Questions abound after activists barred from event
The S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council is evaluating whether Jewish activists’ rights were violated when they were barred from entering a pro-Palestinian conference on Saturday, Oct. 2.
S.F. Voice for Israel had about 40 protesters outside of Horace Mann Middle School in San Francisco’s Mission District to protest the use of a public building for a gathering called “The Struggle for Palestine — 4th Anniversary of the Intifada,” sponsored by The Justice in Palestine Coalition.
“I think our rights have been trampled,” said Voice for Israel member Ted Cohen. “They argued with the police that we shouldn’t come in, so we weren’t allowed in. They said our purpose was to disrupt their conference.”
The pro-Israel activists claim they were not allowed inside, even with a proposed police escort to ensure their civil behavior.
Calls to Jess Ghannam and Rayan Elmine of the Justice in Palestine Coalition were not returned.
Miguel Marquez, a lawyer for the San Francisco Unified School District, said he did not want to take a side in the issue, but stated that the organizers of the pro-Palestinian event marked on their application permit that the conference would be open to the public.
Fund-raiser for Harvey Milk sculpture
The first event to raise funds for a sculpture of Harvey Milk at San Francisco’s City Hall will take place at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center, 1800 Market St., S.F.
Milk was the gay Jewish supervisor assassinated along with the mayor, George Moscone, in 1978.
The evening will feature a wine and cheese reception, entertainment and friends of Milk’s such as Supervisor Tom Ammiano. Supervisor Matt Gonzalez, who sponsored the resolution calling for the sculpture in Milk’s memory, will also speak.
Tickets are $10 to $1,000.
Information: www.milkmemorial.org.
Free concert at Stanford in honor of Daniel Pearl
The third annual Daniel Pearl Music Day will take place 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, at Memorial Church on the Stanford campus.
Pearl, the Stanford graduate and Wall Street Journal reporter who was killed by kidnappers in Pakistan in 2002, played violin and mandolin.
The concert is part of the 2004 Chamber Music Live! series, and will feature members of the Stanford music department faculty, including the St. Lawrence String Quartet, an ensemble in residence; Mark Applebaum and George Barth, piano; Robert Huw Morgan, organ; Barry Shiffman, violin; Jennifer Lane, mezzo-soprano; Roopa Meena Mahadevan, vocalist; and Adrian Coburn, soprano, performing works by Jonathan Berger, Tom Johnson, Judith Weir, Ernest Bloch and Adrian Coburn.
The free concert is sponsored by the university’s department of music and Office for Religious Life, and Hillel at Stanford.
High school Christian club accused of anti-Semitism
A Santa Rosa high school Christian club is out of business after passing out literature considered anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic and anti-gay by fellow students and some faculty.
Last month, members of the Jesus Club of Montgomery High passed out tracts — written in comic book form — from Chick Publications, an evangelical ministry based in Southern California.
Per school rules, all club literature must be pre-approved by a faculty adviser.
Club members failed to have the tracts approved ahead of time.
One of the tracts, titled “Who Cares,” tells the story of a young Muslim who converts to Christianity. In one panel, a Christian character says to the Muslim, “Mohammed and his god, Allah, offer you nothing.” Another, called “The Trial,” depicts a Catholic priest, Muslim mullah and Hasidic Jew sent to hell for rejecting Jesus Christ.
After the school administration received complaints, Jesus Club faculty adviser Nina Peterson withdrew her sponsorship of the club, effectively shutting it down (all campus clubs must have an adviser).
The Anti-Defamation League’s San Francisco office was notified of the incident after a teacher complained that some of the Jesus Club literature was anti-Semitic. Club member Abigail Hernandez denies that any club material was anti-Semitic or even mentioned Jews and Judaism.
Chick Publications does publish tracts targeting Jews for conversion, and includes material some might consider anti-Semitic.
A board meeting of the Santa Rosa City School District last week reaffirmed the club’s right to freedom of speech, but also condemned the literature as hateful. District superintendent Mel Solie said: “I personally find [the tracts] offensive. If any group is targeted, we will take action.”
Hernandez says the club will continue to meet off-campus until a new faculty sponsor is found. A Montgomery teacher reports that the students continue to hand out tracts on campus.
Said ADL Regional Director Jonathan Bernstein: “Jewish faculty feels singled out and labeled anti-Christian, but they also feel this needs to be stopped. The school district seems very sympathetic to our issues. We are now speaking with the school about educational responses in terms of faculty training on diversity and creating a positive climate on campus that welcomes everybody.”
Israeli, Palestinian women speaking in Bay Area
Three women whose lives have been greatly affected by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will be speaking in the Bay Area.
Gila Svirsky, an Israeli Jew, Marianne Albina, a Palestinian Christian and Hidaya Said Najmi, a Palestinian Muslim, all believe a just solution for both peoples is possible.
The women’s tour is the eighth such speaking tour sponsored by the Washington-based Partners for Peace.
The women will speak at 7 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14, in room 420-041 at Stanford University, and again at 12 p.m. Friday, Oct. 15, at the World Affairs Council, 312 Sutter St., second floor, S.F. Tickets are $12 for non-members; $5 for students with ID. Tickets: (415) 293-4600 or www.itsyourworld.org.
Hadassah hosts women’s health conference in S.F.
With key sessions on Jewish genetic disorders and related diseases, Hadassah’s San Francisco chapter is hosting a daylong women’s health symposium on Sunday, Oct. 17, at the Westin St. Francis Hotel, Union Square, S.F. The 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. event will examine critical health issues, particularly those affecting Jewish women.
Topics include a look at genetic testing and discrimination, a Jewish perspective on medical ethics and gastrointestinal disorders. Other subjects include the promise of stem cell research, infertility and menopause. An “Ask the Doctor” session will enable delegates to obtain answers to general medical questions.
The keynote presentation will be delivered by Dr. Saralyn Mark, a clinical professor at Yale University School of Medicine and the senior medical adviser to the Office on Women’s Health, Department of Health and Human Services, and NASA.
Funds will be donated to the Patricia and Russell Fleischman Women’s Health Center, Hadassah Medical Center at Ein Kerem, Israel. Registration is $25 through Tuesday, Oct. 12, and $35 after, and includes refreshments and a light lunch. Information: www.hadassahsanfrancisco.org, click on Special Events, or (415) 771-5900.
Kehillah student selected as a top ‘young scientist’
David Marash-Whitman, a ninth-grader at Kehillah Jewish High School in San Jose, was selected as a top young scientist in a contest sponsored by the Discovery Channel.
As one of 40 finalists in the 2004 Discovery Channel Young Scientist Challenge, he will get an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., later this month.
His project, which took first prize at his school’s science fair and then won several awards at the Santa Clara County Science Fair, focuses on how commonly used residential pollutants affect the growth of organisms in local creeks and the San Francisco Bay.