“They’re not going to find any there,” she said.
“If the FBI thinks a small group of Jewish lesbians are going to have information about Islamic fundamentalists, then they’re not doing their job.”
Women in Black is a movement made up of Jewish and Arab activists who advocate an autonomous Palestinian state. During their vigils they stand silently, dressed in black, and hold signs calling for an end to the Israeli occupation of Palestine. The movement has dramatically grown in size, gaining worldwide support since it was started in 1988 by a small group of Israeli Arab and Jewish women.
Raphael said it is preposterous that she or the group should be considered suspect. She does not consider herself a prominent Middle East activist, and believes she may have been singled out because she spoke at the Jewish Voice for Peace-sponsored rally — essentially what she termed “an inspirational speech” that encouraged alliances between Jews, Arabs and other dissenting groups.
“There is no reason for the government to imagine we would or should know anything,” she said. “It’s a little hard for me to believe that they actually do believe that.”
Instead, Raphael believes that Women in Black and other leftist groups are being singled out as a way to stifle their voices.
“I think they’re trying to make it a very difficult environment for anyone to express views on policies in the Middle East, and send us a message that they’re watching us,” said Raphael.
“The government is in the process of trying to perpetrate a war. They feel there is no real place for political dissent.”
Other local leftist political groups, including the Middle East Children’s Alliance and the international chapters of Women in Black, have not been confronted by the FBI. But Raphael, who is currently working with the National Lawyers Guild to inform targeted groups such as Muslim-Americans and South Asian-Americans about their rights and the repression they face, believes “everyone has to assume their actions are being noted and they might well be called.”
Patty Hansen, an assistant media representative for the San Francisco FBI, said the agency cannot comment on individuals they are interviewing. But she did confirm that the local FBI is interviewing hundreds of different people.
Raphael said when she got home the night of the rally she found an answering machine message from a FBI agent requesting an interview regarding Women in Black and who she might know in the Middle East.
“I felt those were not questions I was willing to answer,” said Raphael. “I’m not willing to discuss my constitutionally protected political work with the government.
“I know I don’t have any information that would be relevant to their investigation,” she added.
When asked why she did not just relay that to the FBI, she replied that “it’s never that simple. Once I go in there, they will ask me questions about other people” — implying the tactics are similar to the communist witch-hunts of Sen. Joseph McCarthy.
“I don’t believe [those tactics are] correct or will serve the investigation of who perpetrated the horrific attack on Sept. 11.”
Raphael immediately contacted her lawyer, Rachel Lederman, who in turn contacted the FBI. When Lederman asked for a list of the FBI’s questions, the agents refused, according to Raphael.
She then received a second message from the FBI explaining that “Women in Black is not a target, they don’t suspect us, but they want to talk to me. She said if I didn’t come in to see her soon, she’d probably have me subpoenaed to the grand jury.”
Raphael’s feelings about talking with the grand jury are much the same as her feelings about talking to the FBI, however.
“I would have nothing useful to tell them,” she said.