10,000 In Street Against Israel in Dearborn, MI : Cleveland IMC (((i)))

DEARBORN ANTIWAR PROTEST: 10,000 unite for Lebanon

Violence called 'appalling'; Israeli backers to rally today

BY NIRAJ WARIKOO and BEN SCHMITT
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITERS

July 19, 2006

(photo caption) Dearborn residents Nadeen Hasan, left, and her mother, Mona Hasan, were among those marching in Dearborn in support of Lebanon on Tuesday. About 225 people have been killed in Lebanon, and 25 have died in Israel. (KATHLEEN GALLIGAN/Detroit Free Press)

Carrying banners saying "Stop Israeli Terrorism" and chanting antiwar slogans, some 10,000 people rallied in the center of metro Detroit's Arab-American community in Dearborn on Tuesday, demanding that the U.S. government put pressure on Israel to halt attacks in Lebanon.

Although the protesters were peaceful, their message was strong, representing a profound difference of opinion between two of metro Detroit's most vital communities.

Arab-American marchers carried signs saying "Down, down Israel" and chanted, "One, two, three, four. Stop the bombing. Stop the war."

Meanwhile, members of the Jewish community -- who have a rally scheduled for 7 tonight at Congregation Shaarey Zedek in Southfield -- have repeatedly said that Israel's air strikes on Lebanese targets have been intended to protect Israel from the militant group Hizballah, which is strong in southern Lebanon. Hizballah also has sent rockets and bombs into northern Israel.

Israel's attacks on Lebanon began about a week ago after Hizballah guerrillas attacked a patrol on the border in northern Israel and captured two soldiers.

As many as 226 people have been killed in Lebanon. About 25 have been killed in Israel.

Police estimated the crowd in Dearborn at more than 10,000. Protesters, some draped in the Lebanese flag, marched to Hemlock Park. There, speakers shouted their message to crowds in hopes of getting the Bush administration's attention.

Saying that Israel is killing children and bombing innocent citizens, one of the speakers, Osama Siblani of the Congress of Arab-American Organizations, said, "This is terror." The crowd cheered loudly in response. "They are cowards."

"We know that the president is being bought by the Zionist lobby. We know that the (U.S.) Congress is being bought by the Zionist lobby. ... But we know that the American people are a great people," he said.

Some of those views concern many in the Jewish communities of metro Detroit.

"No one wanted this war," said Wendy Wagenheim, president of the Jewish Community Council, a coalition of about 200 Jewish groups in Michigan. "And certainly, emotions are running very high at this point. But there is nothing that will be served by importing the tensions apparently in the Middle East to metropolitan Detroit.

"Unfortunately, there are innocent victims on both sides of the Israel-Lebanon border, and we pray that peace is restored as soon as possible."

For days, reports have been coming to southeast Michigan's Arab-American community of family and friends trapped in Lebanon.

At one point, a speaker held a portrait of Hassan Nasrallah, Hizballah's secretary-general. The crowd burst into applause.

Rana Abbas-Chami, deputy director of the Michigan Chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, called Israel's violence "appalling, unfathomable and unforgivable."

"The sad reality is that the United States and Israel have decided that they are at liberty to determine the value of human life based on what side of the border you fall. The U.S. is just as guilty as Israel is. History will not forgive, nor will it ever forget, these crimes."

Many people among metro Detroit's Arab-American population say they believe Hizballah -- considered a terrorist group by the U.S. government -- helped end Israel's occupation of Lebanon six years ago.

The United Nations said about half a million Lebanese have fled southern Lebanon since the recent fighting began.

Bilal Amen, 24, of Dearborn said he's been unable to contact aunts and uncles in the region.

"It's heartbreaking," he said. "Whole villages are leveled. Everything is ruined."

Wajih Hakim, 51, also of Dearborn, said his wife and four children went to Lebanon to visit family two weeks ago and have been unable to leave.

"They're seeing hell over there," he said. "I've been on the phone with them and they want to come home, but they can't find a way out."

Hakim was carrying a large American flag.

"I'm an American first," he said, "but this is a very important cause to me."

Danielle Caltoum, 19, of Sterling Heights walked with a sign that said, "Israel = Terrorism. Get out of Lebanon." She said she has relatives in Lebanon.

"America needs to stop supporting Israel," she said. "Maybe our demonstrating can make it stop."

Every on of them seem to forget that while they claim to be Americans first, America is the first place they put down. Please leave if you don’t like it, PLEASE!!!! They all love to say it’s their “right” to free speech, yeah free as long as you are on their side otherwise they cry discrimination. I love how these people claim to preach tolerance but then spew their hatred (and it’s all pre-meditated tirades of hate too) at the mere mention of their own faults or religion. Come on people, if you are going to burn cars and threaten to kill people for drawing a freaking cartoon of your religious icons then please seek counseling!!!!!!! See, they can all stand up and say Infidel this and Zionist that but I guarantee that anyone of them reading this will be wishing a thousand deaths upon me for having the nerve to write this, after all it’s ok to kill me because I’m not of thier faith. One might say, “how sad is this, an American writing this about other Americans” but the reality is they aren’t, they all live in America but the last thing they want to be is American, they make it painfully clear they have no allegiance to the United States. This is made very clear by their posters at their anti-whatever protests. I say anti-whatever because no matter what it is, it’s always Americas' fault. So….I said it earlier and I’ll say it again, if you really despise this country and it’s values then please for your own sanity and my safety, leave.

You're an absolute idiot. You are talking about "they" and "us" like every single Arab is exactly the same person, and you know how that ONE person think. You've probably never even met an Arab, you're just spewing generalizations you've made from watching tv. YOU are what is wrong with this country. This is the garbage that makes people think Americans are ignorant assholes. Take a clue, idiot. Are all Americans the exact same? Are all Christians the exact same? Lumping entire groups of people you've never met into narrow, superficial categories is the ROOT CAUSE of racism, prejudice, war and hate. When you start seeing people as individuals instead of grouping millions of people into your "them" category, you MIGHT have something valuable to say. Until then, you are what is wrong with America, you are why there is so much unnecessary war and suffering, and you are why there is so much hate and racism in the world. Pure ignorance. Let's just hope someone from an Arab country doesn't think YOU represent all Americans in the same ignorant manner you think all Arabs are the same. Stupid hick.

Also, if you actually READ the above article, they're not saying they hate America, they're asking the American government to change a particular policy. THERE IS NOTHING MORE AMERICAN THAN USING FREE SPEECH TO CHANGE GOVERNMENT POLICY. THAT IS WHAT DEMOCRACY IS. That's like saying to black civil rights protesters during the 50's, "hey, if you don't like it here, leave!" Or telling women fighting for the right to vote, "hey, if you don't like current laws, you don't deserve it be American!" That is THE OPPOSITE of a democracy. Democracies are countries where THE PEOPLE, NOT THE GOVERNMENT ultimately control and influence policy.

But, I'm sure if WHITE people were asking the government to change a policy, you would see things differently. This is simply your way of saying immigrants should always be treated as second class citizens, even if they have full citizenship rights. This is UNAMERICAN, and more akin to the Nazis many Americans died fighting during WWII. If you think America is not the place to use free speech to challenge government policy, you know nothing about American political philosophy, and would be much happier in a dictatorship. If you prefer a country where people are discouraged from challenging the government, I suggest a dictatorship.

It is unbelievable have the most "patriotic" Americans have no fucking clue what democracy, free speech, or American political philosophy are. Your comment would make the framers of the Constitution roll in their graves.

The article about the protest was well written and in my opinion didn't show any biased. I wish more items were posted on here like this. It covered an event and discussed briefly the events that took place in the Middle East to cause the protest. It made mention of Hezbollah crossing the border and kidnapping and killing soldiers to start the conflict and Israels response. Nowhere in the article do I see where people involved in the protest are talking about hating America or death to America or any of that crap. They were exercising their rights just as a Jewish group did later that evening in support of Israel. Labeling a whole group of people the way you have because of one peaceful protest and probably because of the actions of a small group of fundamentalist that do hate this country and everyone who lives in it isn't very smart.

Cleveland Indy Media Center