Board of Directors, The Ark
c/o Ian James Reach
Reach Law Firm
106 N. Fourth Ave.
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Dear Board Members,
The purpose of this letter is to request that the Ark refrain from advertising in the Washtenaw Jewish News (WJN), and to explain the reasons why.
There are a total of 34 articles in the October 2015 issue, and ten of these articles promote the state of Israel. These articles are political in nature and encourage travel to Israel, especially for young people. That the News promotes and attempts to normalize the state of Israel is extremely clear.
The majority of Americans, and likely several members of the Ark’s board of directors, are unaware of certain negative and un-American qualities exposed by even a slight investigation into the state of Israel. Here is but a short list:
1. The US contributes over ten million dollars a DAY to Israel[1], a state that Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and, many others have labeled an Apartheid state.[2] Former President Jimmy Carter’s best-selling book, Palestine: Peace not Apartheid added awareness to the hardships endured by Palestinians under Israeli control.
2. Zionism – the 19th century plan to violently cleanse Palestine of its native population – was and remains the force behind the modern state of Israel[3]
3. Israel attacked the USS Liberty in international waters (June, 1967), killing 34 US sailors and injuring over 170. US rescue jets were given stand down orders by then-President Lyndon Johnson and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara.[4]
4. Israel identifies itself as a Jewish state[5]; conversely, if the US were to declare itself a Christian nation, a violation of our own Constitution, that act would certainly draw heated resistance; few are aware that Israel does not even have a constitution.
5. Israel openly rejects repeated appeals from Barack Obama[6], George Bush (I and II), Bill Clinton and other presidents to curtail the illegal building of settlements in the Occupied West Bank of Palestine.
6. The strength of the Israel Lobby in Washington has been made clear by books such as The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy by John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt, and Jewish Power by J.J. Goldberg.
7. This powerful lobby restricts America from pursuing its own interests and instead places a foreign nation’s interests ahead of our own (see Against our Better Judgment; the Hidden History of How the US was used to create Israel by Alison Weir).
By paying for advertising in the Washtenaw Jewish News (reportedly its sole source of financing) the Ark is enabling – perhaps unwittingly - the support of a state that routinely oppresses and humiliates millions of people whom it controls[7].
Many performers at The Ark promote peace through their music and lyrics: Jay Stielstra, Chris Buhalis, Cheryl Wheeler, and Gideon Luke are but a few. The Ark hosted a fund raiser for Veterans for Peace Chapter 93 in October. It is in this spirit of peace, spoken and sung by many performers, that I ask The Ark to reconsider its policy of promoting a state which – throughout its history – has been antithetical towards peace.
Thank you,
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends
404 Mark Hannah Pl.
Ann Arbor, MI 48103
[1] http://www.livingstondaily.com/story/opinion/readers/2015/11/25/israel-palestinian-kill-children/76368280/
[2] http://www.jpost.com/Diplomacy-and-Politics/Desmond-Tutu-Israel-guilty-of-apartheid-in-treatment-of-Palestinians-344874
[3] The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe
[4] http://ifamericansknew.org/us_ints/ussliberty.htm
[5] http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Dec_of_Indep.html
[6] http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/world-news/israel-rejects-obamas-call-to-stop-settlement-construction-28501923.html
[7] https://electronicintifada.net/content/wave-oppression-targets-palestinians-israel/14049