Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on July 19, 2024

DETROIT (AP) A jury on Thursday acquitted a man of first-degree premeditated murder in the killing of a Detroit synagogue leader but couldn't reach a verdict on a separate murder charge, setting up a possible retrial in the highly publicized case.

Deliberations lasted five days and began anew this week when a juror was excused and an alternate was promoted.

Michael Jackson-Bolanos was accused of fatally stabbing Samantha Woll at her home last October. He testified in his own defense, insisting that he had no role but acknowledging that he touched the body when he discovered it outdoors in the middle of the night.

Wolls death immediately raised speculation about whether it was some type of antisemitic retaliation amid the Israel-Hamas war, though police found no connection.

Jackson-Bolanos was acquitted of first-degree murder but convicted of lying to police. The jury couldn't reach a unanimous verdict on felony murder, which under Michigan law is murder committed during another crime, and home invasion.

The mixed results mean Jackson-Bolanos could face another trial.

Its somewhat of a small, partial victory, but its not the victory I was anticipating, defense attorney Brian Brown told the Detroit Free Press.

Prosecutor Kym Worthy pledged to press on for justice for Woll's family. She said next steps would be disclosed at a July 25 hearing.

Woll, 40, was found with multiple stab wounds outside her home, just east of downtown Detroit, hours after returning from a fall wedding. Investigators believe she was attacked inside the residence but got outdoors before collapsing in the middle of the night.

The trial mostly centered on circumstantial evidence. Police said Jackson-Bolanos jacket had spots of Wolls blood. While there is video of him walking in the area, theres no evidence of him being inside her home.

Jackson-Bolanos told the jury that he was in the neighborhood looking for unlocked cars. He said absolutely not when his attorney asked if he broke into Wolls townhouse and stabbed her.

During his closing argument, Brown noted that Woll was attacked around the head and neck, calling it a crime of passion probably by someone familiar to her.

This case involves the wrong person who just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, Brown said of Jackson-Bolanos.

Investigators first arrested a former boyfriend who made a hysterical call to 911 and told authorities that he believed he might have killed Woll but couldnt remember it. He blamed an adverse reaction to medication for those claims. He was not charged.

Woll was president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue and also active in Democratic politics, working for U.S. Rep. Elissa Slotkin and state Attorney General Dana Nessel. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said Woll was a beacon in her community.

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Jury tries again for a verdict in Detroit synagogue leader's murder - Midland Daily News

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Posted By admin on July 19, 2024

(CNN) Jurors returned mixed verdicts Thursday in the trial of a man accused of killing Detroit synagogue president Samantha Woll at her home.

Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 29, faced four charges. Jurors deadlocked on the charges of felony murder and home invasion. They found him not guilty of premeditated murder but found him guilty of lying to a police officer.

A pretrial hearing on the two deadlocked counts has been scheduled for noon on July 25. Prosecutors could decide to not retry the case but did not immediately comment after the jurys findings Thursday.

The trial, which lasted over a month, was complicated by the replacement of a juror this week. It also included stunning testimony from Wolls ex-boyfriend Jeffrey Herbstman, who initially told police he may have murdered my girlfriend but later testified he had nothing to do with Wolls death.

Defense attorney Brian Brown said his client was frustrated with the verdict.

We feel that the jury should have come back with a not guilty on the felony murder and also the home invasion first degree. They got it right on the premeditated murder, Brown said. My guy is innocent. You know, theres no point of going through this all over again.

Brown said there was zero evidence that would have put my client inside the home. He never went inside. The attorney said he was still scratching my head on the deadlocked home invasion count.

Wayne County Prosecutor Kym Worthy, in a statement, thanked the jury for its dedication and said her office had been hopeful that a decision could be reached today.

Worthy added, We will press on for justice for the Wolls and will determine our next course of action at the pre-trial hearing.

Woll was the 40-year-old board president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue in Detroit.

The night before her body was found, Woll attended a wedding and appeared normal, police said. She returned home shortly after midnight, and there were no signs of forced entry at her home.

A prosecutor told jurors that Woll left her door open, which led to a tragic encounter.

In the early morning hours of October 21, 2023, Wolls body was found fatally stabbed outside her home. Authorities believe she stumbled outside after she was attacked.

A medical examiner determined Woll died from multiple sharp force wounds with a straight-edge cutting instrument, Worthys office said in a news release.

Authorities have said they believe Jackson-Bolanos did not know Woll, and the Wayne County prosecutor has said there was no evidence suggesting the killing was a hate crime.

But blood evidence indicated Jackson-Bolanos was the killer, Wayne County Assistant Prosecuting Attorney Ryan Elsey said.

They didnt catch him until close to six weeks after her death. But when they did, he still had her blood on a jacket that he wore that night and on a backpack that he wore that night, Elsey told jurors.

Prosecutors accused Jackson-Bolanos of entering Wolls home and stabbing her multiple times. He also lied to the police by making statements he knew were false and misleading relating to the investigation of the case, prosecutors said in December.

When Jackson-Bolanos was interrogated by Detroit police last year, he insisted he did not know Woll or have any involvement in her death.

I dont know this woman. I dont know anything about this woman except when it popped up on the news, bro. Thats it, Jackson-Bolanos said, according to CNN affiliate WDIV. The only thing I know that I was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In his opening statement, Brown said clues at the scene indicate his client did not kill Woll during a home invasion.

Yes, Samantha Woll tragically died on October 21st. However, it was not Michael Jackson-Bolanos who did this. She was stabbed eight times in the neck, in the back of the head, in the back of the neck. To me, that would indicate a crime of passion. This wasnt just some random person walking into her house, trying to steal anything, Brown told jurors.

Nothing of value was taken from her house. She had valuables. Her purse was in plain view. Credit cards, cell phone, laptops plain view, Brown said. If anybody came into this particular house to steal something and to stab her eight times, surely they would have taken something of value.

The case took a bizarre turn when Wolls ex-boyfriend Herbstman, who previously told police he may have killed Woll but did not remember, took the stand.

Herbstman said he dated Woll from August 2022 to July 2023, when the pair broke up amicably.

The ex-boyfriend, who said he was diagnosed with depression at least a decade ago, became despondent after learning about Wolls death last October.

I was devastated There were days that I couldnt get out of bed, Herbstman testified.

Around October, he wasnt getting relief from one of his usual medications for depression, so my psychiatrist recommended that I try a new medication starting with a small dose and gradually scaling it up, Herbstman testified.

On November 7, Herbstman was on a work trip in Kalamazoo about 140 miles west of Detroit when he suffered a panic attack in his car. He said he had recently increased the dosage of his new antidepressant and had also smoked cannabis.

My thoughts began racing I couldnt stop worrying about things, Herbstman testified.

I began to believe that I was responsible for her death that I had somehow killed her and didnt remember doing it, Herbstman said. And I couldnt shake that feeling. And it was disturbing to the extreme.

He called 911, and an officer arrived with her body-worn camera on. In the footage, which was played in court, Herbstman told police: Im having a panic attack. I may have murdered my girlfriend, and I dont remember it.

During his testimony last month, Herbstman said he had nothing to do with Wolls death. He said he stopped taking the new medication immediately after the panic attack and had not had a similar episode since.

The ex-boyfriend was eventually cleared as a suspect. Elsey told jurors that police did not find any evidence placing Herbstman at the scene or any evidence that he left his home that night.

The prosecution said Herbstman was granted use immunity during the trial. That means that for this time that youre sitting in this witness chair that anything you say cant be used against you in a subsequent criminal proceeding, Elsey told Herbstman.

The trial, which began in early June, lasted longer than initially anticipated. Van Houten said jurors had been asked to be available through July 3, but deliberations did not begin until July 9.

Jurors had to restart deliberations Tuesday after one juror had to leave for a pre-scheduled vacation, CNN affiliate WDIV reported.

That juror was replaced with an alternate juror, and the original jurors comments and opinions about the evidence had to be tossed out as deliberations restarted from scratch.

CNNs Rob Frehse contributed to this report.

The-CNN-Wire

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Jury delivers mixed verdicts for the man accused of killing Detroit synagogue president Samantha Woll - KTEN

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Posted By admin on July 19, 2024

The agonizing month-long trial for the man charged with murdering Detroit synagogue leader Samantha Woll has ended with a partial verdict on Thursday, after jurors failed to reach a consensus in two of the four charges against the defendant.

Michael Jackson-Bolanos, 29, of Detroit, is accused of fatally stabbing Woll inside her Lafayette Park townhouse this past October.

After five days of deliberations, the jury found Jackson-Bolanos not guilty of first-degree murder and guilty of lying to police, but could not come to a unanimous decision over the felony murder and home invasion charges.

The jury remained deadlocked Tuesday, with one juror swapped out due to a pre-scheduled vacation. Wayne County Circuit Judge Margaret Van Houten allowed the jury to take the day off on Wednesday due to another jurors child care conflict. However, the shakeup was not significant enough to reach a unanimous verdict on all counts.

Woll, 40, served as the president of the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue at the time of her death and was a board member of the Jewish Community Relations Council and the American Jewish Committee in Detroit. Her murder gained national attention largely due to its close proximity to the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attack on Israel over concerns it could have been an act of antisemitism. However, Detroit police were quick to dispel fear of the killing being a hate crime.

But with no eye witnesses or evidence directly tying Jackson-Bolanos to the inside of Wolls apartment, some doubt remained about his possible motive for committing such a brutal murder when he has no criminal history of assault or violent crime.

For many, those doubts grew considerably as more details about the case emerged throughout trial including a recanted confession to the murder by Wolls ex boyfriend, Jeffrey Herbstman, who was the first suspect arrested in the case before being released and ruled out by investigators three days later.

Read more: Testimony in Samantha Woll murder trial reveals ex-boyfriends retracted confession

Herbstman testified during trial as a prosecution witness, claiming his manic confession was the product of an adverse reaction to a medication that causes delusions.

Though police say Herbstmans cell phone data placed him in his apartment on the night of Wolls murder, defense attorney Brian Brown argued he could have left his phone at home, adding that detectives failure to fully investigate Herbstman left significant potential for reasonable doubt in the case.

During his closing arguments last week, Assistant Prosecutor Ryan Elsey dismissed Browns claims, stating: There are simply too many coincidences, too many coincidences to suggest that anyone other than the defendant killed her.

Read more: Prosecutors introduce blood, surveillance evidence in Samantha Woll murder trial

Those coincidences include surveillance video and cell tower data that place Jackson-Bolanos near Wolls apartment on the night of her murder at 4:20 a.m. the exact time her ADT security sensor was triggered for the last time. Additionally, the jacket and backpack Jackson-Bolanos was seen wearing on surveillance video that night both tested positive for Wolls blood, according to police, though the stains were so small they were not visible to the naked eye.

Brown alleges that his client could not have entered Wolls apartment at 4:20 a.m., stabbed her eight times and got into a struggle throughout her home, and be a quarter mile away by 4:24 a.m. when he was captured on surveillance video crossing the Monroe Street bridge over Interstate 375.

Michigan State Police Detective Sgt. Chadwick Bloom testified to conducting three field tests to see how long it would take to traverse the distance between the two points ranging from 3 minutes and 33 seconds at a brisk walk to 1 minute 10 seconds in a full sprint.

During his testimony in his own defense, Jackson-Bolanos admitted to discovering Wolls body on the street while he was in the area checking for unlocked vehicles, and suggested the blood found on his sleeve and backpack was a result of him touching her neck to check for a pulse.

Read more: Defendant testifies in Samantha Woll murder trial

However, his testimony contradicted statements he made during his interrogations by police, during which he denied several times checking cars for valuables or encountering Wolls body.

Woll, who led the Downtown Synagogue since 2022, was a beloved political activist whose loss has been felt well beyond metro Detroits Jewish community. Described by long-time friends as eternally optimistic, and extremely vibrant and passionate, she gained a reputation as a community bridge builder between the Jewish and Arab American community in Detroit.

Sam had an amazing willingness to listen carefully to each and every person with whom she spoke, Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue Rabbi Ariana Silverman stated at Wolls funeral. She certainly had her own convictions, but she would really listen to different ideas and had the remarkable ability to say let me think about it and I will get back to you.

The partial verdict could result in an attempt by prosecutors to re-try the case for the deadlocked felony murder and home invasion charges. The lying to police officers conviction is punishable by up to two years in prison.

WDET strives to make our journalism accessible to everyone. As a public media institution, we maintain our journalistic integrity through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.

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Suspect in Samantha Woll murder trial found not guilty of first-degree murder - WDET

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Posted By admin on July 19, 2024

A banner calling for the sanctioning of Israel was held outside the Great Sydney Synagogue on Sunday, according to the New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies.

The board said that the placement of the white banner proclaiming "sanction Israel" was "pure, unadulterated antisemitism which is intended to have a chilling and intimidating effect on members of the Synagogue and the Jewish community more broadly."

The synagogue's "services have been regularly disrupted to accommodate often incendiary protests in its immediate vicinity," said the board. "Now The Great Synagogue itself has come under attack."

The board called on other Australians to condemn the behavior. The Australian Jewish Association blamed the ruling Labor Party for degraded social cohesion in the country.

"It was never about anything Israel did," AJA said on X. "It has always been about hatred of Jews."

An identical banner has been displayed in Instagram videos of past anti-Israel protests. Australia Palestine Advocacy Network shared a video on Instagram on Tuesday in which activists displayed a similar banner throughout the city and outside the Labor Party headquarters and New South Wales Parliament.

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'Sanction Israel' banner held outside Sydney Great Synagogue - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on July 19, 2024

Jury in the case against Michael Jackson-Bolanos was HUNG on 1st degree felony murder and 1st degree home invasion charges in Samantha Woll's death. He was found NOT GUILTY of 1st degree premeditated murder and GUILTY of concealing facts. (7/18/24) MORE

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Synagogue Leader Murder Trial: Watch the Verdict - Court TV

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Posted By admin on July 19, 2024

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Sydneys oldest synagogue vandalized with banner reading sanction Israel - The Times of Israel

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Posted By admin on July 19, 2024

Interra Realty, a Chicago-based commercial real estate investment services firm, announced it brokered the sale of The Synagogue, a 40-unit multifamily property at 5029 N. Kenmore Avenue in the citys Uptown neighborhood for $8.175 million, or $204,375 per unit. Constructed in 1922, the building is an adaptive reuse of a former temple that was reopened as rental apartments in 2019.

Interra co-founder and Managing Principal Jon Morgan and Director Michael Duckler represented the seller, Chicago-based Cedar Street, and the buyer, a local private investor.

The synagogue property has been a staple of the neighborhood for over a century, and the beautifully converted building offers residents not only luxury living but a unique slice of Chicago history, said Morgan. Leveraging our extensive knowledge of Chicagos North Side, we were able to help investors understand the propertys intrinsic value.

Previously home of Agudas Achim North Shore Congregation, The Synagogue closed in 2008 and was put on the market by its board in 2012 after the facilities had fallen into disrepair. It was included on Preservation Chicagos annual Chicago 7 Most Endangered list in 2015. Cedar Street purchased the propertyoriginally designed by architecture firm Dubin & Eisenberg and completed in 1922in 2016 and subsequently converted it into apartments, retaining the temples historic exterior as well as several original interior features. It reopened in 2019.

The buyer was attracted to the in-place cap rate along with its prime location close to Lake Michigan, which positions the asset well for long-term growth, Duckler added.

The renovated community includes eight studio and 32 one-bedroom apartments, which were almost fully occupied at the time of sale. Residences feature in-unit laundry, concrete flooring, custom kitchen cabinetry, quartz countertops, subway tile backsplashes and stainless steel appliances. On-site amenities include a spacious lobby with lounge seating, bike storage, Wi-Fi in common areas and gated parking.

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Interra Realty Brokers $8.175M Sale of The Synagogue Apartment Building in Chicagos Uptown Neighborhood - Yield PRO magazine

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Posted By admin on July 19, 2024

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) published a report on Monday accusing the Iran state-controlled HispanTV, a Spanish-language media outlet, of spreading antisemitic viewpoints to its audience of 600 million people.

The channel, the ADL charged, shares Holocaust revisionist content and content which is prejudiced against the Jewish state. The ADL also accused the outlet of incitement.

The network, established in 2011, publishes content through satellite, cable, live-stream and social media.

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, who is currently visiting Argentina, said "On the 30th anniversary of Argentina's deadliest terrorist attack, the AMIA bombing perpetrated by the Iranian regime and its proxy Hezbollah, it's evident that the Iranian regime continues to perpetuate antisemitism through multiple channels.

Alongside physical violence, the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the worlds leading state-sponsor of antisemitism and terrorism, uses cultural centers and media across Latin America to incite hostility against Jewish communities. The cynical use of media outlets like HispanTV to amplify antisemitic conspiracies and disinformation is reprehensible and unethical. In our report, we outline concrete steps to urge policymakers and corporations to take swift action to prevent HispanTV and other Iranian regime media from spreading hate through these platforms.

The Iranian regime primarily utilized IRIB's PressTV, which was established in 2007, and its Spanish-language counterpart, HispanTV, to promote global antisemitism, the ADL claimed.

1. Antisemitic Tropes about Jews and Jewish Power to perpetuate the myth that Zionists, which the ADL said is used as a codework for Jews, control Hollywood and were also behind the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2013, the site published an article titled Why Jews Dominate Hollywood which reportedly argued that supposed Jewish influence over Hollywood allows for the industry to push for the interests of Israel and the West.

2. Post October-7 Disinformation and denialism, where the site pushed an alternative narrative blaming Israel. Xavier Millar reportedly published an article titled What lies behind the new Zionist discursive appropriation? only two weeks after Hamass attacks on southern Israel.

Millar, according to a translation provided by the ADL, wrote Zionist authorities, with the complicity of Western media, are doing everything possible to prevent a new colonial rebellion in Gaza. To achieve this, they have spread the traditional discourse on terrorism, this time with the intention of equating Hamas with ISIS.

The ADL claimed the network regularly sought to frame the attacks as part of a wider, justified, component of Palestinian resistance - ignoring the sexual violence, attacks on civilians and other crimes committed by terrorists during the attacks.

The October 8th report How Western Media Victimize Israel? published just one day after the massacre, absolves Hamas of any responsibility for the attack on Israeli civilians, describing the news of the massacre as an attempt by The Western press, through provocative publications on social media, [to seek] tears to empathize with the massacres it commits, the ADL noted.

El Frasco: Uncensored Media, a program on the network, reportedly claimed that Israel employed fake news to justify its attacks on centers where Hamas used civilian infrastructure to shield its terrorist activities.

In the principles of Hitlers propagandist, Joseph Goebbels, one of his premises resulted in the infamous phrase: If a lie is repeated enough, it becomes the truth. Today, the Zionist regime seems to be one of the best students of that methodology, the report cites the program as stating.

3. Denialism and Conspiracies related to Latin America, such as the denial of the Iranian regimes role in the AMIA terrorist attack and the promotion of the obscure Plan Andinia conspiracy.

The AMIA attack in Argentina, coupled with the narrative absolving the Islamic Republic of Iran of responsibility, forms part of the backdrop for the outlandish Andinia Plan conspiracy theory, the report noted. The conspiracy claims that Jews want to establish a second Jewish state, a Zionist one, in the Patagonia region, located in Argentina and Chile. This hoax is portrayed as a secret plan, and like many antisemitic conspiracy theories, is anchored in the tropes of Jewish people hoarding power, money, and influence.

Felix Cossio reportedly claimed in a 2018 opinion piece on the site that in the case of the AMIA attack, where nearly 90 people died, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Hezbollah were directly blamed [for manipulating] the media and [demonstrating] that they continue to be the most persecuted people of all time, the report noted.

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ADL charges HispanTV with spreading antisemitism, Islamic Republic of Iran propaganda - The Jerusalem Post

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Posted By admin on July 19, 2024

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Inclusion & Diversity: ADL To Pay Mashpee A Visit - CapeNews.net

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Posted By admin on July 19, 2024

Despite facing targeted threats from fascist militia groups and vicious slanders from the Anti-Defamation League, on Sunday, Holocaust survivor Rene Lichtman and other opponents of the US-backed Israeli genocide in Gaza held a successful protest outside the Zekelman Holocaust Center in Farmington Hills, Michigan.

In choosing to host the protest outside the museum, Lichtman, 86, previously told the WSWS:

Museums like this are part of the right-wing, pro-Zionist structure. They indoctrinate the public that shows up, especially the students, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who come through each day, busloads of students. They tell the story of the Holocaust and the Jewish victims and at the end they say the war was over and the survivors created this wonderful state of Israel, with beautiful trees and so on. And thats the ending! The lesson is tolerance, and we should love each other and so on. But they never mention Palestinians or the Nakba.

We are demanding that the museum change the ending, that they include the Nakba. And, that they demand a ceasefire in Gaza, now.

At the rally Sunday, Lichtman planned to deliver a letter from the Coalition Against Genocide to the head of the museum. In the letter, addressed to Rabbi Eli Mayerfeld, the coalition wrote that they are a group comprised of members of the Jewish community, Holocaust survivors and their descendants, patrons of the Zekelman Holocaust Museum, and many others.

The group implored the museum to make a statement in support of a permanent and immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to update the museums curriculum and its narratives and displays about the Nakba to incorporate history that is well documented by highly esteemed Jewish sources, such as Ilan Papp, Norman Finkelstein, and others...

Lichtman was unable to deliver the letter, however, due to the presence of roughly 200 Zionist thugs who were summoned to counter-protest the rally by large Zionist accounts on social media, including the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

After the peaceful protest was announced, the ADL, perhaps the most well-known Zionist quasi-state intelligence agency operating in the US and several right-wing accounts on X/Twitter falsely denounced the rally and Lichtman as antisemitic.

On July 8, the Michigan chapter of ADL issued a statement on X/Twitter with a photograph featuring Lichtman and other protesters. The ADL claimed that holding the protest outside the museumwhere Lichtman worked for over a decade until he was drummed out for his opposition to genocidewas antisemitism full stop.

We are working with the Zekelman Holocaust Museum and local authorities to address safety and community concerns, ADL Michigan added threateningly.

On July 9, the main ADL account on X/Twitter retweeted the July 8 post from ADL Michigan to its over 357,000 followers. The ADL claimed that holding an anti-genocide protest in front of the museum, minimizes the horrors of the Shoah and dishonors the memory of the victims.

Responding to this obscene slander, Joseph Kishore, Socialist Equality Party candidate for US president wrote on July 9, The ADL is attacking protests led by Holocaust survivor Rene Lichtman against the genocide in Gaza. It is entirely appropriate to protest the genocide in front of a Holocaust museum. NEVER AGAIN!

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Encouraged by the ADL, on Sunday, roughly 200 counter-protesters showed up to the museum to denounce Lichtman and all human beings of conscience. Protected by police, they waved flags representing the Israeli Air Force, the Israel Defense Forces, the Zionist state and its imperialist paymaster, the United States.

As peaceful protesters read statements calling for a ceasefire and the unity of all people, the Zionists blared obnoxious music, sang nationalist songs, and denounced Lichtmanwho had many family members murdered by Nazisas a kapo and terrorist sympathizer along with a litany of expletives.

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At one point, several anti-genocide protesters began chanting Bring them home, ceasefire now! The Zionists responded by chanting, No ceasefire.

Over a dozen police were on the scene, nearly all of them focused on Lichtman and the roughly 40 anti-genocide protesters. As Lichtman and others delivered speeches denouncing the genocide, and the role of the Israeli lobby in propagating lies, police allowed the Zionists to slowly drive by the protest multiple times, impeding traffic in the process.

In his remarks, Lichtman explained that this particular location was chosen because,

An institution like this pretends that theyre very objective and scholarly and academic. And were saying no, no, no, no. What youre doing, youre part of that system. Youre part of the whole Israel lobby that indoctrinates people day after day that come here, busloads of students that come here day after day from as far as two or three hours by bus. And I know that because Ive been working at this Holocaust Museum for 10-15 years and Im one of the speakers.

So they impart a lot of information which is incorrect, Lichtman noted, calling for the museum to talk about the Nakba in a very serious manner.

Speaking on IDFs onslaught in Gaza since October 7, Lichtman said,

What Ive witnessed in the last eight months has been shocking to me. Its really, really hard to keep the news on and especially to watch these photographs of these amputated kids. You know, we havent seen in the world so much amputation as were going to be seeing And so in my opinion, whats going on now is actually equal or worse than what happened during the Second World War. Its a genocide, its ethnic cleansing. ... the Nakba continues.

After his remarks, Lichtman turned the microphone over to Larry Porter, assistant national secretary of the Socialist Equality Party (SEP), who delivered remarks on behalf of Joseph Kishore, SEP candidate for US president.

Turning to Lichtman, Porter said,

We spoke of the Nakba. I know Jewish friends whose parents lost their homes in Berlin along similar lines. They never got them back. These are crimes. These are crimes against the masses of people who were being oppressed. Jews were being oppressed. And its so important that youre taking this stand today and saying Not in our name, not again.

Porter thanked Lichtman, for your tireless effort to oppose and expose the genocide in Gaza and for your courage in the face of slanders and lies.

Turning to the situation in Gaza, Porter observed that, One hundred eighty-six thousand people. That is the estimated death toll of the genocide in Gaza, according to an analysis in the medical journal The Lancet.

Porter noted that this figure represented 8 percent of Gazas pre-war population 8 percent of the American population would equate to 26 million people.

Porter said that millions of people, including many Jewish people have taken to the streets outraged at the criminal actions of the Netanyahu government. ... And how do the defenders of Israel respond? The charge of antisemitism.

Porter denounced the fact that this foul slander is used by defenders of Israel to justify any and all war crimes. He noted that 10 days from Sunday, on July 24,

Netanyahu will be in Washington to give his progress report on the genocide in Gaza to the US Congress. The assembled senators, representatives, Democrats and Republicans will rise to their feet and applaud. There is not a single bomb that could be dropped on Gaza, not a single building destroyed or a child murdered without the financial, political, and military support of American imperialism and both its parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. They back the genocide because they see it as part of a global war waged in the interest of the capitalist ruling class.

Porter said, This is a war that extends from the Middle East to the conflict in Russia over Ukraine, to the developing conflict with China and in the Indo-Pacific. He ended his remarks by calling on those in attendance to go to Washington D.C. on July 24 for a rally and meeting that will be held by the Socialist Equality Party.

We insist that it is not a matter of appealing to the war criminals to change their course, nor is it a matter of hoping that a present figure within the state and its two parties will come forward, he said.

It is the Democratic and Republican parties, the two parties of the capitalist ruling elite. We insist that there is a social force that can stop the war and the genocide, and that is the working class. The fact is that the war abroad is also a war at home.

Porter ended his comments noting that Rene has endorsed that demonstration in Washington, D.C. Take a stand.

Contact us if youre planning to attend, or want to help us build support for the rally.

Read more here:
In the face of fascist goons summoned by the Anti-Defamation League, Holocaust survivor denounces Gaza genocide - WSWS

Category: Anti-Defamation League | Comments Off on In the face of fascist goons summoned by the Anti-Defamation League, Holocaust survivor denounces Gaza genocide – WSWS
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