Susan Katz, Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Peoria and the area’s top Zionist, has been lobbying Peoria City Council members to restrict speech critical of Israel during public comment.
During the February 13th Peoria City Council meeting, dozens of pro-Palestinian activists demanded City Council pass a resolution calling for a ceasefire regarding the War in Gaza between Israel & Hamas. There were also several Zionist speakers in opposition to any such action. City Council has ultimately taken no such action, with Mayor Ali essentially ordering City Council members prior to the meeting to not get involved.
Following the contentious meeting on February 13th, Katz immediately began contacting multiple Peoria City Council members and lobbying them to put in place a new policy to restrict speech during public comment. She specifically singled out my speech where I upheld the equality of all people, condemned the supremacist ideology of Zionism, and argued for a ceasefire to release all hostages on both sides. In an e-mail exchange with At-Large City Councilmember Mike Vespa obtained via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, she accused me of making anti-Semitic ethnic slurs (though she never stated what those ethnic slurs were, probably because there weren’t any that were said) and slandering the Jewish people.
As can be seen in this video of my speech, I never once mentioned the Jewish people. I never said the word Jewish, Jew, or Judaism, because I was not talking about Jewish people. I very clearly stated I was talking about Zionists, i.e., people (like Ms. Katz) who believe in a settler-colonial Jewish ethno-state in the Levant called Israel. The criticisms I laid out during my speech were clearly criticisms of the state of Israel.
Vespa stated to Katz he agreed my condemnation of Zionism was anti-Semitic. He even stated that my comments “seemed blood libel-ish bad.” A blood libel is a disgusting anti-Semitic trope asserting that Jews ritualistically drink the blood of Christian babies. Neither I, nor anyone else that spoke, ever said any such thing.
Katz encouraged the City Council member to censor such speech writing, “I will leave it up to you and the council to determine if perhaps a policy should be put in place concerning blatant hate speech. One can hope it doesn’t happen again, but a plan is a good idea. Racist antisemitic comments should not be ignored because they happen during the public comments section of the meeting.”
Vespa responded affirmatively, “I think you’re probably right… I think I’ll make a statement and we should probably take a look at our procedural rules as a council.”
Agitation Rising contacted Vespa via e-mail asking for clarification on these slanderous accusations. In his response, Vespa literally libeled me by stating, “You accused the Jewish people of believing they’re better than the rest of us because they’re God’s chosen people, and that they therefore believe they’re above the law and can do ‘whatever they want’ including the murder and rape of children and operation of ‘torture dungeons’.”
At no point did I state “Jews murder and rape children in torture dungeons.” I did refer to numerous verified accusations against Israeli Defense Force (IDF) soldiers. It has been well-documented by Amnesty International that the IDF uses torture against Palestinians. Israel didn’t even have a law against torture until 1999, though it still de facto practices it. On principle, I am opposed to the use of torture. I condemn it when it is used by the US, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Israel, China, etc.
Furthermore, it has been verified that a fifteen year old child was raped by an IDF soldier by the Defense for Children International. Another case involving a thirteen year old boy, was reviewed and determined to be credible by the U.S. State department. An August 2013 report by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem documented several cases of abuse, including sexual threats, in the Etzion police station in the occupied West Bank. Between August 2009 and July 2013, according to the report, 12 children testified that “the interrogator threatened them or female relatives with sexual assault, such as rape or genital injury.” There’s even a study of 60 Palestinian men sexually abused by Israeli authorities published in 2015 by the medical journal Reproductive Health Matters. Does Ms. Katz believe all of these organizations are also hateful, rabid, racist, violent anti-Semites?
Every point made during my public comment was about the actions and behaviors of a specific nation-state and its agents, not the Jewish people. These actions are merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the state of Israel. I do not blame Jewish people for the crimes of Israel, just as I don’t blame Russians for the crimes of Russia, or the Iranians for the crimes of Iran. No state should be excused of such behavior, even if the majority of their population is an historically oppressed group.
I also, on principle, oppose ethno-states regardless of their demographics. I oppose white, black, Jewish, Arab ethno-states especially when it involves an apartheid system against a minority population.
Agitation Rising has previously reported on Sue Katz’s decades-long history of slandering anyone who criticizes Israel or believes Palestinians should be treated as equal human beings as violent, hateful, racist, anti-Semites. I know numerous pro-peace activists she has done this too.
Back in 2017, I was part of an organization called Peoria No Ban No Wall (PNBNW), an immigrant justice organization. We posted on our Facebook page a video showing Israeli Defense Force soldiers shooting tear gas canisters into a Palestinian elementary school in the occupied city of Hebron. Obviously, the implication of sharing the video is that one ought not tear gas little children. Ms. Katz saw this video and contacted every organization that PNBNW had any affiliation with. They were told PNBNW was a vicious, anti-Semitic organization, and any event we would organize would be a violent event.1
Katz refusal to engage in civil debates about this issue, and her impulse to slander anyone she disagrees with as anti-Semites simply shows the poverty of her beliefs and her inability to defend the actions of Israel.
Even if I hadn’t spoken, Katz still considered the pro-Palestinian activism at City Council as anti-Semitic and a danger to the Jewish community. She said as much in a recent article she published in the March edition of the Community Word where she stated, “The real purpose of the ceasefire effort—to isolate & de-legitimize Israel and deny Jews their right to live there. For the Peoria City Council to even consider such a resolution would make the Peoria Jewish community very uncomfortable.”
The Jewish Federation of Peoria posted on their own Facebook Page an article declaring anyone calling for a ceasefire as anti-Semitic. According to Katz, if anyone even dares think a ceasefire might be a good idea, they are a rabid anti-Semite.
Agitation Rising recorded nearly every public comment provided by both pro-ceasefire and anti-ceasefire speakers, which you can view below:
Zionists have longed tried to equate criticism of Israel with criticism of Jewish people as a whole. They use Jewish identity as a human shield against the crimes of a specific nation-state. They will state that speech critical of Israel is hateful. Then, they frame such speech as violence—as an imminent threat—against Jewish people and try to lobby politicians to censor or even criminalize such speech. The Jewish Federation of Peoria even stated they supported a ban on the TikTok app for alleged spreading of anti-Semitism (i.e., TikTok is a source of unbiased reporting on the ongoing genocide in Gaza).
As it plays in Peoria, so to does it play in America.
This is a pattern shared throughout the United States. Last December, the U.S. Congress passed a resolution declaring all anti-Zionism as anti-Semitic. 38 states have adopted some form of anti-BDS legislation. BDS stands for the Boycott, Divest, Sanctions movement against the apartheid government of Israel. In almost every case, courts have struck down these laws as a violation of the first amendment. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has recently inflated the number of anti-Semitic incidents in the U.S. by including any protest or event which criticizes Israel or Zionism. U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham recently stated that any accusation that Israel is starving the Palestinians in Gaza (which they are) is a blood libel. A member of the ADL recently said on the MSNBC show Morning Joe that wearing a Keffiyeh2 is the equivalent to wearing a Nazi Swastika.
Such trivial slander diminishes actual anti-Semitic incidents (which absolutely do occur, especially when Israel behaves in a more heinous manner than its current apartheid system). If every slight against Israel is viewed as anti-Semitic, eventually people stop believing you when you claim something is anti-Semitic. It’s no different to accusations of racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia: when every action is deemed racist (etc.), then the word ceases to have any meaning, and actual prejudicial occurrences are taken less seriously if not outright denied. To Vespa’s credit he did state, “I do agree that claims of antisemitism can be used in bad faith as a sword against legitimate criticisms of the Israeli state.” Just not my criticisms of the guiding ideology of a state which engages in ethnic cleansing & apartheid.
One ought hold Israel to the same standard as all nation-states, including its Arab majority neighbors (many of whom are also guilty of human rights abuses).
Vespa did state via e-mail that he actually does not have any plans on censoring speech critical of Israel or Zionism during Peoria City Council meetings. Vespa declined to a more formal interview with Agitation Rising, stating it would “reward bad behavior.” Agitation Rising will give credit to Vespa for his willingness to engage in dialogue with local journalists, even if he disagrees with their reporting or speech.
- I have personally organized probably over a hundred events, most of them in Peoria, IL. Not one of them was ever violent. After the Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, where neo-nazis marched through the streets chanting “Jews will not replace us!” and “Blood & Soil!”, PNBNW held multiple anti-fascist rallies in Peoria. These were protests against fascism, white supremacy, & anti-Semitism.
- An Arab headdress which has become a symbol for Palestinian nationalism.
