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Metro Protesters Rally Over Gaza Invasion Demonstrators Trade Chants But Not Blows in Detroit
Thursday was a day of demonstrations in Metro Detroit as residents reflected the opinions and strong emotions on both sides of the war in the Gaza Strip and Israel, and gathered to act publicly on their consciences.
Some 1,700 people rallied in support of Israel at Congregation Shaarey Zedek, where they heard Kenneth Gold, a participant in the Jewish Federation Family Mission to Israel, talk about his concern for the Jewish state, which he visited recently.
“Israel would be the last country that would want to go to war,” Gold said. “We take no joy in the suffering of our enemies. Every Israeli I know cannot wait for this to be over. Everyone knows what it means to triumph in battle: There is a lot of suffering that comes from this.”
But in downtown Detroit, earlier in the day, a far different view of Israel’s intentions was expressed by more than 400 Arab residents and peace activists who gathered first outside of McNamara Federal Building, and then at the historic Central Methodist Church.
Abe Suleiman of Canton Township said, “I’m protesting against these Israelis’ bombing of Palestine. All they do is kill. Israel starts terrorists by doing this.”
It was an emotional day for many who have starkly different views of events in Israel and the Gaza Strip, and throughout the generations-old disputes between Arabs and Jews. Local union and human rights activists were out in force. And some of the old lions of non-violence and of efforts to establish and support the state of Israel stepped to new rallying cries.
Referring to a statement by President-elect Barack Obama in Israel this summer that he would defend his daughters against rockets from Hamas, Roman Catholic Bishop Thomas Gumbleton said, “I want all of us to demand that when the next president takes office that he does not just go to Israel, but that he goes to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, where children are brought to hospitals, their bodies bent and broken by the bombs.”
But at Shaarey Zedek, a local supporter of the Israeli Defense Forces, defended what she said is Israel’s right to defend itself.
“Imagine walking in downtown Birmingham and having a Katyusha rocket land in Shain Park,” said Lauren Bienenstock, a member of the Friends of the IDF. “We have had enough! We will defend our country. It cannot matter what the world says, because what the world says is always too little, too late.”
Despite the high emotions and difficult issues, even when 40 supporters of the Israeli policy and strategy countered the demonstration by the critics of Israel outside of the McNamara building, there were no altercations, even when members of the different sides passed each other in close proximity.
Jews criticized the use of the Nazi swastika, equating it with the Star of David, on a few of the signs brandished by the other side. But those who held the signs said they were equally reviled by what they described as a massacre in the Gaza Strip.
Gershon Kedar, the second-ranking Israeli official in the Midwest, spoke twice during the day, accusing Hamas of exposing Palestinians to death by using them as human shields in battle and by using schools, mosques and hospitals for the storage of weapons and to fight from.
But critics of Israel said the violence began long before Hamas escalated the number and distance of rocket attacks, when Israel occupied the Gaza Strip and later maintained a blockade that deprived Palestinians of a normal life.
“We are here from all walks of life marching in unison against the occupation, against the slaughter,” said Hasan Newash, a Palestinian-American activist and poet.
Gregg Krupa
The Detroit News