ANN ARBOR — A civil suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan on December 20 names as defendants members of the Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends as well as several Ann Arbor city officials. 

The plaintiff in the case, Marvin Gerber, is an Ann Arbor resident and a long time member of the Beth Israel Synagogue on Washtenaw Ave. For 16 years, Henry Herskovitz, a member of the Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends, has led silent vigils on Saturday mornings in front of the synagogue with placard and signs that criticize Israeli illegal occupation of Palestine and the U.S.’ ongoing financial and military support of the recognized apartheid state. 

The 85 page complaint claims that the protests have caused Gerber emotional distress, have impinged on his rights covered by the First Amendment and that the city of Ann Arbor has been complicit in allowing the protest to happen under the protesters’ own rights to free speech. 

City officials named in the suit are Ann Arbor Mayor Christopher Taylor, City Attorney Stephen Postema, Senior Assistant City Attorney Kristen Larcom and Community Services Administrator Derek Dalacourt. 

Taylor, for his part, has condemned the protests, recognizing the “pain” caused to synagogue attendees, and has called the protests “disgusting.” He also told local media that the city has thus far acted in accordance with its legal obligations. Postema has also opposed Herskovitz’s group’s vigils for Palestine outside of the synagogue.

Gerber is represented by Marc Susselman, a Canton attorney whose license was suspended in 2017 for failing to pay dues to the State Bar of Michigan. He is currently in good standing to practice law.

Gerber is seeking injunctive relief and compensation, including attorney fees, in whatever amount the court deems just and proper, after a jury trial.

The suit claims that the city of Ann Arbor conspired with the protesters to infringe on and violate Gerber’s civil rights by not enforcing the Ann Arbor City Code as it relates to land use. This is one of many counts included in the suit. Others point to violations of religious rights and certain property relations that the suit claims were disrupted because of the signs on the greenway outside of the synagogue. 

One of the main grievances in the suit seems to point to the protesters’ need for having a permit to carry out their protests in the public area outside of the synagogue. It claims that the city’s own code prohibits the placing of signs on the grass sections in question. It is well known that the protesters do not leave the signs in the grass and pack up and leave with them after their hour-and-fifteen minute protest is concluded. 

Documents filed as exhibits along with the suit show photos of protesters either holding the signs or sitting with them.

Remarkably, and rather confusingly, it also claims that the protesters’ actions were anti-Semitic, since they do not protest Israel’s occupation of Palestine in front of establishments whose clientele is non-Jewish. The group has also protested against Christian Zionists in the past. 

Herskovitz, who led the protests after witnessing first hand Israel’s atrocities against the people of Palestine on a trip, told MLive that the protest did not target the Jewish faith, but criticized Zionism and support for Israel carried out at the synagogue.  He once attended the synagogue before falling out with his faith.

The signs include messages like “Resist Jewish Power”, “Jewish Power Corrupts”, “No More Holocaust Movies”, “Boycott Israel”, “Stop U.S. Aid to Israel”, “No More Wars for Israel”, “Israel’s Hold on Congress Must End” and “End the Palestinian Holocaust.”

You can read a 2007 Electronic Intifada interview with Herskovitz, in which he details the intent behind the protests at https://electronicintifada.net/content/michigans-vigilant-outcasts/7056