GAUNTLET

Two comments made elsewhere in recent days have particularly caught my attention:

1.
"It's because of pseudo intellectual douche bags like Mr. Back of the Hill is why anna nichole smith's post mortem drama was on the news 24/7 where as an ex-president who died around the same time hardly got a mention. we'll get you a fresh new bottle to stick in your pie hole and change your diaper soon enough so quit your belly aching."

2.
"Dear ATBOTH, some of us know you're a raving hypocrite, as are the rest of SF Voice. Perhaps Dan was the only pure one in the end."


Yes, I know both of the people who made those comments.
Henceforth I will be sleeping late on Saturdays.

PRO-ISRAEL WITH FLAGS AND CIGARS

The other side called a demonstration in front of the Israeli consulate at noon today.
It wasn't planned by any of the usual Jew-hating organizations with which the SF Bay Area is so richly larded.
More of a badly thought-out spur of the moment flash of dullness by the disconnected.

[The usual Bay Area Jew-hate orgs: JVP, IJAN, Brit Tzedek, Women in Black, International ANSWER, ISM-norcal, Code Pink, MSA, The Gloria La Riva Fanbase, South Bay Mobilization, Marin County Peace and Justice Coalition, SJP, Queers for Hamas, Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, Lake Merrit United Methodist Church, and St. Johns Presbyterian on College Avenue.
Have I forgotten anybody? Please register the name of your anti-Semitic yet oh so politically correct guild of irritating busybodies in the comments field below this post and thank you.]


It did, however, contain many of the usual haters: Kate Bender Raphael, Hassan Fouda, Randy whose last name I temporarily cannot remember, John with a surname in the same forgettable category, Rusty from telegraph Avenue, an International ANSWER politburo guy, a raving lunatic, a poe-faced Wibbie who ALWAYS shows up at these things.......


Plus several hairy tofu from Berkeley.


As well as a number of sincere young people who intended the event to be a remembrance of Tristan Anderson, who was hit in the head by a teargas canister a year ago while at a demonstration in the West Bank.


I've always had problems with those West Bank Village demonstrations - genuine peaceniks, smiling Arabs, and rabid hate-filled troublemakers on one side, the IDF on the other.
It seems so unfair, as the sincere yet ignorant will inevitably end up in a violent melee started by criminals and saboteurs using unarmed and panicked demonstrators as cover and as human shields.
It is a great pity that Tristan got hit in the head instead of one of those racists or terror-supporting infiltrators - surely the world would have been a much better place if a rock-throwing Jihadi got whacked? Or a hate-preaching PA imam from the local mosque, or an Israeli peace-activist, or a revolutionary from Western Europe........


In the same manner, I have a problem with demonstrations in front of the consulate where sincere (and sincerely ignorant) 'peace activists' allow themselves to be used by opportunistic scum like Kate Bender Raphael and Hassan Fouda.
Or, mentioning the trolls who were there in spirit but couldn't make it in flesh: Hatem Bazian, Lilly Haskel, Karima Al-Helew, Richard Becker, Barbara Lubin, the Wallach sisters, Paul Larudee........


None of the usual self-identified 'victimized Palestinians' and their hoodlum fellow-travelers showed up either, however. So what with the absence of both Richard Becker and the Thugs For Palestine, there was no riot.


It was mostly thirty Berkeleyite youth, plus a dozen convinced anti-Semitic activists (see names above), and half-a-dozen pro Israel demonstrators presenting the voice of reason.

Kudos to the two dozen police who were there. By their mere presence, they kept me from punching a horribly offensive anti-Israel boor in the gut. And that is a good thing.

All in all, not bad for a lunch break.
I was in a far better mood when I left than when I got there.

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The flags and cigars in the title of this post? The flags were Israeli and American, both of which irritated a goodly number of people. The cigars were small Dutch stogies smoked by Baruch and myself, in contravention of the city ordinance about smokers staying fifteen feet away from commercial doorways - but the only people who were irritated by the smoke were anti-Israel activists. Who deserve to be smoked at.