DEXTER, Mich. — Coalition Against Genocide, an anti-Zionist group, will hold a protest Sunday in front of a Michigan Holocaust museum, drawing immense backlash from local Jews.
And a main organizer of the event, 86-year-old Holocaust survivor Rene Lichtman told The Post that if counterprotesters arrive, he would welcome the two groups slugging it out: “I have no problems with a good fist fight between these fascists and our people.”
“Protest & demand. End genocide,” reads an Instagram post from the group. “In front of Zekelman Holocaust Museum.” Located in Farmington Hills, the Zekelman Holocaust Center is the state’s largest Holocaust museum.
Michigan has been a hotbed for debate over the war in Palestine since Hamas’ Oct. 7 massacre in Israel. In the Democratic primary, Michigan’s large Arab population protested Biden’s support of Israel with 100,000 uncommitted votes.
Campuses such as the University of Michigan have also had intense protests against the United States’ support of Israel over the last year.
The announcement of the July 14 event has been met with condemnation from Pro-Israel Jewish groups such as the Anti-Defamation League.
“Scapegoating US Jews and the @HolocaustMI by holding them responsible for another nation’s actions is antisemitism — full stop,” tweeted ADL Michigan. “We are working with the Zekelman Holocaust Museum and local authorities to address safety and community concerns.”
On its Facebook page, Jewish Voice for Peace said, “The Coalition Against Genocide includes Holocaust survivor Rene Lichtman, Holocaust descendant Heather Burnham and others.”
In a letter to the center, Lichtman and Burnham wrote, “We are asking that the museum make a statement of support for a ceasefire and solidarity with the people of Palestine. We are also asking that you divest from working with any companies that are funding Israel’s human rights violations.”
Lichtman, a Holocaust survivor born in France in 1937, was ousted from a position at the Zekelman Holocaust Center this year after lying down in the road by the museum to protest its support of Israel.
He has certainly lived many lives. As a child, his family came to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, where he spent his youth. In later years, he even served as a volunteer in the Israeli Defense Forces — an organization he now accuses of genocide.
He has visited Holocaust museums around the world to share his story. Lichtman was a regular speaker for years at the Zekelman Holocaust Center but claims he was booted after he began to speak on current controversies.
“You’re supposed to stick to the script, which is to tell your own story without anything especially controversial,” he told The Post. “So I made a couple mistakes in the last several years, like, for example, when all the children were locked up by ICE in the cages.”
Now Lichtman is returning to his old place of work to demand the museum renounce its support for Israel.
“I’m going to be speaking as a Holocaust survivor, as someone who’s been in that museum for a long, long time. I know everybody, you know,” he said. “We want a pretty simple demand, which is that the places like this museum demand a ceasefire. That’s the least that a museum like that can be doing.”
ADL Regional Director Carolyn Normandin is offended anyone would hold an anti-Israel protest at a Holocaust museum.
“I think it’s disgusting. It’s really vile that organizations use the Holocaust museum as a staging point for things like this,” she told The Post. “Accusing Israel of genocide in front of a Holocaust museum really minimizes the horrors of the Shoah. It dishonors the memory of victims.”
Lichtman called this criticism “horse baloney.”
“There’s nothing holy about a museum. They just invent that. This is where you go and you recite the names of all the Jews that have been killed,” he said. “It’s just a building with a bunch of barbed wire around it. But the values that it teaches are important.”
Lichtman’s protests against the war in Palestine have won him some friends in Michigan, including Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib — who was censured in a bipartisan November House vote for antisemitic and pro-Hamas rhetoric.
“She’s a good friend of mine,” said Lichtman. “I know her personally. I have a picture of us together, and I’ve been a supporter of her for a long time because I respect what she stands for.”
A day after he was first interviewed, Lichtman himself called The Post to report there would likely be a large counterprotest at the event.
He said a longtime acquaintance from the Washtenaw Jewish News had contacted him to say that it had received more than 400 emails about the protest from concerned members of the local Jewish community.
Lichtman added he denied the museum’s request to delay the protest to prevent potential violent altercations with counterprotesters.
“The director of the museum today sent word out asking that I postpone it one week because of the fact that the right wing will be there this particular Sunday. And I said, ‘No, we’re not gonna postpone it because of these clowns,’” he declared.
“I mean, they really are clowns. They’re really pathetic individuals. All of them. I know half of them, members of ZOA, or Zionist Organization of America. And they’re what Trump might call losers. You know, they’re just weirdos.”
Even more alarming, Lichtman said he welcomes physical conflict.”The director said, ‘Can you postpone it a week?’ No. What? Why would we postpone it a week? We had all this publicity and they’re the ones who showed up. He figured if we wait a week, you know, we wouldn’t have any conflict with them,” he said.
“But I’m not worried about any conflict with them. And even if you think about the worst-case scenario that we’d have a big fight with them, I think that would be great. I think that would be wonderful.”
Lichtman continued to justify any possible violence: “They’re using 2,000-pound bombs in Iraq, you know, and we’re gonna have some fist fight here, and they’re gonna make a big deal out of it.”
He even said he relished the prospect: “So that’s why I say the worst-case scenario on Sunday night is, if there’s a fight between the groups, I think that would be great. I have no problem with a good fist fight between these fascists and our people.”