As a gay man I was disappointed but not surprised when a bakery in Colorado refused to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple, but I never expected to have a similar experience in Las Vegas. Valley Press, a local printer, refused to print a banner for our Las Vegas chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace because the CEO disagrees with our positions. What makes this even worse is that Valley Press brags on its Facebook page about printing for the local Human Rights Campaign and the AIDS Walk.
Valley Press was recommended as a union shop that did excellent work for progressive causes at fair prices, so I asked them to print our banner. Initially everything was smooth. I talked to Sheila Hacco, the CEO who answered my questions, gave me a quote and agreed to lay out the banner and email me a proof. Seeing the many positive online ratings and the work for HRC and the AIDS Walk left me confident that this was a company I wanted to do business with.
Sheila promised a proof in a few days but when it did not arrive I emailed asking when I could expect it and I got the following response:
Hi Seth,
I am sorry but I will have to decline making this banner for you. I had to check your website before moving forward. How sad that this is a one sided voice and some very false. I was born in Israel and was thought hope and peace, would love to see peace in my life time, would never want to see anyone die or suffer but with the type of information I just read and saw from jvp.org, all it does is spread lies, create hate and leaves no solutions.
It seems that your organization is really not explaining so much.. I would have loved to do a banner for peace, but this is not one of them.
If you believe in peace, you should learn more and give both sides a true chance.
Peace,
Sheila
Needless to say, I was amazed. The Colorado courts agreed with the ACLU in ruling that a reasonable person would assume that the cake expressed the message of the couple, not the baker. Is a banner any different? Sheila has every right to personally disagree with JVP’s position on Israel and Palestine but no right to use her printing company to censor our speech. Valley Press’s name is not on the banner.
We have filed a complaint with the ACLU and will pursue other legal remedies, but I hope that protesting this censorship will remind other businesses that everyone’s first amendment right to free speech must be respected.
I’m willing to bet that Sheila is hiding something!
■ Analysis: Adelson Has Hijacked the Israeli-American Community for His Hard-right Agenda
▪ New political pressure group will outflank AIPAC and fragment the Jewish establishment
By Chemi Shalev | Haaretz.com | Nov 07, 2017
LINK – https://www.haaretz.com/us-news/adelson-hijacks-israeli-american-community-for-his-agenda-1.5722229
Should a zionist printer be forced to print a JVP banner? How about an evangelical baker being forced to bake a cake for a gay couple? How about a Jewish baker being forced to bake a swastika flag for a Nazi customer? Or turn the example around–should a Nazi baker be allowed to refuse to serve Jewish customers?
When will SCOTUS rule on Masterpiece Cake?
I cannot imagine that a printer can be forced to print something against their wishes. If someone is more aware of the law than I am, enlighten me. (a cake maker is not in the message business, but in the food business. that’s why they can be coerced into providing a food service no matter their feelings on the reason why the people are gathering to eat food. but a print shop, can you force them to print what they find objectionable? can you force them to print: “down with straight people.” i don’t think so. you can’t force them to print against their will. that’s my thinking. i could be wrong.)
SETH MORRISON- ” Sheila has every right to personally disagree with JVP’s position on Israel and Palestine but no right to use her printing company to censor our speech.”
Do you really expect an Israeli born Zionist Jew to care about your right to free speech? Besides, with Zionist Jews using their power to pass laws defining criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism, in the near future you could be arrested for even having the banner. Or discussing it, etc. And things are likely to get worse. Sheila has a totalitarian mindset backed by power. Below is a quote and link regarding this latest Zionist lawfare offensive.
“The South Carolina Senate has recently passed legislation that changes the definition of anti-Semitism to include criticism of Israel, and then applies this new definition to college campuses in a manner that experts say will impede free academic inquiry. The U.S. gives Israel over $10 million per day, and Congress frequently approves increases to that amount; restricting discussion on this issue could serve to bolster and increase these expenditures.
The legislation codifies a definition of anti-Semitism that significantly changes the meaning of the word, and it requires the state’s colleges to use this new definition when determining whether an action is “discriminatory” and therefore prohibited. This new definition declares statements that are critical of Israel—even when factual—“anti-Semitic” and therefore impermissible.” (Allison Weir) http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/49295.htm
Well, JVP, that’s what happens when you don’t research in advance and avoid taking your business to Zionism supporters, tribal or not.
That’s also what Boycott means: Do Not Give Any Business (or even the time of the day) to Any Supporters of Zionism. What’s so hard to understand here?