I just read an article from the North Jersey Jewish Standard about local NJ Jewish motorcycle clubs trying to stand up in support
of Trader Joe's. I found it both sad and amusing. Well intentioned
people, who appear to refuse to deal with the complexities of the
conflict, offering simplistic knee jerk support of Israel. If this is
how status-quo people are going to defend Israel, then progressive
citizens and politicans have a great chance at chaning the dynamic for
a just resolution to the conflict.
-Bob Nesoff, president of the New Milford Jewish Center and a
member of Jewish motorcycle clubs Hillel’s Angels and Chai Riders,
began coordinating the counter-protest last week. He has arranged paths
along routes 4 and 17 with local police departments. And while the
Trader Joe’s in Paramus carries only a small number of Israeli
products, he said, he has been told that the store will stock up on
those ahead of the ride. (The Jewish Standard was not able to confirm
this.)
-“Our message is simply, ‘If you are going to try to harm Israel,
we are going to do our best to help Israel,’” Nesoff said. “They’ve got
to know that Jews and friends of Jews in Israel are not going to sit
back and take it on the chin.”
-Participants in the ride will not speak about the state of
negotiations or the two-state solution, Nesoff said. They will be there
only to show support of the Jewish state.
-Despite the apparent inability of the (Don't But Into Apartheid)
group to mobilize the boycott locally, Nesoff remained firm on the need
to show support. “If [the boycotters] get away with this now, they’re
going to go from Trader Joe’s to Target to Kohl’s to whomever else,”
Nesoff said. “We feel it’s got to be stopped in its tracks.”
It made me think of the poem by Pastor Martin Niemoller:
First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.
