Vigil - she wants to be governor, does she support Israel?

I put the following comment up on the FB page of the Ohio Democratic Party upon receiving a funding appeal for a candidate for Ohio governor named Amy Acton. I await a response.

I have received a request for funds for Amy Acton for governor of Ohio. I am an American who stands for liberty and justice for all and against its opposite, Zionism. I was appalled to see PA governor Shapiro happily signing US bombs that were intended to destroy Gaza and kill Palestinians. It is of critical importance that US politicians not be pro-Israel because that position cannot be held by anyone who honors our Pledge of Allegiance to liberty and justice for all. Will you assure me that Amy Acton is not a supporter of Israel?

Vigil - horror covered by the holocaust

The holocaust has been horribly exploited by Israel. In the US, Zionists have pressed to have individual states mandate holocaust education before high school in public schools, Illinois is one, no mention of the Nakba of course.

The holocaust should create remorse for the millions who died in the event, but this should not transfer to Israel, to those who shelter under this remorse (and guilt) to do horrible things to others while expecting to be excused for it as eternal victims. Netanyahu is among the worst holocaust exploiters as he spreads carnage and death freely while thinking it is righteous.

I cannot believe the many helpless people who died at Auschwitz would approve of what has been done using them as a cover. Morally, Netanyahu has nothing to stand on as he declares himself the leader of the "forces of light"!

Vigil - new signage

I'm displaying two new signs that continue the theme that ethnic cleansing Zionism and liberty and justice for all are antithetical. Rather than continue to tally the thousands of dead killed by Israel, I made a sign that is another truth teller - that from the very start of the country of Israel in 1948, the expulsion of the natives has been a must. 

As usual, but surprising to me when I first started the vigil, I had two people come up and talk to me on the sidewalk, both of them very supportive as is always the case. Zionists will only say something after passing, getting a jab in without any intention to try to defend the indefensible. I accept the verbal assaults without responding, my signs speak for humanity

Tech note - the clamps you see in the photos allow me to place a new sign over an old one so that I don't have to do any re-stringing.

Vigil - an observation as a ceasefire begins

The chilling thing that stands above all since Oct 7 is the willingness of the Israeli people, the great majority of them, to approve of the slaughter of the Palestinians. So much hatred was exhibited by the settlers stopping aid and by IDF troops having fun with destruction that the reality of what teaching "they only want to kill us" can do to a generation that goes on the attack in full self-righteous battle array, no doubts, no hesitation, to get them all and make everything rubble.

Smotrich and BenGvir only prove that Jews are human beings like any others, capable of the lowest behavior as well as (certainly not those two) the best. Anti-semites are fools who cannot see this, but anti-Zionists have been proven correct. Jews and Arabs live in peace in the US, but to claim a land exclusively, Israel has hit rock bottom, and pulled down the US with it. The world is disgusted.

For background, read Max Blumenthal's account of Israel in his book, Goliath, written in 2013. The subtitle is "life and loathing in greater Israel. What Israelis showed they could do in 2024 was long in the making. My review of the book is here.

Vigil -concerning national security

National security. It isn't hard to imagine the impact of our killing 50,000 Palestinians last year with unlimited support of Israel. A few people in the US and overseas might be a little irritated at that and want to do something violent in return. But that is of no concern?

We should not be spied on by our own government but given that we are, is the national security state keeping tabs on all Americans who support Israel? No need because they have taken over though ethnic cleansing is not compatible with liberty and justice for all, as much a rejection of what we value as was communism that raised so much fear in the 20th century. Communists never managed to get our government to do their bidding. Zionists have done so and in front of our eyes!

We assisted in slaughter for a tiny state with 1/40th our population. Outrage? No, hardly a whimper. AIPAC boasts of the people it installs in Congress, working as it does for a foreign country. That is of no concern for national security, though it is blatant evidence of foreign influence on our very legislature? Chuck Schumer boasts that his name means "defender of Israel". This guy at the top of our government? Rahm Emmanuel, ex mayor of Chicago and advisor to Clinton a former member of the IDF, so we can assume he is all-in for Israel, supposedly wants to be an Illinois senator!. And Old Joe a declared Zionist.

Zionism is THE threat to our country, with its rejection of liberty and justice for all, so powerful that it has made Americans forget that phrase. Is anyone not on auto-pilot? I want my country back. A member of the synagogue before which I stand vigil came out to tell me that I had better be gone now that a ceasefire is to take effect (this yelled as he walked away after passing silently; those who dislike my message don't have the courage to simply talk to me, because Zionism has no defense).

Far from leaving the sidewalk, I am in for the long haul, I have only begun to stand for my country and call out Zionism for the anti-American philosophy that it is. The Gaza slaughter of 2024-5 will stand high in the atrocities of history, Gov. Shapiro of PA and Nikki Haley signing the bombs we provided! I may not be able to wake up timid Americans who tremble at the thought that they will wrongly be called anti-semites for being anti-Zionist, but I am sure going to try. The silence of the American citizenry is shameful, a slap in the face to all those courageous Americans who gave us our rights that so few even bother to use, primarily freedom of speech. The valiant members of Jewish Voice for Peace are a notable exception, but where are the non-Jews like me?

Vigil - The American Cloud of Silence

As I conduct a vigil in front of a synagogue I get people saying that it is outrageous that I am there, of all places, since I am not a Jew, why not go in front of a church? This is nonsense and the reason is easily explained. It is "The Jewish State" that is slaughtering, but let's go deeper.

I am an American, my "leader" President Biden, announced that "we stand with Israel" and that he is a Zionist. Since Zionism is ethnic cleansing, the opposite of liberty and justice for all, I am driven to openly state I am anti-Zionist and loyal to the Pledge of Allegiance. Any stranger, knowing I am an American, would not be wrong to ask me or any other American about this.

But Jews are not to be questioned about Zionism. This has come up as one of the grounds for banning pro-Palestinian protests on campus. Jewish students might be upset! This makes no sense. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu boasts that he represents all Jewry in the world and the Israel is the only safe place for them. If I were silent after Biden's remarks, I would by that indicate that I agree with him. So it is with American Jews. Silence about Netanyahu's statements is assent. Then why does this "do not question Jews about Israel" idea exist?

The reason this is so forcefully put forward in the US regarding Jews is it allows hypocrisy; by being silent one can appear to be for liberty and justice for all and at the same time be supportive of Israel. This is what the "discomfort" is all about that must be avoided. It isn't pleasant to have one's hypocrisy exposed because there is no way to defend it. As mentioned, Zionism and liberty and justice for all are antithetical. One cannot support both, yet so many Americans do and are not called on it. President Biden has been the prime example. He is not only a hypocrite, but a traitor to liberty and justice for all as is any American Zionist. He clearly has demonstrated that liberty and justice for all means nothing to him and he has gifted Israel with weapons accordingly.

I stand without hesitation in front of a synagogue with my sign that Palestinian lives matter and do not wonder that neither the rabbi or congregation members have responded to my request that they come out and join me, or even talk to me. The reason they do not is that they would need to say whether they stand for liberty and justice for all, or for Israel and that they will not do, knowing that logic demands it be one or the other. It is easy to be silent and hypocritical, and so they are. 

On America goes in a cloud of silence with Palestinians dying for it. Silence allows Zionists to be hypocritical while at the same time it allows those who might question Zionists to avoid being called antisemites. As a result, Israel goes on killing Palestinians and Zionists can say that the lack of outcry from Americans is proof that "we stand with Israel".  

Vigil - a new truth telling sign

 

This sign that I made a few months ago is going to be returned to service at my vigil tomorrow. It is a nightmare that the slaughter of the last year was given the full go-ahead by the country that once proclaimed liberty and justice for all. I have never heard that phrase voiced by our new president or the departing one, a war criminal along with Netanyahu. The hatred and contempt for the Palestinians that the Israeli war on them has revealed is epic, yet it fails to move many Americans. Now there is to be a ceasefire, but as any student of Israel's history knows, it uses ceasefires temporarily before going on to grab more land. This is nothing new, it began in 1948 when the first Palestinian refugee camps were created, tent camps just as we see now in Gaza and, as in Gaza, Israel refused to contribute a shekel to their maintenance. The UN responded with the creation of the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) the very same humanitarian agency that Israel rails against today. Things must change. Reader, have you thought of what you might do to bring change? It will not be coming from Washington DC.