Two vigils in two days: Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends hosted Mr. Charles Carlson of Project Strait Gate at our weekly vigil at Beth Israel Congregation on Saturday. That afternoon he and two members of JWPF travelled to Columbus, Ohio and held a similar vigil at the (Christian Zionist) World Harvest Church the following day. We took overnight lodging at the home of filmmaker Tom Hayes, whose excellent movie People and the Land remains one of the best instructional films that tell the story of Israeli atrocities and the Zionist ideology which drives them. Tom is currently working feverishly on producing a second movie, and he proudly showed excerpts to his guests.
Mr. Carlson returned to Ann Arbor, and had several speaking engagements at area mosques, including The Islamic House of Wisdom and The Muslim Community of Western [Detroit] Suburbs. In his lecture on “The roots of Christian Zionism“, he explains how Cyrus Scofield, a contemporary of Theodore Herzl, took the King James version of the Bible, and annotated it with personal interpretations. These interpretations were often very assumptive and misleading, and as footnotes, take up the majority of many pages in the Scofield Reference Bible. One of the most well known, but misleading interpretation is the one Scofield applies to Genesis 12:2, when he fabricates the “promise” made by God to Abraham. But now millions of American Christians, who are advised to study this Scofield bible by Rod Parsley, John Hagee, etc. read this promise “in the Bible”, and take it as original meaning.
As reported last week, Marvin Bartlett of WCBN-FM radio interviewd Chuck and this writer. If you d like to listen to this radio interview, crank up your favorite media player, go to http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hersko/Movies/ and click on “wcbn”.
Upon returning from Columbus, Mr. Carlson also held a casual meeting with several members of JWPF, and we are proud to list Chuck as one of our biggest supporters. Thanks to you, and best wishes on your continuing work!
Please view the email invitation, listed after signature, to join the Middle East Task Force s protest next week (Thursday, August 21) at the Michigan State Fairground, and make plans to attend. The list of endorsers has grown: Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends joins The Middle East Film Society, Michigan Peace Team, Huron Valley Greens, and the Green Party of Michigan in supporting this effort, challenging the established, powerful Jewish community in their Fair of Shame. As indicated in the invitation, “We will protest a triumphalist celebration of ethnic cleansing, robbery, and anti-Arab racism in Palestine–a celebration of what its victims call the Nakba, Arabic for “catastrophe”–just a few miles from one of the largest Arab communities outside the Middle East.”
Want to get active? Get into the game and send your comments to the Arab American News on line edition. Seems like there s a number of Zionists who took great umbrage at the article “ Detroit Jewish Federation: Celebrating Racism and Making Money At It“, and are airing their false, ad hominem, and misleading arguments on line. Readers should go to http://www.arabamericannews.com/news/index.php?mod=comment&article=1352 and weigh in!!
Halfway through our vigil last Saturday a group of five congregants attempted to affix the Israeli flag onto the windshield of their van. They were unsuccessful, but managed to attach this flag of a foreign country on the antenna prior to stepping into the sanctuary.
JWPF has always contended that Beth Israel “is a political institution as well as house of worship, using its faith to promote a nationalist political agenda: support of the State of Israel, and by extension, its actions…” And by displaying this nationalist symbol in front of the synagogue, these five congregants conflate religion and State and support our claim that indeed, Beth Israel is the appropriate place to protest ongoing genocide in Palestine.
Zionists Out of the Peace Movement
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
