Seventeen years ago a coworker was held at Kennedy Airport because he had a multiplicity of passports. By himself alone, he represented a microcosm of Europe: Germany, France, and England were represented among his official documents - England in fact several times.
When we heard about it, we had to smile. It was so typical of him.
Sikhs have a brashness and chutzpa-ish self-assurance that often leads to outrageous flouting of rules, and here in San Francisco we are very used to fake papers. Heck, most of the young Euro-trash infesting cheap lodgings here make darn sure that they have identification documents showing assumed names and ages, because they do not wish to get in trouble with the authorities when they break the law (as they do at the drop of the hat - "Yankee rules are NOT for us civilized people!"), and they keenly wish to drink themselves silly like they do in Europe ("I shall repeat: Yankee rules are NOT for us civilized people!").
It is axiomatic that one out of two Europeans in San Francisco engages in underage drinking, law breaking, and sexual harassment of local women.
For all such pursuits, possession of fake identification is 'le must'.
LETTER TO MILIBAND
Of course it isn't just Eurotrash that utilizes fake passports, as Maurice Ostroff explains:
Quote:
"For example, the fake passports at issue could have come from any of the flourishing passport factories in London open for trade with all comers. On February 26, Sue Reid in the Daily Mail described the "frightening ease", with which foreign terrorists and criminals can obtain fake EU passports made to order in 48 hours at counterfeiting factories in North London. (note the plural). She bought three forged passports for £1,200 each.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-388912/My-fake-passport-Britain.html
There are many other likely sources. The passports used in Dubai could even have been issued fraudulently by the British Home office, which has admitted to having issued 10,000 genuine British passports to fraudulent applicants. According to Mail online of March 21, 2007, an Al Qaeda fanatic was issued with nine British passports, seven in his own name and two in fraudulent identities, while he was plotting to murder thousands of people in a series of terrorist atrocities.
http://www.2nd-thoughts.org/id263.html
Another worry is that thousands of stolen passports are still in circulation resulting from a hijack in 2008 of 3,000 blank British passports and visas that were destined for British embassies abroad. The Mail online described the hijacking as a 'real coup' to terrorists, illegal immigrants and fraudsters.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1039490/Hijackers-steal-blank-British-passports-worth-2-5m-driver-stops-buy-chocolate-bar.html
Moreover, a Google search for fake passports reveals countless offers for genuine looking but fake EU, British, USA, Canadian and Australian passports. See for example
http://www.smh.com.au/travel/travel-news/travellers-warned-of-passport-scam-20090309-8tcd.html
"
End quote.
The rest of his 'Open letter to Rt Hon. David Miliband' can be found here:
http://www.2nd-thoughts.org/id269.html
It's a very good letter, and I encourage you to read it.
He does overlook one key thing in respect to the death of mister Mabhouh, and the door to mister Mabhouh's hotel room being locked from the inside with a safety chain in place.
That is the very distinct possibility that mister Mabhouh was killed by a local whore in Dubai. Of which there are several thousand who cater specifically to the hotel trade.
Dubai, as is well known, is a haven of enlightened attitudes in an otherwise depressingly repressive region. Many Arabs from conservative Saudi Arabia and elsewhere flock to Dubai for the opportunity to engage in 'romance', purchase designer goods, and get right royally blasted on liquor. Dubai is better than Paris in that regard, as there is far less snootiness, and far better even than Beirut, due to the smorgasbord of European and Asian hookers available to the well-connected.
Especially in the luxury hotels for which Dubai is so justly famous.
I cannot discount the distinct possibility that mister Mabhouh was engaged in something deliciously degenerate. In fact, if any of the Arabs whom I know personally is anything to go by, it is almost guaranteed that he 'rampaged' like a stallion while in Dubai.
[Yes, Mohammad, I remember when you were desperately trying to get into the panties of the Dutch woman. And Alai, you were just pathetic, drooling over that Swedish girl. As for you, Nasseeb, you like Phillipino transgenders - but do they like you?]
There are several other things which we might also wonder about.
Was the other person in mister Mabhouh's room male or female? Local Arab, or import tart? And was mister Mabhouh 'accidentally' done in by his sexual partner's vigour, or killed by the Dubai authorities OR Hamas agents for any number of possible reasons - such as face-saving, cover-up, intelligence failure, embarrassing lack of discretion, accidentally spilling the beans on something which either Dubai or Hamas did not want revealed, blackmail, sexual shenanigans with someone back in Gaza or Syria that he would have been better keeping his hands off of, etcetera.
One might counter that there is no reason to assume the worst of the man, and that all this is mere speculation. But that would overlook his history as a murderer, strong-arm goon, sadist, criminal, and weapons smuggler. Mahmoud al-Mabhouh was a thug. Who knows what such a person could have been involved in?
Or how twisted and dysfunctional his personal life was?
Additionally, there are others who may have benefitted from his timely demise.
Quote:
"On March 3, the London Telegraph reported that Al-Quds Al-Araby reported that Hamas itself believe that the security forces of an Arab state were behind the assassination. No less than Mahmoud Nasser, a member of Hamas political bureau spoke of efforts to kill Mabhouh who was being tracked by agents from Jordan and Egypt as he was in possession of information dangerous to particular Arab elements seeking to topple Islamist resistance."
Further:
"Gulf News and al-Khaleej newspapers in the United Arab Emirates quoted police chief, Lieutenant-General Dahi Khalfan Tamim, as saying that a Hamas member played a significant role in the killing of Mabhouh."
Source:
http://www.2nd-thoughts.org/id269.html
OR EVEN ... ?
Heck, it's not too farfetched to think that he was done in by British agents because he was about to blow the top off of Britain's passport racket. They are rather known for bending over backwards for well-connected Arabs (no questions asked).
As well as 'passport' expertise.
Showing posts with label Arabs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arabs. Show all posts
Friday, March 26, 2010
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
WORDS OF PRAISE
Earlier today I chastised a fellow commenter on Dovbear’s blog for using the ‘F’ word. My contention was that if you had something worthwhile to say, you diminished it by employing unprintable language.
I may not have explained that concept very well – I used the example of Arab social norms as the benchmark.
Arabs speaking Arabic on the whole shy away from foul language. There are exceptions, of course, but the average Arab will not curse or swear, especially not in polite company. And certainly not if his mother is present.
[This does not hold true if they are Egyptians, or the modernized offspring of immigrants, or speaking English in San Francisco. Then all bets are off.]
That tendency towards clean speech makes Arabic cussing that much more ‘impactful’ and shocking when it does happen.
Arabic has a well-developed vocabulary, and someone speaking Arabic is not crippled by a lack of off-colour words. But Arabs prefer to appall by content, not coarseness.
Other languages are more ‘colourful’ in common use.
Speakers of Hindustani, shorn of their curse-vocabulary, are nearly tongue-tied. The average Desi flings words like ch*rail and madrch*t around with such gay abandon that one would think he’s a harlot using ghee. Hindustani cussing metaphorizes acts of filth and incest of staggering nastiness – plus implied parentage that is quite impossible.
Modern American English, especially the teenage variant, is generously larded with verbs of congress – apposite, as these function like glue for the clauses that the juvenile delinquent wishes linked.
Dutch, like German, uses words mainly drawn from the copralecticon. Plus some that are sexual.
Other languages employ heretical and sacrilegious terms, rather than intercoursal or excretory conceptions.
In most cases cussing and swearing does not add meaningful content to one’s discourse and should be avoided.
Despite my own clean and virginal use of English, I have been exposed to the full gamut of gutter speech.
Whatever ‘innocence’ I had on that score was body-slammed out of me by the women of my ken.
My mother. My grandmother. My auntie. And my significant other.
SPEAK LIKE A LADY!
My mother, who insisted that she NEVER used foul-language 'and how on earth(!) did you(!!) pick that up(!?!)', was the daughter of a colonel in the army, and during WWII and the Korean War she herself served in the navy.
She probably swallowed the vocabulary from the air she breathed, as well as by studying Old-English at Berkeley. Given that she never cursed, I must have absorbed the words by osmosis. There is no other possible explanation.
Mother’s milk.
My grandmother was widowed young, and raised two boys to adulthood during the depression. She did a good job – both were well-brought up, educated, civilized.
Then WWII broke out, and all three of them served in uniform. She herself ended up in Germany for several years with the US forces during the occupation. Again, there must have been a quantity of air-borne verbal poo from the military environment.
I heard her several times blister paint.
In the most ladylike way, of course.
My auntie had been kicked out of Indonesia when the Nationalists gained control of the place. Women of her class and background DID NOT swear. Ever. Gracious, how could you even think that!
On the other hand, plants grow better if you encourage them.
Especially hot-house chilies, which will abundantly repay the attention which they are given.
If you heard her give them verbal love, your ears might fall off.
Her chilies were very hot.
Very very very hot.
My significant other, in complete contrast to all three of the above, is Cantonese-American.
Anyone who thinks that Cantonese people can express themselves without scorching the walls and raising the dead is mistaken. The first words I ever learned in Cantonese, nearly forty years ago, were the heartfelt wish that someone should commit violent incest. Followed by a biological promise of utter impossibility, as well as a curse involving bones, and a sincere commitment to provide someone’s entire family with caskets.
My fluency increased over the years, but I have never forgotten those first lessons.
[The Cantonese are descended from gamblers, thieves, smugglers, tax-evaders, escaped convicts, and rebellious elements, getting away from the government by crossing the passes into the malarial wilderness of Yueh. That ancient adventurous colonization of the Sui-T'ang frontier explains their language, their enterprise, their culture, and their subsequent world-wide migration.]
Savage Kitten, like all Cantonese, is eloquent. Vibrantly so.
Unlike the vast majority of Sinitic speechforms and dialects, the Cantonese language has a toxic vocabulary of stupendous richness, and a piquancy of expression that leaves other Chinese people slackjawed and quivering, utterly aghast at the lyrical flood of sewage that just hit their ears.
Imagine ten horrid things expressed in a mere five syllables.
Judicious combinations of repulsive ideas, and the extreme brevity that is a characteristic of all Chinese languages, lead to phrasing that requires almost Talmudic explication for the non-Cantonese public.
So, to everyone who uses the ‘F’ word, stop it. You are amateurs. You cannot possibly vehementize like the masters, and you are merely making fools of yourselves. What I hear on a regular basis, from the small Cantonese person with whom I share my living quarters, is the epic poetry of cursing.
What the rest of you produce is mere doggerel.
Just stop.
I may not have explained that concept very well – I used the example of Arab social norms as the benchmark.
Arabs speaking Arabic on the whole shy away from foul language. There are exceptions, of course, but the average Arab will not curse or swear, especially not in polite company. And certainly not if his mother is present.
[This does not hold true if they are Egyptians, or the modernized offspring of immigrants, or speaking English in San Francisco. Then all bets are off.]
That tendency towards clean speech makes Arabic cussing that much more ‘impactful’ and shocking when it does happen.
Arabic has a well-developed vocabulary, and someone speaking Arabic is not crippled by a lack of off-colour words. But Arabs prefer to appall by content, not coarseness.
Other languages are more ‘colourful’ in common use.
Speakers of Hindustani, shorn of their curse-vocabulary, are nearly tongue-tied. The average Desi flings words like ch*rail and madrch*t around with such gay abandon that one would think he’s a harlot using ghee. Hindustani cussing metaphorizes acts of filth and incest of staggering nastiness – plus implied parentage that is quite impossible.
Modern American English, especially the teenage variant, is generously larded with verbs of congress – apposite, as these function like glue for the clauses that the juvenile delinquent wishes linked.
Dutch, like German, uses words mainly drawn from the copralecticon. Plus some that are sexual.
Other languages employ heretical and sacrilegious terms, rather than intercoursal or excretory conceptions.
In most cases cussing and swearing does not add meaningful content to one’s discourse and should be avoided.
Despite my own clean and virginal use of English, I have been exposed to the full gamut of gutter speech.
Whatever ‘innocence’ I had on that score was body-slammed out of me by the women of my ken.
My mother. My grandmother. My auntie. And my significant other.
SPEAK LIKE A LADY!
My mother, who insisted that she NEVER used foul-language 'and how on earth(!) did you(!!) pick that up(!?!)', was the daughter of a colonel in the army, and during WWII and the Korean War she herself served in the navy.
She probably swallowed the vocabulary from the air she breathed, as well as by studying Old-English at Berkeley. Given that she never cursed, I must have absorbed the words by osmosis. There is no other possible explanation.
Mother’s milk.
My grandmother was widowed young, and raised two boys to adulthood during the depression. She did a good job – both were well-brought up, educated, civilized.
Then WWII broke out, and all three of them served in uniform. She herself ended up in Germany for several years with the US forces during the occupation. Again, there must have been a quantity of air-borne verbal poo from the military environment.
I heard her several times blister paint.
In the most ladylike way, of course.
My auntie had been kicked out of Indonesia when the Nationalists gained control of the place. Women of her class and background DID NOT swear. Ever. Gracious, how could you even think that!
On the other hand, plants grow better if you encourage them.
Especially hot-house chilies, which will abundantly repay the attention which they are given.
If you heard her give them verbal love, your ears might fall off.
Her chilies were very hot.
Very very very hot.
My significant other, in complete contrast to all three of the above, is Cantonese-American.
Anyone who thinks that Cantonese people can express themselves without scorching the walls and raising the dead is mistaken. The first words I ever learned in Cantonese, nearly forty years ago, were the heartfelt wish that someone should commit violent incest. Followed by a biological promise of utter impossibility, as well as a curse involving bones, and a sincere commitment to provide someone’s entire family with caskets.
My fluency increased over the years, but I have never forgotten those first lessons.
[The Cantonese are descended from gamblers, thieves, smugglers, tax-evaders, escaped convicts, and rebellious elements, getting away from the government by crossing the passes into the malarial wilderness of Yueh. That ancient adventurous colonization of the Sui-T'ang frontier explains their language, their enterprise, their culture, and their subsequent world-wide migration.]
Savage Kitten, like all Cantonese, is eloquent. Vibrantly so.
Unlike the vast majority of Sinitic speechforms and dialects, the Cantonese language has a toxic vocabulary of stupendous richness, and a piquancy of expression that leaves other Chinese people slackjawed and quivering, utterly aghast at the lyrical flood of sewage that just hit their ears.
Imagine ten horrid things expressed in a mere five syllables.
Judicious combinations of repulsive ideas, and the extreme brevity that is a characteristic of all Chinese languages, lead to phrasing that requires almost Talmudic explication for the non-Cantonese public.
So, to everyone who uses the ‘F’ word, stop it. You are amateurs. You cannot possibly vehementize like the masters, and you are merely making fools of yourselves. What I hear on a regular basis, from the small Cantonese person with whom I share my living quarters, is the epic poetry of cursing.
What the rest of you produce is mere doggerel.
Just stop.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
WORLD FILLED WITH PUS
We Americans have a reputation for not speaking any other languages than our own. Aside from the sheer oddness of that idea - in addition to English very many other languages are spoken here - what that often means is that foreigners often think that whatever they say in their own languages will never be understood by Americans.
It's assumed to be a private conversation with no Yankee dogs listening in.
[All the languages in the world are spoken in the United States. Among my friends and acquaintances here in San Francisco are speakers of Afrikaans, Arabic (Cairene, Hijazi, Levantine, Maghrebi, and Yemeni), Armenian, Bengali, Berber, Bikolano, Burmese, Cantonese, Caviteno, Cebuano, Chabacano, Danish, Deng, Dutch, Flemish, French, German, Gujarati, Hakka, Hausa, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Igorot, Ilocano, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kapampangan, Korean, Lao, Mandarin, Marathi, Meo ('Miao'), Min, Mixtec, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Quechua, Russian, Sicilian, Shanghainese, Spanish, Sundanese, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Tausug, Teochew, Thai, Vietnamese, Waray, Yiddish, Yoruban, Yucatec. Plus some Montagnards and Tatars, and others with unusual tongues.]
In consequence of that misapprehension that we are all utterly monolingual and illiterate, foreigners freely say all manner of unpleasant things about us.
Yes, they really do talk about us - we are probably the most enthusiastically discussed group on the planet.
Now consider this doozy:
"Hypocriete Amerikaan zoals zoveel Amerikanen, en maar zeggen wij zijn het meest democratische volk op de aarde, bah wat een viezerds, en dit is dan een topje van de hypocritische ijsberg naar mijn idee."
------ Gert in Hilversum, on the website of De Telegraaf.
[Translation: 'Hypocritical American like so many Americans, and always saying 'we are the most democratic people on earth; faugh, what a repellent lot, and this then is a mere top of the iceberg to my thinking.']
GERT IS THE WORLD
It doesn't really matter what he was commenting on, the point is that based on one news item he opportunistically slandered three hundred million people, indicating that he loathes all of us. Which is not at all unusual. Under any Dutch article and on any Dutch website that mentions America there will be a surfeit of anti-American comments. Many Dutch do hate and despise us, and will take any chance to make that clear to their fellow Dutchmen.
The Dutch aren't strange in that regard.
The same sentiment thrives underneath articles and on web fora in German, French, Italian, and the Scandinavian tongues........
I sincerely hope that Gert in Hilversum dies painfully of the pox. Considering the sexual smorgasbord which is metropolitan Holland, that is very likely. But it cannot happen soon enough.
I wish similar fates on many other Dutch people, a very large number of Frenchman, Arabs, Germans, Italians, Poles, Pakistanis, Russians, Englishmen, Swedes........
Actually, much of Europe and most of the Islamic world.
If there ever is another World War (in other words, a war that starts in Europe and is fought mainly in Europe) we should stay the hell out.
Let those bastards kill each other. It's what they're good at.
Same goes for the Muslims. The Persians and Iraqis killed millions between themselves - a good beginning. The Egyptian military gassed Yemeni highlanders - splendid. The Pakistanis keep blowing each other up - jolly good. The Lebanese and Syrians can't stand each other - way to go, guys, make it happen. The Turks slaughtered tens of thousands of Kurds - meh. The governments of all Muslim countries repress and kill their own people - no biggy. Muslim terrorists slaughter thousands of fellow Muslims - cool, dudes, totally.
Screw all of you.
Maybe I should start reading South American and African websites next.
It's assumed to be a private conversation with no Yankee dogs listening in.
[All the languages in the world are spoken in the United States. Among my friends and acquaintances here in San Francisco are speakers of Afrikaans, Arabic (Cairene, Hijazi, Levantine, Maghrebi, and Yemeni), Armenian, Bengali, Berber, Bikolano, Burmese, Cantonese, Caviteno, Cebuano, Chabacano, Danish, Deng, Dutch, Flemish, French, German, Gujarati, Hakka, Hausa, Hawaiian, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Igorot, Ilocano, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kapampangan, Korean, Lao, Mandarin, Marathi, Meo ('Miao'), Min, Mixtec, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Quechua, Russian, Sicilian, Shanghainese, Spanish, Sundanese, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Tausug, Teochew, Thai, Vietnamese, Waray, Yiddish, Yoruban, Yucatec. Plus some Montagnards and Tatars, and others with unusual tongues.]
In consequence of that misapprehension that we are all utterly monolingual and illiterate, foreigners freely say all manner of unpleasant things about us.
Yes, they really do talk about us - we are probably the most enthusiastically discussed group on the planet.
Now consider this doozy:
"Hypocriete Amerikaan zoals zoveel Amerikanen, en maar zeggen wij zijn het meest democratische volk op de aarde, bah wat een viezerds, en dit is dan een topje van de hypocritische ijsberg naar mijn idee."
------ Gert in Hilversum, on the website of De Telegraaf.
[Translation: 'Hypocritical American like so many Americans, and always saying 'we are the most democratic people on earth; faugh, what a repellent lot, and this then is a mere top of the iceberg to my thinking.']
GERT IS THE WORLD
It doesn't really matter what he was commenting on, the point is that based on one news item he opportunistically slandered three hundred million people, indicating that he loathes all of us. Which is not at all unusual. Under any Dutch article and on any Dutch website that mentions America there will be a surfeit of anti-American comments. Many Dutch do hate and despise us, and will take any chance to make that clear to their fellow Dutchmen.
The Dutch aren't strange in that regard.
The same sentiment thrives underneath articles and on web fora in German, French, Italian, and the Scandinavian tongues........
I sincerely hope that Gert in Hilversum dies painfully of the pox. Considering the sexual smorgasbord which is metropolitan Holland, that is very likely. But it cannot happen soon enough.
I wish similar fates on many other Dutch people, a very large number of Frenchman, Arabs, Germans, Italians, Poles, Pakistanis, Russians, Englishmen, Swedes........
Actually, much of Europe and most of the Islamic world.
If there ever is another World War (in other words, a war that starts in Europe and is fought mainly in Europe) we should stay the hell out.
Let those bastards kill each other. It's what they're good at.
Same goes for the Muslims. The Persians and Iraqis killed millions between themselves - a good beginning. The Egyptian military gassed Yemeni highlanders - splendid. The Pakistanis keep blowing each other up - jolly good. The Lebanese and Syrians can't stand each other - way to go, guys, make it happen. The Turks slaughtered tens of thousands of Kurds - meh. The governments of all Muslim countries repress and kill their own people - no biggy. Muslim terrorists slaughter thousands of fellow Muslims - cool, dudes, totally.
Screw all of you.
Maybe I should start reading South American and African websites next.
Friday, October 23, 2009
ANTI-ISRAEL PROTEST OCTOBER 22 - UNION SQUARE SAN FRANCISCO
Yesterday evening nearly 180 Israel-haters faced off against about fifty pro-Israel activists. The occasion being a speech by e-prime minister Ehud Olmert to the World Affairs Council at the St. Francis Hotel in Union Square.
Olmert's presence was merely another excuse for the people who want Israel wiped off the map to scream angrily in public.
THE HATE-FILLED MASS
The protest against Israel had been organized by Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC), Bay Area Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid (BACEIA), CODEPINK, Friends of Deiribzi'a, Northern California International Solidarity Movement, Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA), South Bay Mobilization, Stop AIPAC, CAL Students for Justice in Palestine, US Palestine Communities Network (USPCN), Bay Area Women in Black.
Given the sheer number of organizations who claimed sponsorship, the turn-out by the anti-Israel crowd was pretty pathetic. Less than two hundred people, half of whom were the not academically gifted children of Palestinian liquor store owners.
The remainder consisted of agitators from International Answer, the misguided Jews from the usual cliques of mutually supportive deviants (JVP, Women In Black, Brit Tzedek, etc.), and a few members of Queers United Against Israeli Terror ('Queers for Hamas') - whose voice is much reduced since Tom Ammiano is no longer on the board of supervisors.
Dick Becker's chief-flunky Forrest was also there, as well as Lily Haskell's handler from the Lawyers' Guild. And several other known quantities.
There were no people on the anti-Israel side in favour of co-existence, which may explain why several of the chants were about freeing Palestine from the river to the sea, dying gloriously in jihad against the evil Jew, down down Israel, with our souls and our blood, and whores.
[That last one was very strange - something about Richard Becker and his love-associates, perhaps? It was nearly unintelligible, given the vast spectrum of Arab accents - everything from coarse Egyptian through Hadramawti and Yemeni to Morrocan. Mostly American-raised schoolkid.]
PEACE
Inside, Olmert's speech inside the hotel was interrupted several times, resulting in the arrest of over twenty troublemakers.
Outside, the police did a fine job of keeping the two sides apart, despite attempts by infiltrators from the disaffected side to pick fights with women and elderly Jews on the pro-Israel side.
The spirit on the pro-Israel side was lively and feisty.
The anti-Israel crowd was bellicose and blood-thirsty. And frustrated. In more than one way.
Forrest (Richard Becker's butt boy) was severely disappointed that the police escorted him back to the other side - contrary to what Baruch believes, I really think Forrest wanted to be photographed in front of Victoria's Secret, with that huge poster of the curvy woman wearing two frilly nothings in the window.
The San Francisco Chronicle mis-reported the event, of course, relying on the Associated Press stringer who had an early dinner appointment.
Festivities ended at around seven thirty, when San Francisco Voice for Israel declared victory, thanked the SFPD for their good work, and headed home.
Several of the Muslim teenagers hung around Union Square aimlessly afterwards, being still far too young to go to a bar to crow about their performance.
AD HOMINEM
To 'Saddle-bags' from the Lawyers Guild: next time you see Lily Haskell, tell her 'Alai' said 'hi'.
To Abdullah Q: do you know that your sister is seeing that black kid?
To Ahmad: man you're stupid - you didn't even recognize me! Hee hee hee!
To Myra: they think you're kinda plain and dull - some of them think that's why you left the Jews and joined them.
To Moonwind: Rifa'at simply wants to get into your panties. One more won't make a difference.
To Afifa: for g-d's sake, use condoms!
To the chubby blonde in the centre: he's just shtumping you 'cause you're easy, honey, once his cousin finishes college he's getting married. But enjoy it while it lasts, in the best of health.
To Lily Haskell: see you at the next Aipac protest, dearie.
To Naeema: sorry to hear about your mom.
To Dick Becker: I heard that you were rather small..... Now I believe it.
To Forrest: is ANYTHING going right in your life?
To Hatim: does your uncle know about your lousy grades?
To Ra'eed: how's your father doing? Everything okay at the store? Tell him Rick said 'hi'.
To S.: how are you gonna raise the kid? Jewish but self-hating, or Gentile and Jew-bating?
I guess you ain't ever gonna let you mom visit, huh?
Oh, and that also goes for 'Brian', 'Moe', and 'Sue'.
------------------------------------------------------
One a personal note, the highlight of the evening was when the gorgeous young Asian girl and her friend strolled past and smiled at me. Woooo!
Red red lipstick and fishnets. Woooo!
Woooo!
Olmert's presence was merely another excuse for the people who want Israel wiped off the map to scream angrily in public.
THE HATE-FILLED MASS
The protest against Israel had been organized by Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC), Bay Area Campaign to End Israeli Apartheid (BACEIA), CODEPINK, Friends of Deiribzi'a, Northern California International Solidarity Movement, Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA), South Bay Mobilization, Stop AIPAC, CAL Students for Justice in Palestine, US Palestine Communities Network (USPCN), Bay Area Women in Black.
Given the sheer number of organizations who claimed sponsorship, the turn-out by the anti-Israel crowd was pretty pathetic. Less than two hundred people, half of whom were the not academically gifted children of Palestinian liquor store owners.
The remainder consisted of agitators from International Answer, the misguided Jews from the usual cliques of mutually supportive deviants (JVP, Women In Black, Brit Tzedek, etc.), and a few members of Queers United Against Israeli Terror ('Queers for Hamas') - whose voice is much reduced since Tom Ammiano is no longer on the board of supervisors.
Dick Becker's chief-flunky Forrest was also there, as well as Lily Haskell's handler from the Lawyers' Guild. And several other known quantities.
There were no people on the anti-Israel side in favour of co-existence, which may explain why several of the chants were about freeing Palestine from the river to the sea, dying gloriously in jihad against the evil Jew, down down Israel, with our souls and our blood, and whores.
[That last one was very strange - something about Richard Becker and his love-associates, perhaps? It was nearly unintelligible, given the vast spectrum of Arab accents - everything from coarse Egyptian through Hadramawti and Yemeni to Morrocan. Mostly American-raised schoolkid.]
PEACE
Inside, Olmert's speech inside the hotel was interrupted several times, resulting in the arrest of over twenty troublemakers.
Outside, the police did a fine job of keeping the two sides apart, despite attempts by infiltrators from the disaffected side to pick fights with women and elderly Jews on the pro-Israel side.
The spirit on the pro-Israel side was lively and feisty.
The anti-Israel crowd was bellicose and blood-thirsty. And frustrated. In more than one way.
Forrest (Richard Becker's butt boy) was severely disappointed that the police escorted him back to the other side - contrary to what Baruch believes, I really think Forrest wanted to be photographed in front of Victoria's Secret, with that huge poster of the curvy woman wearing two frilly nothings in the window.
The San Francisco Chronicle mis-reported the event, of course, relying on the Associated Press stringer who had an early dinner appointment.
Festivities ended at around seven thirty, when San Francisco Voice for Israel declared victory, thanked the SFPD for their good work, and headed home.
Several of the Muslim teenagers hung around Union Square aimlessly afterwards, being still far too young to go to a bar to crow about their performance.
AD HOMINEM
To 'Saddle-bags' from the Lawyers Guild: next time you see Lily Haskell, tell her 'Alai' said 'hi'.
To Abdullah Q: do you know that your sister is seeing that black kid?
To Ahmad: man you're stupid - you didn't even recognize me! Hee hee hee!
To Myra: they think you're kinda plain and dull - some of them think that's why you left the Jews and joined them.
To Moonwind: Rifa'at simply wants to get into your panties. One more won't make a difference.
To Afifa: for g-d's sake, use condoms!
To the chubby blonde in the centre: he's just shtumping you 'cause you're easy, honey, once his cousin finishes college he's getting married. But enjoy it while it lasts, in the best of health.
To Lily Haskell: see you at the next Aipac protest, dearie.
To Naeema: sorry to hear about your mom.
To Dick Becker: I heard that you were rather small..... Now I believe it.
To Forrest: is ANYTHING going right in your life?
To Hatim: does your uncle know about your lousy grades?
To Ra'eed: how's your father doing? Everything okay at the store? Tell him Rick said 'hi'.
To S.: how are you gonna raise the kid? Jewish but self-hating, or Gentile and Jew-bating?
I guess you ain't ever gonna let you mom visit, huh?
Oh, and that also goes for 'Brian', 'Moe', and 'Sue'.
------------------------------------------------------
One a personal note, the highlight of the evening was when the gorgeous young Asian girl and her friend strolled past and smiled at me. Woooo!
Red red lipstick and fishnets. Woooo!
Woooo!
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
NON-ARAB MUSLIMS ARE EXPENDABLE
In fact, judging by the angry protests from International ANSWER and the good citizens of the People's Republic of Berkeley, non-Arab Muslims are probably not even human, definitely not worth your concern.
Angry protests - what angry protests?
Exactly. There were none. There have been none. There will be none.
International ANSWER and the good citizens of Berkeley have shown themselves INFINITELY more concerned with Palestinians (Arabs) than with any number of Chechens, Somalis, Sudanese or Thais.
Chechnya: between 30,000 and more than 100,000 war dead - 1994 to present.
Somalia: hundreds of thousands dead - 1991 to present.
Sudan: Over 300,000 dead, over 2 million displaced - 2003 to present.
Thai Muslims: Over 3,500 dead since 2004.
[The three southern provinces of Thailand - Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani - were annexed by Siam in 1902. The natives are not Thai, and speak Malay. Thai and Malay are not even linguistic relatives, let alone in any way mutually intelligible. The cultural differences are just as large as the linguistic differences.]
Berkeley does not protest these deaths. International ANSWER ignores the dead Muslims of Chechnya, Somalia, Sudan, and Thailand.
The dead Muslims that make both Berkeleyites and International ANSWER folks rabid have ALWAYS been Arabs. Only Arabs. No one else but Arabs.
Chechens are not Arabs. So no outrage.
Somalis and Sudanese are far too dark, why they're quite Negro-looking! No outrage.
Thai Muslims are little brown people, and not worth any outrage whatsoever.
It is axiomatic that Berkeley and International ANSWER will never engage in mass-action on behalf of Muslims who are not Arabs, will not boycott as a protest, will not threaten people on campus, will not write to their politicians, will not hold rallies, will not, in fact, do anything at all.
Over a hundred thousand dead Chechens are just not something to get excited about, several hundred thousand dead Africans are rather inconsequential, thousands of dead Thai Muslims are manifestly minor in the grand scheme of things.
Oh, and they aren't Arabs, so they're just not worth it.
They're garbage.
Angry protests - what angry protests?
Exactly. There were none. There have been none. There will be none.
International ANSWER and the good citizens of Berkeley have shown themselves INFINITELY more concerned with Palestinians (Arabs) than with any number of Chechens, Somalis, Sudanese or Thais.
Chechnya: between 30,000 and more than 100,000 war dead - 1994 to present.
Somalia: hundreds of thousands dead - 1991 to present.
Sudan: Over 300,000 dead, over 2 million displaced - 2003 to present.
Thai Muslims: Over 3,500 dead since 2004.
[The three southern provinces of Thailand - Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani - were annexed by Siam in 1902. The natives are not Thai, and speak Malay. Thai and Malay are not even linguistic relatives, let alone in any way mutually intelligible. The cultural differences are just as large as the linguistic differences.]
Berkeley does not protest these deaths. International ANSWER ignores the dead Muslims of Chechnya, Somalia, Sudan, and Thailand.
The dead Muslims that make both Berkeleyites and International ANSWER folks rabid have ALWAYS been Arabs. Only Arabs. No one else but Arabs.
Chechens are not Arabs. So no outrage.
Somalis and Sudanese are far too dark, why they're quite Negro-looking! No outrage.
Thai Muslims are little brown people, and not worth any outrage whatsoever.
It is axiomatic that Berkeley and International ANSWER will never engage in mass-action on behalf of Muslims who are not Arabs, will not boycott as a protest, will not threaten people on campus, will not write to their politicians, will not hold rallies, will not, in fact, do anything at all.
Over a hundred thousand dead Chechens are just not something to get excited about, several hundred thousand dead Africans are rather inconsequential, thousands of dead Thai Muslims are manifestly minor in the grand scheme of things.
Oh, and they aren't Arabs, so they're just not worth it.
They're garbage.
Monday, March 23, 2009
VIOLENT ANTI-SEMITES RALLY FOR PEACE
Peace rally in San Francisco's civic center turns into angry confrontation. Activists scream hatred at Jews. Angry Lakota Sioux radical spouts racist rant, finishes by bad drumming and unintelligible chanting. Dick Becker has a fit. Speaker at microphone calls the police mothe***88ers and accuses them of wanting to kill people. Arab bites cop. Palestinians attack Jews in metro.
Saturday March 21st, one PM to about three PM.
DEMONSTRATING FOR PEACE... AND THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL!
There had been nearly two thousand people at Justin Herman Plaza earlier, but by the time the marchers reached Civic Center there were only seven hundred of them left - over half of them angry Arab teenagers, anxious to prove to their kinfolk overseas that they had NOT gone native in the US, but in fact despised the country where they lived, and were against everything American. Especially the despicable liberties that allowed other people to express opposing points of view.
Such as the seventy of us who had gathered on Polk Street in front of SF City Hall to counterdemonstrate the anti-Israel message of International ANSWER and their co-conspirators.
CONFRONTATION
As soon as the crowd reached Civic Center, about two hundred Keffiyeh-wearing young persons headed towards us intent on mayhem, but the presence of the police forced them instead to scream insults and threats, at one point starting a lively chant of "ba ruh, ba dam, nafdeek ya Filistin" ('with our soul, with our blood, we will redeem you oh Palestine'), which follows the traditional formula for swearing a bloody cleansing in service of some Islamic cause or other. And as usual, their non-Arab sympathisers stood there smiling their approval.
Having learned that hate-slogans in Arabic are bad public relations, the organizers of the event stilled the chant, and got them instead to scream something more acceptable, which was the promise to ethnically cleanse the area between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea.
The police eventually gently persuaded all of them to return to the proper side of the street for uttering death threats, that being the area designated by the permit for the peace rally.
As only one of them had a megaphone, this tempered the noise considerably. Shaking fists and giving the one-fingered salute is, on the whole, a rather impotent display.
PALESTINIAN YOUTHS
Not that one should consider the San Francisco Palestinian youth impotent. In fact, that might very well be the problem - there is probably massive sexual frustration in their ranks. It really is hard to get laid when you despise people outside your own community, violently disapprove of relations before marriage, and treat the weaker sex like dirt.
Despite the dimwitted blondes who are attracted by Arab machismo, and the revolutionaries who are willing to do anything, anything! to prove their devotion to the cause, well, when you don't have a place of your own AND all of your praeconceptions are going full-tilt, humping just isn't a solution.
Of course, if you are female, the likely prospect of sexual brutalization by a cousin isn't very appealing either.
A TWELVE-YEAR OLD WITH A ROCK
True to cultural trope, at least one of the Palestinian-Americans wished to throw rocks. Unfortunately he did so at the SFPD, who were not amused by this charming display of traditional self-expression and wished to arrest him. The crowd then waxed belligerent at the SFPD's insensitivity, chanting and screaming at the police - several of them needed to be restrained.
I believe the police eventually decided not to arrest the twelve-year old, who was blubbering like an infant by then. Instead they chose some of the more violently inclined older individuals who attacked them.
One of whom, we now know, has teeth.
Attacking the police is not a wise thing to do - neither is calling them motherf****s, as one of the ANSWER speakers on the podium did - his words were clear, distinct, and amplified. He was urging people to stay away from 'tha po-lees, do not provoke tha po-lees, don't get tha po-lees angry, man, you can't win against tha po-lees, they be jest wanting to put you six feet under, man, tha po-lees'.
The twelve year old who was nearly arrested is the son of a Palestinian-American family that runs a liquor store. I shall not say anything negative about them, as Palestinian store owners are hardworking people making an honest living in some interesting parts of town. Once you get to know them, you discover that they are very genuine people, with big hearts, who care about the community in which they live.
Some of their children, on the other hand.... Well, many of the kids are typical urban American teenagers. Meaning that they have horrible taste in music, chips on their shoulders, attitude problems, and are desperate for someone to hate.
Oh, and frustrated. Very, very frustrated. That doesn't help.
POLICE PROVOKE CONFRONTATION BY REMAINING CALM AND ACTING IN A MATURE FASHION
That was the strident message of one of International Answer's speakers. While the pro-Palestinians were screaming insults at the police on the southwest corner of the plaza, this speaker was demanding loudly into the microphone that the police leave civic center, insisting that their being there was enough to cause trouble, the mere presence of police was a disruptive influence on the peaceful natures of the peace demonstrators, who had no choice but to bay for the blood of the officers.
Actually, the seventy of us who were there standing for Israel's right to exist were the disruptive influence - if the police were not there, they would've bayed for our blood. As they had repeatedly clarified.
And most of the time, they did in fact bay for our blood.
It was rather dreary, and very unimaginative. Though very much appreciated by the union members and older radicals from Berkeley who attended (heck, those delicious youth could've danced the rumba and the Berkeleyites would've been appreciative).
VIOLENCE IN THE UNDERGROUND
Some of the Palestinian youth were so frustrated by the police maintaining order that they gave vent to their fury in the Civic Center Bart Station. From all accounts, they ganged up on a group of four people who had left the protest in disgust. What might have turned into bloodshed was prevented by the judicious application of pepper spray and the arrival of the police, who arrested the most criminally inclined of the mob.
Quick action by the SFPD prevented assault and battery from becoming a visit to the emergency room.
ATTENDANCE
Altogether, about a dozen violent peace activists ended the day in handcuffs. The police acted with remarkable restraint, and succeeded in maintaining order despite the provocative behaviour displayed by a violence-prone mob.
This did not please the organizers of the peace protest. Several of their speakers foamed incomprehensibly into the microphone, upset at this peaceful turn of events.
I'm still not sure what the Lakota drumming and chanting was for (that speaker had called the Arabs, Chicanos, and Philippinos his bruthas, and angrily damned all white people without reservation), and the hysterical Arab hatemongstress had bored even her own side, who preferred to stand facing the Israel supporters, screaming about Jew-Nazi-Kikes and promising to kill our families.
Standing proudly alongside the Israel-haters were the American Postal Workers Union, the Communications Workers of America, Code Pink, Black Block and other anarchists, various individual members of Bay Area Women in Black, Students for Justice in Palestine, JVP, and several other groups who do not object to anti-Semitic rhetoric for peace, as well as numerous adherents of conspiracy theories about nine-eleven. Conspiracy theories, by the way, proved incredibly popular - second only to the cheerleading for Jew-death at the front of the crowd.
RICHARD BECKER
It must have been immensely frustrating for Dick Becker of International ANSWER that only several hundred people stayed with the rally all the way to Civic Center. His speech to the crowd (completely ignored by the Arab Jugend trying to provoke the police) asserted that San Francisco Voice for Israel was a racist group that existed only to harass him.
Sorry, Richard, that just isn't so. You are actually irrelevant. We know that you do not wish the annihilation of Israel, and the Arab youth also know that. It wouldn't make you happy at all.
You probably prefer that anti-Semitism survive at the present near-boil, so that you may surround yourself with all those delicious young Levantines, eh?
Mmmm, zesty!
Richard, are you upset at the low turn-out? Was it disappointing? Do you feel, somehow, inadequate? You should, you really should!
It really is you - you're too old, Richard.
Karmicly you are losing hair, and your aura is nearly invisible.
Again, for us in SF Voice for Israel, it ain't about you. Don't flatter yourself.
You're an egomaniac, but most people will never even know who the heck you are. You are totally unimportant.
Several of the other elderly white people from Berkeley who were at the rally were also there for the frisson provided by angry radical teenagers. But unlike the teenagers and mister Becker, they probably weren't nearly so frustrated, having developed coping mechanisms for their various urges long ago.
Still, angry young people can be so exciting!
SAD BORING END
Sometime after three o'clock the peace demonstration petered out, the crowd's enthusiasm for bloodshed having waned. The weather and the calm behaviour by the police had made clear to even the most delusional people that no Jews were going to die that day, though as the events at the BART Station subsequently proved, several stupid teenagers would end up in jail because of their violent tendencies.
This was the smallest International ANSWER peace demonstration in years. It is unlikely that Richard Becker will be able to pull together another event in March of next year. I just hope he manages to keep some of his young acolytes......
It is so sad when a manly man's vigour fades.
Saturday March 21st, one PM to about three PM.
DEMONSTRATING FOR PEACE... AND THE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL!
There had been nearly two thousand people at Justin Herman Plaza earlier, but by the time the marchers reached Civic Center there were only seven hundred of them left - over half of them angry Arab teenagers, anxious to prove to their kinfolk overseas that they had NOT gone native in the US, but in fact despised the country where they lived, and were against everything American. Especially the despicable liberties that allowed other people to express opposing points of view.
Such as the seventy of us who had gathered on Polk Street in front of SF City Hall to counterdemonstrate the anti-Israel message of International ANSWER and their co-conspirators.
CONFRONTATION
As soon as the crowd reached Civic Center, about two hundred Keffiyeh-wearing young persons headed towards us intent on mayhem, but the presence of the police forced them instead to scream insults and threats, at one point starting a lively chant of "ba ruh, ba dam, nafdeek ya Filistin" ('with our soul, with our blood, we will redeem you oh Palestine'), which follows the traditional formula for swearing a bloody cleansing in service of some Islamic cause or other. And as usual, their non-Arab sympathisers stood there smiling their approval.
Having learned that hate-slogans in Arabic are bad public relations, the organizers of the event stilled the chant, and got them instead to scream something more acceptable, which was the promise to ethnically cleanse the area between the Jordan river and the Mediterranean sea.
The police eventually gently persuaded all of them to return to the proper side of the street for uttering death threats, that being the area designated by the permit for the peace rally.
As only one of them had a megaphone, this tempered the noise considerably. Shaking fists and giving the one-fingered salute is, on the whole, a rather impotent display.
PALESTINIAN YOUTHS
Not that one should consider the San Francisco Palestinian youth impotent. In fact, that might very well be the problem - there is probably massive sexual frustration in their ranks. It really is hard to get laid when you despise people outside your own community, violently disapprove of relations before marriage, and treat the weaker sex like dirt.
Despite the dimwitted blondes who are attracted by Arab machismo, and the revolutionaries who are willing to do anything, anything! to prove their devotion to the cause, well, when you don't have a place of your own AND all of your praeconceptions are going full-tilt, humping just isn't a solution.
Of course, if you are female, the likely prospect of sexual brutalization by a cousin isn't very appealing either.
A TWELVE-YEAR OLD WITH A ROCK
True to cultural trope, at least one of the Palestinian-Americans wished to throw rocks. Unfortunately he did so at the SFPD, who were not amused by this charming display of traditional self-expression and wished to arrest him. The crowd then waxed belligerent at the SFPD's insensitivity, chanting and screaming at the police - several of them needed to be restrained.
I believe the police eventually decided not to arrest the twelve-year old, who was blubbering like an infant by then. Instead they chose some of the more violently inclined older individuals who attacked them.
One of whom, we now know, has teeth.
Attacking the police is not a wise thing to do - neither is calling them motherf****s, as one of the ANSWER speakers on the podium did - his words were clear, distinct, and amplified. He was urging people to stay away from 'tha po-lees, do not provoke tha po-lees, don't get tha po-lees angry, man, you can't win against tha po-lees, they be jest wanting to put you six feet under, man, tha po-lees'.
The twelve year old who was nearly arrested is the son of a Palestinian-American family that runs a liquor store. I shall not say anything negative about them, as Palestinian store owners are hardworking people making an honest living in some interesting parts of town. Once you get to know them, you discover that they are very genuine people, with big hearts, who care about the community in which they live.
Some of their children, on the other hand.... Well, many of the kids are typical urban American teenagers. Meaning that they have horrible taste in music, chips on their shoulders, attitude problems, and are desperate for someone to hate.
Oh, and frustrated. Very, very frustrated. That doesn't help.
POLICE PROVOKE CONFRONTATION BY REMAINING CALM AND ACTING IN A MATURE FASHION
That was the strident message of one of International Answer's speakers. While the pro-Palestinians were screaming insults at the police on the southwest corner of the plaza, this speaker was demanding loudly into the microphone that the police leave civic center, insisting that their being there was enough to cause trouble, the mere presence of police was a disruptive influence on the peaceful natures of the peace demonstrators, who had no choice but to bay for the blood of the officers.
Actually, the seventy of us who were there standing for Israel's right to exist were the disruptive influence - if the police were not there, they would've bayed for our blood. As they had repeatedly clarified.
And most of the time, they did in fact bay for our blood.
It was rather dreary, and very unimaginative. Though very much appreciated by the union members and older radicals from Berkeley who attended (heck, those delicious youth could've danced the rumba and the Berkeleyites would've been appreciative).
VIOLENCE IN THE UNDERGROUND
Some of the Palestinian youth were so frustrated by the police maintaining order that they gave vent to their fury in the Civic Center Bart Station. From all accounts, they ganged up on a group of four people who had left the protest in disgust. What might have turned into bloodshed was prevented by the judicious application of pepper spray and the arrival of the police, who arrested the most criminally inclined of the mob.
Quick action by the SFPD prevented assault and battery from becoming a visit to the emergency room.
ATTENDANCE
Altogether, about a dozen violent peace activists ended the day in handcuffs. The police acted with remarkable restraint, and succeeded in maintaining order despite the provocative behaviour displayed by a violence-prone mob.
This did not please the organizers of the peace protest. Several of their speakers foamed incomprehensibly into the microphone, upset at this peaceful turn of events.
I'm still not sure what the Lakota drumming and chanting was for (that speaker had called the Arabs, Chicanos, and Philippinos his bruthas, and angrily damned all white people without reservation), and the hysterical Arab hatemongstress had bored even her own side, who preferred to stand facing the Israel supporters, screaming about Jew-Nazi-Kikes and promising to kill our families.
Standing proudly alongside the Israel-haters were the American Postal Workers Union, the Communications Workers of America, Code Pink, Black Block and other anarchists, various individual members of Bay Area Women in Black, Students for Justice in Palestine, JVP, and several other groups who do not object to anti-Semitic rhetoric for peace, as well as numerous adherents of conspiracy theories about nine-eleven. Conspiracy theories, by the way, proved incredibly popular - second only to the cheerleading for Jew-death at the front of the crowd.
RICHARD BECKER
It must have been immensely frustrating for Dick Becker of International ANSWER that only several hundred people stayed with the rally all the way to Civic Center. His speech to the crowd (completely ignored by the Arab Jugend trying to provoke the police) asserted that San Francisco Voice for Israel was a racist group that existed only to harass him.
Sorry, Richard, that just isn't so. You are actually irrelevant. We know that you do not wish the annihilation of Israel, and the Arab youth also know that. It wouldn't make you happy at all.
You probably prefer that anti-Semitism survive at the present near-boil, so that you may surround yourself with all those delicious young Levantines, eh?
Mmmm, zesty!
Richard, are you upset at the low turn-out? Was it disappointing? Do you feel, somehow, inadequate? You should, you really should!
It really is you - you're too old, Richard.
Karmicly you are losing hair, and your aura is nearly invisible.
Again, for us in SF Voice for Israel, it ain't about you. Don't flatter yourself.
You're an egomaniac, but most people will never even know who the heck you are. You are totally unimportant.
Several of the other elderly white people from Berkeley who were at the rally were also there for the frisson provided by angry radical teenagers. But unlike the teenagers and mister Becker, they probably weren't nearly so frustrated, having developed coping mechanisms for their various urges long ago.
Still, angry young people can be so exciting!
SAD BORING END
Sometime after three o'clock the peace demonstration petered out, the crowd's enthusiasm for bloodshed having waned. The weather and the calm behaviour by the police had made clear to even the most delusional people that no Jews were going to die that day, though as the events at the BART Station subsequently proved, several stupid teenagers would end up in jail because of their violent tendencies.
This was the smallest International ANSWER peace demonstration in years. It is unlikely that Richard Becker will be able to pull together another event in March of next year. I just hope he manages to keep some of his young acolytes......
It is so sad when a manly man's vigour fades.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
JEW-HATING EXTREMIST PEACE ACTIVISTS IN SF
If ever you needed evidence that the peace movement has been taken over by Jew-haters, and that Democrats, even in San Francisco, are America's best hope, look no further than the material below.
Note particularly the stated reasons for the alleged peace march on Saturday March 21, and especially the insane comment about an eventual secular Palestine from the river to the sea - code for ethnically cleansing Israel off the map.
------------------------
SOURCE:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/03/17/18578501.php
Victims & Witnesses to Police Riot Go to SF Bd of Sups Mtg Today 2pm and show the video
by Do It Today Tuesday Mar 17th, 2009 12:25 PM
You can during public comment use audio visual. Call the clerks office and ask what kind of format or hardware you have to use. Angela Calvillo • Clerk of the Board of Supervisors • (415) 554-5184
When they see that video of the attack; it says all that needs to be said.
Do it today. During public comment you get 2-3 minutes. Not sure. Ask the clerk when public comment starts. Tell the board you want an investigation of the incident.
email and call the board members as well.
§Call/Email all 11 Supervisors: The police are everybody's business by $ Tuesday Mar 17th, 2009 12:56 AM
Call all 11 Supervisors; they all have voice mail so you can leave a message at any time. You can also Email them. The police are everybody's business. The Financial District happens to be District 3, David Chiu's district. 10 of the 11 members of the Board are Democrats, 1 is a Green who was president of his police academy class, Ross Mirkarimi. The entire Democratic Party is pro-Israel which is why we never see Chris Daly at these demonstrations. People who are pro-Israel are by definition reactionary; there is nothing progressive about any of the Democrats. Tell them you want all the charges dropped, you hope the protesters sue the City of San Francisco for millions of dollars, you are outraged that the 10 Democrats are all pro-Israel which is why you never vote for Democrats or Republicans, and that you will be at the peace march on March 21 at 11 a.m. in San Francisco from the Embarcadero to the Civic Center because you support the Palestinian liberation struggle and look forward to a time soon when there will be a secular Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediiterranean Sea that never receives any US military money, unlike Israel which receives US tax dollars to the tune of $6 billion a year.
The information on the Board is at
http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_index.asp?id=7271
and here:
Eric Mar
District 1
(415) 554-7410 - Voice
(415) 554-7415 - Fax
Eric.L.Mar [at] sfgov.org
Michela Alioto-Pier
District 2
(415) 554-7752 - Voice
(415) 554-7843 - Fax
Michela.Alioto-Pier [at] sfgov.org
David Chiu - Board President
District 3
(415) 554-7450 - Voice
(415) 554-7454 - Fax
David.Chiu [at] sfgov.org
Carmen Chu
District 4
(415) 554-7460 - Voice
(415) 554-7432 - Fax
Carmen.Chu [at] sfgov.org
Ross Mirkarimi
District 5
(415) 554-7630 - Voice
(415) 554-7634 - Fax
Ross.Mirkarimi [at] sfgov.org
Chris Daly
District 6
(415) 554-7970 - Voice
(415) 554-7974 - Fax
Chris.Daly [at] sfgov.org
Sean Elsbernd
District 7
(415) 554-6516 - Voice
(415) 554-6546 - Fax
Sean.Elsbernd [at] sfgov.org
Bevan Dufty
District 8
(415) 554-6968 - Voice
(415) 554-6909 - Fax
Bevan.Dufty [at] sfgov.org
David Campos
District 9
(415) 554-5144 - voice
(415) 554-6255 - fax
David.Campos [at] sfgov.org
Sophie Maxwell
District 10
(415) 554-7670 - Voice
(415) 554-7674 - Fax
Sophie.Maxwell [at] sfgov.org
John Avalos
District 11
(415) 554-6975 - Voice
(415) 554-6979 - Fax
John.Avalos [at] sfgov.org
------------------------
INDYMEDIA
You will have observed that the tirade above was posted on Indybay. Where you will find any number of hatefilled posts and comments, and almost obsequious praise of foreign dictators and tyrants.
In case you did not know, I should also mention that Indymedia has a very low level of tolerance for freedom of speech. Here in the Bay Area, Indybay is notorious for allowing almost any amount of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel commentary - the two types often run together - but assiduously scrubbing every dissenting voice from underneath the post in question as soon as possible.
There is additionally a well-established pattern of support for violent and criminal behaviour which speaks for itself. Morality, in the final analysis, is NOT a concern of Indybay, and ethics is a concept of which they have no grasp.
One would also be hard put to find any balance whatsoever on their site - "fair" and "objective" are just not part of their policy.
They will not allow impressions which do not accord with their agenda.
Many Indymedia sites have been taken over by extremists. Which is not surprising. Given their demographic.
ANTI-SEMITIC ATMOSPHERE
Stating that one is pro-Israel in the Bay Area is a dangerous thing to do.
In many places here, such an admission elicits threats of violence and assertions that one is deficient, morally crippled, a sexual deviant, and should be brutally violated with a blunt object. Unless the freedom-loving individual who offers these suggestions prefers, instead, to promise this treatment to your loved ones.
Infinite variations on these themes are possible.
So it is remarkable (but not surprising) to find the SF Board of Supervisors, who are on the whole a remarkably level-headed bunch of people, accused of such dissidence as averred above. Given the level of anti-Semitism in the Bay Area, they deserve praise for their patience, and for putting up with the revolutionary rhetoric of hate.
Wearing a kippah on campus at Berkeley or San Francisco State University is an open invitation to insult and abuse, with what seems like the blessing of faculty and administration - because, of course, the person flinging poo is merely exercising free speech rights in defense of the poor helpless third-worlders hurling tiny pebbles at big wasp imperialist tanks.
Likewise, venturing the opinion that Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad are neither collectively nor singly in favour of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or tolerant of homosexuality, women's rights, or the separation of church and state, will get you immediately identified as a disgusting capitalist and nazi. Possibly even a religious fanatic. Or even a Jew. The horror, the horror.
Note particularly the stated reasons for the alleged peace march on Saturday March 21, and especially the insane comment about an eventual secular Palestine from the river to the sea - code for ethnically cleansing Israel off the map.
------------------------
SOURCE:
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/03/17/18578501.php
Victims & Witnesses to Police Riot Go to SF Bd of Sups Mtg Today 2pm and show the video
by Do It Today Tuesday Mar 17th, 2009 12:25 PM
You can during public comment use audio visual. Call the clerks office and ask what kind of format or hardware you have to use. Angela Calvillo • Clerk of the Board of Supervisors • (415) 554-5184
When they see that video of the attack; it says all that needs to be said.
Do it today. During public comment you get 2-3 minutes. Not sure. Ask the clerk when public comment starts. Tell the board you want an investigation of the incident.
email and call the board members as well.
§Call/Email all 11 Supervisors: The police are everybody's business by $ Tuesday Mar 17th, 2009 12:56 AM
Call all 11 Supervisors; they all have voice mail so you can leave a message at any time. You can also Email them. The police are everybody's business. The Financial District happens to be District 3, David Chiu's district. 10 of the 11 members of the Board are Democrats, 1 is a Green who was president of his police academy class, Ross Mirkarimi. The entire Democratic Party is pro-Israel which is why we never see Chris Daly at these demonstrations. People who are pro-Israel are by definition reactionary; there is nothing progressive about any of the Democrats. Tell them you want all the charges dropped, you hope the protesters sue the City of San Francisco for millions of dollars, you are outraged that the 10 Democrats are all pro-Israel which is why you never vote for Democrats or Republicans, and that you will be at the peace march on March 21 at 11 a.m. in San Francisco from the Embarcadero to the Civic Center because you support the Palestinian liberation struggle and look forward to a time soon when there will be a secular Palestine, from the Jordan River to the Mediiterranean Sea that never receives any US military money, unlike Israel which receives US tax dollars to the tune of $6 billion a year.
The information on the Board is at
http://www.sfgov.org/site/bdsupvrs_index.asp?id=7271
and here:
Eric Mar
District 1
(415) 554-7410 - Voice
(415) 554-7415 - Fax
Eric.L.Mar [at] sfgov.org
Michela Alioto-Pier
District 2
(415) 554-7752 - Voice
(415) 554-7843 - Fax
Michela.Alioto-Pier [at] sfgov.org
David Chiu - Board President
District 3
(415) 554-7450 - Voice
(415) 554-7454 - Fax
David.Chiu [at] sfgov.org
Carmen Chu
District 4
(415) 554-7460 - Voice
(415) 554-7432 - Fax
Carmen.Chu [at] sfgov.org
Ross Mirkarimi
District 5
(415) 554-7630 - Voice
(415) 554-7634 - Fax
Ross.Mirkarimi [at] sfgov.org
Chris Daly
District 6
(415) 554-7970 - Voice
(415) 554-7974 - Fax
Chris.Daly [at] sfgov.org
Sean Elsbernd
District 7
(415) 554-6516 - Voice
(415) 554-6546 - Fax
Sean.Elsbernd [at] sfgov.org
Bevan Dufty
District 8
(415) 554-6968 - Voice
(415) 554-6909 - Fax
Bevan.Dufty [at] sfgov.org
David Campos
District 9
(415) 554-5144 - voice
(415) 554-6255 - fax
David.Campos [at] sfgov.org
Sophie Maxwell
District 10
(415) 554-7670 - Voice
(415) 554-7674 - Fax
Sophie.Maxwell [at] sfgov.org
John Avalos
District 11
(415) 554-6975 - Voice
(415) 554-6979 - Fax
John.Avalos [at] sfgov.org
------------------------
INDYMEDIA
You will have observed that the tirade above was posted on Indybay. Where you will find any number of hatefilled posts and comments, and almost obsequious praise of foreign dictators and tyrants.
In case you did not know, I should also mention that Indymedia has a very low level of tolerance for freedom of speech. Here in the Bay Area, Indybay is notorious for allowing almost any amount of anti-Jewish and anti-Israel commentary - the two types often run together - but assiduously scrubbing every dissenting voice from underneath the post in question as soon as possible.
There is additionally a well-established pattern of support for violent and criminal behaviour which speaks for itself. Morality, in the final analysis, is NOT a concern of Indybay, and ethics is a concept of which they have no grasp.
One would also be hard put to find any balance whatsoever on their site - "fair" and "objective" are just not part of their policy.
They will not allow impressions which do not accord with their agenda.
Many Indymedia sites have been taken over by extremists. Which is not surprising. Given their demographic.
ANTI-SEMITIC ATMOSPHERE
Stating that one is pro-Israel in the Bay Area is a dangerous thing to do.
In many places here, such an admission elicits threats of violence and assertions that one is deficient, morally crippled, a sexual deviant, and should be brutally violated with a blunt object. Unless the freedom-loving individual who offers these suggestions prefers, instead, to promise this treatment to your loved ones.
Infinite variations on these themes are possible.
So it is remarkable (but not surprising) to find the SF Board of Supervisors, who are on the whole a remarkably level-headed bunch of people, accused of such dissidence as averred above. Given the level of anti-Semitism in the Bay Area, they deserve praise for their patience, and for putting up with the revolutionary rhetoric of hate.
Wearing a kippah on campus at Berkeley or San Francisco State University is an open invitation to insult and abuse, with what seems like the blessing of faculty and administration - because, of course, the person flinging poo is merely exercising free speech rights in defense of the poor helpless third-worlders hurling tiny pebbles at big wasp imperialist tanks.
Likewise, venturing the opinion that Hezbollah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad are neither collectively nor singly in favour of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or tolerant of homosexuality, women's rights, or the separation of church and state, will get you immediately identified as a disgusting capitalist and nazi. Possibly even a religious fanatic. Or even a Jew. The horror, the horror.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
ZIONIST CLAIMS, APARTHEID, AND OTHER TROPES
Recently an anonymous reader discovered a post I wrote a back in November, in which I defended Zionists and pro-Israeli activists on the Berkeley campus. As is widely known, the campus of the University of California at Berkeley is one of the most Jew-hating environments on the planet, coddling racists and bigots flying under "cause of the day" colours.
University officials, while aware of the problem, and happy to take money from donors on both the Jewish and Arab sides of the fence, gently close their eyes and pretend that all is well.
The posting was this one:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/11/pro-palestinian-activists-attack-jews.html
It is dated 11/14/2008.
The anonymous commenter who discovered it shortly after ten o'clock yesterday evening wrote:
"I don't understand Zionists' claim to a land that was already inhabited by other people. We live in a modern era. Why should Americans support an apartheid state because it believes that religious texts have 'granted' a single people the right to establish a racially defined state to the exclusion of the residents who were living there throughout the 19th and 20th centuries when Jesiwh immigrants were being imported from Europe. While the Holocaust is a horrendous legacy, how does the Jewish state honor the memory of those who were killed by Nazi Germany by perpetrating similar acts of exclusion and oppression? I really don't understand the Zionist mentality...Also, many Jews are anti-Zionist."
I have responded to his query in the comment string, but as the tropes he trumpets are common, it may serve some useful purpose to deal with them in a new post.
I don't understand Zionists' claim to a land that was already inhabited by other people.
There were always Jews living there among the other people. The other people came in with conquerors over the centuries. Jews, however, have ALWAYS lived there. Furthermore, the Zionist purchased land - and developed the barren areas which they bought. It was the economic development of those lands that drew in even more people.
Also, the Jewish quarters of Jerusalem and Hebron, as well as other places inside the land, were ethnically cleansed by Arab mobs in the twenties and thirties - how do you justify Arabs even daring to claim those areas?
Why should Americans support an apartheid state
America does not support an Apartheid state - Israeli Arabs have the right to vote, to own property, and to participate at all levels in Israeli society. And there are Arabs in the ranks of most political parties and all ministries. There are also Arab parties in the Knesset. There are jobs and stations where having served in the IDF give you a much greater entry - Arabs are free to join the IDF. Druze Arabs and many Bedouin do serve in the military (and note that there are Knesset speakers, ministers, officers, and department heads from the Arab Israeli side). All who stayed in 1948 became citizens.
The distinction is with the population in the territories - who are not citizens, and do not wish to be citizens, of a praedominantly Jewish state. They have their own institutions, which are overwhelmingly Judenrein - this despite there having been Jewish populations in both the West Bank and Gaza (that latter population ethnically cleansed several times, the last time during the British period) which date back to the pre-Roman period. Obviously, a population which will not become citizens, and is not even desirous of that - which in fact is acknowledged by all sides as heading towards eventual statehood of its own - cannot be administered in the same way as citizens. They are administered under British Mandate codes and Ottoman law. As they were when the Jordanians ruled over them, and as they were after Egypt had seized Gaza. The laws in those areas are a confusing and oppressive welter, due to it being illegal to change them until locally valid representative bodies do so.
Apartheid state ....
Like Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Japan, Germany, and several others which have nationality laws based on racial and religious exclusionism, coupled with a large number of 'guest-workers' who are treated worse than animals?
But Israel treats its guest-workers and resident aliens far better. So, NOT like the countries just mentioned.
Do you wish to talk about Mexican dishwashers and lettuce pickers? How about Turks who have been three generations in Northern Europe, and are still "foreigners"? Chinese and Indians in Malaysia who have been there for centuries and are discriminated against?
Koreans in Japan? Indians and Pakistanis in the Gulf?
[02/20/2009: Adding Italy to the list above. Per Italian law, children born to foreigners do not automatically receive citizenship, some are left in limbo. This particularly applies to Gypsies and Eastern Europeans. ]
because it believes that religious texts have 'granted' a single people the right to establish a racially defined state to the exclusion of the residents who were living there throughout the 19th and 20th centuries when Jewish immigrants were being imported from Europe.
Zionism is not based on the Bible but on that land being the historic homeland of the Jewish people - even the Romans admitted precisely that.
As did the Arabs - in the Quran, during the various Caliphates, under the Ottomans, and even in the 1920s when the Arabs were becoming nations. Kings Abdullah (assassinated by a Palestinian in Jerusalem) and Hussein (of blessed memory) also admitted the Jewish right to the land.
Nor is the state racially defined (and 'race' in any case is no longer used as a defining term by most anthropologists). There are Jews of every "racial" stripe known to man. In what way is a glow-in-the-dark Hassid from Lithuania the same race as a Persian Jew, an Egyptian Jew, a Baghdadi, a Jew from Samarkand or Bokhara, or a Sfard from Morocco?
And exclusion? Did I already mention that those who stayed, contrary to the commands of the invading Arab armies and at the express request of Jewish leaders in 1948, were automatically granted citizenship? If I didn't mention it yet, I apologize - I should have.
And speaking of 'exclusion', I should also mention that since 1948 the Jews were excluded in very large numbers from Islamic countries - were they had lived since before Islam, in many cases, and in some cases before the current population settled there (that being most notably ALL the lands inhabited today by Turkic majorities, all of which were conquered by invaders from the steppes between ten and four centuries ago - Istanbul used to be Constantinople, and the Greeks still want it back).
Jewish immigrants imported from Europe? Indeed, many of the citizens of Israel have ancestors who came from there (though, of course, the ancestors of the European Jews were not from Europe - see 'Historic Homeland' mentioned above).
Over half the Jewish population however came from Arab and Muslim lands that they were kicked out of in 1948 and years since.
And do not forget, there were already Jews there when they returned to Israel. Many of whom had never been elsewhere - the territory 'assigned' to them by the United Nations was the area of Jewish majority, not the total area where there were Jews. Those who were thrown out of the Arab countries were robbed by the Arabs before they left, and arrived with nothing. As the US Congress in fact recognizes. Note also that these exiles were absorbed by their kin - precisely as the Arabs have refused to absorb their own brothers who fled.
to the exclusion of the residents who were living there throughout the 19th and 20th centuries
The Jewish return to the land was already happening in small measure long before Zionism - Jews returned to Jerusalem, Hebron, Tzfat, and Gaza throughout Ottoman times, and there were Jews who already lived there.
For eight decades till 1948, Jewish population there increased more markedly than under the Caliphate.
Since 1948, it has been the Jewish state - but all in all, Jews have been a majority in their land now for several generations, since before independence. Many were born there, their parents were born there. And many even have grandparents, great grandparents, and even further kin who were born there. They live there now, and most have not lived anywhere else.
If being born in the US makes you an American, or a citizen of many other countries, then by that same reason the Jews in Israel are validly of Israel, and the "Palestinians" born in Nahr El Bard or Jordan are Lebanese and Jordanian.
Oh wait, Arabs practice an exclusionism even more bitter than Europeans and Malays. They discriminate against their own family.
While the Holocaust is a horrendous legacy, how does the Jewish state honor the memory of those who were killed by Nazi Germany by perpetrating similar acts of exclusion and oppression?
The comparison is obscene. After 1967, the Arab population in the territories more than tripled. Even in Gaza since the intifada, there has been a forty percent increase in the population, as per a news item on the BBC website which quotes UN figures. There are more Palestinians now than ever before. They have thrived most marvelously since 1948.
There are no death camps. There are no gas chambers. There are no torture rooms. The Arabs in the West Bank largely have their own officials to blame for the mess they are in (corruption nurtured and encouraged by the UN), and the Arabs in Gaza can thank Hamas (whose nickname, by the way, is SHIA - in snarky acknowledgement of the Iranian contribution) for their situation.
I really don't understand the Zionist mentality
That may be due to ignorance. Give it another shot.
Also, many Jews are anti-Zionist
That also may be due to ignorance. Provided we give them the benefit of doubt.
But more because they desperately wish to be unobjectionable to all, in every possible way. Blending in is a powerful motivator for Uncle-Tomism.
As is profound self-hatred.
[02/20/2009: I actually thought of refering to the anti-Zionist Jews as Kapos-in-training, but the situation is more complex than that. As "A" points out, "The whole issue of Jewish anti-Zionism is much more complex and should be treated in better detail and with less acrimony toward non-Jews.
Ultraorthodox Jews (Neturei Karte) did not want Zionism to usurp the traditional rabbinic leadership of the Jews.
Assimilationist Jews were/are afraid that Zionism will cast doubt on their loyalty to their current state.
Both Marxist and Assimilationist Jews believed that "progress" in a liberal or communist society would allow them to integrate and be part of larger society. In Germany and USSR, this proved to be an illusion.".]
By the same token, many pro-Palestinian activists assert that they are not anti-Semites because their 'best friends' are Jewish (in other words, strictly anti-Zionist Jews). A more common tendency among them is to avoid Jews who they feel are too "Jewish", especially as regards the Israel and Palestine issues.
And, of course, there are still convinced anti-Semites in their ranks.
Not wishing to associate with a taboo minority is also a powerful motivator, as is profound subconscious hatred.
Any questions sofar? There will be a test.
APARTHEID
Now, I find it interesting that the word 'apartheid' is so often used by the anti-Israel crowd. Interesting, because it does not mean what they intend it to mean, nor what they wish to think it means.
Apartheid is a Dutch word that strictly speaking means 'separateness', and in the South African context referred to a legal separation within the same country into ethnic classes (based, in fact, on old Dutch-Roman law and the feudal concept of Romans, nobles, freemen, and serfs) - something which in so varied and diverse a country as Israel is patently absurd.
The West Bank, of course, is different; the Arabs wish their eventual state to be as Judenrein as possible, and have made abundantly clear that they wish Jews to keep out, but do not object to dogs or Persians.
As my regular readers know, I speak, read, and write Dutch fluently. I also understand a number of Dutch dialects, including Afrikaans. Do not presume to lecture me on what 'apartheid' means. Do not even think of doing so. It is a word in my language, not yours - you have merely hijacked it, and 'colonized' it - precisely like the Arabs did to the Christian lands in North Africa, the Levant, and Iberia, exactly like Muslims did to Asia Minor, Western India, Central Asia, and parts of Indonesia. If you use that word, you betray your ignorance, and your linguistic carpetbaggery.
Plus, in this case, you devalue that word to the point of irrelevance.
As you are also doing by comparing the fairly minor Gaza war to the full-scale extermination of six million people over a five year period.
University officials, while aware of the problem, and happy to take money from donors on both the Jewish and Arab sides of the fence, gently close their eyes and pretend that all is well.
The posting was this one:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/11/pro-palestinian-activists-attack-jews.html
It is dated 11/14/2008.
The anonymous commenter who discovered it shortly after ten o'clock yesterday evening wrote:
"I don't understand Zionists' claim to a land that was already inhabited by other people. We live in a modern era. Why should Americans support an apartheid state because it believes that religious texts have 'granted' a single people the right to establish a racially defined state to the exclusion of the residents who were living there throughout the 19th and 20th centuries when Jesiwh immigrants were being imported from Europe. While the Holocaust is a horrendous legacy, how does the Jewish state honor the memory of those who were killed by Nazi Germany by perpetrating similar acts of exclusion and oppression? I really don't understand the Zionist mentality...Also, many Jews are anti-Zionist."
I have responded to his query in the comment string, but as the tropes he trumpets are common, it may serve some useful purpose to deal with them in a new post.
I don't understand Zionists' claim to a land that was already inhabited by other people.
There were always Jews living there among the other people. The other people came in with conquerors over the centuries. Jews, however, have ALWAYS lived there. Furthermore, the Zionist purchased land - and developed the barren areas which they bought. It was the economic development of those lands that drew in even more people.
Also, the Jewish quarters of Jerusalem and Hebron, as well as other places inside the land, were ethnically cleansed by Arab mobs in the twenties and thirties - how do you justify Arabs even daring to claim those areas?
Why should Americans support an apartheid state
America does not support an Apartheid state - Israeli Arabs have the right to vote, to own property, and to participate at all levels in Israeli society. And there are Arabs in the ranks of most political parties and all ministries. There are also Arab parties in the Knesset. There are jobs and stations where having served in the IDF give you a much greater entry - Arabs are free to join the IDF. Druze Arabs and many Bedouin do serve in the military (and note that there are Knesset speakers, ministers, officers, and department heads from the Arab Israeli side). All who stayed in 1948 became citizens.
The distinction is with the population in the territories - who are not citizens, and do not wish to be citizens, of a praedominantly Jewish state. They have their own institutions, which are overwhelmingly Judenrein - this despite there having been Jewish populations in both the West Bank and Gaza (that latter population ethnically cleansed several times, the last time during the British period) which date back to the pre-Roman period. Obviously, a population which will not become citizens, and is not even desirous of that - which in fact is acknowledged by all sides as heading towards eventual statehood of its own - cannot be administered in the same way as citizens. They are administered under British Mandate codes and Ottoman law. As they were when the Jordanians ruled over them, and as they were after Egypt had seized Gaza. The laws in those areas are a confusing and oppressive welter, due to it being illegal to change them until locally valid representative bodies do so.
Apartheid state ....
Like Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Japan, Germany, and several others which have nationality laws based on racial and religious exclusionism, coupled with a large number of 'guest-workers' who are treated worse than animals?
But Israel treats its guest-workers and resident aliens far better. So, NOT like the countries just mentioned.
Do you wish to talk about Mexican dishwashers and lettuce pickers? How about Turks who have been three generations in Northern Europe, and are still "foreigners"? Chinese and Indians in Malaysia who have been there for centuries and are discriminated against?
Koreans in Japan? Indians and Pakistanis in the Gulf?
[02/20/2009: Adding Italy to the list above. Per Italian law, children born to foreigners do not automatically receive citizenship, some are left in limbo. This particularly applies to Gypsies and Eastern Europeans. ]
because it believes that religious texts have 'granted' a single people the right to establish a racially defined state to the exclusion of the residents who were living there throughout the 19th and 20th centuries when Jewish immigrants were being imported from Europe.
Zionism is not based on the Bible but on that land being the historic homeland of the Jewish people - even the Romans admitted precisely that.
As did the Arabs - in the Quran, during the various Caliphates, under the Ottomans, and even in the 1920s when the Arabs were becoming nations. Kings Abdullah (assassinated by a Palestinian in Jerusalem) and Hussein (of blessed memory) also admitted the Jewish right to the land.
Nor is the state racially defined (and 'race' in any case is no longer used as a defining term by most anthropologists). There are Jews of every "racial" stripe known to man. In what way is a glow-in-the-dark Hassid from Lithuania the same race as a Persian Jew, an Egyptian Jew, a Baghdadi, a Jew from Samarkand or Bokhara, or a Sfard from Morocco?
And exclusion? Did I already mention that those who stayed, contrary to the commands of the invading Arab armies and at the express request of Jewish leaders in 1948, were automatically granted citizenship? If I didn't mention it yet, I apologize - I should have.
And speaking of 'exclusion', I should also mention that since 1948 the Jews were excluded in very large numbers from Islamic countries - were they had lived since before Islam, in many cases, and in some cases before the current population settled there (that being most notably ALL the lands inhabited today by Turkic majorities, all of which were conquered by invaders from the steppes between ten and four centuries ago - Istanbul used to be Constantinople, and the Greeks still want it back).
Jewish immigrants imported from Europe? Indeed, many of the citizens of Israel have ancestors who came from there (though, of course, the ancestors of the European Jews were not from Europe - see 'Historic Homeland' mentioned above).
Over half the Jewish population however came from Arab and Muslim lands that they were kicked out of in 1948 and years since.
And do not forget, there were already Jews there when they returned to Israel. Many of whom had never been elsewhere - the territory 'assigned' to them by the United Nations was the area of Jewish majority, not the total area where there were Jews. Those who were thrown out of the Arab countries were robbed by the Arabs before they left, and arrived with nothing. As the US Congress in fact recognizes. Note also that these exiles were absorbed by their kin - precisely as the Arabs have refused to absorb their own brothers who fled.
to the exclusion of the residents who were living there throughout the 19th and 20th centuries
The Jewish return to the land was already happening in small measure long before Zionism - Jews returned to Jerusalem, Hebron, Tzfat, and Gaza throughout Ottoman times, and there were Jews who already lived there.
For eight decades till 1948, Jewish population there increased more markedly than under the Caliphate.
Since 1948, it has been the Jewish state - but all in all, Jews have been a majority in their land now for several generations, since before independence. Many were born there, their parents were born there. And many even have grandparents, great grandparents, and even further kin who were born there. They live there now, and most have not lived anywhere else.
If being born in the US makes you an American, or a citizen of many other countries, then by that same reason the Jews in Israel are validly of Israel, and the "Palestinians" born in Nahr El Bard or Jordan are Lebanese and Jordanian.
Oh wait, Arabs practice an exclusionism even more bitter than Europeans and Malays. They discriminate against their own family.
While the Holocaust is a horrendous legacy, how does the Jewish state honor the memory of those who were killed by Nazi Germany by perpetrating similar acts of exclusion and oppression?
The comparison is obscene. After 1967, the Arab population in the territories more than tripled. Even in Gaza since the intifada, there has been a forty percent increase in the population, as per a news item on the BBC website which quotes UN figures. There are more Palestinians now than ever before. They have thrived most marvelously since 1948.
There are no death camps. There are no gas chambers. There are no torture rooms. The Arabs in the West Bank largely have their own officials to blame for the mess they are in (corruption nurtured and encouraged by the UN), and the Arabs in Gaza can thank Hamas (whose nickname, by the way, is SHIA - in snarky acknowledgement of the Iranian contribution) for their situation.
I really don't understand the Zionist mentality
That may be due to ignorance. Give it another shot.
Also, many Jews are anti-Zionist
That also may be due to ignorance. Provided we give them the benefit of doubt.
But more because they desperately wish to be unobjectionable to all, in every possible way. Blending in is a powerful motivator for Uncle-Tomism.
As is profound self-hatred.
[02/20/2009: I actually thought of refering to the anti-Zionist Jews as Kapos-in-training, but the situation is more complex than that. As "A" points out, "The whole issue of Jewish anti-Zionism is much more complex and should be treated in better detail and with less acrimony toward non-Jews.
Ultraorthodox Jews (Neturei Karte) did not want Zionism to usurp the traditional rabbinic leadership of the Jews.
Assimilationist Jews were/are afraid that Zionism will cast doubt on their loyalty to their current state.
Both Marxist and Assimilationist Jews believed that "progress" in a liberal or communist society would allow them to integrate and be part of larger society. In Germany and USSR, this proved to be an illusion.".]
By the same token, many pro-Palestinian activists assert that they are not anti-Semites because their 'best friends' are Jewish (in other words, strictly anti-Zionist Jews). A more common tendency among them is to avoid Jews who they feel are too "Jewish", especially as regards the Israel and Palestine issues.
And, of course, there are still convinced anti-Semites in their ranks.
Not wishing to associate with a taboo minority is also a powerful motivator, as is profound subconscious hatred.
Any questions sofar? There will be a test.
APARTHEID
Now, I find it interesting that the word 'apartheid' is so often used by the anti-Israel crowd. Interesting, because it does not mean what they intend it to mean, nor what they wish to think it means.
Apartheid is a Dutch word that strictly speaking means 'separateness', and in the South African context referred to a legal separation within the same country into ethnic classes (based, in fact, on old Dutch-Roman law and the feudal concept of Romans, nobles, freemen, and serfs) - something which in so varied and diverse a country as Israel is patently absurd.
The West Bank, of course, is different; the Arabs wish their eventual state to be as Judenrein as possible, and have made abundantly clear that they wish Jews to keep out, but do not object to dogs or Persians.
As my regular readers know, I speak, read, and write Dutch fluently. I also understand a number of Dutch dialects, including Afrikaans. Do not presume to lecture me on what 'apartheid' means. Do not even think of doing so. It is a word in my language, not yours - you have merely hijacked it, and 'colonized' it - precisely like the Arabs did to the Christian lands in North Africa, the Levant, and Iberia, exactly like Muslims did to Asia Minor, Western India, Central Asia, and parts of Indonesia. If you use that word, you betray your ignorance, and your linguistic carpetbaggery.
Plus, in this case, you devalue that word to the point of irrelevance.
As you are also doing by comparing the fairly minor Gaza war to the full-scale extermination of six million people over a five year period.
Monday, January 19, 2009
SAN FRANCISCO SAYS "GO BACK TO THE OVENS"
In another triumph for freedom of speech, ten pro-Israel demonstrators were told by one hundred and fifty Palestinians and fellow-travelers that they were dogs, fascists, beasts, Jews, Nazis, murderers, and homosexuals.
And they were invited to go back to the ovens, because Hitler hadn't finished the job.
PROTEST IN SF
Union Square, at the corner of Powell and Geary streets in San Francisco, on Saturday January 17th. From three to five PM.
The request to go back to the ovens was reiterated several times, by a representative number of people in the Palestinian and fellow-traveler section. They seemed obsessed with ovens and gas.
Probably quite a few of them owned pizzerias.
There were also several references to dogs in Arabic. One entire conversation in which Jews were compared to dogs in several ways was between two students from UC Berkeley - one of them allegedly from Gaza, another known to be Moroccan. It can be assumed to have been love-talk, as the Gazan was clearly taken by her fair complexion and fiery spirit. He dislikes Jews, and has called them inhuman several times in the past.
And this time, she would love him for it.
STUDENTS
They weren't the only Berkeley students at the event, but, lest you think that the only Jew-haters in the crowd were Berkeleyites, I hasten to add that several others were San Francisco State students. SF State and Berkeley have a friendly rivalry going as to which school nourishes the most anti-Semitic environment. Having been to both schools, I have to say it's a very close call - kudos to both institutions for creativity and invective, as well as faculty and administrations that bend over backward to accommodate Jew-hate.
Both schools are clearly credits to their communities.
[Which explains the faculty members also attending. School-pride, or esprit, or something. School spirit. Yes, that's it: school spirit.]
I wonder which educational institution will claim credit for the masked thugs who subsequently followed us screaming threats and insults. I'm guessing SF State, but if UC Berkeley wants laurels for that, no problem either.
ATTENDEES, AND THE ABSENT
The event was billed as a memorial to dead children. It was attended by a cross-spectrum of Bay Areans: Palestinian parents and their children, Socialist Worker's Party Members, ANSWER volunteers, rogue Arab teenagers, aged anti-Semites, self-hating Jews and Gentiles from Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Bay Area Women in Black (several of whom are Presbyterians), and a number of other communities.
Altogether about half were angry WASPS, some of whom alleged themselves Jewish. The rest were Arabs.
Many of the children were very sweet, and gave heart-rending speeches about wanting infants in Gaza to sleep in safety. The most touching speech was by a little boy who in dulcet tones informed us "Israel your turn will come, one day you will pay, we will have our vengeance!"
The crowd applauded wildly.
Shortly afterwards, an angry WASP female started a chant enthusiastically taken up by many in the crowd: "FREE U.S. FROM ISRAEL, FREE U.S. FROM ISRAEL!"
A dried up stick nearby kept mispronouncing 'iz-ra-el' as 'da jooz'. He wasn't the only one doing that. It seems to be a common speech-defect, as I've even heard it before from members of JVP and BAWIB.
In between some of the speeches by children, some of their parents or teenage brothers made wishful reference to gas-chambers, plus 'kill ya ya bitch', 'gonna get ya filthy joo', and, most interestingly, 'go back where you came from'.
That last in a heavy Maghrebi accent to a female Sabra.
AND A FEW OTHERS.....
There were, however, a few points of light. Not all of the crowd was overtly anti-Semitic; several people had pained expressions on their faces, obviously cringing from the public exhibition of sentiments that they would have vastly preferred to enjoy in private.
The tall ANSWER volunteer, who had been a monitor at a previous emotional celebration of Jew-dislike two weeks ago (obviously not in the same role this time, because of the sponsorship by Bob Avakian's group), simply wandered off at one point. He may not have felt entirely comfortable supporting hatred that his group had not pre-approved.
One or two elderly church-lady types looked aghast and frightened at the rhetoric from the jugend, though they resolutely remained there in solidarity with their Palestinian brethren.
BRIGHT SPOT
Probably the brightest moment was the beautiful little Palestinian girl, no more than five years old, who came up to me and held up her collage with hate slogans and pictures of corpses. I'm guessing every other adult she had met that day had praised it, and she wanted to share. She looked so unselfconsciously happy, so cheerful - aw shucks, kiddo, it's lovely. Thank you.
The fact that I was holding an Israeli flag didn't appear to register with her. She probably had no clue what it was. And yes, she was just the cutest little thing. A darling moppet.
One of my companions later told me that he thought some of the young Arab women were fetching. Striking, even. Utterly charming, in fact. So he thoroughly enjoyed holding an Israeli flag also. There is probably no better way of catching the eye of a fiery Arab lass than holding the blue-and-white.
It was a lovely hate-filled day.
==============================================
NOTE: The plus-side of angry thugs wearing keffiyot terrorist-style over their faces is that they cannot spit at you. Even pulling the cloth down temporarily to let the phlegm fly is not practical - the spit is hampered and rather lackadaisical. Either that or the boys just couldn't aim. Shaking too much, I guess. Though we were outnumbered fifteen to one, for all they knew every one of us was a Jew (two of us were actually Gentiles), and therefore dangerous and a match for any number of them. Their spit fell far short of the target.
FURTHER NOTE: The only Arab chant this time was 'ba ruh, ba dam, nafdeek ya 'L' Gaza!' (with our soul, with our heart, we will 'redeem' you oh Gaza). The 'L' doesn't really belong there, but the chant needs the extra syllable.
Considering that the event was held several hours after the ceasefire, it surely demonstrated the peaceableness of Arabs and the likelihood of constructive dialogue.
Or at least, knowledge of ovens among their ranks. And indubitably that too is admirable.
And they were invited to go back to the ovens, because Hitler hadn't finished the job.
PROTEST IN SF
Union Square, at the corner of Powell and Geary streets in San Francisco, on Saturday January 17th. From three to five PM.
The request to go back to the ovens was reiterated several times, by a representative number of people in the Palestinian and fellow-traveler section. They seemed obsessed with ovens and gas.
Probably quite a few of them owned pizzerias.
There were also several references to dogs in Arabic. One entire conversation in which Jews were compared to dogs in several ways was between two students from UC Berkeley - one of them allegedly from Gaza, another known to be Moroccan. It can be assumed to have been love-talk, as the Gazan was clearly taken by her fair complexion and fiery spirit. He dislikes Jews, and has called them inhuman several times in the past.
And this time, she would love him for it.
STUDENTS
They weren't the only Berkeley students at the event, but, lest you think that the only Jew-haters in the crowd were Berkeleyites, I hasten to add that several others were San Francisco State students. SF State and Berkeley have a friendly rivalry going as to which school nourishes the most anti-Semitic environment. Having been to both schools, I have to say it's a very close call - kudos to both institutions for creativity and invective, as well as faculty and administrations that bend over backward to accommodate Jew-hate.
Both schools are clearly credits to their communities.
[Which explains the faculty members also attending. School-pride, or esprit, or something. School spirit. Yes, that's it: school spirit.]
I wonder which educational institution will claim credit for the masked thugs who subsequently followed us screaming threats and insults. I'm guessing SF State, but if UC Berkeley wants laurels for that, no problem either.
ATTENDEES, AND THE ABSENT
The event was billed as a memorial to dead children. It was attended by a cross-spectrum of Bay Areans: Palestinian parents and their children, Socialist Worker's Party Members, ANSWER volunteers, rogue Arab teenagers, aged anti-Semites, self-hating Jews and Gentiles from Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) and Bay Area Women in Black (several of whom are Presbyterians), and a number of other communities.
Altogether about half were angry WASPS, some of whom alleged themselves Jewish. The rest were Arabs.
Many of the children were very sweet, and gave heart-rending speeches about wanting infants in Gaza to sleep in safety. The most touching speech was by a little boy who in dulcet tones informed us "Israel your turn will come, one day you will pay, we will have our vengeance!"
The crowd applauded wildly.
Shortly afterwards, an angry WASP female started a chant enthusiastically taken up by many in the crowd: "FREE U.S. FROM ISRAEL, FREE U.S. FROM ISRAEL!"
A dried up stick nearby kept mispronouncing 'iz-ra-el' as 'da jooz'. He wasn't the only one doing that. It seems to be a common speech-defect, as I've even heard it before from members of JVP and BAWIB.
In between some of the speeches by children, some of their parents or teenage brothers made wishful reference to gas-chambers, plus 'kill ya ya bitch', 'gonna get ya filthy joo', and, most interestingly, 'go back where you came from'.
That last in a heavy Maghrebi accent to a female Sabra.
AND A FEW OTHERS.....
There were, however, a few points of light. Not all of the crowd was overtly anti-Semitic; several people had pained expressions on their faces, obviously cringing from the public exhibition of sentiments that they would have vastly preferred to enjoy in private.
The tall ANSWER volunteer, who had been a monitor at a previous emotional celebration of Jew-dislike two weeks ago (obviously not in the same role this time, because of the sponsorship by Bob Avakian's group), simply wandered off at one point. He may not have felt entirely comfortable supporting hatred that his group had not pre-approved.
One or two elderly church-lady types looked aghast and frightened at the rhetoric from the jugend, though they resolutely remained there in solidarity with their Palestinian brethren.
BRIGHT SPOT
Probably the brightest moment was the beautiful little Palestinian girl, no more than five years old, who came up to me and held up her collage with hate slogans and pictures of corpses. I'm guessing every other adult she had met that day had praised it, and she wanted to share. She looked so unselfconsciously happy, so cheerful - aw shucks, kiddo, it's lovely. Thank you.
The fact that I was holding an Israeli flag didn't appear to register with her. She probably had no clue what it was. And yes, she was just the cutest little thing. A darling moppet.
One of my companions later told me that he thought some of the young Arab women were fetching. Striking, even. Utterly charming, in fact. So he thoroughly enjoyed holding an Israeli flag also. There is probably no better way of catching the eye of a fiery Arab lass than holding the blue-and-white.
It was a lovely hate-filled day.
==============================================
NOTE: The plus-side of angry thugs wearing keffiyot terrorist-style over their faces is that they cannot spit at you. Even pulling the cloth down temporarily to let the phlegm fly is not practical - the spit is hampered and rather lackadaisical. Either that or the boys just couldn't aim. Shaking too much, I guess. Though we were outnumbered fifteen to one, for all they knew every one of us was a Jew (two of us were actually Gentiles), and therefore dangerous and a match for any number of them. Their spit fell far short of the target.
FURTHER NOTE: The only Arab chant this time was 'ba ruh, ba dam, nafdeek ya 'L' Gaza!' (with our soul, with our heart, we will 'redeem' you oh Gaza). The 'L' doesn't really belong there, but the chant needs the extra syllable.
Considering that the event was held several hours after the ceasefire, it surely demonstrated the peaceableness of Arabs and the likelihood of constructive dialogue.
Or at least, knowledge of ovens among their ranks. And indubitably that too is admirable.
Sunday, January 11, 2009
PRO-ISRAEL VOICES IN SAN FRANCISCO
All the usual people were on the streets of San Francisco yesterday during the demonstration against Israel. But really, no more than the usual people. Hate-filled bigots, ideological wankers, opportunistic trouble-makers, garden-variety anti-Semites, and misguided hippies. Hi guys!
Gee, that's ALL you could manage?
HATRED'S CHEERLEADERS
International ANSWER, organizers of anti-Semitic events in the Bay Area, must be getting desperate. Their hardcore was there, and their safety monitors this time nearly outnumbered the Arab jugend. But it was probably one of their most pathetic demonstrations yet.
They only managed about twelve hundred people.
It will be remembered that at the start of the Iraq war over a quarter of a million people took to the streets of San Francisco.
At demonstrations a few years ago, International ANSWER pulled together three or four thousand happy anti-Semites.
Last year during the fifth-anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, with three months of organization meetings and tactical planning, ANSWER and their willing dunces managed to have a few dozen people block some intersections for an hour here and there. Most of the direct action trolls were in custody by nine am.
And yesterday?
After an entire week of intensive organizing, e-mails, textmails, pamphletting, and sign-ups?
Twelve hundred. Not even.
PRO-ISRAEL DEMONSTRATORS
The sane and rational side managed a more impressive showing than I actually expected. Altogether, there were well over four hundred of us on the pro-Israel side. Families, young couples, elderly Russians, fresh-faced youths. Our side represented a significantly broader cross-spectrum than our opponents.
THUGGISM AND IGNORANCE
The SF Chronicle called the anti-Israel event a peaceful protest.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/10/BAK6157880.DTL
Which, despite the attack on an elderly woman, the occasional roughing up of passing Jews, and the strong-arm theft of some Israeli flags by Arab bullies, I guess it mostly was.
[Note: some of the stolen flags were subsequently set on fire by masked young gentlemen to the general joy of other participants.]
INTERNATIONAL ANSWER AND YOUR BASER INSTINCTS
After Wednesday night's disgraceful performance in Oakland, where, with ANSWER's organized encouragement, a demonstration over the shooting of an un-armed handcuffed and subdued young man by BART police, turned into a violent melee in which ANSWER signs were used to destroy windows and damage parked vehicles (and oddly, some of the video shows one or two vandals wearing keffiyehs), ANSWER might worry that future protest-permits are iffy. There was somewhat less bloodthirsty chanting than at previous demos.
I only heard a few of the usual Arabic slogans, which were not as loud nor as sustained, as at previous hate-fests organized by ANSWER.
Perhaps they've learned that screaming "massacre the Jews" in Arabic is not as opaque as they presumed.
Still, some of the Arab jugend did act predictably. Their parents must be so ashamed at their children's lack of manners and morals.
Or not.
Maybe apathetic.
The most entertaining part of International ANSWER's buffoonery, however, were the speeches. These ran the gamut from an Arab woman having unintelligible hysterics on cue into a microphone, through an IRA terrorist drawing ridiculous comparisons, to some accented British revolutionary speaking fondly of the day when Hebrew-speaking labouring classes and the proletariat of the Arab world would create a workers-paradise in which everybody could manifest their full potential in a spirit of brotherly love and co-operation, heroically overcoming Capitalism, Religion, and Fascism.
It was a hoot.
---------------------------------------
IN OTHER NEWS
FRIDAY
01/09/09
On Friday, two middle-aged female Zionists managed to discourage about twenty five Israel-haters in Alameda holding a pro-Hamas vigil. Mere moments after the two ladies with their Israeli flags showed up, the pro-Hamas side skedaddled while customers of a restaurant and a bar nearby came out to thank the pro-Israel side for showing up.
SATURDAY
01/10/09
Early Saturday evening, homosexual anti-Israel demonstrators held a noisy event in the Castro district, to the general disapproval of most of the people on the street. They were counter-protested by several local activists, and a swelling number of passers-by.
Most gay San Franciscans are keenly aware that only one state in the Mid-East offers gays full rights and protection. So when the Israel-haters started throwing shoes, in imitation of their ideological cohorts in parts of the extremist world, enthusiastic volunteers gathered up the flung footwear for deposit in nearby garbage cans. This proved discomfiting to the pro-terror side, as the throwers were left barefoot in consequence.
Note: Sidewalk cement is particularly frigid and uncomfortable at this time of year.
SUNDAY
01/11/09
Today, starting at 2:00 PM, pro-Israel demonstrators gathered in front of the consulate on Montgomery street, numbering nearly two hundred people at one point. Many carried Israel and American flags, others had signs advocating peace and a cessation of Hamas terrorism. People driving by waved, and many honked in support. Very inspiring.
Gee, that's ALL you could manage?
HATRED'S CHEERLEADERS
International ANSWER, organizers of anti-Semitic events in the Bay Area, must be getting desperate. Their hardcore was there, and their safety monitors this time nearly outnumbered the Arab jugend. But it was probably one of their most pathetic demonstrations yet.
They only managed about twelve hundred people.
It will be remembered that at the start of the Iraq war over a quarter of a million people took to the streets of San Francisco.
At demonstrations a few years ago, International ANSWER pulled together three or four thousand happy anti-Semites.
Last year during the fifth-anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, with three months of organization meetings and tactical planning, ANSWER and their willing dunces managed to have a few dozen people block some intersections for an hour here and there. Most of the direct action trolls were in custody by nine am.
And yesterday?
After an entire week of intensive organizing, e-mails, textmails, pamphletting, and sign-ups?
Twelve hundred. Not even.
PRO-ISRAEL DEMONSTRATORS
The sane and rational side managed a more impressive showing than I actually expected. Altogether, there were well over four hundred of us on the pro-Israel side. Families, young couples, elderly Russians, fresh-faced youths. Our side represented a significantly broader cross-spectrum than our opponents.
THUGGISM AND IGNORANCE
The SF Chronicle called the anti-Israel event a peaceful protest.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/01/10/BAK6157880.DTL
Which, despite the attack on an elderly woman, the occasional roughing up of passing Jews, and the strong-arm theft of some Israeli flags by Arab bullies, I guess it mostly was.
[Note: some of the stolen flags were subsequently set on fire by masked young gentlemen to the general joy of other participants.]
The Anarchists had promised to come and commit vandalism. But their internet presence is more impressive than their actual number in the real world. That old style violent Berkeleyite goonery has fewer adherents with each passing year. Not a single one of them showed up.
Much of the violence was verbal or textual.
One or two deranged people came over to scream incoherently before being escorted back to their side by the police. There were several Jew-hating chants from the line of face-covered Keffiyeh youth, and many of the handmade signs equated Zionism with Nazism. One totally baffling sign opined that Zionism was Anti-Semitism. An unusual sign stated that Gaza in 2008 was the same as the Warsaw Ghetto in 1938.
1938?
1938?!?
1938!?!?!
Okay then, 1938.
Have it your way.
INTERNATIONAL ANSWER AND YOUR BASER INSTINCTS
After Wednesday night's disgraceful performance in Oakland, where, with ANSWER's organized encouragement, a demonstration over the shooting of an un-armed handcuffed and subdued young man by BART police, turned into a violent melee in which ANSWER signs were used to destroy windows and damage parked vehicles (and oddly, some of the video shows one or two vandals wearing keffiyehs), ANSWER might worry that future protest-permits are iffy. There was somewhat less bloodthirsty chanting than at previous demos.
I only heard a few of the usual Arabic slogans, which were not as loud nor as sustained, as at previous hate-fests organized by ANSWER.
Perhaps they've learned that screaming "massacre the Jews" in Arabic is not as opaque as they presumed.
Still, some of the Arab jugend did act predictably. Their parents must be so ashamed at their children's lack of manners and morals.
Or not.
Maybe apathetic.
The most entertaining part of International ANSWER's buffoonery, however, were the speeches. These ran the gamut from an Arab woman having unintelligible hysterics on cue into a microphone, through an IRA terrorist drawing ridiculous comparisons, to some accented British revolutionary speaking fondly of the day when Hebrew-speaking labouring classes and the proletariat of the Arab world would create a workers-paradise in which everybody could manifest their full potential in a spirit of brotherly love and co-operation, heroically overcoming Capitalism, Religion, and Fascism.
It was a hoot.
---------------------------------------
IN OTHER NEWS
FRIDAY
01/09/09
On Friday, two middle-aged female Zionists managed to discourage about twenty five Israel-haters in Alameda holding a pro-Hamas vigil. Mere moments after the two ladies with their Israeli flags showed up, the pro-Hamas side skedaddled while customers of a restaurant and a bar nearby came out to thank the pro-Israel side for showing up.
SATURDAY
01/10/09
Early Saturday evening, homosexual anti-Israel demonstrators held a noisy event in the Castro district, to the general disapproval of most of the people on the street. They were counter-protested by several local activists, and a swelling number of passers-by.
Most gay San Franciscans are keenly aware that only one state in the Mid-East offers gays full rights and protection. So when the Israel-haters started throwing shoes, in imitation of their ideological cohorts in parts of the extremist world, enthusiastic volunteers gathered up the flung footwear for deposit in nearby garbage cans. This proved discomfiting to the pro-terror side, as the throwers were left barefoot in consequence.
Note: Sidewalk cement is particularly frigid and uncomfortable at this time of year.
SUNDAY
01/11/09
Today, starting at 2:00 PM, pro-Israel demonstrators gathered in front of the consulate on Montgomery street, numbering nearly two hundred people at one point. Many carried Israel and American flags, others had signs advocating peace and a cessation of Hamas terrorism. People driving by waved, and many honked in support. Very inspiring.
Friday, January 09, 2009
MOROCCAN DUTCH
Over the past several days I have read innumerable comments in Dutch pursuant the recent events in the Mid-East and their reverberations in the Netherlands.
Amid the anti-Semitic tendencies and protests, it is clear that there is strong support for Israel among large segments of Dutch society.
Despite the idiocy displayed by such people as Harry van Bommel, Gretta Duisenberg, and Anja Meulenbelt, et al.
Many Dutch wholeheartedly support Israel's right to exist, in peace and security, as the ultimate embodiment of the eternal Jewish nation.
And a very large number consider Israel's actions fully justified.
The screaming mobs in Amsterdam and Utrecht, and the hypocrites and opportunists from the socialist party, do not represent the majority of the Dutch.
In the eyes of many, Hamas is to blame for recent events, and the Arab world is clearly biased and partisan. This has been made clear in well-thought out article after well-thought out article, comment after comment.
MOSTLY MOROCCANS FROM THE INNER CITIES
Some writers, pro-Israel in every way, go even further, and damn and castigate every single Muslim living in the Netherlands as an undesirable, an extremist, and a petty criminal. And conclude by demanding the expulsion of all Turks and Moroccans.
You, dear reader, will I hope understand that I am uncomfortable with such sentiments.
I was once an allochtoon in the Netherlands, and despite evident brilliance and a Dutch education, was not employable because I was an outsider who did not belong.
While I sympathize with those Dutch who look around them and see the country they knew gone, and a different and more frightening country in its place, and while on an emotional level I agree that there are far too many angry Muslims infesting Dutch metropoleis.......
Please do not forget: these are YOUR Muslims. You let them in. Many of them were born there. Many of them speak Dutch better than Turkish, Tuareg, or Arabic. They were educated in YOUR schools, and, though their values are sometimes retrograde and primitive, those are values that have been nurtured in your cities.
They are your hothouse plants.
Yes, there are many you could probably well do without. Many whom you and I would gladly see the last of.
But if it were to come to that, there would be also many whom you would prefer to keep. And even more who, having done the work that Dutchmen refused to do, for over two decades, have invested their energies in Dutch society. They hold Dutch passports, they cheer Dutch football teams, they put up with your climate and your food.
By trying to make a separation, you would do them all an injustice.
It isn't that long ago that the Surinamers were the undesirables. And before that, the loyalist exiles from the East Indies. I remember that both groups were described as unwilling to integrate, un-absorbable, anti-social, not really our kind of people, and, well, you know, not strictly pale enough.
There was also a time when Frieslanders and people with funny country-side accents weren't socially acceptable either.
Before that, it was Jews and Catholics (or, in Brabant and Limburg, Jews and Protestants).
And before that, Jews and .........
Like many of you, I am also furious about the screamed Jew-hatred at demonstrations, the fire-bombing of synagogues in various European countries, and the burning of effigies and flags.
But I would much rather break the knees of the actual perpetrators with an iron bar, than hold all of their kin responsible. I like the iron bar, I have no problems with the iron bar. I encourage selective use of the iron bar.
But demonization, no. Absolutely not.
Really, the failure of so many of them to play well with others is also your fault. Once you let someone in, you are obliged to give them a fair shake. Did you really do that?
Having been the outsider once, I am fairly certain that you left a bit wanting on that score.
It is up to you to mold them in your image. Perhaps, just perhaps, the problem lies also with you Dutch. And if that is indeed so, I am confident that you can solve it equitably.
Please give what I just said some thought tonight, while you eat your broodje shawerma or your donur kabab, and let me know your conclusions.
Een goede en gebentsjte sjabbes gewenst aan u allen.
Amid the anti-Semitic tendencies and protests, it is clear that there is strong support for Israel among large segments of Dutch society.
Despite the idiocy displayed by such people as Harry van Bommel, Gretta Duisenberg, and Anja Meulenbelt, et al.
Many Dutch wholeheartedly support Israel's right to exist, in peace and security, as the ultimate embodiment of the eternal Jewish nation.
And a very large number consider Israel's actions fully justified.
The screaming mobs in Amsterdam and Utrecht, and the hypocrites and opportunists from the socialist party, do not represent the majority of the Dutch.
In the eyes of many, Hamas is to blame for recent events, and the Arab world is clearly biased and partisan. This has been made clear in well-thought out article after well-thought out article, comment after comment.
MOSTLY MOROCCANS FROM THE INNER CITIES
Some writers, pro-Israel in every way, go even further, and damn and castigate every single Muslim living in the Netherlands as an undesirable, an extremist, and a petty criminal. And conclude by demanding the expulsion of all Turks and Moroccans.
You, dear reader, will I hope understand that I am uncomfortable with such sentiments.
I was once an allochtoon in the Netherlands, and despite evident brilliance and a Dutch education, was not employable because I was an outsider who did not belong.
While I sympathize with those Dutch who look around them and see the country they knew gone, and a different and more frightening country in its place, and while on an emotional level I agree that there are far too many angry Muslims infesting Dutch metropoleis.......
Please do not forget: these are YOUR Muslims. You let them in. Many of them were born there. Many of them speak Dutch better than Turkish, Tuareg, or Arabic. They were educated in YOUR schools, and, though their values are sometimes retrograde and primitive, those are values that have been nurtured in your cities.
They are your hothouse plants.
Yes, there are many you could probably well do without. Many whom you and I would gladly see the last of.
But if it were to come to that, there would be also many whom you would prefer to keep. And even more who, having done the work that Dutchmen refused to do, for over two decades, have invested their energies in Dutch society. They hold Dutch passports, they cheer Dutch football teams, they put up with your climate and your food.
By trying to make a separation, you would do them all an injustice.
It isn't that long ago that the Surinamers were the undesirables. And before that, the loyalist exiles from the East Indies. I remember that both groups were described as unwilling to integrate, un-absorbable, anti-social, not really our kind of people, and, well, you know, not strictly pale enough.
There was also a time when Frieslanders and people with funny country-side accents weren't socially acceptable either.
Before that, it was Jews and Catholics (or, in Brabant and Limburg, Jews and Protestants).
And before that, Jews and .........
Like many of you, I am also furious about the screamed Jew-hatred at demonstrations, the fire-bombing of synagogues in various European countries, and the burning of effigies and flags.
But I would much rather break the knees of the actual perpetrators with an iron bar, than hold all of their kin responsible. I like the iron bar, I have no problems with the iron bar. I encourage selective use of the iron bar.
But demonization, no. Absolutely not.
Really, the failure of so many of them to play well with others is also your fault. Once you let someone in, you are obliged to give them a fair shake. Did you really do that?
Having been the outsider once, I am fairly certain that you left a bit wanting on that score.
It is up to you to mold them in your image. Perhaps, just perhaps, the problem lies also with you Dutch. And if that is indeed so, I am confident that you can solve it equitably.
Please give what I just said some thought tonight, while you eat your broodje shawerma or your donur kabab, and let me know your conclusions.
Een goede en gebentsjte sjabbes gewenst aan u allen.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
DUTCH HAMAS MEMBERS
Oh dear. I appear to have upset several hundred Dutch people. And many of them are now hopping mad.
Yesterday I had the temerity to post the names of notable Dutch Hamas Supporters, with the suggestion that they be put on a no-fly list - we Americans, certainly, do not need any of the people I listed visiting us anytime soon, and it would be just as well if they were never allowed out of Europe again.
The list of Dutch Hamas Supporters is here:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/01/dutch-hamas-supporters.html
Normally I do not expect many bloghits. After all, the thoughts of a grumpy pipe smoking middle-aged member of the International Zionist Conspiracy™ living in San Francisco are hardly that interesting. At least not to many people outside the pipe-smoking community or the International Zionist Conspiracy™.
But GeenStijl decided otherwise. And linked me in a lovely little blurble.
Here:
http://www.geenstijl.nl/mt/archieven/2009/01/auschwitzcomite_nooit_meer_har.html
Quote: "In ieder geval hebben diverse Vrienden van Israel de kwestie inmiddels opgepakt. De naam van Van Bommel - alsmede de rest van de SP-fractie - staat op internet inmiddels synoniem voor Dutch Hamas Supporters. "
['In any case, various friends of Israel have taken up the issue. The name of Van Bommel - as well as the rest of the SP parliamentary fraction - have become synonymous with 'Dutch Hamas Supporters' on the internet.']
This in the context of an article indicating that mr. Van Bommel may be disinvited from this year's and all future commemorative events concerning the Dutch Jews betrayed and deported to the deathcamps. He and his good friend Gretta Duisenberg were screaming 'intifada intifada free Palestine' (Intifada, intifada, Palastina vrij!) while their companions were chanting 'Hamas Hamas, Jews to the gas' (Hamas Hamas, Joden aan het gas) during the anti-Israel march in Amsterdam last Saturday.
[Some of the other slogans chanted at that demonstration: "be roh, be dam, nafdeek ya falastin", and "Allahu Akbar", plus some gibberish about the holocaust, and threats of world-wide jihad. In addition to the Palestinian flag there were also numerous Hamas and Hezbollah banners - it will be remembered, of course, that monetary support for terrorist organizations comes from many residents of Europe.]
The result of GeenStijl's linkage was that I received many more hits than normal, plus several more comments. And some hate mail.
Of which, herewith, a sampling.
Reader RooieRakker writes:
"Vuile jode pooier.... "
[Filthy Jew pimp ....]
My dear RooieRakker, I did not know your sister was looking for work in the United States. Please forward her picture and contact information, and I shall endeavor to arrange something suitable.
Reader Hamza writes:
"Je bent en vuile zionidt en moordenaar, jou moesyen ze afschiete ...."
[You are a (spelling error no. 1) filthy Zionist (spelling error no. 2, plus cap error) and murderer, you they should (spelling error no. 3) shoot to death (spelling error no. 4) ....]
My dear Hamza, please learn how to write Dutch. You might want to study the comments of Faaz, who seems capable of marshalling his thoughts and formulating excellent sentences in Dutch. Admittedly, Faaz hates all Jews with a passion, is furious about what the Zionists have done to his home country (Holland), and seems woefully misinformed besides - but I suspect that he is a product of a university, and has excellent diction too. He is very literate - quite the example for you.
Faaz is in all ways a most remarkableMoroccan Dutchman.
Reader PenisVaandel writes:
"Wat mij betreft kun je die jode xxx uit je bek doen en in je xxx stoppen"
[As far as I'm concerned you can take that Jew's p.... out of your mouth and stuff it in your a... ]
My dear Shmuckbanner, my postings are seldom about sex, and almost never about those predilections which are your field of expertise.
Reader AnonymusBosch writes:
"Ze hadden alle van jullie vuile rotjoden allang moeten aflsachten, dan sou de wereld er stukken schooner zijn "
[They should've massacred (spelling error) all (grammatical error) of you filthy rotten Jews a long time ago, then the world would (spelling error) have been a lot cleaner (grammatical error).]
My dear AnonymusBosch, I am touched that you are so concerned about cleanliness. Cleanliness is, as you know, next to godliness. We members of the International Zionist Conspiracy™ share your concerns, and to that end we support the cleaning-up of Gaza. It may never be as clean as my kitchen counter, but I assure you that we are doing our very best! There has already been much improvement. I encourage you to move there as soon as possible. As we say in Dutch, "opgeruimd staat netjes".
There was more in the same vein. The language of Vondel and Brederode has fallen on hard times.
Several other readers, who left comments on GeenStijl (http://www.geenstijl.nl/) and in several other places, validated my assertion that the people I had listed as Hamas Supporters in the Netherlands were in fact known and on record as such. It is the considered opinion of many that the entire SP leadership constitute a Hamas cell, and must be considered more than merely misguided.
And additionally, that International Socialism and National Socialism are in many ways the same.
Many readers also averred that Harry van Bommel is a notorious billenknijper.
I shall have to take their word for it - I am entirely unfamiliar with Harry van Bommel's sexual escapades, or his unsubtle approach to flirting. If you, my dear Dutch readers, wish to provide photographic or journalistic evidence of mr. Harry van Bommel performing the knyp on various billen, I shall be happy to peruse it. Not that I am truly interested in his knyping, or what bills he choses to knyp, but as a matter of accuracy in reporting I feel I must pursue the matter.
Yesterday I had the temerity to post the names of notable Dutch Hamas Supporters, with the suggestion that they be put on a no-fly list - we Americans, certainly, do not need any of the people I listed visiting us anytime soon, and it would be just as well if they were never allowed out of Europe again.
The list of Dutch Hamas Supporters is here:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/01/dutch-hamas-supporters.html
Normally I do not expect many bloghits. After all, the thoughts of a grumpy pipe smoking middle-aged member of the International Zionist Conspiracy™ living in San Francisco are hardly that interesting. At least not to many people outside the pipe-smoking community or the International Zionist Conspiracy™.
But GeenStijl decided otherwise. And linked me in a lovely little blurble.
Here:
http://www.geenstijl.nl/mt/archieven/2009/01/auschwitzcomite_nooit_meer_har.html
Quote: "In ieder geval hebben diverse Vrienden van Israel de kwestie inmiddels opgepakt. De naam van Van Bommel - alsmede de rest van de SP-fractie - staat op internet inmiddels synoniem voor Dutch Hamas Supporters. "
['In any case, various friends of Israel have taken up the issue. The name of Van Bommel - as well as the rest of the SP parliamentary fraction - have become synonymous with 'Dutch Hamas Supporters' on the internet.']
This in the context of an article indicating that mr. Van Bommel may be disinvited from this year's and all future commemorative events concerning the Dutch Jews betrayed and deported to the deathcamps. He and his good friend Gretta Duisenberg were screaming 'intifada intifada free Palestine' (Intifada, intifada, Palastina vrij!) while their companions were chanting 'Hamas Hamas, Jews to the gas' (Hamas Hamas, Joden aan het gas) during the anti-Israel march in Amsterdam last Saturday.
[Some of the other slogans chanted at that demonstration: "be roh, be dam, nafdeek ya falastin", and "Allahu Akbar", plus some gibberish about the holocaust, and threats of world-wide jihad. In addition to the Palestinian flag there were also numerous Hamas and Hezbollah banners - it will be remembered, of course, that monetary support for terrorist organizations comes from many residents of Europe.]
The result of GeenStijl's linkage was that I received many more hits than normal, plus several more comments. And some hate mail.
Of which, herewith, a sampling.
Reader RooieRakker writes:
"Vuile jode pooier.... "
[Filthy Jew pimp ....]
My dear RooieRakker, I did not know your sister was looking for work in the United States. Please forward her picture and contact information, and I shall endeavor to arrange something suitable.
Reader Hamza writes:
"Je bent en vuile zionidt en moordenaar, jou moesyen ze afschiete ...."
[You are a (spelling error no. 1) filthy Zionist (spelling error no. 2, plus cap error) and murderer, you they should (spelling error no. 3) shoot to death (spelling error no. 4) ....]
My dear Hamza, please learn how to write Dutch. You might want to study the comments of Faaz, who seems capable of marshalling his thoughts and formulating excellent sentences in Dutch. Admittedly, Faaz hates all Jews with a passion, is furious about what the Zionists have done to his home country (Holland), and seems woefully misinformed besides - but I suspect that he is a product of a university, and has excellent diction too. He is very literate - quite the example for you.
Faaz is in all ways a most remarkable
Reader PenisVaandel writes:
"Wat mij betreft kun je die jode xxx uit je bek doen en in je xxx stoppen"
[As far as I'm concerned you can take that Jew's p.... out of your mouth and stuff it in your a... ]
My dear Shmuckbanner, my postings are seldom about sex, and almost never about those predilections which are your field of expertise.
Reader AnonymusBosch writes:
"Ze hadden alle van jullie vuile rotjoden allang moeten aflsachten, dan sou de wereld er stukken schooner zijn "
[They should've massacred (spelling error) all (grammatical error) of you filthy rotten Jews a long time ago, then the world would (spelling error) have been a lot cleaner (grammatical error).]
My dear AnonymusBosch, I am touched that you are so concerned about cleanliness. Cleanliness is, as you know, next to godliness. We members of the International Zionist Conspiracy™ share your concerns, and to that end we support the cleaning-up of Gaza. It may never be as clean as my kitchen counter, but I assure you that we are doing our very best! There has already been much improvement. I encourage you to move there as soon as possible. As we say in Dutch, "opgeruimd staat netjes".
There was more in the same vein. The language of Vondel and Brederode has fallen on hard times.
Several other readers, who left comments on GeenStijl (http://www.geenstijl.nl/) and in several other places, validated my assertion that the people I had listed as Hamas Supporters in the Netherlands were in fact known and on record as such. It is the considered opinion of many that the entire SP leadership constitute a Hamas cell, and must be considered more than merely misguided.
And additionally, that International Socialism and National Socialism are in many ways the same.
Many readers also averred that Harry van Bommel is a notorious billenknijper.
I shall have to take their word for it - I am entirely unfamiliar with Harry van Bommel's sexual escapades, or his unsubtle approach to flirting. If you, my dear Dutch readers, wish to provide photographic or journalistic evidence of mr. Harry van Bommel performing the knyp on various billen, I shall be happy to peruse it. Not that I am truly interested in his knyping, or what bills he choses to knyp, but as a matter of accuracy in reporting I feel I must pursue the matter.
Monday, January 05, 2009
SABBATH OFF TO A ROCKY START
Links to a near-lynching in front of the Israeli Consulate on Montgomery Street.
Friday Jan. 2 at 5:15 PM, more or less.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMXH81ctj2o&eurl=http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/?p=208
Or here, with commentary, on Zombie's blog:
http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/?p=208
Five pro-Israel protestors.
Five hundred or more keffiyeh-wearing people.
One hundred to one.
I still think those are do-able odds.
Though I've never seen cops have hysterics before.
THE SCENE
The protests began at around noon at Powell and Market, wandered through the downtown fifteen hundred strong(*), then ended up in front of the consulate at four thirty. I could hear the crowd screaming
'ba rooh, ba dam, nafdeek ya falasteen' as they passed by on Montgomery Street.
[* Fifteen hundred is an educated guess, but it might have been as many as two thousand.]
The five of us headed over to the consulate shortly afterwards, with three Israeli flags and three signs.
[Our signs: 'STOP ROCKETS FROM GAZA', 'HAMAS MUST BE DESTROYED', and 'HAMAS HAD IT COMING']
Once they saw us, the Palestinian side started screaming threats and insults, and one of them jumped up and down on an Israeli flag while erecting his middle digit. Shoes were also waved.
[They can't spit very far. At least not without significant blow-back.]
FRACAS
Several young Palestinian gallants started hitting one of our group (a middle-aged woman), at which point one of us rushed over and tried to break some ribs. Then the cops dragged us off, and tried to herd us away from the points of contact. Someone on the Palestinian side threw a handful of small change, and in addition to the middle-digit salute some of them made the money-grubbing gesture. Shortly afterwards the yelling mob crashed over the barriers screaming threats, and the cops had a fit - several officers pushed us inside a nearby building, where we were made to stay for a while, after which they drove us to somewhere else in a small caravan of police vehicles.
Other counter-protestors?
Well, pro-Israel is rather spread out, not very well organized, and mostly fully employed.
Anti-Israel is distinctly urban, and either unemployable, local student, or running liquor stores in the seedier sections of Oakland and SF. At that point in time, most of the pro-Palestinian Jewish protestors and their Intellectually anti-Semitic Gentile friends (JVP, Women in Black, et al) were heading towards Market street to go home, leaving the rowdies entirely un-babysat. And seeing as the anti-Israel manifestation was a well-organized spontaneous demonstration, the five of us were the only counter-demonstrators to show up.
Cigars?
Had to chuck one, hardly smoked, when the cops hustled us into a lobby of a nearby office building and barricaded the door. Still wish they hadn't jammed us into the building quite so soon - I had barely lit up, and had to waste nearly an entire cigarillo.
Thoughts during this sequence of events:
"I can take out three, maybe four of five, before they get me."
"Probably won't feel any pain till I wake up dead."
"There's a few of them I can cripple, easily."
Thoughts afterwards:
"I wish someone would whack that bitch Anja Meulenbelt....., oh, and Harry van Bommel too."
"Nearly getting killed is very dehydrating....., time for tea."
"Good thing my uncle and aunt will never hear about this."
"Glock 17, nine millimeter. Or a Browning GP35."
"Next time hit higher and get 'em in the face."
Adrenaline is marvelous. It cleared out my sinus head-ache and my stuffy nose.
I have never felt so alive. Thanks guys.
Friday Jan. 2 at 5:15 PM, more or less.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMXH81ctj2o&eurl=http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/?p=208
Or here, with commentary, on Zombie's blog:
http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/?p=208
Five pro-Israel protestors.
Five hundred or more keffiyeh-wearing people.
One hundred to one.
I still think those are do-able odds.
Though I've never seen cops have hysterics before.
THE SCENE
The protests began at around noon at Powell and Market, wandered through the downtown fifteen hundred strong(*), then ended up in front of the consulate at four thirty. I could hear the crowd screaming
'ba rooh, ba dam, nafdeek ya falasteen' as they passed by on Montgomery Street.
[* Fifteen hundred is an educated guess, but it might have been as many as two thousand.]
The five of us headed over to the consulate shortly afterwards, with three Israeli flags and three signs.
[Our signs: 'STOP ROCKETS FROM GAZA', 'HAMAS MUST BE DESTROYED', and 'HAMAS HAD IT COMING']
Once they saw us, the Palestinian side started screaming threats and insults, and one of them jumped up and down on an Israeli flag while erecting his middle digit. Shoes were also waved.
[They can't spit very far. At least not without significant blow-back.]
FRACAS
Several young Palestinian gallants started hitting one of our group (a middle-aged woman), at which point one of us rushed over and tried to break some ribs. Then the cops dragged us off, and tried to herd us away from the points of contact. Someone on the Palestinian side threw a handful of small change, and in addition to the middle-digit salute some of them made the money-grubbing gesture. Shortly afterwards the yelling mob crashed over the barriers screaming threats, and the cops had a fit - several officers pushed us inside a nearby building, where we were made to stay for a while, after which they drove us to somewhere else in a small caravan of police vehicles.
Other counter-protestors?
Well, pro-Israel is rather spread out, not very well organized, and mostly fully employed.
Anti-Israel is distinctly urban, and either unemployable, local student, or running liquor stores in the seedier sections of Oakland and SF. At that point in time, most of the pro-Palestinian Jewish protestors and their Intellectually anti-Semitic Gentile friends (JVP, Women in Black, et al) were heading towards Market street to go home, leaving the rowdies entirely un-babysat. And seeing as the anti-Israel manifestation was a well-organized spontaneous demonstration, the five of us were the only counter-demonstrators to show up.
Cigars?
Had to chuck one, hardly smoked, when the cops hustled us into a lobby of a nearby office building and barricaded the door. Still wish they hadn't jammed us into the building quite so soon - I had barely lit up, and had to waste nearly an entire cigarillo.
Thoughts during this sequence of events:
"I can take out three, maybe four of five, before they get me."
"Probably won't feel any pain till I wake up dead."
"There's a few of them I can cripple, easily."
Thoughts afterwards:
"I wish someone would whack that bitch Anja Meulenbelt....., oh, and Harry van Bommel too."
"Nearly getting killed is very dehydrating....., time for tea."
"Good thing my uncle and aunt will never hear about this."
"Glock 17, nine millimeter. Or a Browning GP35."
"Next time hit higher and get 'em in the face."
Adrenaline is marvelous. It cleared out my sinus head-ache and my stuffy nose.
I have never felt so alive. Thanks guys.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
AHMED ABOUTALEB NEEDS A HOUSE
The honourable mr. Aboutaleb needs to find a roof over his head in Rotterdam.
Apparently burgomaster Ahmed Aboutaleb of Rotterdam is legally required to live in the city of which he is the mayor. The law allows him a year's grace in which to find a suitable dwelling for himself and family - he has twelve months in which to achieve the impossible.
[Note: Burgomasters in the Netherlands are appointed by the government, not elected. This detail is only slightly germane to the rest of this post. I made mention of mr. Aboutaleb's appointment here:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/10/dutch-and-their-missing-marbles-ahmed.html
Mr. Aboutaleb becomes Rotterdam's mayor on the fifth of January.]
This blog wishes him the best of luck finding housing in that town. Rotterdam is, to this blogger, the very arm-pit of Europe, and should count itself exceptionally favoured by his appointment. He is an intelligent, ethical, and very capable man, and one sympathizes with his quandary.
I myself would not wish to live in that place, and long ago resolved to avoid it like the plague.
[See this post:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2006/01/xenophobic-cheese-rotterdam.html
In this short piece I dump as much bile over Rotterdam as her natives do over everyone and everything else. They deserve it.]
Predictably, several persons writing in Dutch (and by so doing bringing disgrace to the noble language of Vondel and Brederode) have suggested precisely what Ahmed Aboutaleb should do, and where he should go. They were inspired to do so because mr. Aboutaleb is a Dutchman of Moroccan extraction - and the Netherlands is not nearly as tolerant as it would pretend to be.
[For an illustration of "not nearly as tolerant as it pretends" see this post:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2007/05/dutch-bigotry-moslim-gezin-wil-snel-weg.html
One example is given, several more are available. The list, alas, grows larger with each passing day. ]
I will not reproduce their appalling texts, but will merely state that if, one hundred years from now, people still read Dutch, they will not be rereading those angry comments, but will more likely be reading the prose of Abdulkader Benali, another talented Dutchman of Moroccan extraction - and one of the best Dutch writers of this generation.
Our literature would be poorer without him, just as Dutch society would be impoverished without the many talented Moroccans who call the Netherlands their home.
Her immigrants do her credit, her natives..... sometimes not.
Apparently burgomaster Ahmed Aboutaleb of Rotterdam is legally required to live in the city of which he is the mayor. The law allows him a year's grace in which to find a suitable dwelling for himself and family - he has twelve months in which to achieve the impossible.
[Note: Burgomasters in the Netherlands are appointed by the government, not elected. This detail is only slightly germane to the rest of this post. I made mention of mr. Aboutaleb's appointment here:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/10/dutch-and-their-missing-marbles-ahmed.html
Mr. Aboutaleb becomes Rotterdam's mayor on the fifth of January.]
This blog wishes him the best of luck finding housing in that town. Rotterdam is, to this blogger, the very arm-pit of Europe, and should count itself exceptionally favoured by his appointment. He is an intelligent, ethical, and very capable man, and one sympathizes with his quandary.
I myself would not wish to live in that place, and long ago resolved to avoid it like the plague.
[See this post:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2006/01/xenophobic-cheese-rotterdam.html
In this short piece I dump as much bile over Rotterdam as her natives do over everyone and everything else. They deserve it.]
Predictably, several persons writing in Dutch (and by so doing bringing disgrace to the noble language of Vondel and Brederode) have suggested precisely what Ahmed Aboutaleb should do, and where he should go. They were inspired to do so because mr. Aboutaleb is a Dutchman of Moroccan extraction - and the Netherlands is not nearly as tolerant as it would pretend to be.
[For an illustration of "not nearly as tolerant as it pretends" see this post:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2007/05/dutch-bigotry-moslim-gezin-wil-snel-weg.html
One example is given, several more are available. The list, alas, grows larger with each passing day. ]
I will not reproduce their appalling texts, but will merely state that if, one hundred years from now, people still read Dutch, they will not be rereading those angry comments, but will more likely be reading the prose of Abdulkader Benali, another talented Dutchman of Moroccan extraction - and one of the best Dutch writers of this generation.
Our literature would be poorer without him, just as Dutch society would be impoverished without the many talented Moroccans who call the Netherlands their home.
Her immigrants do her credit, her natives..... sometimes not.
Friday, December 05, 2008
DAN KLIMAN
If you haven't already done so, please read Zombie's post about Dan Kliman. It is an excellent source for updated information on the case.
Zombie knew certain aspects of Dan better than almost anybody else possibly could - both had received death-threats for making photos and recordings of the hatred and extremism evident at protests in the Bay Area.
[Zombie is, according to reliable reports, on an extremist hit-list. This is the Bay Area, and we have more unbalanced people here than many other places.]
Zombie's post:
http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/?p=110
Click: R.I.P. Dan Kliman.
Zombie's main page:
http://www.zombietime.com/
Click: zombietime.
[A great resource about public displays of insanity in the Bay Area - see mention of photos and recordings above.]
OyBay also posted about it:
http://oybay.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/the-unfolding-story-of-the-death-of-dan-kliman-zl/
Click: Unfolding story.
At this point the investigation continues. The SFPD have homicide investigators on the case, but still incline towards calling it an accident. Results will not be known for a while, and almost no information is being made public - that is standard procedure, by the way.
This may lead some to indulge in paranoid conspiracy theories - 'He was murdered for being a gay vegetarian rightwing leftwing purple-striped pro-Israel cat-lover from Mars!' - and others to worry about a cover-up. Both approaches are somewhat unnecessary.
And I note, pursuant thereto, that a previous post ( was Dan Kliman murdered? ) seems to have attracted some remarkable commenters. I am not entirely sure that absolutely all of them are sane. A few of them are probably dangerous.
Feel free to demonstrate where in the spectrum you belong.
===========================================
3:54 PM 12/05/08 update:
This article in the TimesUnion (Albany, NY) is informative.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=747007&category=REGION
There are a few details in that piece that I have not seen elsewhere.
Cinnamon Stillwell has also posted about Dan Kliman.
Here:
http://cinnamonstillwell.blogspot.com/2008/12/rip-dan-kliman.html
It is probably worth your while to bookmark Cinnamon Stillwell's blog, as there is often something interesting there.
http://cinnamonstillwell.blogspot.com/
Of course, if you are one of the anti-Israel trolls, you will not like what you find there. Oh well. Life is tough, isn't it?
Zombie knew certain aspects of Dan better than almost anybody else possibly could - both had received death-threats for making photos and recordings of the hatred and extremism evident at protests in the Bay Area.
[Zombie is, according to reliable reports, on an extremist hit-list. This is the Bay Area, and we have more unbalanced people here than many other places.]
Zombie's post:
http://www.zombietime.com/zomblog/?p=110
Click: R.I.P. Dan Kliman.
Zombie's main page:
http://www.zombietime.com/
Click: zombietime.
[A great resource about public displays of insanity in the Bay Area - see mention of photos and recordings above.]
OyBay also posted about it:
http://oybay.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/the-unfolding-story-of-the-death-of-dan-kliman-zl/
Click: Unfolding story.
At this point the investigation continues. The SFPD have homicide investigators on the case, but still incline towards calling it an accident. Results will not be known for a while, and almost no information is being made public - that is standard procedure, by the way.
This may lead some to indulge in paranoid conspiracy theories - 'He was murdered for being a gay vegetarian rightwing leftwing purple-striped pro-Israel cat-lover from Mars!' - and others to worry about a cover-up. Both approaches are somewhat unnecessary.
And I note, pursuant thereto, that a previous post ( was Dan Kliman murdered? ) seems to have attracted some remarkable commenters. I am not entirely sure that absolutely all of them are sane. A few of them are probably dangerous.
Feel free to demonstrate where in the spectrum you belong.
===========================================
3:54 PM 12/05/08 update:
This article in the TimesUnion (Albany, NY) is informative.
http://www.timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=747007&category=REGION
There are a few details in that piece that I have not seen elsewhere.
Cinnamon Stillwell has also posted about Dan Kliman.
Here:
http://cinnamonstillwell.blogspot.com/2008/12/rip-dan-kliman.html
It is probably worth your while to bookmark Cinnamon Stillwell's blog, as there is often something interesting there.
http://cinnamonstillwell.blogspot.com/
Of course, if you are one of the anti-Israel trolls, you will not like what you find there. Oh well. Life is tough, isn't it?
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
WAS ZIONIST ACTIVIST DAN KLIMAN MURDERED?
Not according the SF Police.
Quote:
"But as San Francisco police combed over the evidence Tuesday, investigators said this is what appears to have happened: Dr. Daniel J. Kliman, an Alameda physician and one of the Bay Area's foremost pro-Israel activists, stepped into an open elevator shaft by accident last week and died."
[SOURCE: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/03/MNVE14GCD6.DTL&hw=Dan+Kliman&sn=001&sc=1000]
However building management's statements cast doubt on that theory.
Quote:
"the building's manager insists the door must have been secured.
The elevator in that shaft was out of order at the time, building manager Brad Bernheim said. By design, doors to a malfunctioning elevator are clamped shut and can be opened only by a mechanic, said Erika Monterroza, spokeswoman for Cal/OSHA."
[SOURCE: same as above.]
There are suspicions that it was an opportunistic hate crime, though Police Inspector Matt Krimsky wishes to dismiss that possibility.
QUOTE:
"There is no indication of any foul play at this point, even though I've been getting calls from conspiracy theorists from everywhere, even someone who said they had information from a séance"
[SOURCE: same as above.]
He is supported in his 'doubts' by Penny Rosenwasser, a national board member of Jewish Voice for Peace who asserts: "I can't imagine anyone I know doing something like that".
[SOURCE: same as above.]
I CAN IMAGINE SOMEONE YOU KNOW DOING SOMETHING LIKE THAT!
Penny, in several years of being on the pro-Israel side in the Bay Area, we have been threatened, punched, pushed, kicked, and spat on. ALL of us in SF Voice for Israel have experienced such things. Many of us have been followed. All of us have been photographed and insulted.
The amount of hatred which is evident at many anti-Israel events is outrageous. I can very well imagine someone you know, Penny, doing anything like that. I can think of several people on the other side who would jump at the opportunity.
The atmosphere created in the Bay Area by the anti-Israel side is such that it is very easy to imagine an opportunistic attack. Those who in a sense of misguided "fairness" vociferate for the Palestinians, support and nourish extremists. Never more so than when, in "solidarity" with their Palestinian brothers and sisters, they stand alongside protestors yelling 'death to the Jews' in Arabic, or promising at the top of their bull-horned lungs to wipe Israel off the map.
Don't lie, Penny. Your type have indeed stood there. You did not object. You did not say anything more balanced and rational to counterweigh the rabid anti-Semitism of your comrades. Nor did you stop them yelling their homicidal hatred. You were proud to stand with Al Awda, International Answer, and supporters of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Jewish Voice For Peace, Bay Area Women In Black, and similar patsy organizations, are the enablers of anti-Semitism in this part of the world. Students for Justice in Palestine, Al Awda, and International Answer thrive on the encouragement they receive from such groups.
If Dan was murdered, you are all guilty of that murder.
NOTORIOUS ZIONIST FOUND DEAD UNDER SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES
There are excellent reasons for doubting that Dan Kliman's death was entirely accidental.
As follows:
*Dan was very well-known to the other side, his picture was posted on several sites identifying him as a Zionist "conspirator" and one of the lead-activists in the Bay Area.
*He had received several death-threats over the years - he was known by name and address.
*The pro-Palestinian side has often either used violence or threatened to do so - Dan was assaulted several times.
*The building where he was found was where he was taking Arabic classes; there were NO classes that week.
*Several members of the other side also take Arabic classes - that is one of the few schools in the area where Arabic is taught, and there is a constantly changing roster of Israel-haters studying Arabic there.
*The defective elevator had been secured so no one could enter it.
I am not going to jump to any conclusions just yet. But I am almighty curious.
And until the police PROVE that it was an accident, I have to suspect that Dan was jumped by pro-Palestinian opportunists, who knew who he was, that the building was nearly empty, and that they would not soon have so excellent a chance to "get that Zionist".
Dan was hated. And he was alone in a place frequented by many of his enemies.
Quote:
"But as San Francisco police combed over the evidence Tuesday, investigators said this is what appears to have happened: Dr. Daniel J. Kliman, an Alameda physician and one of the Bay Area's foremost pro-Israel activists, stepped into an open elevator shaft by accident last week and died."
[SOURCE: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/03/MNVE14GCD6.DTL&hw=Dan+Kliman&sn=001&sc=1000]
However building management's statements cast doubt on that theory.
Quote:
"the building's manager insists the door must have been secured.
The elevator in that shaft was out of order at the time, building manager Brad Bernheim said. By design, doors to a malfunctioning elevator are clamped shut and can be opened only by a mechanic, said Erika Monterroza, spokeswoman for Cal/OSHA."
[SOURCE: same as above.]
There are suspicions that it was an opportunistic hate crime, though Police Inspector Matt Krimsky wishes to dismiss that possibility.
QUOTE:
"There is no indication of any foul play at this point, even though I've been getting calls from conspiracy theorists from everywhere, even someone who said they had information from a séance"
[SOURCE: same as above.]
He is supported in his 'doubts' by Penny Rosenwasser, a national board member of Jewish Voice for Peace who asserts: "I can't imagine anyone I know doing something like that".
[SOURCE: same as above.]
I CAN IMAGINE SOMEONE YOU KNOW DOING SOMETHING LIKE THAT!
Penny, in several years of being on the pro-Israel side in the Bay Area, we have been threatened, punched, pushed, kicked, and spat on. ALL of us in SF Voice for Israel have experienced such things. Many of us have been followed. All of us have been photographed and insulted.
The amount of hatred which is evident at many anti-Israel events is outrageous. I can very well imagine someone you know, Penny, doing anything like that. I can think of several people on the other side who would jump at the opportunity.
The atmosphere created in the Bay Area by the anti-Israel side is such that it is very easy to imagine an opportunistic attack. Those who in a sense of misguided "fairness" vociferate for the Palestinians, support and nourish extremists. Never more so than when, in "solidarity" with their Palestinian brothers and sisters, they stand alongside protestors yelling 'death to the Jews' in Arabic, or promising at the top of their bull-horned lungs to wipe Israel off the map.
Don't lie, Penny. Your type have indeed stood there. You did not object. You did not say anything more balanced and rational to counterweigh the rabid anti-Semitism of your comrades. Nor did you stop them yelling their homicidal hatred. You were proud to stand with Al Awda, International Answer, and supporters of Hamas and Hezbollah.
Jewish Voice For Peace, Bay Area Women In Black, and similar patsy organizations, are the enablers of anti-Semitism in this part of the world. Students for Justice in Palestine, Al Awda, and International Answer thrive on the encouragement they receive from such groups.
If Dan was murdered, you are all guilty of that murder.
NOTORIOUS ZIONIST FOUND DEAD UNDER SUSPICIOUS CIRCUMSTANCES
There are excellent reasons for doubting that Dan Kliman's death was entirely accidental.
As follows:
*Dan was very well-known to the other side, his picture was posted on several sites identifying him as a Zionist "conspirator" and one of the lead-activists in the Bay Area.
*He had received several death-threats over the years - he was known by name and address.
*The pro-Palestinian side has often either used violence or threatened to do so - Dan was assaulted several times.
*The building where he was found was where he was taking Arabic classes; there were NO classes that week.
*Several members of the other side also take Arabic classes - that is one of the few schools in the area where Arabic is taught, and there is a constantly changing roster of Israel-haters studying Arabic there.
*The defective elevator had been secured so no one could enter it.
I am not going to jump to any conclusions just yet. But I am almighty curious.
And until the police PROVE that it was an accident, I have to suspect that Dan was jumped by pro-Palestinian opportunists, who knew who he was, that the building was nearly empty, and that they would not soon have so excellent a chance to "get that Zionist".
Dan was hated. And he was alone in a place frequented by many of his enemies.
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