(Jewish Group) Born and raised Jewish, man leads 19 years of protests against a MI synagogue

[Behind the Aegis]

Born and raised Jewish, the man leading 19 years of protests against a Michigan synagogue embraces antisemitic tropes

The 76-year-old Holocaust denier who has protested outside a Michigan synagogue nearly every Shabbat for 19 years was born Jewish, attended Hebrew school, had a bar mitzvah and used to attend High Holiday services at the synagogue he targets.

What began as a protest against Israeli policies has morphed into one that challenges the Jewish state’s right to exist and traffics in blatantly antisemitic tropes. The organizer, Henry Herskovitz, holds signs with slogans like “Resist Jewish Power,” “No More Holocaust Movies” and “End Jewish Supremacism in Palestine,” along with one honoring a man who loved Hitler.

Unsuccessful lawsuits
The weekly vigil outside an Ann Arbor synagogue building attracted national attention after two congregants sued, accusing the protesters of violating their right to freely exercise their religion. The lawsuits failed. Federal judges ruled that the Constitution protects the protesters’ free speech, and ordered the congregants to pay $159,000 in legal fees. The U.S. Supreme Court this spring refused to hear appeals.

But little has been written about the man spearheading the ongoing Shabbat demonstrations. In an interview, Herskovitz said that visits to Iraq, Israel and the West Bank led him not only to abandon Judaism but to believe baseless conspiracy theories implicating Israel for the 9/11 terror attacks and to reject the historical record of the Holocaust.

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What a disgusting piece of shit he is! He is the "Court Jew" type that many anti-Semites hold up as their "see? SEE?! It isn't really anti-Semitism!". While he is an extreme version, sadly, many other Jews are in a similar "Stockholm Syndrome-esque" situation, if not outright anti-Semites themselves. I feel some of the training against anti-Semitism should focus on Jews.

[Mosby]

1. Can you imagine what it was like growing up at that shul?

Every shabbat he was there, when you were little and later when you had your bar/bat mitzvah. All this hatred from just one person. This isn't what free speech is about, it's abuse.