{"id":3841,"date":"2024-08-15T11:15:00","date_gmt":"2024-08-15T15:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/?p=3841"},"modified":"2024-08-14T16:36:01","modified_gmt":"2024-08-14T20:36:01","slug":"antisemitism-in-ann-arbor-mi-july-7-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.davideriknelson.com\/sbsb\/index.php\/2024\/08\/antisemitism-in-ann-arbor-mi-july-7-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Antisemitism in Ann Arbor, MI (July 7, 2024)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I’m mostly posting this for archival\/documentary purposes. But I’m also posting this because I think that the “Is anti-Zionism antisemitic?” argument is stupid; you can go to these protests and demonstrations yourself, or look at comprehensive coverage, and decide for yourself if what you see is primarily motivated by a love of the Palestinian people or a loathing of Jews. <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I captured all of these video at the weekly protest held outside Beth Israel Congregation each Saturday, during morning Shabbat services. This protest has been held mostly weekly for the last couple decades, and has been mostly the same throughout that period. The pictures show all of the signs that were on display that day. Some have been the same for years (I’ve lived less than one mile from this site for 20+ years), others are relatively new. I think only “Jews Bomb Hospitals” and possibly “Jews Bomb Churches” are new since the pogrom of October 7 and intensified bombings of Gaza. The entire video of my stroll past the demonstration is included at the bottom, for those curious. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I never spoke a word to these men, nor was I wearing anything inflammatory. I had on a plain black shirt and this hat, which I wear basically everywhere:<\/p>\n\n\n

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I wouldn’t rule out that these two protestors knew I was a Jew: the “Jewish Space Lasers” button on my hat is pretty legible (folks have complimented me on it) and, besides, I’m active in Jewish communal life here, and it’s just not that big of a community. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mention this because near the beginning of the video you can hear the mustachioed protestor begin by talking about dead Palestinians (reasonable, at a nominally pro-Palestine demo) and then abruptly switching gears to talk about the “fact” that gas chambers never existed. I don’t know why he jumped topics like that, although I’d been warned that these two men (who both wear GoPros) would try to goad me into a fight. A portion of their signs are clearly intended to offend, and especially to offend Jews–like the families with small children who were arriving to attend religious services as I arrived.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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