Ezra Nawi

Ezra Nawi, an Iraqi Jew and a plumber by trade who currently resides in Israel, is a tireless and relentless human rights advocate for Palestinians. He is due to be sentenced on Wednesday, July 1 2009, for supposedly assaulting an Israeli police officer who accompanied a crew that was trying to demolish a Palestinian home as part of Israel's regular land grab (illegal takeover of Palestinians' lands and property in the West Bank in direct contravention of standing statutes in the UN and other peace agreements) activities. He is likely to be getting a large sentence this time and he plans on appealing his impending conviction. While there are no direct eye-witnesses to this incident, Ezra has a track record of pacifist intervention in demolitions. Every one that knows him confirms this and declares with absolute certainty that he would not have hit a policeman. By all indications, however, it appears that he will be convicted of the charges and put away for a very long time. He has been arrested on minor offenses (defying inhuman and perhaps illegal police orders, etc.) and spent a few days in jail in the past - all related to his activities trying to improve the lot of Palestinians.

Now with the political climate in the US changing a bit, and since it is no longer taboo to say that Israel might actually be committing crimes in the Occupied Territories, primarily due to the work of organisations like JStreet, Brit Tzedek v'Shalom, Gush Shalom, Jewish Voice for Peace, Rabbis For Human Rights, etc. and countless American Jews, many news outlets have started, albeit very slowly, talking about the Palestinian side of the story. American Jews who for the large part supported the Occupation have for the longest time been the stumbling block towards peace and in this case, justice for Palestinians.

The New York Times wrote an article on him recently. Change.org has a citizens' action page on him with some videos.