Michel Warschawski (Mikado) () is an Israeli anti-Zionist activist. He led the Marxist Revolutionary Communist League (previously Matzpen-Jerusalem) until its demise in the 1990s, and founded the Alternative Information Center, a joint Palestinian-Israeli non-governmental organization, in 1984.
Biography
Michel Warschawski was born 1949 in Strasbourg, where his father was the Rabbi. At the age of 16 he moved to Jerusalem, in order to study the Talmud – he is a graduate of Mercaz HaRav. He later studied philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Despite having long since stopped being religious, fellow-activists on occasion turn to him to elicidate subtle points of the Jewish religion.
In 1982 Warschawski was one of the co-founders of Yesh Gvul. In 1984, Warschawski established the Alternative Information Center (AIC), an organization uniting Israeli and Palestinian anti-Zionist activists.
In 1987 Warschawski was arrested for "providing services for illegal (Palestinian) organizations" and sentenced in 1989 to twenty months prison, for publishing articles written by alleged PFLP members about prison conditions and interrogation techniques.[1]
Warschawski is a writer and journalist, whose articles appear regularly in International Viewpoint, Le Monde diplomatique, ZNet, Monthly Review, Sine Hebdo and other publications. In the 2006 elections to the Knesset, he was a candidate on the list of Balad (the National Democratic Assembly)
Warschawski is married to attorney and human rights activist Leah Tsemel, and is the father of two sons and a daughter.
“One has to unequivocally reject the very idea (and existence) of a Jewish state, whatever will be its borders.” - (Michael Warschawski, The Haifa Conference for the Right of Return, June 2008)
"Ehud Barak, Tzipi Livni, Gabi Ashkenazi and Ehud Olmert--don’t you dare show your faces at any memorial ceremony for the heroes of the Warsaw Ghetto, Lublin, Vilna or Kishinev You are not representing any continuity with the Warsaw Ghetto, because today the Warsaw Ghetto is right in front of you, targeted by your own tanks and artillery, and its name is Gaza..." - (Michael Warschawski, Absolutely Not in Their Name, Not in Ours, AIC, January 18, 2009)