Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted By admin on September 8, 2020

ANN ARBOR, MI A lawsuit over anti-Israel protests outside an Ann Arbor synagogue is now headed to the U.S. Court of Appeals, where plaintiffs are challenging U.S. District Judge Victoria Roberts dismissal of the case.

In a one-page order Thursday, Sept. 3, Roberts denied the plaintiffs motion for reconsideration of her recent ruling.

Plaintiffs motion presents the same issues already ruled on by the court, she wrote.

The protests are protected as free speech under the First Amendment and the plaintiffs lack standing to sue and fail to assert a concrete injury, Roberts previously ruled.

Michigan attorney Marc Susselman and Ziporah Reich of the New York-based Lawfare Project, who are representing two clients opposed to the protests, gave notice Friday, Sept. 4, theyre now appealing to the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Reich said in August she was confident theyd find justice in the appellate court if their motion for reconsideration was denied.

Theyre prepared to take the case as far as necessary to enforce the rights of the Jewish community, she said.

In granting the defendants motions to dismiss, the court is effectively saying that the emotional distress experienced by Jews, in reaction to the anti-Semitic slurs hurled at them every week for 16 years in front of their house of worship, is insufficient injury to grant them access to federal court, she said in a statement last month.

They fill our sidewalks with hate speech, Ann Arbor rabbi says in response to court ruling

The lawsuit was filed last year by Marvin Gerber, a member of the Beth Israel Congregation at 2000 Washtenaw Ave., where Henry Herskovitz and his anti-Israel protest group have demonstrated on Saturday mornings since 2003.

Miriam Brysk, identified in court records as a Holocaust survivor and member of the Pardes Hannah Congregation in an annex next to the synagogue, joined as a co-plaintiff.

The lawsuit alleged the protests amount to hateful, anti-Semitic speech and named as defendants both the protesters and city officials for allowing them to continue without restrictions.

Protest signs have carried messages such as Resist Jewish Power, Jewish Power Corrupts, No More Holocaust Movies, Boycott Israel, Stop U.S. Aid to Israel and End the Palestinian holocaust.

Gerber complained in the lawsuit the messages offend and anger him, cause extreme emotional distress, significantly diminish his enjoyment in attending sabbath services and adversely affect his willingness to attend.

The lawsuit also raised concerns about the impacts on children in the congregation.

Herskovitz said last year he would compare Gerbers alleged suffering with the actual suffering of Palestinians gunned down by the Israeli military. He has complained the synagogue displays the Israeli flag and prays for Israel.

Our protests are to highlight the ongoing, criminal actions of the state of Israel and we plan to continue to do so, Herskovitz said after the lawsuit was filed.

Herskovitzs synagogue protest group has had multiple names over the years and is now called Witness for Peace.

Deir Yassin Remembered, another of Herskovitzs groups that argues the historical suffering of Palestinians has been minimized while the historical suffering of Jews has been unduly amplified, was labeled by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2017 as a Holocaust-denying hate group.

Herskovitz has argued the label is unfair and has denied being anti-Semitic. He also has said he is Jewish and used to attend Beth Israel, but he had a falling out with his faith years ago.

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Lawsuit over Ann Arbor synagogue protests headed to U.S. Court of Appeals - MLive.com

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