The online edition of the Cedar Rapids Gazette reports that Jews in Postville, Iowa, are showing support for former Agriprocessors manager Sholom Rubashkin, with yard signs depicting him against a U.S. flag background. The posters carry the message: “Send Sholom Home.”
A federal jury in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, found Rubashkin guilty Nov. 12 on 86 counts of money laundering and bank fraud charges.
Yard signs supporting Sholom Rubashkin feature an American flag motif. (Photo: KCRG-TV9)
Yard signs supporting Sholom Rubashkin feature an American flag motif. (Photo: KCRG-TV9)The graphic show of support for Rubashkin in Postville has rankled some military veterans, according to the Gazette Online, which carries a story broadcast on KCRG-TV:
Local veterans are angry about the design of the posters.
“I was outraged,” veteran Gary Hooper said.
“You got him pasted right into the flag … that’s not right,” veteran Terry McNally added.
The men point to a section of the Iowa Code that makes it illegal to desecrate a flag.
“The flag is very sacred to me and our country,” veteran Harlan White said.
“I sacrificed my blood for the flag, so did my father and grandfather,” Hooper added. “It means our freedom.”
City and state officials say it’s unclear whether the poster actually violates the Iowa law.
Former Postville city council member Aaron Goldsmith, a member of the Iowa town’s Hasidic community feels that the posters represent an innocent misunderstanding.
“I think they wanted to send a message that Sholom is not forgotten, but they took an avenue they didn’t understand could be been seen as harmful,” Â Goldsmith told a local TV station.
Here is a link to a report about the minor controversy, which aired on Iowa’s KCRG-TV9:
The Failed Messiah blog has featured thorough coverage of the Agriprocessors story and its aftermath in federal court, including Rubashkin’s recent appeal of the judge’s order that he remain in jail pending an appeal of his multiple convictions. — Mordecai Specktor
