I WILL KILL YOU

Anti-Israel demonstration in front of the consulate in San Francisco on Montgomery Street between Sacramento and California, at 4 PM, Monday March 16th.

As usual we were outnumbered. Less than thirty of us on the pro-Israel side, around three hundred on the anti-Israel side.
I may be severely overestimating our numbers and under-counting theirs.
In which case, let me apologize - I do not mean to misrepresent the facts. Sorry.

I also wish to apologize to the gentleman who asserted that he would kill me, f*&cking kill me - yes, mister, you are ugly and stupid, and probably have body-odour issues, but none of that is your fault! I shouldn't have called you a moron. The truth hurts, and sometimes it is best to diplomatically gloss over it.
That you screamed "I will f*&cking kill you" in my face was likely in lieu of more standard small talk, and I shouldn't have reacted as I did.
Your problems are not your responsibility. Maybe nature, maybe nurture, I shan't speculate. Sorry.



TERRY THE DYSFUNCTIONAL MATH TUTOR

But I'm NOT sorry for calling Terry any of those things. He IS a moron, and he does smell a wee bit (well, he does!). He was being his own blisteringly irritating self last night - did you know I'm a Nazi child-killer? Until he pointed it out in several repetitive ways, I had been unaware of it.
He is a bore. Is there any medication for that?



TRISTAN 'CRICKET' ANDERSON

Yesterday evening's anti-Israel gangbang was in honour of Oakland activist Tristan Anderson of the ISM (International Solidarity Movement), who caught a tear-gas canister with his face last Friday while participating in a rock-throwing demonstration in a closed military zone on the Israeli border.

Unlike the SFPD, who are trained to deal with rowdy and unbalanced individuals, the IDF is tasked strictly with security - and the border is, shall we say, under contention, as well as subject to frequent assault.
Showing International Solidarity with angry Arabs by rioting in that area is not entirely safe, nor advisable.

[Quite different than Rotterdam, London, Oslo, Stockholm, or even Berkeley, where showing solidarity with angry Arabs by acts of violence and vandalism is politically sanctioned and socially approved.]


I shall not fault Mr. Anderson for sincerity. He and his girlfriend, like so many Oaklanders and Berkeleyites, may indeed sincerely believe the Jewish State to be the incarnation of all evil as prophesied by the book of revelations (or in Das Kapital), and sincerely wish Jews to be expelled from the Middle-East in a great and glorious uprising of the proletariat, with just oodles of blood and dancing and mass-action - maybe a variation on these themes which is less crimson, or a Peace-Love-Green-Tofu version of it that denies that there are ANY violent tendencies on the side which they support - but their sincerity, despite all that, need not be questioned. They probably thought that they were doing the right thing.

[Like many of the good people of the Bay Area, when they're at home they no doubt spend much of their money on feeding and clothing the homeless, and comforting the poor.]


Tristan (Cricket) Anderson is currently in the intensive care unite of Tel Hashomer Hospital near Tel Aviv. His girl-friend of less than a year, Gabrielle Silverman, is by his side, and his family have flown to Israel to be there for him.

[Gabrielle Silverman is in Israel on a Birthright-Israel trip - not a few activists make happy use of this opportunity.]



ATTENDEES

Unlike most of the anti-Israel celebrations in the Bay Area, this time there was a more interesting and diverse bunch on the other side. Not just the usual hate-filled psychotics, but a wide spectrum of people, including some sincerely (and, arguably, misinformed, maleducated, misguided) peace-at-all-cost-niks.
A number of members of JVP and BAWIB were also sincerely present, showing solidarity with the Palestinian cause. And as there were no chants of 'death to the Jews', it was entirely within their comfort zone.
Often such people are the passive enablers of the rabid element - and I note that Kate Bender Raphael was on the news last night presuming to speak for all of them.

There were also about fifty anarchists in the crowd. Their fury was not so much against Israel and the Jews, as against all authority figures, building security, police, principals, and truant officers. Once the herd thinned out a bit, they intended to smash some things, and overturn some other things, while yelling juvenile taunts at adults wearing uniforms.

After an hour and a half of sincere rhetoric, the poetry of outrage, and revolutionary rap, the crowd decided to go to Market Street to stop traffic and bang on buckets. So they headed down Montgomery, their motley presenting a colourful and utterly San Francisco spectacle. That's when the gentleman I mentioned previously offered to cause my demise. He interrupted his participation in the 'march' to make sure I got the message.

Thank you. Your sincerity is noted.



DISPERSING WITH FLAGS

I passed a burning trashcan on the way back to the office. An hour later when I headed into Chinatown, there were still many police cars parked near consulate - these were awaiting the fracas that ensued when the other side returned. According to the news there were five arrests, one of which was for assaulting a police officer. At one point, the police needed to act quite forcefully to prevent vandalism and violence.

The other side, of course, is screaming about Police Brutality and the Jack-Booted Gestapo of the Democratic Party Capitalists.
Sometimes their rhetoric gives me an uncontrollable fit of the giggles.