About 50 people protested the police exchange programs that the Anti-Defamation League organizes, between the United States and Israel, on Wednesday, Nov. 8, at 10495 Santa Monica Blvd., outside the Los Angeles office of the ADL.
According to the Facebook page, which announced the protest, Jewish Voice for Peace – Los Angeles, USC (University of Southern California) Students for Justice in Palestine, and Palestinian and Jews Decolonize hosted the protest, which they dubbed “Deadly Exchange,” that JVP organized nationally.
Protesters, Wednesday, Nov. 8 march toward the LA local ADL office; photo by Barry Saks
The protesters started at corner of Westholme Ave. and Santa Monica Blvd. in Los Angeles and marched about .3 miles to 10495 Santa Monica Blvd., a local ADL office.
On the short march, through the noise of the rush-hour traffic, the protesters chanted: From Palestine to Mexico, all walls have got to go; From LA to Palestine, cop surveillance is a crime.
When a delegation of the protesters attempted to enter the front door, it was locked. The delegation tried to engage with the person at the reception desk. The person told the delegation she or he not was authorized to accept whatever the delegation had and that it should be sent to the ADL national office.
Outside the office, the protesters heard speakers and chanted more. One speaker was Rawan Tayuoon, the chairwoman of USC SJP, Palestinian and co-founder of PJD. Tayuoon, who according to the Electronic Intifada is a member of the Young Democratic Socialists, told the protesters ADL views what she and others call “intersectionality” (sic) as threat and blames it for the growth of Palestinian solidarity.
The protesters again chanted: From LA to Palestine, jailing children is a crime; We are unstoppable, another world is possible; ADL, Stop the exchange.
JVP Executive Director Rebecca Vilkomerson, in an email, on Thursday, Nov. 9, said the protests were in 15 cities. She also reported in New York City seven JVP members were arrested when ADL refused to meet with a delegation and seven of the delegates refused to leave.
While the ADL website says it supports social and racial justice movements, the website also says, “ADL is the nation’s top non-governmental law enforcement training organization” and yearly it “train(s) more than 14,000 law enforcement professionals on extremism, terrorism (and) crimes….Since 1999, more than 130,000 law enforcement professionals have received Law Enforcement and Society training, with programs established in New York, Los Angeles, Dallas, Seattle, Tampa, St. Louis and Houston.” The same website added, “ADL takes a small number of law enforcement executives to Israel to study its counter-terrorism approaches. More than 200 high-ranking American officials have participated in ADL’s week-long National Counter-Terrorism Seminar in Israel since it began in 2004.”
Rawan Tayoon, USC SJP chairwoman, Wednesday, Nov. 8, speaking outside LA ADL office; Photo by Barry Saks
Regarding JVP, the ADL website says, “Jewish Voice for Peace’s hardline (sic) stance is demonstrated by its positions on BDS, willingness to partner with anti-Israel organizations that deny Israel’s right to exist and legitimize terror, and its refusal to support a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.”
The protesters, on Wednesday, Nov. 8, listening to a speaker, outside the ADL office; photo by Barry Saks
HaMoked: Center for the Defense of the Individual and B’Tselem jointly in October 2017 produced the report, “Unprotected: The Detention of Palestinian Teenagers in East Jerusalem.” The website of HaMoked characterizes itself as an Israeli human rights organization with the main aim of assisting Palestinians of the occupied territories whose rights are violated due to Israel’s policies. The website of B’Tselem, characterizes itself as defending human rights in “the (Israeli) Occupied Territories.”
A summary of the report, said, “Palestinian teenagers from East Jerusalem are pulled out of bed in the middle of the night, unnecessarily handcuffed and then made to spend a long time waiting for their interrogation to begin. Only then, when they are tired and broken, are they taken in for lengthy interrogation sessions, without being given the opportunity to speak to a lawyer or their parents before the questioning begins and without understanding that they have the right to remain silent. They are then held in the detention facility under harsh conditions, for days and weeks, even once the interrogation has, in fact, ended. In some cases, all this is attended by threats, verbal and physical abuse – before or during the interrogation.”
A little later, the summary adds, “These practices leave law enforcement agencies free to use pressure to force them to confess. And indeed, many of the detained minors sign involuntary confessions (sometimes the confessions are false and sometimes written in a language they do not understand), which are then used as the basis for the indictments against them.”
The Los Angeles Police Department and the ADL were unavailable for comment.
Barry Saks is a socialist and a member of JVP.
Barry Saks 