LETTERS
Condemnation of pickets seems to be backfiring
The harsh, inaccurately worded condemnation of the politeness of the Beth Israel vigiling (not picketing) of the Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends by the Ann Arbor City Council and some church leaders seems to be backfiring.
It is making community members empathize more strongly with the cause of our protest over the utter brutality of Israel's 37-year military terrorism against the Palestinian lands of Gaza and the West Bank.
On Oct. 23 we were joined by three Mennonite Friends, one with a long white beard who might have been momentarily confused with an orthodox rabbi. The Mennonites have long fought to help remedy crimes against humanity taking place around the world.
The strength of the Israeli lobby (AIPAC) in getting just about the entire Congress (including Kerry and Edwards), the media, corporations and the religious community to support the Israeli Defense Forces and almost anything Israel does - at the risk of being called "anti-semitic" - is astounding, and we are trying to make the public aware of another side of the issue, that is, dehumanizing, humiliating and massacring a population of good people.
We hope that the Beth Emeth congregants going with Rabbi Levy to Israel will make every effort to see what is going on on the other side of the monstrous 25-foot wall.
Marcia J. Federbush, Ann Arbor