Hiller's Market gets support from shoppers
Members of local Jewish congregations and their supporters answered picketers Sunday by buying oranges, matzos, cheeses and other groceries at Hiller's Market.
Shoppers streamed into the Arborland store, and traffic backed up on Washtenaw Avenue after more than 2,000 e-mails went out from the Jewish Federation of Washtenaw County last week, urging members to support Hiller's by shopping Sunday.
They shopped as about a dozen members of Jewish Witnesses for Peace waved signs on the sidewalk next to Arborland saying such things as, "Hiller's supports Israeli violence," and "Hiller's supports illegal settlements."
Jewish Witnesses seeks to end Jewish support for what it believes is unlawful occupation of land in the West Bank, the Gaza strip and east Jerusalem. The group has urged a boycott of Hiller's because it sends profits from Israeli products back to Israel.
Jim Hiller, president of the six-store, family-owned chain based in Southfield, visited with shoppers at the Ann Arbor store Sunday afternoon.
Hiller said that once the intifada and the suicide bombings began, he felt the Israeli economy might collapse without support from the U.S. "And if that happened, it would put an end to the possibility of peace in the Middle East.
"I've attempted to galvanize the community, not just the one in Ann Arbor, to support this one democracy in the Middle East by purchasing Israeli products." Profits from Israeli products go to non-profit institutions such as schools and hospitals, Hiller said. "I don't support political entities." The boycott "merely creates division and distrust," said Hiller. About 1 to 2 percent of profits from Hiller's stores, all in southeast Michigan, are from Israeli products.
Outside the store, on the sidewalk next to Washtenaw Avenue, Jewish Witnesses protester Larry Hochman held a sign saying, "Stop U.S. aid to Israel."
Hochman said his group's picketing began after he wrote a letter to Hiller, asking him to stop sending profits from Israeli groceries back to Israel. "The money could either directly or indirectly aid new Israeli settlements," said Hochman, a Livonia resident who once lived in Ann Arbor. "How," he asked, "do we really know funds from Hiller's don't buy bulldozers to knock down Palestinian homes? Money is fungible."
The demonstrators have also carried protest signs outside weekly Sabbath services at Temple Beth Israel about a mile northwest of Hiller's on Washtenaw Avenue. Members of the local Jewish community are incensed that Jewish Witnesses has protested during Sabbath services. They say political protests are inappropriate at religious events.
Hochman said his group wants an opportunity to speak at Beth Israel and for the congregation to reconsider its strong support of Israel. Jewish Witnesses might also consider protesting at other Jewish congregations in the area, he said.
Beth Israel was chosen, said fellow picketer Harry Clark, because it is a Conservative congregation, and Conservative congregations regard support of Israel as a core value.
"We are horrified at how Israel is massacring the occupied people of Palestine. We want to cut off all aid," said Blaine Coleman, another protester. "I'm a Jew, and what's happening to Palestine today is the same thing that happened to the Jews in Europe in the '30s."
The protesters "are putting all the problems on Israel's side," said Sheldon Markel, a Beth Israel member shopping at Hiller's. "They don't acknowledge the terrorists."
Some people, however, simply wanted to buy groceries. Pouring herself a cup of coffee, shopper Tzena Smith said, "I care about what happens in Israel, but today I just needed groceries."
Catherine O'Donnell can be reached at codonnell@annarbornews.com or (734) 994-6831.