Shrinking Zionist Bubbles: Letters To The Maine Jewish Museum

Children try to get food relief in the southern Gaza Strip city of Rafah, on December 31, 2023. 

Rizek Abdeljawad/Xinhua/Getty Images

Yesterday I wrote about an upcoming photography show glorifying women making sushi to feed the Israeli military. After I shared my response, several people shared their own messages to Dawn LaRochelle, Executive Director of the Maine Jewish Museum in Portland (dlarochelle@mainejewishmuseum.org). 

With their permission, I'm sharing them with you. 

Zone of Interest

I just learned that your museum will exhibit photographs by artist Hedva Rokach of Japanese Sushi Girls celebrating their feeding of Israel's occupation forces -- the same forces who are implementing the internationally recognized genocide in Gaza. 

Meanwhile, I cannot lose the images of 15 months of photographs depicting what a genocide looks like. I am haunted by photos: of the baby who was starving to death; of the father holding the body of his headless baby; of the tents burning; of the lonely aid truck surrounded by starving, desperate people; of the nude male Palestinian prisoners paraded single file through the bombed out streets; of Palestinians kneeling in prayer beside the ruins of yet another Mosque; of the neighborhoods razed through the endless destruction using bombs built by my neighbors, paid for with my tax dollars.  

There are also brilliant photos of the resistance to this evil, including the many photos of Jewish friends standing strong, wearing handcuffs, stopping business as usual in an effort to wake us up to the devastating tragedy of this genocide. 

Your decision to exhibit these photos reminds me of the message in the recent film, The Zone of Interest, pretending that all is well while the smoke of the massive, cruel death of innocents permeates the world around us. 

Sadly, 

Mary Beth Sullivan, Brunswick 

Millions of residents of Gaza are at risk or starvation; children are dying of hunger  Pratapdarpan India

Shrinking Zionist Bubbles 

The upcoming sushi girls exhibit is advertised on your site as a show of solidarity and kindness in a complex time. True solidarity is the stand that Jewish Voice for Peace has taken against the apartheid institutions that privilege them while allowing for the ethnic cleansing of the people of Palestine, described and extensively documented as a genocide by virtually every international human rights organization.  Far behind us is the era where it is remotely socially acceptable to celebrate "the soldiers at the front in Israel," who have been enacting daily massacres resulting in the mass murder of scores of civilians on a constant basis for the past year on top of decades of military occupation and decades of siege of the indigenous population. This exhibit is a clear attempt to normalize that oppression, but the eyes of society are increasingly able to detect such efforts.  Even if associating with the apartheid project is socially acceptable in shrinking Zionist bubbles, this tone deaf display that betrays a White supremacist disregard for millions of refugees being targeted in the names of Jewish people is denounced by a growing number of conscientious Jewish allies and the entire rest of the world. Be advised that your institution can no longer enjoy the privilege of celebrating its war crimes without the scrutiny of society; I encourage you to do the research to unpack your Zionist programming, because people will no longer look away.

Yussra, New Hampshire

UNICEF/UNI495569/ZAGOUT

Shaima, 8-years-old, waits her turn in the crowd to get a meal from a charitable hospice that distributes free food in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. “I've been waiting here for two hours, but I haven't gotten any food. My mother and my little sister are waiting for me. They haven't eaten since yesterday.” Gaza Strip, December 2023

Upcoming Obscene Exhibit

Just when I think I've heard/seen it all . . . which is never the case with Israel's genocide of Palestinians . . . I learn of this upcoming obscene exhibit at the Maine Jewish Museum.  Have you lost all sense of decency?  A focus on "Sushi Girls" feeding the IDF, the Zionist Shock Troops responsible for carrying out the policy of the extreme right-wing Likud party!  Celebrating the feeding of those responsible for the slaughter, torture, terrorism, and starvation of Palestinians, the freezing to death of Palestinian babies, the murder of health care providers, aid workers, journalists, and on and on!  

And, to top it off, those coming to observe this travesty on the opening night can, we are told by your PR spiel, "Mingle with artists and art lovers, enjoy wine and cheese with museum mavens and curious minds, and celebrate with us as we unveil our newest exhibitions!" 

Of course, we know from History that there were also plenty of supporters of the Nazis willing to sell their souls in the midst of the horrific, unforgivable Holocaust of Jews, not dissimilar to the horrific unforgivable Genocide of Palestinians by Zionists.

Shame on you. 

Constance Jenkins, Belfast  

Palestinians line up for food in Rafah, Gaza, on November 30. Hatem Ali/AP

 

Should Be Ashamed

The Maine Jewish Museum should be ashamed to glorify the genocidal IDF killers with this Sushi reception.

Have you all no memory, no heart and any conscience at all?

Have you not learned anything from the Holocaust?

Are you not paying any attention to what is actually being done to the Palestinian people on a daily basis?

The Zionists controlling Israel have turned their nation into a global pariah.

You should apologize to the community for this glorification of war crimes.

Bruce Gagnon, Brunswick

Maine Jewish Museum To Celebrate Feeding Zionist Stormtroopers

Source: Maine Jewish Museum website

This morning I emailed the message below. 

Dawn LaRochelle
Executive Director
Maine Jewish Museum

Dear ED LaRochelle,

I was shocked to learn of the upcoming Japanese Sushi Girls[sic] exhibit of photographs celebrating the feeding of Israeli's occupation forces responsible for the most brutal genocide of our times. 

This is nothing to celebrate.

Artist Hedva Rokach writes of the cooks, "there was a harmony and order among them that charmed me."  Here's what's not charming: carpet bombing of Gaza, forced relocation to "safe" locations that are subsequently bombed, deliberate sniping of children, detention of thousands to be tortured but never charged with any crime, use of dogs to maul pregnant women, and, most ironically, deliberate starvation.

I don't know if you are aware that both McDonald's and Starbucks publicized their role in feeding the Israeli military and both are now under consumer boycotts that have affected their bottom line. Because those with eyes to see know that genocide is evil and wrong. 

Does the Maine Jewish Museum lack the eyes to see victims unless those victims are Jewish? Why celebrate Zionism, a violent political ideology that expresses delight when Palestinian infants freeze to death in tents where their families have taken refuge?

I am confident you will hear from Jewish Voice for Peace activists in Maine about this show as one of them brought it to my attention. 

An artist friend of mine has exhibited her work at the Maine Jewish Museum in the past. I will be urging her to boycott your institution in the future.

Sincerely,

Lisa Savage

Solon, Maine

p.s. All the embedded links in my message connect to authentic websites that share news from Gaza. If you and others at the museum have the courage to look for the truth, my research may be useful to help you do so.

p.p.s. I would have shared this message with your other staff and board of directors, but your website does not provide contact info for them. So, I ask that you forward this message to all concerned with the governance of the Maine Jewish Museum. 

-end-

Gaza today - Source: Jewish Voice for Peace

Readers, if you'd like to join me in letting the Maine Jewish Museum know how you feel about their upcoming celebration of Zionist violence, the address to use is: dlarochelle@mainejewishmuseum.org. 

Also, note that there is a reception with remarks by the artist on Wednesday, January 15 from 5-6:30pm at 267 Congress St., P0rtland.