Durham, NC City Council Meeting Regarding Police Policy
and Training in Israel
Durham, North
Carolina becomes first U.S. city to bar police from training in
countries with militarized police. Israel is among those
countries. The statement presented to the Durham City Council, led by Mayor Schewel,
was approved unanimously at their April 16, 2018 meeting.
Schewel presided over an open forum where everyone was given a
chance to say what they wanted. Mayor Schewel is Jewish.
Please contact Mayor Schewel to thank him
for his courage and determination to do justice and to do so
knowing that there would be heated criticism.
Steve.Schewel@durhamnc.gov. Also the
council members.
JVP Triangle Material
Check out
JVP Triangle
Online
Jewish
Voice for Peace Triangle, NC and national
urge follow-up actions. Click
here.
JVP’s deputy director Ari Wohlfeiler stated in a press release:
Starbucks will never say it publicly, but because of the huge public
outcry about the ADL’s unyielding pro-Israel position,
their refusal to
condemn police violence, their incessant Islamophobia, and the
convergence of all those retrograde positions
in their active
facilitation of US/Israeli police exchange programs, Starbucks had no
choice but to demote them.
[Note, Schewel's comments are directed
primarily to the Jewish Voice for Peace, which is in favor of the
policy statement
and to Voice for Israel,
which is opposed to the policy statement. He has reasoned criticism
for statements coming from members of both organizations, though,
significantly, it should be noted that the statements he
criticizes are not "official" statements of the organizations.]
Concluding
paragraph of Mayor Schewel's wrap-up statement
“I am a Jew. I am a Zionist. I believe in
the existence of the state of Israel. I fear for its survival.
But I know the terrible traumas visited on us as a people, we
are now visiting on the others in Gaza and in the West Bank. And
to me not only are our mortal souls in danger because of that,
but I also believe that the survival of the Jewish state is
dependent on doing justice to the Palestinians and I do not
believe that we are. And when I say “we”, I include myself. So,
that is the context in which I view this statement. And I
appreciate everything I have heard tonight."
Articles about the Policy Statement
[The Associated Press article appears
in more than 30 news outlets, including the Times, Post and
Tribune.]
Reactions from community organizations several weeks after the statement
was issued Primary
organization is Voice for Israel
of North Carolina This organization is right-wing, pro-Israel and opposed
to the council statement and seeks its rescission.
Voice for Israel
of North Carolina petitions the Durham City Human Relations Commission
(HRC)
The Mainstream Jewish Community Responds to this Injury
Voice4Israel and the Durham Chapel Hill Jewish Federation
promptly contacted the Durham Human Relations Commission (HRC),
writing:
"While we recognize our diverse community views, we speak for
many community members who are ashamed of and appalled by the
recent actions of the Durham City Council. On April 16, 2018,
the City Council unanimously endorsed a statement imposing a
total ban on police exchanges with only one country in the
world: the Jewish nation of Israel. There was no evidence to
support the City Council’s actions, only propaganda lies
promoted by a group that has well-documented animus toward the
Jewish state.
The City Council’s actions against the Jewish community in
Durham and its surrounding area have created unnecessary
tensions and a deep divide in our community, indefensibly giving
anti-Semites a platform and sending the message that
anti-Semitism will be tolerated, and perhaps even encouraged, in
our community. We need your help in addressing these problems,
to restore respectful relations among the people of Durham, and
promote mutual understanding and regard for all citizens..."
On
June 5, 2018, Voice4Israel and the Durham Chapel Hill Jewish
Federation presented to the HRC.
Based on the merits of the written materials we offered and our
oral presentation, the HRC decided to create a subcommittee to
research fully the injury the local Jewish community feels it
has suffered. We include here our June 5 presentations to the
HRC and the additional information provided. We will keep the
readership informed as there are new developments.
Rebuttal
of Rocamora"The City Council's Intent"
by Sam
Bryan 8-8-2018
Did the policy statement on International Police Exchanges,
issued by the Durham City Council on April 16, single out
Israel, or was that its intent? Mr. Rocamora, in his Letter
to the Editor (“Revise or repeal?”, July 1), contends it
does - “This singles out Israel from the rest of the world.”
(More)
"Singling Out Israel" by Dr. Robert Gutman 8-12-2018
"We all are grateful that Sam Bryan was able to learn from
his honor that the mayor will not make the same mistake
again (“The
City Council’s intent,” Aug. 11). Thank you, Mr. Bryan,
for that.
Your question was only about the future. But the history is
different: The preamble is part of the
statement. It posits more boycott for Israel than is
found in the next paragraph that prohibits only
"militaristic exchanges" with other countries." (More)
Rebuttal of Gutman
“Criticism of city undeserved” by
Sam Bryan 9-8-2018
In response to Robert Gutman (“Singling out Israel,” August
12), I grant the wording of the first paragraph of the City
Council’s
policy statement on
international police exchanges
that references Israel lends itself to different
interpretations. (More)
A
"Symposium" conducted by Voice for Israel and The Jewish
Federation (opposing the council statement)
Read article in
Mondoweiss
about JVP members attempts to be part of the "response."
Young Jews disagreed with the JCC - and they called the cops on
us
Snippet:
"We were disappointed and hurt to find that “Jewish Community
Responses” did not include a single voice that represented our
opinion. Before the event, we wrote an
open letter letter to the organizers asking
them to invite a member of Jewish Voice for Peace to speak. They
did not. So on Sunday, we came to the JCC to listen to the
panelists and ask questions during the question and answer
session."
Snippet:
"
Jewish community tensions over the Durham, North Carolina city
council’s April voteto
ban police officers from educational programs in Israel spilled
over last week after police escorted two members of the group
Jewish Voice for Peace out of the Jewish Community Center when
they tried to hand out flyers criticizing local Jewish leaders."
Click
here for JVP handout. You see that it is a thoughtful
attempt to be collegial. Hardly deserving the two young ladies
handing them out being threatened with arrest. Photo at right
taken outside the venue.
They
heard someone shout "You're not Jewish!" A leader of the JCC/Federation
reported that someone said, "You should die." The Forward
article about the symposium reported that someone called
them Nazis. One of the ladies received an email from someone,
who did not appear to be local, that said, "F**king Kapo piece
of s**t."
Voice
for Israel leaders' open letters (posted on their website) to
Council member Johnson and the mayor and council as a whole
regarding a tweet about the killing of Israeli protesters by
Israeli forces
"Lullabies and Blood-Libels: An
Open Letter to the Mayor and Durham City Council"
from Dr. Michael Ross - August 18
The Beth El
synagogue initiative: Distribution of book and letter to Durham
churches - a future "conversation"?
A
letter signed by Daniel Greyber, Rabbi, Beth El Synagogue
and Joel L. Fleishman, Professor of Law and Public Policy, Duke
University dated July 2018 was sent to numerous Durham churches.
The letter references the council statement "... on April 6
banning police partnerships with Israel." The letter did not
explain that the ban was on police training with anyforeigncountry where the police would receive
military-style training. The mayor has made it clear about the
any country. The letter goes on:
"It is clear to say that the vote tore
at the fabric of our community." And "We will follow
up with an invitation to a conversation this fall ... ."
The
letter to the congregations was accompanied by a book:
Letters to My Palestinian Neighbor. A very pro-Israel
narrative with some serious omissions and misrepresentations,
but some candid acknowledgements too about the suffering inflected by
the occupation. Worth reading to get an idea about where the pro
Israel camp stands. Definitely deserves a pro-Palestinian
rebuttal. See below.
Final paragraph:
"I agree with you that peace can come only if we
succeed in sharing this land and living on it with justice and
fairness for both nations. And I will forever agree with your
sentiment that the “violence, suppression, rage, despair” that
characterizes our relationship must end. But perhaps the problem
with your letters is that they don’t read as if they are seeking
an answer, hoping for that Palestinian neighbor — me — to
respond, but instead seem like lectures, half a conversation
with a partner who is expected to stay quiet and listen."
2. Second Lawsuit - December 6, 2018
Durham Council Members Sued Over Alleged Violations of
Open-Government Law - INDY Week
In a lawsuit filed today in Durham County Superior
Court, Deborah Friedman, a Durham resident who opposed
the city council’s April resolution instructing the
police department not to enter into exchange programs
with foreign countries, alleges that Mayor Steve Schewel
violated the open-meetings statute in crafting the
controversial measure, which drew accusations of
anti-Semitism. Status?
3. Third Complaint (Potentially
the Third Lawsuit) - A North
Carolina Jewish group and rabbi claim in a wide-ranging
35-page complaint that the Durham City Council’s
adoption of a policy barring city police from training
in Israel is discriminatory, an illegal boycott against,
retaliatory, etc.
March 12, 2019
Durham policing statement: third group files
complaint | Raleigh News & Observer
The North Carolina Coalition for Israel sent a
complaint to interim City Attorney Kimberly Rehberg
seeking a resolution before filing a lawsuit in U.S.
District Court against the city of Durham, all its
City Council members, and Durham Human Relations
Commission members Andrea M. Hudson, Diane Standaert,
John Rooks and Mikel Barton.
March 20, 2019
NC City Council Accused of Stirring Anti-Semitism
| Courthouse News Service
GREENSBORO, N.C. (CN) – A North Carolina Jewish
group and rabbi claim in a federal lawsuit that the
Durham City Council’s adoption of a policy barring
city police from training in Israel spreads
anti-Semitism and deepens racial tensions.
Durham, North
Carolina becomes first U.S. city to bar police from training in
countries with militarized police. Israel is among those
countries. The statement presented to the Durham City Council, led by Mayor Schewel,
was approved unanimously at their April 16, 2018 meeting.
Schewel presided over an open forum where everyone was given a
chance to say what they wanted. Mayor Schewel is Jewish.
Jump down to Reactions from community organizations several weeks after the statement was issued click here.
Primary
organization is 
They
heard someone shout "You're not Jewish!" A leader of the JCC/Federation
reported that someone said, "You should die." The Forward
Voice
for Israel leaders' open letters (posted on their website) to
