20 | JULY 9 • 2020 

A

nn Arbor city council candidate Dr. 
Mozhgan Savabieasfahani has come 
under fire for posting cartoons on 
local political Facebook pages that carried 
anti-Semitic connotations. 
Savabieasfahani, a longtime local protester 
who frequently targets Israel, is running in 
the Aug. 4 Democratic primary to represent 
the city’
s fourth ward. In a now-edited post 
in the “
Ann Arbor Politics” Facebook page, a 
public group with more than 800 members, 
she posted a caricature of one of her oppo-
nents, Jen Eyer, popping out of a wallet. Next 
to Eyer in the image is a pig in a suit, smok-
ing a cigar and holding a wad of cash. 
The original post, published June 22, 
mentioned that Eyer has received dona-
tions from “old party hacks.
” When asked 
by a group moderator to clarify the post, 
Savabieasfahani changed the word “hacks” to 
“honchos.
” She also added that Ron Weiner 
and Lon Johnson, both former chairs of the 
Michigan Democratic Party, and retired 
school administrator Neal Elyakin, whom 
she noted in her edits is a former board 
member of the Friends of the IDF, have given 
money to Eyer. 
Eyer is not Jewish. Weiner and Elyakin 
are both Jewish; neither are top donors to 
Eyer, according to the most recent campaign 
finance documents available from the cam-
paign. 
When Elyakin, who is not a member of 
the Facebook page, saw the post, he was 
upset. Though he has given $100 to Eyer’
s 
campaign, he said he does not consider 
himself a party “honcho.
” To him, the post 
felt like an anti-Semitic attack. He contacted 
the Facebook group’
s moderator and posted 
a note on his own Facebook page to call 
awareness to the situation. 
“I generally don’
t get upset about politics 
like that, but I felt I needed to say some-
thing,
” Elyakin, who lives in Ann Arbor’
s 
fifth ward, told the Jewish News. 

Michigan Jewish Democratic Caucus 
issued a statement later that week, con-
demning Savabieasfahani’
s campaign tactics 
and anti-Israel views. In addition to the 
post, Savabieasfahani has been known to 
protest outside of Ann Arbor’
s Beth Israel 
Congregation, where a group has staged 
anti-Israel and anti-Semitic pickets every 
week for over 16 years. She and her husband, 
Blaine Coleman, have also earned local noto-
riety for frequently attending city council 
meetings, imploring Ann Arbor to divest 
from Israel and carrying signs with swastikas 
equating Israel with Nazi Germany. 
“The Michigan Democratic Jewish Caucus 
urges Ann Arbor Democrats to reject the 
hateful and extremist candidacy of Mozhgan 
Savabieasfahani, who is far more interested 
in elevating her own pet prejudices than 
representing the values and interests of Ann 
Arborites,
” the MJDC’
s statement reads. 
Eyer also denounced Savabieasfahani’
s 
post as anti-Semitic in her own note on 
Facebook June 23. 
Joan Lowenstein, MJDC’
s Washtenaw 
County chairwoman and the treasurer of 
Eyer’
s campaign, said she thinks the imagery 

in Savabieafahani’
s post was a clear hallmark 
of anti-Semitism. 
“For anybody that’
s Jewish, it’
s like an 
alarm going off or something, to see the pig 
with the cigar,
” Lowenstein, who previous-
ly served on Ann Arbor city council, said. 
“This is directly from Nazi propaganda. And 
so that alone was more than a dog whistle 
… I think non-Jews might not recognize it 
unless they’
re real students of history, but 
certainly Jews do.
” 
But Savabieasfahani, a native of Iran who 
works as an environmental toxicologist, 
insists otherwise. She said she chose to use 
pigs in both the caricature of Eyer and anoth-
er in another cartoon she posted of her other 
opponent, incumbent Jack Eaton, because of 
their history as a symbol of capitalism. 
“I hope you know that pig images are an 
old American labor tradition. That couldn’
t 
be more obvious,
” Savabieasfahani wrote in 
an email to JN. “Pig is shorthand for the cap-
italist side in labor disputes.
” 
Not everyone in the Ann Arbor Jewish 
community agrees that the post was anti-Se-
mitic, either. Ann Arbor resident Marjorie 
Winkelman Lesko said she has concerns 

Anti-Semitism
in Ann Arbor Campaign?

In her post, city council candidate Mozhgan Savabieasfahani
depicts pigs with cash and targets Jewish donors.

MAYA GOLDMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Jews in the D

CARTOON COURTESTY OF MOZHGAN SAVABIEASFAHANI

COURTESY OF VOTEFORTHEDOCTOR.COM

