PRO-ISRAEL AND ANTI-ISRAEL

Report on the love-fest outside the Israeli Consulate, Monday November 6th., 2006.


I got to the Consulate by around ten past four. And was somewhat surprised by the un-impressive turnout - usually the soft-on-terror side has more people. By four thirty both sides had reached the numbers that, with only little increase, were to be maintained for the next two hours.


Our side (the Pro-Israel side) had about a dozen people. Their side had about fifteen. The police had about twenty. The anti-Israel side had billed this as a 'silent vigil'. A concept which some of them did not grasp. One of the vocal demonstrators fittingly carried an anarchist banner, the significance of which was as incomprehensible to him as the imperative to shut up and not make a fool of himself.


We are much blessed by the lack of brainpower of our enemies.


While both sides faced each other across the street, the police happily stood around keeping an eye on things. There was little for them to do, little intervention required.


By five o'clock the venomous potato woman and her friend the blinking ex-red guard had augmented their side, along with a few other known faces, maybe half a dozen. Our side had grown by probably the same number. And both sides festively moved down Montgomery Street, to take up positions at the BART station four blocks away, where the silent part of the silent vigil was abandoned in favour of angry ranting and the spitting of unprintables by the more eloquent Jihadniks.


An undercurrent of anti-Semitism (the spice of life!) coloured their rhetoric, and their uncritical support of murderers and hate-mongers did not go entirely unnoticed.....

If their motive was to rouse sympathy for the poor downtrodden rocketeers of Gaza, they failed rather miserably -- many people came over to shake our hands and voice their support for our cause and thank us for being there.


I must have spoken with around twenty people. Which is remarkable, given that I was actually deep in conversation with another member of our side about Palau (an island-nation in the Pacific, east of the Philippines) , betel nut (areca palm nuts chewed for their stimulating effects in many parts of South-East Asia and the Pacific), herring (a product dear to our hearts), red loin cloths (the crimson hue has magically protective powers), headhunting by Dayaks (when the government in Indonesia was not paying attention a few years ago, Dayaks in Borneo dealt quite effectively with Madurese transmigrants who had dispossessed them), Indonesian imperialist ambitions (anyone remember the brutal occupation of Timor L'Este? How about the continuing repression in West-Irian?), and several other matters.


All in all, the public seemed much more supportive of our point-of-view than I had experienced at previous events. Perhaps the tide is turning. Perhaps the strident hatred expressed by the other side is starting to grate on people. Whatever it is, it's a refreshing change, and I hope that the clarity and moral-support evinced today continue to spread.


The battle for the hearts and minds of the public must continue. But in that battle, our enemies are our unwitting allies. Which is a very good thing.