NEW YORK — Three rabbis were among 100 people arrested here Tuesday after blocking the U.S. Mission to the United Nations to protest a possible war with Iraq.
Hours later, from his prison cell packed with 62 men, Rabbi Arthur Waskow of Philadelphia’s Shalom Center, said those arrested were “joyful and determined.”
“Whether the war is on or whether we’ve been able to force it to delay, either way there will be these demonstrations,” Waskow blared, rousing the prisoners.
Tuesday’s arrest of the rabbis marks one of the first visible signs of Jewish activism in the small but growing American movement to oppose a war in Iraq.
In the Bay Area Tuesday, A Jewish Voice for Peace co-sponsored an anti-war demonstration in front of the Federal Building in Oakland, drawing about 300 people.
Said Liat Weingart, co-director of Jewish Voice for Peace, “Jews have a responsibility to speak out against this war because of the horrible consequences for both Israelis and Palestinians.”
While Jews have historically embraced anti-war movements, they have not been in the forefront of this one — in part because of concern about Iraq’s threat to Israel and in part because a majority of U.S. Jews, like most Americans, appear to back President Bush’s link between action against Iraq and the war on terrorism.
In the Bay Area as well as in New York, several groups on the left have spoken out against war with Iraq. Among them are the Tikkun Community, headed by S.F. Rabbi Michael Lerner, editor of Tikkun magazine, and A Jewish Voice for Peace, a Berkeley-based group that advocates for peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
But most mainstream Jewish organizations have come out at least in cautious support of a war.
Although individual Jews were represented at the rallies — Waskow spoke in New York as did Ben Cohen, co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream — Jewish involvement in the fledgling anti-war movement appears minimal.
There’s a perception in the Jewish community that “to remove Saddam Hussein would somehow strengthen the security of Israel,” said Rabbi Michael Feinberg, who directs an interfaith organization in New York.
“I think a war against Iraq could inflame the tensions and the violence that already exists in the whole region and turn it into complete conflagration which would help no one’s security, not Israelis, not Palestinians, not Iraqis and not Americans.”
Along with Was-kow, Feinberg and New York Rabbi Ellen Lippmann were also arrested for civil disobedience during the anti-war demonstration organized by the New York City Forum of Concerned Religious Leaders that drew more than 200.
Held in conjunction with International Human Rights Day, anti-war demonstrations took place in more than 100 cities throughout the country.
European rallies drew even larger crowds, with thousands thronging to demonstrations in Rome and Paris, according to CNN.
Most Christian denominations have made statements opposing the war, according to Feinberg, adding that he hopes rabbis and Jewish communal organizations will follow suit.
But Malcolm Hoenlein, executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, had a different take.
Jews “understand that the war on terrorism is vital to the security of the United States of America’s interests abroad, to the stability of the world, to any prospect of stability in the Middle East, for peace for Israel. This is an integral part of that war.”
The Conference of Presidents, which is an umbrella group of Jewish groups, stands by its statement issued two months ago that war should be employed as a last resort, but war may be the “only option,” Hoenlein said.
“I think that people have to put into context the developments and recognize the true nature of the enemy that we are confronting,” which is part of a terrorist network that has declared war on Jews all over the world, he said.
But according to Waskow, supporting war with Iraq endangers Israel.
“The Bush policy puts Israel in enormous danger, and the Jews should be opposing that policy with all their energy,” he said, citing CIA officials who claim Iraq would only employ weapons of mass destruction if faced with no negotiating room.
And the most likely target of an attack would be Israel, said Waskow, who was released Tuesday afternoon along with the others.
He and the others now must appear in court to face charges of disorderly conduct.
Waskow believes Bush’ intentions are to strengthen his own standing and to empower “big oil,” without regard for the U.N. inspections process.