DRY BONES PROJECT: RAPID RESPONSE

CASE ONE

 

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EVENT:             Natan Sharansky is attacked by Abe Greenhouse                                     

  A Jewish Rutgers University Student

 

DATE:                                  September 19, 2003

 

SOURCE:  (AP) NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. -- A Rutgers University student was arrested after throwing a pie in the face of Natan Sharansky before a scheduled speech by the Israeli cabinet member.

Abe Greenhouse, a University College student, accosted Sharansky on Thursday night, as he was about to address a crowd of about 500 people on "a Jewish perspective of the road to peace."

As Sharansky approached the podium at Scott Hall, Greenhouse threw a cream pie directly in his face. Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident, serves as Israel's minister for Jerusalem and Diaspora affairs.

 

Greenhouse was removed from the room by campus police and later charged with disorderly conduct, Rutgers Police Chief Barry Roberson told the Home News Tribune of East Brunswick. He was released on his own recognizance.

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RESEARCH: Who is Abe Greenhouse?

 

FINDINGS:

 

A - (Haaretz Service) The man who threw the pie was Abe Greenhouse. The posting called Sharansky a “Zionazi” member of “war criminal Ariel Sharon’s government,” and his former post as housing and construction minister was described as being “more accurately, Minister of Illegal Settlements and Demolition.”

 

 

B- http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/968427/posts

 

"I’m horrified," Greenhouse, the founder of the newly formed Central Jersey Jews Against the Occupation, said from his East Jerusalem hostel last night. "I’m in the depth of a peace offering and it’s frustrating when you see all these things happening in front of my eyes," he said. In many instances, he felt the Palestinian citizens have been wronged by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and have even felt his wrath when he was among the 47 activist arrested for trying to shield the home of a farmer in the West Bank Village of Ma’sa on Aug. 5. He was detained for 22 hours (by the Israeli Army) and eventually released.

C - http://newjersey.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=6606&group=webcast

Taken from the link above: A pic from my recent visit to the Western Wall in occupied East Jerusalem. The note being stuffed into the cracks (a Jewish tradition) reads ""END THE MOTHERFUCKIN' OCCUPATION!!!" Abe Greenhouse (July 22nd, 2003)
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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DATE: SEPT 21, 2003

 

ANALYSIS:

An Israeli politician is invited to speak at an American University and a pie-throwing activist accosts him. The act accomplishes four things:

1.      The activist and his allegations are the media story instead of the speech by the Israeli.

2.      The Israeli speaker is humiliated (after all, it’s “only” a pie in the face) and he is forced to be a good sport, shrugging off the physical attack.

3.      The feeling that it is dangerous to speak for an Israel on campus is strengthened.

4.      The attacker poses as a daring hero who attacks the speaker in spite of the fact that he himself is also “Jewish”.

 

RESPONSE: 

The Dry Bones Project decided to counter with the following strategy:

  1. Change the topic of the story to “Freedom of Speech” is attacked.
  2. Show the “Activist Jew” to be “self-attacking” (the natural outcome of self hatred). Silly, rather than daring.
  3. Use the feeling that Fighting AGAINST freedom of speech is un-Jewish.

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RESPONSE DATE: SEPT 22, 2003

 

ACTION - ONE: Contacted the Rutgers Alumni Action Committee to open a channel for our response. 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


ACTION - TWO: Created a Dry Bones Cartoon to be printed and posted around campus as well as sent through email chains. The impact of the cartoon is to turn the incident to the advantage of those people fighting anti-Semites and to utilize Jewish Humor to get the public to laugh at the perpetrator and his actions.

 

 

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


In addition, the Cartoon was released through The Dry Bones National Syndication for distribution throughout the United States and Canada. It is also available in black & white as well as an animated GIF file.

 

FURTHER ACTION: The character of the self-hurting simple “Pie Man” can now become the basis for a continuing Rutgers and other American University Campuses in their campaigns against anti-Semites who would deny the right to speak.