respond or
evaded the issues. To more spe-
cific questions, most attendees
stopped responding when they
couldn't answer. For example, to
a man holding a sign stating "$3
billion dollars supports terrorist
state of Israel," John mentioned
how dependent the Palestinians
are on the U.S. for money and
that U.S aid to Israel is only a
small part of Israel's income.
To the statement that "people
under occupation are angry,"
John used Tibet and China as an example
to point out that other occupied countries
don't respond by intentionally trying to kill
children and civilians.
However, another man actually said
"I see your point" when John talked
about the difference of intention between
Hamas and Israel. That man conceded
that it is Hamas' intention, but not

Israel's, to kill civilians. When an Israeli
woman said that Israel is filled with rac-
ism, John responded that all countries
have cases of racism.
When another Israel supporter said
that Israel had completely withdrawn
from Gaza in 2005, a young woman
responded that the pro-Israel person
must get the news from Fox and CNN,
which are biased against Muslims
because they are "owned by Jews:' (Note:
Fox is owned by Rupert Murdoch and
CNN by the Turner Broadcasting System
division of Time-Warner.)
Most people who responded to John
evaded the issues he was presenting
from Israel's viewpoint. Some called
him names, and a few teenagers threw
things at him. But when some tried to
intimidate him with threats of physical
violence, rally organizers came over to get
people to leave him alone; they wanted
no violence, perhaps because it would be
part of the TV coverage of the rally.
To my knowledge, only three Israel
supporters were at the rally. Since we
were discouraged from carrying signs
because of fear of violence, there may
have been more who wanted to observe
and stay safe.
Another pro-Gaza rally will be held at
9:30 a.m. Friday, Aug. 1, at the Federal
Building, 200 E. Liberty St., in Ann
Arbor. The demonstrators will be asking
for the release of prisoners from Israeli
prisons.
What will be our response?

❑

Margot Gardner lives in Bloomfield Hills.

