The FBI knocks again.

• Author: Gilbert, Ronnie
• Position: War on terrorism, Unitad States - Brief Article

For the second time in my life--at least--a group that I belong to is being investigated by the FBI. The first was the Weavers. In 1950, we recorded a couple of songs from our American/World folk music repertoire, Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene" and the Israeli "Tzena, Tzena, Tzena," and sold millions of records. Folk music entered the mainstream, and the Weavers were stars.

By 1952, it was over. The record company dropped us, and television producers stopped knocking on our door. The Weavers were on a private yet well-publicized roster of suspected entertainment industry Reds. The FBI came a-calling.

This week, I just found out that Women in Black, another group of peace activists I belong to, is the subject of an FBI investigation. Women in Black is a loosely knit international network of women who vigil against violence, often silently, each group autonomous, each group focused on the particular problems of personal and state violence in its part of the world.

Because my group is composed mostly of Jewish women, we focus on the Middle East, protesting the cycle of violence and revenge in Israel and the Palestinian Territories. The FBI is threatening my group with a grand jury investigation. Of what? That we publicly call Israel's military occupation of Palestine illegal? So does the World Court and the United Nations. That the Israeli policy of destroying hundreds of thousands of the Palestinians' olive and fruit trees, blocking roads, and demolishing homes promotes hatred and terrorism in the Middle East? Even President Bush and Colin Powell have gotten around to saying that. So what is to investigate? That some of us are in contact with activist Palestinian peace groups? This is bad?

The Jewish Women in Black of Jerusalem have stood vigil every Friday for thirteen years in protest against the occupation. Muslim women from Palestinian peace groups stand with them at every opportunity. We praise and honor them, these Jewish and Arab women who endure hatred and frequent abuse from extremists on both sides.

We are not alone in our admiration. Jerusalem Women in Black is a nominee for the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Bosnia Women in Black, now ten years old. If the FBI cannot or will not distinguish between groups who collude in terrorism and peace activists who struggle in the full light of day against all forms of terrorism, we are in serious trouble.

I have seen such trouble before in my lifetime. It was called McCarthyism. In the...