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.

Vigil - Now is not the time for timidity

I visit many sites online and comment frequently. What follows is a comment that touches on an important point, we can't be afraid of name-calling when butchery is going on in our name.

On my vigil in front of a synagogue I have found that the overwhelming response is sympathy for "Palestinian lives matter". It isn't that Americans are all-in for Israel, it is that those who oppose Israel are completely intimidated by the thought that if they speak out they will be (falsely) labeled an antisemite.

Those who, like me, believe in liberty and justice for all and are opposed to ethnic cleansing by anyone, have to accept that they are going to get attacked by the wealth and political power of Zionism in the US with the weapon of choice being the false charge of antisemitism as seen in action by Jonathan Greenblatt of the ADL and Alan Dershowitz. This should not stop the citizenry of the "land of the free and the home of the brave", but it does.

America has been made an accomplice by our war criminal President who on his own and without a moment of hesitation declared himself a Zionist and made the unwarranted assertion that "we" stand with Israel. As Americans who do not stand with Israel, it is necessary for us to speak up and say so, just as the members of Jewish Voice for Peace are speaking up saying that they are not covered by Netanyahu's incredible claim that he is the leader of world Jewry and that Israel is the one and only place where Jews are safe. American Jews are living testimony that this is not true.

American Jews and Palestinian Americans live in peace as equals, putting the lie to the foundation of Zionism. Biden and Netanyahu want the world to think that Israel is doing right when it is committing atrocities protected and aided by the United States. This is a horror, this "special relationship", that has brought my beloved country down to the lowest moral level it has ever had.

The fear of job loss and doxing is well founded; Bill Ackman, Zionist, has declared no pro-Palestinian campus protester will ever have a job with his company, so it is primarily the retired, like me, who have an obligation to use their freedom of speech to speak out forcefully for liberty and justice for all even as Trump is about to take the country down even lower in supporting Israel at the behest of Zionists like Miriam Adelson (to whom he gave the Medal of Freedom!) who surround and support him.

Stop trembling in fear and make some noise in defense of the equality of all human lives and the right of natives to retain their land, homes and lives. Silence in the face of atrocities when a "leader" is making claims for you is assent. Speak up in defiance of what has been said in your name.

Vigil - don't be afraid to comment!

Comments are welcome here. As an example of the quality one can find, I refer you here, (scroll down to see them) in response to a post I made way back in 2011. The comment thread is very much worth reading in the light of how things have deteriorated in the ensuing 14 years.

Vigil - the weather

 

Here you see me in full winter gear late in the day with the sun very low. The temperature was 18F so a balaclava is a must. Under it is a hood from a sweatshirt I wear under my coat. The signboards provide some shielding from the wind. As I am always on duty for over a hour and my movement is limited to turning 90 degrees to face one or another direction of traffic, I am essentially sedentary, so body heat isn't enough to keep me warm. I use a couple of battery powered hand warmers and heated socks. It works. The greatest challenge is keeping my feet from going numb, thus the heated socks. They do not keep my feet feeling warm, but feeling them at all is good enough. My body temperature still drops, so a nice hot cup of coffee is much appreciated after I am done for the day.

As you can see, traffic is heavy and this is true of all four directions. I'd estimate many hundreds of vehicles pass and see my messages. I am amazed that anyone would curse me as a few do, as I am simply asking for human life to be respected. But Zionism is a fanaticism, required in order to take the land from fellow human beings, killing them to do it starting in 1947, and with no limit in 2024-5, while failing to understand why there is violent resistance (HAMAS). I am on this vigil because my country, the United States, is fully backing the atrocities being committed and far too few Americans are showing any objection. The positive responses are very gratifying. Note the Palestinian flag flying at left. I look forward to warmer weather when people will stop on the sidewalk to talk as they did before cold weather hit.

Vigil - It's liberty and justice or ethnic cleansing

The choice is simple - one either supports liberty and justice for all, the traditional American creed, or one supports ethnic cleansing. One can't support both, yet a great number of people in America do which is epic hypocrisy. A low point in American history was reached when President Biden declared he is a Zionist without the slightest hesitation. The mainstream press did noting to question this traitorous hypocrisy.

There is no approved version of ethnic cleansing. It was wrong when the United States did it to native-Americans, wrong when the Nazis did it to Jews in Europe and wrong when Israelis have been and are doing it to the native Palestinians.

What is astounding is that Zionism has taken such a grip on the government of the United States that liberty and justice for all is forgotten and even US presidents are standing with ethnic cleansing as if there were nothing wrong with it, encouraging it and supporting it in any way that the Israel's prime minister, Netanyahu, decides is right. Even the might of US armed forces, the state of the art weaponry of the US and the diplomatic veto of the US in the UN have been pledged to ethnic cleansing.

How is this possible? It has happened by way of the corruption of Congress by wealth and the effectively unlimited amount of wealth possessed by Zionists in America. America has been bought, AIPAC even boasting about it.

I am ashamed to be an American when we the people are pledged by our government to support the opposite of liberty and justice for all. I proudly display the Palestinian flag on my vigil because they are in the right as they refuse as best they can to yield their native land to colonizers.

The grip of Zionism on America must be broken. The next president, Trump, shows no indication that he will do anything to "make America great again" with a renewed pledge to liberty and justice for all. Instead he is threatening the Palestinians with "hell" even as they are already in hell living in fear for their lives as members of the Israeli Knesset make statements worthy of the Nazis, Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli finance minister stating that letting all 2 million Palestinians in Gaza die of starvation would not be immoral.

With American political leadership falling all over itself supporting Israel, it is up to you and me to start loosening the Zionist grip from the bottom up. I state it on the sign shown here, worn as I stood at the entrance to Northwestern University.

Vigil - Jews are just people, no more or less.

Before any of one of us are part of any group, before we have any identity that distinguishes us as individuals, we are all equally human. 

This is very important to understand as we watch what Israel is doing, and has done, to the Palestinians along with the view that Israeli Prime Minister expresses about Jews and non-Jews. 

As anyone knows, or should realize from an examination of human behavior, the very last thing that any individual or group should have is unlimited power. This was a fundamental concept in the formation of the United States; of the separation of powers among the three branches of the new government. It was also a guiding principal in European history - the balance of power. Countries might not like each other, but would ally with it if it looked like one country would overawe all. No group, no nation wants to be subservient to another.

The opposite of absolute power is absolute powerlessness. This was the situation of the Jews in Europe. At about 2% of the German population at the time of Hitler's rise to power, his use of the Jews as a target for abuse is a perfect example of the misuse of power, of the ease with which those who have it can do anything they wish to those who lack it, while feeling superior all the while. It is on open display with Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. How is it that America is supporting the oppressor without limit, a modern army with US weapons openly killing people who are powerless?

A significant reversal of power has come about as a direct result of the horror of Nazi Germany and the holocaust. The Jewish State, with the sheltering it has received for being that from the United States, has created a monster by protecting Israel's power and aiding it as the US has done both militarily and diplomatically for decades. Even the respect that the US had for international law, so well expressed by the urgency and design of the United Nations after WW2, along with the additions to the Geneva Conventions that came in response to Hitler's assertion of power are set aside for one country in the world - Israel, the US making it so.

The idea of restraining power has been turned on its head with the result in the powerless Palestinians being denounced while the supreme and unquestioned power of their oppressor, Israel, is praised with unlimited money and weaponry provided eagerly by Congress along with an outrageous lack of condemnation of this by the American people. How has this come to be?

The holocaust is learned about in the United States, holocaust education being required in several states to be taught before high school. In addition there are holocaust museums, memorials, movies, TV productions, books and many plays that deal either directly or indirectly with the holocaust. An American who doesn't know about the holocaust would have to have been a hermit his/her entire life. It is critical that this holocaust education ends with the event and does not mention what I am illuminating there, that the holocaust set the stage for the restraint of power to be turned on its head for Israel alone.

Nobody can learn about the holocaust without feeling remorse that it happened and sympathy for the survivors, few as they were. In Jerusalem, the Yad Vashem memorial is a place that all visiting diplomats are expected to visit. Netanyahu has referred to the 1967 borders of Israel, before it occupied the land it took in the war of that year, as "Auschwitz borders". He has said regarding the current slaughter Israel is conducting that he is leading the "forces of light against the forces of darkness" and has compared the situation in the US (2024) as similar to Nazi Germany in 1938.

Clearly the image is being put forward that the victims are the Israelis, that the world should recall the Jewish victims of the holocaust and transfer their innocence to the not-at-all innocent Israelis. The powerful emotional impact of the holocaust is used by Israel to claim defense in any operation it decides to undertake against any other country or in particular against the helpless natives over which Israel holds absolute and unquestionable power. It is a false vision that hides the reality of unending oppression, eviction and now outright slaughter by the party holding unlimited power, thanks to the black check issued by the United States.

I was asked by a person the other day how I could stand in front of a synagogue with my signs that oppose what Israel is doing. How dare I ask American Jews where they stand regarding Israel.

This is nonsense. As I have explained in a previous post, as an American, along with all the members of the synagogue who are Americans like me, I am responsible when our leader, the president, says "We stand with Israel" to declare that he does not speak for me. If I am silent, he speaks for me. In exactly the same way, When Netanyahu says he is the leader of all Jewry worldwide as the head of the government of The Jewish State that flies a flag with the Star of David on it just as is often displayed on a synagogue, it is the responsibility of Jews worldwide to say if he truly is speaking and acting for them or not. Silence is approval and anyone is free to ask the question about support to break the silence. There is a move on campus to forbid asking the question of Jewish students.

The outcry that there is rampant antisemitism in the US by supporters of Israel is absurd. Prime examples of those doing this are Alan Dershowitz and Jonathan Greenblatt. It is a bold attempt to distract from the atrocities of Israel under a blanket of sympathy that Jews have received for the holocaust and the undeniable antisemitism in America in the past. It seeks to hide the reality of an oppressor behind a feeling that has nothing to do with that reality, masking the oppressor with the image of victim. The proof of it is in the outright denial by the antisemitism chorus that anyone might think poorly of Jews due to the bloodbath that Israel has been conducting for well over a year now. It is an attempt to say that Jews can do no wrong, and that is precisely what Netanyahu is trumpeting to the world as he slaughters with no end in sight. The effort is to associate a sympathetic feeling for Jews with Israel, that has nothing at all to do with Israel's behavior, is irrelevant to it.

I end where I started - there is no special group of people. All human beings, Jews included, are capable of the worst and the best human behavior. There are a multitude of examples of Jews exhibiting the best of human behavior. Israel shows a multitude of examples of Jews engaged in the worst.

Vigil - "Whatsoever is true"

This is one of the signs I was wearing prior to the presidential election, stressing that when it comes to Israel, Americans would have no choice if they considered only the major party candidates, both of whom were beholden to Zionism. I displayed this sign at the entrance to Northwestern University. I was near the NU entry arch that features the university motto in Latin: "whatsoever is true". Because NU has shut down the truth about Zionism/Israel I wanted to display it on my sign.

I have since realized that the more one puts on a sign, the less likely it will be read. This not only because of TLDR but also because the lettering must be small if many words are used. Since most of those passing at the entrance to the university were walking, they could take the time to read all of it, not so with passing cars. Also, letter size determines how far away the sign can be read.

Vigil - Accepting Responsibility

While on my vigil, I had a conversation with a man who came up to ask me if it isn't wrong to be standing in front of a synagogue, that it might be construed as antisemitism. Why not stand in front of a church since I am not a Jew? It was clear he had no idea of why I am specifically in front of the synagogue. But I had to laugh because not only have I heard the yell that I am an antisemite, but a Nazi as well. 

I handed him one of my hand warmers and we proceeded to talk. I wanted to express my idea about individuals or groups accepting responsibility. I mentioned Israeli PM Netnayahu claiming that Israel is the home of all Jews and that he is their representative before the world as the head of The Jewish State. My interlocuter insisted that Netanyahu was wrong, that all Jews are not supporters of Zionism/Israel. I am the first to admit this to be true but let's look at the logic of responsibility.

President Biden announced he is a Zionist and said "we (Americans) stand with Israel". Just as in the case of Netanyahu's claim to speak for all Jews, Biden does not speak for all Americans. Nevertheless, when one is a member of the group over which a person claims leadership, to be silent is tacit acceptance of that claim. Americans are under the wrong impression that one can be a member of a democracy and be silent except when voting. In a case like Gaza where every American is implicated in slaughter, one must say where one stands. Jews are not exempt from this.

I stand on the street with my sign because I adamantly reject both Zionism and Biden's claim that he speaks for me in supporting Israel. A number of Americans, including the mayor of Evanston and the entire city council of Evanston have remained silent when I ask them individually if they stand with liberty and justice for all and against ethnic cleansing by Israel. Silence means tacit acceptance at the least and can easily hide outright support. It shows the moral courage of a fly on the wall.

The Jews of Jewish Voice for Peace reject Zionism and are openly demonstrating the rejection in public. Most American Jews remain silent. Again, silence means tacit acceptance if not outright support. A large number of prominent Jews very forcefully proclaim unconditional support of Israel, Chuck Schumer, Ben Shapiro, Alan Dershowitz, Bill Ackman, Haim Saban, Miriam Adelson and a great number of lesser known Jews. To their credit, as with the JVP members, they stand up and say what they think. 

What is wrong with silence in these two cases, of Americans remaining silent when Biden speaks and of Jews remaining silent when Netanyahu speaks? The man talking to me on the street felt quite strongly that Jews should not be asked to say whether or not they support Zionism.

If anyone, stranger or relative or acquaintance, came up to me anywhere and asked me my view on what Biden has said, they would not be wrong to do so. It is my responsibility as a member of the group over which Biden declares leadership that I say if I support his statements or not. My silence would say he does. The same is true of any Jew who is asked by anyone if they support what Netanyahu says. To believe, as my interlocutor did, that Jews are to be protected from such questioning is wrong. It is nothing less than protection from personal and group responsibility for one specific group, just as the United States has specifically protected Israel from all responsibility for what it has done and is doing, to the horror of the rest of the world.

All over America, synagogues should be making statements that they support liberty and justice for all and reject ethnic cleansing, that is the American way. There can be no in-between as the two philosophies are polar opposites. To be Zionist and American is hypocrisy. But I know of only one such synagogue that has done so. This silence is nothing but a failure of responsibility, a desire to not be known for one view or another. It is moral cowardice hoping that no opposition will arise one way or another. If the majority in a congregation are Zionist, then the dissenters should issue a statement of dissent.

I await the day, continuing my vigil, for the rabbi of Beth Emet to make a public statement that the synagogue stands for liberty and justice for all and not for ethnic cleansing, whether done by Israel or anywhere else. Silence is shameful, not my standing with a sign that says PALESTINIAN LIVES MATTER in front of a synagogue! This is not an issue of forcing a statement, it is of a moral responsibility to make one.

The sense of obligation to say where one stands must come from within the individual or group and the only action by Beth Emet that I have seen in public is adamantly opposing a ceasefire resolution before the 50,000 were killed that is now the case. Now that atrocities have been done and continue, calling for a ceasefire is only protecting image. Denouncing the cause, ethnic cleansing, is a necessity and until that happens, to say "never again" is meaningless.