Word was spreading about a pro-zionist rally planned for the University of Michigan campus for November 3rd, and a crew of about 20 anti-zionist Jews and supporters decided to counter the shit-show.
The diag on UM campus is a popular spot for rallies and protests, but this was the most well-resourced event I’ve ever seen there, and with the largest police presence. Uniformed officers were spread throughout the crowd, and there were many plainclothes cops as well. The speakers not only had a large professional sound system, but two big-screen displays that I’d never seen used at a diag event before. There was a crowd of about 300-500 rallygoers, many with Israeli flags. It also seemed that a large number of attendees were older, probably due to the rally being planned for parent’s weekend when parents of students visit town to spend money at the M Den.
The rally’s speakers showed how close to power the rally was. We suffered overly-long speeches from right-wing former UM regent and Trump fundraiser Ron Weiser, as well as AIPAC president Betsy Berns Korn, and a separate speaker whose name I didn’t catch, but was introduced as affiliated with the “FIDF”.
The genocide denial and nationalism was coming from the halls of power. There were standard IDF talking points and conspiracy theories about Hamas command centers in hospitals and fake photos of palestinian victims. No tears were spared for the dead and captured from October 7th, and none were shed for the victims of IDF retaliation in Gaza, let alone victims of settler violence in the occupied West Bank. It seemed that the most compassionate the speakers or rally-goers got was to shrug their shoulders at how unfortunate it was that they had to retaliate by killing Palestinian children by the hundreds, as if their hands were forced. NOT killing these children however was unthinkable.
Speakers claimed to defend “Free Speech” while calling for the banning of all criticism of Israel, on campus and beyond. The existence of voices speaking against the genocide of Palestinians were blamed essentially on “the woke mob”. Intersectionality was specifically called out as dangerous for the Israeli state. Accurate descriptions of life in Gaza under occupation were claimed to be conspiracy theories. The standard lie that anti-zionism and criticism of Israel is anti-semitic was a regular feature. The crowd seemed to follow the speakers the entire way, letting out loud cheers to a speaker’s call for everyone to be “proud zionists”, and following in other pro-Israel chants. It felt almost like an Israeli MAGA rally.
Thankfully we were there to make sure this shit couldn’t be spewed in public without opposition. We held cardboard signs with simple messages like “Never Again for Anyone” or “Genocide is not a Jewish Value”. Zionists tried to cover us with Israeli flags, get close-up photos of us, heckled us calling us “nazis” and even saying one of us should be beheaded. More than once we had to physically block an angry rallygoer from approaching one of our group. Police would also intervene if it looked like a confrontation was going to become physical and not just verbal. This was almost entirely coming from the older people in the crowd, not the younger student-aged attendees who seemed to at least consider the signs as if they were totally unaware of anti-zionist Jews. It was one of the rare times I felt like physical violence was a possibility at a Diag event, but the rallygoers didn’t end up trying anything foolish. Some did try lecturing us about how Israel wasn’t apartheid, or how things “really were over there”, but quickly left when one of us who spoke Hebrew challenged them.
As the rally died down, we left as a group chanting “Free Palestine”! No physical altercations happened, and nobody was arrested or detained by police. Overall I’d call it a success. The point of the zionist rally was to conflate pro-palestinian and anti-genocide organizing with anti-semitism, which as anti-zionist Jews we visibly disrupted. Zionists were also clearly uncomfortable that there was even some resistance they had to confront.
Some lessons learned and other thoughts:
- The positionality of being Jewish and anti-zionist in solidarity with Palestinians is very powerful right now. Use it if you have it, boost it if you don’t.
- Having someone to film confrontations is very useful for these kind of counter-demo situations, you may want to prepare to do this while handling footage securely.
- It can feel very empowering to have friends to protect you so you can shout down genocidal
rhetoric.
- Stick together, it makes managing interactions with a potentially hostile crowd easier.
- Put messages on both sides of your signs so they can be read from the back.
- Be prepared for media presence. If someone is willing to be public, and is good with
media, it can help possible coverage not be one-sided (though there’s no guarantee).
Shutting down zionist rhetoric in mainstream spaces is important right now, as well as interfering in the material support for the state of Israel. This may take some nuance since in the wider world there are actual anti-semitic actors trying to take advantage of the situation, as covered in It’s Going Down. But, you can still act. Find each other! Do something!
Anonymous submission to Unsalted Counter Info.
