LAST week, a Jewish group entered JEWISHcolorado on false pretenses and delivered a petition demanding that the national federation system make an immediate public statement to end the siege of Gaza.
Five or more members of Front Range Jewish Voice for Peace, a staunchly pro-Palestinian faction, also recited Kaddish for Palestinians killed in the conflict.
They did not offer up the solemn prayer for dead Israelis.
Janet Sherman, JEWISHcolorados director of the JCRC and Israel engagement, told the Intermountain Jewish News that we considered this to be very disrespectful to our mission here and it was completely disingenuous.
Sherman was in her office Tuesday, Aug. 19, when someone rushed down the hallway urging employees to lock their doors because some people are here who arent supposed to be here, she says.
Some minutes earlier, a woman pushed the buzzer system monitoring visitors to the building and said she had just moved to Denver and wanted information on federation programs.
The desk receptionist contacted the outreach coordinator, who agreed to meet with the newcomer. Once the front door opened, another man accompanied the woman into the building.
She explained he was a friend of hers who had also just moved to Denver from Chicago, Sherman says.
Read the related IJN editorial, “Jewish Voice for Peace, or for destruction?“
Not long after they started talking to the outreach director in an empty room, the man excused himself to make a phone call.
Thats when he let the remaining JVP members inside.
According to the ADL, once the JVP gained access they asked to see JEWISHcolorado President and CEO Doug Seserman and said they wanted to deliver a petition.
An email sent by JVP that same day states that the Colorado Jewish activists were immediately evicted once they revealed their organizational identity. The ruse perpetrated by the first two members was not mentioned.
Neal Feldman, 22, who joined JVP in 2012 and was part of Tuesdays political action, did admit to the IJN that a member pretended to seek information about federation programs.
The group was armed with a petition bearing 30,000 signatures against the conflict and Gaza blockade. We wanted to deliver it to Jerry Silverman, president and CEO of the Jewish Federations of North America, and to bug Doug Seserman to condemn the Gaza massacre.
The petition was also addressed to Rabbi David Saperstein of the Religious Action Center and Rabbi Steve Gutow of the Jewish Council on Public Affairs.
Seserman received a separate letter outlining the same stipulations.
Forced to leave the JEWISHcolorado offices, JVP moved to the foyer and read their demands.
The federation called 911 and the police arrived. The group was politely asked to leave but refused, Sherman says.
Law enforcement presented two options to JVP: They could stay in the foyer and be arrested, or move outside and continue their protest. JVP chose the second option.
They of course have the right to free speech, says Sherman, but not in our offices or building because they entered under false pretenses.
JEWISHcolorado did not press charges.
SPORADIC Jewish objections to JFNA positions during the current Gaza war and other military conflicts are nothing new. However, saying Kaddish for Palestinians and not Israelis was not just new, it was offensive.
Its very ironic that JVP said the Jewish prayer for the dead for people who werent Jewish, Sherman says. I feel that was rather incongruous, to say the least.
Feldman admits that JVP, which had collected a list of 2,000 Palestinian names, expressly chose not to recite the prayer for Israelis.
But we have always recognized that the Israelis are also victims.
The ommision was intended to drive home JVPs anger toward the federations for neglecting to condemn Israel for targeting Palestinians in their hospitals, schools and mosques,Feldman says.
The intruders also made a point of saying that the federations were complicit in these deaths.
JVP members represent predominantly far-left college-age Jews. Feldman says they follow major international outlets CNN, AP and Reuters, as well as pro-Palestinian websites like electronicintifada.com.
Sherman, who is cognizant that Denver Jewry reflects diverse perspectives on issues affecting Israel, feels JVP assumes things about JEWISHcolorado that are untrue. I dont think they even understand our position.
We support a two-state solution for the Israelis and Palestinians, she says. Our argument is with Hamas, the terrorist organization.
We definitely grieve for the Palestinians who have been killed in Gaza. We mourn the loss of innocent lives on both sides.
But Hamas is responsible for placing Palestinians in vulnerable situations in order to blame Israel.
Its doubtful that JEWISHcolorado and Jewish Voice for Peace will ever mend their antithetical ideological fences.
We are very much pro-Palestinian, Feldman says. We are not anti-Israel as a nation or a people. We just want to see the system that Israel has established demolished.
I think there should be a dialogue between the federation and JVP. But there is a time and place for demands as well. Personally, I believe we would require the federation to acknowledge certain errors.
Trust, which is a crucial factor in successful dialogue, may have irrevocably collapsed for Sherman last Tuesday.
They were peaceful but showed no interest in having a conversation with us or establishing a connection, she says. Its not just that we didnt know who they were, it was the fact that they misrepresented themselves.
The way in which they gained access to the building made them unwelcome, and that made us question everything they said.
Copyright © 2014 by the Intermountain Jewish News.
