The anti-Zionists are sad and hurt. The poor dears! And who can blame them? We arrived early to counterdemonstrate against their hate-fest, and occupied the sidewalk space that THEY wanted to use.
Oh, we are such spoilers!
Neener, neener, neener.
And to make matters worse, we refused to move. We just stood there, like oxen, gaily waving our Israeli and American flags, even when they asked us to please go away. Acted like we couldn't understand a word.
'No, we're here now, and we ain't going anywhere. Get used to it.'
Remembering the Nakba 61 years - Mon 5:30pm @Israeli Consulate, SF
Yesterday evening qualifies as a victory. Instead of the pro-Israel side being outnumbered five to one, for a change there were equal numbers on both sides.
Well, the Jew-haters actually did have six more people than we did, but three of them were stoners, so intellectually it evens out.
[" - Hi Rusty! You don't remember me, do you? You're completely out of it, you can't recognize ANY of us! Not a single one. Did they offer you a plate of spaghetti for joining their protest? Musta bin some righteous revolutionary spliff, huh? - "]
The anti-Zionists of the hour were a coterie or claque of Students for Justice in Palestine, who intended to mark the sixty-first anniversary of Israeli re-independence by screaming angrily at the building which houses the consulate.
Except that there weren't that many pro-Palestinians who showed up. Slightly more than two dozen, with an insufficient number of flags, banners, and signs.
Also there: Lily Haskell's angry and dysfunctional Moroccan friend, who glowered and sulked very prettily. And a corpulent gentleman who reminded me of nothing so much as a prissy Bengali law-clerk.
Plus, of course, Rusty - Telegraph Avenue's very own fossil.
Because we wouldn't move, they moved.
I guess screaming anti-Semitic invective requires actually standing opposite the Zionists.
After repetitious chanting and unimaginative megaphonic insults from the other side of the street, they dribbled away. Over a dozen passers-by thanked us during the course of the event for being there and supporting Israel. Several drivers on Montgomery Street cheered and gave us the thumbs up. We handed out leaflets clarifying our pro-Israel point of view, and answered the questions of curious and supportive strangers.
Let's just say it was a very positive experience. For us, at any rate.
Showing posts with label Students for Justice in Palestine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Students for Justice in Palestine. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
FLING POO AT THE JEW
There is no better way to put it: the pro-Palestinian side are a bunch of monkeys. Who else flings poo? I'm not talking metaphorical poo (yes, they fling that too), but very real poo. Smelly poo.
Faeces, fewmets, caca, skyte, and shizzle.
GRANDLAKE POO
It happened this past Saturday in front of the Grandlake Theater in Oakland.
Every Saturday the anti-Israel side holds a dreary one hour vigil on one side of the street, the pro-Israel side has a happy get-together with signs and flags on the other side of the street.
The anti-Israel side consists of Jews of convenience (Jewish only when it is convenient to be Jewish), old Presbyterian sourpusses, random Jew-haters, and the two lonely oldest surviving Anarcho-Syndicalists in the Bay Area.
The pro-Israel side includes a broad spectrum: Jews of INconvenience (Jewish at ALL times, not just when it is strategically useful to have a Jew in the ranks), lefties, righties, non-Jewish religious, atheists, anarchists, new-age, conservadoxim, reform, and of course the erev rav.
Real people. People like you and me.
Occasionally, pedestrians or drivers-by will holler something egregious at either side. Or voice some kind of encouragement. Or just scream. Loud and long.
This past Saturday, however, the Jew-haters hit a new low. Air-borne poo.
The hastily flung horse manure bounced off a sign, the pooflingers vehicle sped up and disappeared.
Oh crap. Flying poo.
The horse turds rolled a bit, breaking up. We kicked them into the gutter.
The rhetoric of the anti-Israel side is aptly symbolized by horsepuckey, as are their morals and ideas. The Palestinian students at UC Berkeley standardly voice horsepuckey, the Women in Black who vigilate against Israel on Friday at Sproul Plaza trade in little else, JVP is constructed around a firm base of it, and Richard Becker of International ANSWER just about wallows in it. Poo.
They cannot counterargue, so they fling poo. Their thought processes are that narrow and hateful that they have no other recourse. Poo.
Yaman Salahi expresses himself? Poo. Lily Haskell threatens to throw Zionists down an elevator shaft? Poo. Richard Becker has a naughty dream? Poo. Kate Bender blogs? Poo. Paul Larudee opinionates about his dear friends in Hezbollistan and Gaza? Poo. Medea Benjamin, anything at all? Poo.
Stephen "Lynched G.I. Effigy" and his lovely wife Virginia? Poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo,poo!
I'm used to Berkeley being full of poo. But it's overflowing, and drifting south into Oakland. Poo. There is just too much of it. A veritable surfeit. Things are getting desperate. If Berkeley is unchecked, all civilization and culture in the Bay Area might be drowned in poo.
I have heard that baseball bats can cause constipation - that may be a mighty measure against the tide of poo. I shall have to consider it.
Faeces, fewmets, caca, skyte, and shizzle.
GRANDLAKE POO
It happened this past Saturday in front of the Grandlake Theater in Oakland.
Every Saturday the anti-Israel side holds a dreary one hour vigil on one side of the street, the pro-Israel side has a happy get-together with signs and flags on the other side of the street.
The anti-Israel side consists of Jews of convenience (Jewish only when it is convenient to be Jewish), old Presbyterian sourpusses, random Jew-haters, and the two lonely oldest surviving Anarcho-Syndicalists in the Bay Area.
The pro-Israel side includes a broad spectrum: Jews of INconvenience (Jewish at ALL times, not just when it is strategically useful to have a Jew in the ranks), lefties, righties, non-Jewish religious, atheists, anarchists, new-age, conservadoxim, reform, and of course the erev rav.
Real people. People like you and me.
Occasionally, pedestrians or drivers-by will holler something egregious at either side. Or voice some kind of encouragement. Or just scream. Loud and long.
This past Saturday, however, the Jew-haters hit a new low. Air-borne poo.
The hastily flung horse manure bounced off a sign, the pooflingers vehicle sped up and disappeared.
Oh crap. Flying poo.
The horse turds rolled a bit, breaking up. We kicked them into the gutter.
The rhetoric of the anti-Israel side is aptly symbolized by horsepuckey, as are their morals and ideas. The Palestinian students at UC Berkeley standardly voice horsepuckey, the Women in Black who vigilate against Israel on Friday at Sproul Plaza trade in little else, JVP is constructed around a firm base of it, and Richard Becker of International ANSWER just about wallows in it. Poo.
They cannot counterargue, so they fling poo. Their thought processes are that narrow and hateful that they have no other recourse. Poo.
Yaman Salahi expresses himself? Poo. Lily Haskell threatens to throw Zionists down an elevator shaft? Poo. Richard Becker has a naughty dream? Poo. Kate Bender blogs? Poo. Paul Larudee opinionates about his dear friends in Hezbollistan and Gaza? Poo. Medea Benjamin, anything at all? Poo.
Stephen "Lynched G.I. Effigy" and his lovely wife Virginia? Poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo, poo,poo!
I'm used to Berkeley being full of poo. But it's overflowing, and drifting south into Oakland. Poo. There is just too much of it. A veritable surfeit. Things are getting desperate. If Berkeley is unchecked, all civilization and culture in the Bay Area might be drowned in poo.
I have heard that baseball bats can cause constipation - that may be a mighty measure against the tide of poo. I shall have to consider it.
Tuesday, April 07, 2009
TROLLS WITH KEYBOARDS
One of the current readers of this blog is mighty upset that I do not jump at his demand for information. Particularly, that I do not wish to cater to his curiosity about the support for Hamas and similar organizations by several of the anti-Semitic-fringe groups so well represented in Berkeley.
See this post:
BAY AREA PEACE-ACTIVISTS SUPPORT 'RESISTANCE'
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/04/bay-area-peace-activists-support-hamas.html
Quote:
"As is made clear by their websites, their literature and signs in several protests, and their rhetoric, such Bay Area groups as International ANSWER, the ISM, Students for Justice in Palestine, Bay Area Women in Black, Jewish Voice for Peace, and even members of Code Pink support Hamas."
[Forty comments as of this writing.]
I have urged him to google, and even suggested several search criteria. But no. He is adamant that I do it for him. Livid, and having a big ole hissy. Despite the support for Hamas and similar organizations being both extremely well-known, and entirely beside the point of that post.
In that, he is rather like my customers a quarter of a century ago, when I still wrote term-papers for fellow "students". They too seemed incapable of reading on their own, or grasping what they read.
Perhaps he fails to understand that bloggers thrive on controversy, and are delighted when someone returns again and again to their blog. And perhaps he also wishes to put words in my mouth, and trick me into betraying sources or stating something that might be useful to him and his ilk.
No matter - all I really care about is that he keep coming back to be frustrated.
To enhance that experience for him, I present a list of posts on this blog that have irritated the living daylights out of other trolls.
VIOLENT ANTI-SEMITES RALLY FOR PEACE
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/03/violent-anti-semites-rally-for-peace.html
Quote:
"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."
Quote from an anonymous comment:
"The same Lily Haskell who led the chant at the AIPAC rally back in late 2008: "Israel Supporters Watch your Backs, or we'll push you down a shaft!" The same Lily Haskell who referred to Jews as "racist Zionists" upon complaining to SFAC back in Sept 2007 regarding the remodification of a mural. "
[21 comments as of this writing.]
WHERE ARE THE PROTESTS?
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/01/where-are-protests.html
Quote:
"Surely Tamils deserve the same consideration if not more than the civilians of Gaza?
No? Are you sure? You're not just being racist, are you?
You really think it's all peachy over there, and you are not at all concerned?
Oh, I forgot - Tamils are the Jews of Sri-Lanka, and therefore not worthy of the intellectual pretentiousness of the good people of Berkeley. You guys ARE racists."
Quote from an anonymous comment:
"Thats why the talk in Oakland was so egregious- solidarity should be built working side by side on issues of mutual aid, not by creating distrust through lies, demonization and hate. The way to elevate the Palestinian people is not by attacking the Israeli people- it is by convincing the Palestinians that their future lies on the path of peace."
[30 comments as of this writing.]
MALAYSIAN RACISM
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/01/malaysian-racism.html
Quote:
"Here, we have rejected the ideology of George Wallace, and that type of hate has been marginalized in the United States and most of the Western World.
You, on the other hand, elected his equivalent, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, to leadership of your country, and kept him, and his reprehensible points of view, in power for 22 years. That racialist hate, and that dislike of other peoples, continues to live on in your country, and thrives among your people. In that regard, you are true imitators of many of the modern Arab nations - societies marked by cronyism, repression of unapproved points of view, and support for terrorist organizations. What are the words screamed at your anti-American demonstrations? Hezbollah, Hamas, and Jihad."
Quote from an anonymous comment:
"Mahathir is a smuck, and Malays are third rate Pakis. So fifth rate Arabs anyhow. An odious petty people without either culture or civilization, imitative, unoriginal, and in all things deficient. Kind of like the Greeks, in other words."
[35 comments as of this writing.]
DUTCH HAMAS SUPPORTERS
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/01/dutch-hamas-supporters.html
Quote:
"All of these people have tacitly or actively endorsed continued terrorist attacks against Israel. In that desire, they join the rest of European socialist parties (rebranded successors to the old-style Stalinist parties). A more convincing argument for an expanded no-fly list is hard to imagine."
Quote from an anonymous comment:
"The left wingers in the netherlands are not the most educated persons in the world. You can't blame them thinking these things. Most Socialist have had just a few years in school and don't know history very well. Keep that in mind!"
[57 comments as of this writing.]
JEW HATE IN SF: DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF THE ISRAELI CONSULATE TUESDAY DECEMBER 30, 2008
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/12/jew-hate-in-sf-demonstration-in-front.html
Quote:
"Besides, the angry Middle-Eastern Jew-hater with a bullhorn, and the rabid white chick with an equally loud bullhorn and a grating voice, made plain in great detail what the peace movement's plan for Israel and the Jews entails, as did the numerous threats and insults directed at our side by both Arabs and Anglos."
Quote from an anonymous comment:
"Read THE INTERNATIONAL JEW by Henry Ford!!! These Jews are an international band of criminals and BABY KILLERS who have hijacked our foreign policy and and bought our corrupt politicians and control our media but WE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE are smarter than they think. I say it is time we stopped financing them and protecting them without us they would not last two weeks. IRAN will NUKE them soon."
[108 comments as of this writing.]
PIE FOR FINKELSTEIN
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/10/pie-for-finkelstein.html
Quote:
"A frequent reader and occasional commenter draws my attention to the upcoming visit of Norman Finkelstein, kapo and collaborateur-extraordinaire of the International Phillistinist Enterprise, which will be sponsored by the usual gang of thugs at UC Berkeley - that being an Arab-funded operation going under the name of 'Students For Justice In Palestine'."
Quote from an anonymous comment:
"But Finkelstein sets himself up so beautifully for ad hominems. After all, he admits he is fixated on his mother (oh, gee), and he admits he went into a deep funk when the soviet union fell (3 weeks- no eating and sleeping, poor baby). How can you NOT make fun of this guy?"
[71 comments as of this writing.]
Please feel free to peruse the posts cited above, my dear anonymous commenter. You will without a doubt find soul-mates among the commenters, and probably also revisit some of your own writing.
You will also find some comments and counter-comments in Dutch - that you shall not be able to comprehend them in the slightest saddens me, as I really do wish that more Americans were literate.
There's always Babelfish - no, I shall NOT translate for you, do your own research, you lazy darn Berkeleyite!
See this post:
BAY AREA PEACE-ACTIVISTS SUPPORT 'RESISTANCE'
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/04/bay-area-peace-activists-support-hamas.html
Quote:
"As is made clear by their websites, their literature and signs in several protests, and their rhetoric, such Bay Area groups as International ANSWER, the ISM, Students for Justice in Palestine, Bay Area Women in Black, Jewish Voice for Peace, and even members of Code Pink support Hamas."
[Forty comments as of this writing.]
I have urged him to google, and even suggested several search criteria. But no. He is adamant that I do it for him. Livid, and having a big ole hissy. Despite the support for Hamas and similar organizations being both extremely well-known, and entirely beside the point of that post.
In that, he is rather like my customers a quarter of a century ago, when I still wrote term-papers for fellow "students". They too seemed incapable of reading on their own, or grasping what they read.
Perhaps he fails to understand that bloggers thrive on controversy, and are delighted when someone returns again and again to their blog. And perhaps he also wishes to put words in my mouth, and trick me into betraying sources or stating something that might be useful to him and his ilk.
No matter - all I really care about is that he keep coming back to be frustrated.
To enhance that experience for him, I present a list of posts on this blog that have irritated the living daylights out of other trolls.
VIOLENT ANTI-SEMITES RALLY FOR PEACE
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/03/violent-anti-semites-rally-for-peace.html
Quote:
"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."
Quote from an anonymous comment:
"The same Lily Haskell who led the chant at the AIPAC rally back in late 2008: "Israel Supporters Watch your Backs, or we'll push you down a shaft!" The same Lily Haskell who referred to Jews as "racist Zionists" upon complaining to SFAC back in Sept 2007 regarding the remodification of a mural. "
[21 comments as of this writing.]
WHERE ARE THE PROTESTS?
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/01/where-are-protests.html
Quote:
"Surely Tamils deserve the same consideration if not more than the civilians of Gaza?
No? Are you sure? You're not just being racist, are you?
You really think it's all peachy over there, and you are not at all concerned?
Oh, I forgot - Tamils are the Jews of Sri-Lanka, and therefore not worthy of the intellectual pretentiousness of the good people of Berkeley. You guys ARE racists."
Quote from an anonymous comment:
"Thats why the talk in Oakland was so egregious- solidarity should be built working side by side on issues of mutual aid, not by creating distrust through lies, demonization and hate. The way to elevate the Palestinian people is not by attacking the Israeli people- it is by convincing the Palestinians that their future lies on the path of peace."
[30 comments as of this writing.]
MALAYSIAN RACISM
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/01/malaysian-racism.html
Quote:
"Here, we have rejected the ideology of George Wallace, and that type of hate has been marginalized in the United States and most of the Western World.
You, on the other hand, elected his equivalent, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, to leadership of your country, and kept him, and his reprehensible points of view, in power for 22 years. That racialist hate, and that dislike of other peoples, continues to live on in your country, and thrives among your people. In that regard, you are true imitators of many of the modern Arab nations - societies marked by cronyism, repression of unapproved points of view, and support for terrorist organizations. What are the words screamed at your anti-American demonstrations? Hezbollah, Hamas, and Jihad."
Quote from an anonymous comment:
"Mahathir is a smuck, and Malays are third rate Pakis. So fifth rate Arabs anyhow. An odious petty people without either culture or civilization, imitative, unoriginal, and in all things deficient. Kind of like the Greeks, in other words."
[35 comments as of this writing.]
DUTCH HAMAS SUPPORTERS
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/01/dutch-hamas-supporters.html
Quote:
"All of these people have tacitly or actively endorsed continued terrorist attacks against Israel. In that desire, they join the rest of European socialist parties (rebranded successors to the old-style Stalinist parties). A more convincing argument for an expanded no-fly list is hard to imagine."
Quote from an anonymous comment:
"The left wingers in the netherlands are not the most educated persons in the world. You can't blame them thinking these things. Most Socialist have had just a few years in school and don't know history very well. Keep that in mind!"
[57 comments as of this writing.]
JEW HATE IN SF: DEMONSTRATION IN FRONT OF THE ISRAELI CONSULATE TUESDAY DECEMBER 30, 2008
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/12/jew-hate-in-sf-demonstration-in-front.html
Quote:
"Besides, the angry Middle-Eastern Jew-hater with a bullhorn, and the rabid white chick with an equally loud bullhorn and a grating voice, made plain in great detail what the peace movement's plan for Israel and the Jews entails, as did the numerous threats and insults directed at our side by both Arabs and Anglos."
Quote from an anonymous comment:
"Read THE INTERNATIONAL JEW by Henry Ford!!! These Jews are an international band of criminals and BABY KILLERS who have hijacked our foreign policy and and bought our corrupt politicians and control our media but WE THE AMERICAN PEOPLE are smarter than they think. I say it is time we stopped financing them and protecting them without us they would not last two weeks. IRAN will NUKE them soon."
[108 comments as of this writing.]
PIE FOR FINKELSTEIN
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2008/10/pie-for-finkelstein.html
Quote:
"A frequent reader and occasional commenter draws my attention to the upcoming visit of Norman Finkelstein, kapo and collaborateur-extraordinaire of the International Phillistinist Enterprise, which will be sponsored by the usual gang of thugs at UC Berkeley - that being an Arab-funded operation going under the name of 'Students For Justice In Palestine'."
Quote from an anonymous comment:
"But Finkelstein sets himself up so beautifully for ad hominems. After all, he admits he is fixated on his mother (oh, gee), and he admits he went into a deep funk when the soviet union fell (3 weeks- no eating and sleeping, poor baby). How can you NOT make fun of this guy?"
[71 comments as of this writing.]
Please feel free to peruse the posts cited above, my dear anonymous commenter. You will without a doubt find soul-mates among the commenters, and probably also revisit some of your own writing.
You will also find some comments and counter-comments in Dutch - that you shall not be able to comprehend them in the slightest saddens me, as I really do wish that more Americans were literate.
There's always Babelfish - no, I shall NOT translate for you, do your own research, you lazy darn Berkeleyite!
Wednesday, April 01, 2009
BAY AREA PEACE-ACTIVISTS SUPPORT 'RESISTANCE'
As is made clear by their websites, their literature and signs in several protests, and their rhetoric, such Bay Area groups as International ANSWER, the ISM, Students for Justice in Palestine, Bay Area Women in Black, Jewish Voice for Peace, and even members of Code Pink support Hamas.
One of the tropes of the groups listed above is that Hamas represents legitimate popular apirations. The ISM even goes so far as to organize aid to Gaza for that reason.
In this endeavor they are ably assisted by such estimable people as British Member of Parliament George Galloway, whose monetary donations to Hamas have encouraged the "Islamic Resistance", and empowers them to continue their 'struggle'.
Many European socialist parties and politicians also wholeheartedly support Hamas and have contributed significantly to such efforts.
Hamas, of course, knows how to win the loyalty not only of American and European fans, but also how to gain the love of the citizens of Gaza.
Let me quote Yassir Abed Rabo on that score:
"Today, Hamas gangs are unleashed like packs of animals on the streets of Gaza against Fatah members. Because the military bases and the prisons have been destroyed, they have turned Gaza schools, Al-Nasser Hospital, the radiology department at Shifa' Hospital, Al-Aqsa University, and other places, including mosques, into centers for the detention, interrogation, and torture of Fatah members and members of other national Palestinian factions."
"Dozens of people have been shot in the leg, been beaten savagely, and had their bones broken, because they are members of the Fatah movement."
Such ongoing democratic struggle is described in a recent news article here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7976083.stm
Quotes:
"He pulls up his trousers to reveal horrifically scarred calves missing entire muscle groups. "
"A man, blindfolded and bound, having his legs broken with a club, over and over again - [cut] - writhing on the ground in a public square after what is believed to have been a Hamas punishment beating."
All of this has the sincere support of the good people of Berkeley - International ANSWER, ISM, SJP, BAWIB, JVP, and even members of Code Pink.
Here are two clips which show what else the good people of Berkeley support:
Wedding in Gaza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAy0ZiMEEmw&NR=1
Hamas pursuing justice in Palestine:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6041204945834291260&hl=en
[This is a truly charming video, and has a lovely song besides. Four stars!]
But the other side can also be accused of not playing entirely by accepted rules. That accusation has been made at lenght, by people who are righteously indignant over the trampling of human rights and the denial of a political voice to the oppressed.
Quote:
"At his home in Nablus, "Abu Moaz", not his real name, tells me that during his six months' captivity in a PA prison, he was often strung up to the ceiling by his wrists, which were tied behind his back, and beaten until he lost consciousness."
Nevertheless, the situation in Gaza under Hamas, and in the West Bank under the PA, is infinitely better than in Syria under Assad (père et fils ), or in Irak when Saddam Hussein was in power. And that is what the good people of Berkeley (International ANSWER, ISM, SJP, BAWIB, JVP, and even members of Code Pink) wholeheartedly support.
One can only admire them for their great internationalist spirit and high ideals. Bravo, Berkeley, bravo.
One of the tropes of the groups listed above is that Hamas represents legitimate popular apirations. The ISM even goes so far as to organize aid to Gaza for that reason.
In this endeavor they are ably assisted by such estimable people as British Member of Parliament George Galloway, whose monetary donations to Hamas have encouraged the "Islamic Resistance", and empowers them to continue their 'struggle'.
Many European socialist parties and politicians also wholeheartedly support Hamas and have contributed significantly to such efforts.
Hamas, of course, knows how to win the loyalty not only of American and European fans, but also how to gain the love of the citizens of Gaza.
Let me quote Yassir Abed Rabo on that score:
"Today, Hamas gangs are unleashed like packs of animals on the streets of Gaza against Fatah members. Because the military bases and the prisons have been destroyed, they have turned Gaza schools, Al-Nasser Hospital, the radiology department at Shifa' Hospital, Al-Aqsa University, and other places, including mosques, into centers for the detention, interrogation, and torture of Fatah members and members of other national Palestinian factions."
"Dozens of people have been shot in the leg, been beaten savagely, and had their bones broken, because they are members of the Fatah movement."
Such ongoing democratic struggle is described in a recent news article here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7976083.stm
Quotes:
"He pulls up his trousers to reveal horrifically scarred calves missing entire muscle groups. "
"A man, blindfolded and bound, having his legs broken with a club, over and over again - [cut] - writhing on the ground in a public square after what is believed to have been a Hamas punishment beating."
All of this has the sincere support of the good people of Berkeley - International ANSWER, ISM, SJP, BAWIB, JVP, and even members of Code Pink.
Here are two clips which show what else the good people of Berkeley support:
Wedding in Gaza
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAy0ZiMEEmw&NR=1
Hamas pursuing justice in Palestine:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6041204945834291260&hl=en
[This is a truly charming video, and has a lovely song besides. Four stars!]
But the other side can also be accused of not playing entirely by accepted rules. That accusation has been made at lenght, by people who are righteously indignant over the trampling of human rights and the denial of a political voice to the oppressed.
Quote:
"At his home in Nablus, "Abu Moaz", not his real name, tells me that during his six months' captivity in a PA prison, he was often strung up to the ceiling by his wrists, which were tied behind his back, and beaten until he lost consciousness."
Nevertheless, the situation in Gaza under Hamas, and in the West Bank under the PA, is infinitely better than in Syria under Assad (père et fils ), or in Irak when Saddam Hussein was in power. And that is what the good people of Berkeley (International ANSWER, ISM, SJP, BAWIB, JVP, and even members of Code Pink) wholeheartedly support.
One can only admire them for their great internationalist spirit and high ideals. Bravo, Berkeley, bravo.
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
SHOT IN THE LEG
Excerpts from a speech by PLO Executive Committee Secretary Yasser Abd Rabbo, broadcast on Al-Arabiya TV on 1/16 and on Al-Jazeera TV on 1/22:
"Yesterday, we heard Khaled Mashal talking from Damascus about new, additional preconditions for national reconciliation – the only goal of which is to hinder the achievement of reconciliation."
[...]
"Today, Hamas gangs are unleashed like packs of animals on the streets of Gaza against Fatah members. Because the military bases and the prisons have been destroyed, they have turned Gaza schools, Al-Nasser Hospital, the radiology department at Shifa' Hospital, Al-Aqsa University, and other places, including mosques, into centers for the detention, interrogation, and torture of Fatah members and members of other national Palestinian factions."
[...]
"Dozens of people have been shot in the leg, been beaten savagely, and had their bones broken, because they are members of the Fatah movement, which took to the streets of Gaza to confront the occupation, leaving all disagreements [with Hamas] behind, during the battle against the invasion by the Israeli occupation. This is what is happening today in Gaza."
[...]
"This reminds me of the 'glorious exploits' of Chemical Ali in southern Iraq after the 1991 'Mother of All Wars.' When the smoke of battle cleared, he turned his gangs and his fire against the Iraqis in southern Iraq, and the massacre that ensued is known to all. Who is the 'Chemical' today in Gaza, who wants to turn Gaza into the venue of a new massacre?"
[...]
"I heard that Abu Marzouq is sanctioning the killing of Palestinians, in an interview with the Qatari Al-Sharq newspaper the day before yesterday. He said that they have [captured] collaborators, and they have already executed some, while others await their turn. What collaborators are you talking about, Mr. Abu Marzouq? Of course he has expanded the list, saying that anyone who criticizes the policy of Hamas a traitor and a collaborator, and that it is okay to kill him. Is this the promised Islamic rule, or is it a blood-soaked lie about Islam?"
[...]
"Who plunders the trucks bringing aid to the Gaza Strip, and distributes it only among the follows of its party and movement, while the children of Gaza are starving? Who is stealing the land of Gaza, dividing it into lots, and giving them to the cronies of Hamas members of the Shura Council?"
[SOURCE: MEMRI - © 1998-2008, The Middle East Media Research Institute,
All Rights Reserved. Materials may only be cited with proper attribution.
MEMRI: http://www.memri.org/ MEMRITV: http://www.memritv.org/ Clip #1998 - Secretary of the PLO Executive Committee Yasser Abd Rabbo Accuses Hamas of New Atrocities against Fatah Members in Gaza http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1998.htm ]
From the above it can be seen that not all Arabs, nor even all Palestinians, are supporters of Hamas. Many Palestinians have more than sufficient reason to fear Hamas, and consequently oppose them in every matter.
That is quite unlike the Bay Area pro-Palestinians, who do not question the virtues of the Harkat al Mukawamma al 'Slamiya (the Movement of Islamic Resistance, that being the name of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is recognized in many countries as a terrorist movement).
But then, those who do not have to live with Hamas will blithely ignore details that contradict their own idealism.
Those aren't their knees which are capped.
It is comfortable to live in Berkeley.
"Yesterday, we heard Khaled Mashal talking from Damascus about new, additional preconditions for national reconciliation – the only goal of which is to hinder the achievement of reconciliation."
[...]
"Today, Hamas gangs are unleashed like packs of animals on the streets of Gaza against Fatah members. Because the military bases and the prisons have been destroyed, they have turned Gaza schools, Al-Nasser Hospital, the radiology department at Shifa' Hospital, Al-Aqsa University, and other places, including mosques, into centers for the detention, interrogation, and torture of Fatah members and members of other national Palestinian factions."
[...]
"Dozens of people have been shot in the leg, been beaten savagely, and had their bones broken, because they are members of the Fatah movement, which took to the streets of Gaza to confront the occupation, leaving all disagreements [with Hamas] behind, during the battle against the invasion by the Israeli occupation. This is what is happening today in Gaza."
[...]
"This reminds me of the 'glorious exploits' of Chemical Ali in southern Iraq after the 1991 'Mother of All Wars.' When the smoke of battle cleared, he turned his gangs and his fire against the Iraqis in southern Iraq, and the massacre that ensued is known to all. Who is the 'Chemical' today in Gaza, who wants to turn Gaza into the venue of a new massacre?"
[...]
"I heard that Abu Marzouq is sanctioning the killing of Palestinians, in an interview with the Qatari Al-Sharq newspaper the day before yesterday. He said that they have [captured] collaborators, and they have already executed some, while others await their turn. What collaborators are you talking about, Mr. Abu Marzouq? Of course he has expanded the list, saying that anyone who criticizes the policy of Hamas a traitor and a collaborator, and that it is okay to kill him. Is this the promised Islamic rule, or is it a blood-soaked lie about Islam?"
[...]
"Who plunders the trucks bringing aid to the Gaza Strip, and distributes it only among the follows of its party and movement, while the children of Gaza are starving? Who is stealing the land of Gaza, dividing it into lots, and giving them to the cronies of Hamas members of the Shura Council?"
[SOURCE: MEMRI - © 1998-2008, The Middle East Media Research Institute,
All Rights Reserved. Materials may only be cited with proper attribution.
MEMRI: http://www.memri.org/ MEMRITV: http://www.memritv.org/ Clip #1998 - Secretary of the PLO Executive Committee Yasser Abd Rabbo Accuses Hamas of New Atrocities against Fatah Members in Gaza http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/0/0/0/0/0/0/1998.htm ]
From the above it can be seen that not all Arabs, nor even all Palestinians, are supporters of Hamas. Many Palestinians have more than sufficient reason to fear Hamas, and consequently oppose them in every matter.
That is quite unlike the Bay Area pro-Palestinians, who do not question the virtues of the Harkat al Mukawamma al 'Slamiya (the Movement of Islamic Resistance, that being the name of the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is recognized in many countries as a terrorist movement).
But then, those who do not have to live with Hamas will blithely ignore details that contradict their own idealism.
Those aren't their knees which are capped.
It is comfortable to live in Berkeley.
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.
Friday, November 21, 2008
TIKVAH: VICTIM OF DOUBLE STANDARDS AT U.C.
Background: During my years at Berkeley the campus environment was already problematic. Since then it has gotten much more so. The past few years have been "interesting". Last week, things came to a head.
MESSAGE FROM THE ZIONIST STUDENTS AT U.C. BERKELEY
Reproduced here as a courtesy. This blogger both sympathizes with them and admires their courageous stand, especially in the face of apathy and hatred - anti-Semitism is endemic among the university population in Berkeley, and virtually institutionalized.
Tikvah: victim of double standard at U.C.
By John E. Moghtader & Elodie Resseguie
Long a hotbed of anti-Israel activity, U.C. Berkeley has barely had a strong pro-Israel presence on campus. Until now, with Tikvah: Students for Israel, the Zionist student group at U.C. Berkeley.
We are the group that stepped up to protest when academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt visited Cal in October 2007 to hawk their book, a nefarious smear job titled "The Jewish Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy."
We were also there last month when the virulently anti-Israel academic Norman Finkelstein came to speak.
Before the lecture, we respectfully distributed our literature outside. Once inside, Finkelstein’s level of anti-Semitic vitriol prompted a walkout of Tikvah students and others not associated with our group. We shouted out our opinions while exiting, as the crowd hurled expletives at us. Finkelstein and his colleague then continued delivering their insulting lies.
As a result, the dean of students is now seeking to discipline Tikvah and individual students for an "offense" which in the past barely warranted mention when undertaken by student groups involved in anti-Israel activities.
For example, when Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes tried to speak on campus several years ago, he was shouted down by members of Students for Justice in Palestine and the Muslim Student Association. At the time the chancellor said, "Uncivil behavior, lamentable as it is, is not a crime, nor is it a violation of the Code of Student Conduct." No disciplinary action was taken against SJP or its members for that incident, nor when Nonie Darwish was likewise shouted down a year ago.
Only last week, SJP disrupted an innovative Zionist hip-hop concert on campus. Even though no Jewish students were involved in the physical altercation that ensued (contrary to what was reported in the school paper and what SJP claims), we wait to see how the university will deal with the assailants from SJP.
Other violations by SJP of the U.C. code of conduct — such as blocking of pedestrian traffic with demonstrations, the brandishing of fake firearms, physical harassment and intimidation of Jewish students — were presented to the dean of students but have been ignored.
What we see here is a double standard, one for the rest of campus and another for the Jews and those who actively support Israel.
Our tax dollars support the U.C. system, and Jewish donors are very prominent in supporting the U.C. campuses. It’s time for the Jewish community to become aware of what is happening at our university.
Meanwhile, Tikvah has a consistent record of positive, pro-Israel programming on campus. Until our inception a year ago, there was no substantive pro-Israel voice on campus. We changed that, attracting students of various religious and cultural backgrounds to our cause. We have collaborated with many off-campus groups, including the Israeli Consulate, Israel Peace Initiative, S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council, U.C. Berkeley Chabad, CAMERA, StandWithUs, JIMENA and more. Once again Jews walk with pride across Sproul Plaza.
We have also sponsored many successful events. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we took out ads in the student newspaper highlighting the civil rights leader’s strong support of the Jewish state. We have hosted lectures by Dennis Prager, Stanley Urman, Israeli Vice Consul Ishmael Khaldi (who spoke about being the highest-ranking Muslim in the Israeli foreign service) and others.
Last year we held two weeklong programs brimming with pro-Israel activities: Israel Peace and Diversity Week and Israel@60 Week (which included a widely attended on-campus Holocaust memorial on Yom HaShoah). We just finished our latest effort, Israel Liberation Week, and we have also been a positive influence on student government, with John Moghtader, a current senator in the Associated Students of the University of California, leading our group.
Regarding the Jewish Student Union and Berkeley Hillel, we must clarify misstatements that ran in j. Even though Tikvah is the largest and most active Jewish student group on campus, we have been allocated precisely zero dollars from the JSU this school year.
While the JSU and Berkeley Hillel remain silent, we are the ones on Sproul Plaza and around campus protesting the Finkelsteins of the world, educating students about Israel, organizing rallies and holding Holocaust memorials.
We were dumbfounded to find that Hillel is presuming to play some role in all this, as Tikvah has never been affiliated with Berkeley Hillel, nor have we ever received funds from them for any of our activities.
We are a grassroots student group. Our goal is to make sure Jewish students do not have to be subjected to a hostile anti-Israel, anti-Semitic environment on campus. That’s our bottom line.
John E. Moghtader, a third-year undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley, is an Associated Students of the University of California senator and president of Tikvah.
Elodie Resseguie is a fourth-year undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley and is on the Tikvah executive board. To learn more about Tikvah, e-mail tikvahsfi@gmail.com or visit tikvahsfi.blogspot.com.
=============================================
NOTE: This blogger frankly admits bias. My sentiments are pro-Israel, and necessarily negative about the Arab cause. However, if a member of the other side wishes to write a rational, well-balanced counterpoint, I will be more than willing to post it. Just bear in mind that it is my blog, and therefore my standards that need to be met.
Something eloquent, even if I think it utter balderdash, will slip in on appreciation alone.
I can always add comment below it disagreeing with what whatever you write. But I like eloquence. And chutzpah.
That said, the Arab and Filistinist side do at times make good points, and I do not wish to see comments utterly damning them or painting them as all black. Please reserve that for their simple-minded and depraved supporters.
=============================================
Friday November 21st., 2008 - 1:48 PM Pacific Standard Time
ADDENDUM: The message above by John E. Moghtader and Elodie Resseguie has now been cross-posted over at Jameel's place The Muqata.
Please see this post: TIKVAH STUDENTS AT U.C. BERKELEY
Please give Tikvah your attention and support, go visit their site, and blogroll it. Thank you.
MESSAGE FROM THE ZIONIST STUDENTS AT U.C. BERKELEY
Reproduced here as a courtesy. This blogger both sympathizes with them and admires their courageous stand, especially in the face of apathy and hatred - anti-Semitism is endemic among the university population in Berkeley, and virtually institutionalized.
Tikvah: victim of double standard at U.C.
By John E. Moghtader & Elodie Resseguie
Long a hotbed of anti-Israel activity, U.C. Berkeley has barely had a strong pro-Israel presence on campus. Until now, with Tikvah: Students for Israel, the Zionist student group at U.C. Berkeley.
We are the group that stepped up to protest when academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt visited Cal in October 2007 to hawk their book, a nefarious smear job titled "The Jewish Lobby and U.S. Foreign Policy."
We were also there last month when the virulently anti-Israel academic Norman Finkelstein came to speak.
Before the lecture, we respectfully distributed our literature outside. Once inside, Finkelstein’s level of anti-Semitic vitriol prompted a walkout of Tikvah students and others not associated with our group. We shouted out our opinions while exiting, as the crowd hurled expletives at us. Finkelstein and his colleague then continued delivering their insulting lies.
As a result, the dean of students is now seeking to discipline Tikvah and individual students for an "offense" which in the past barely warranted mention when undertaken by student groups involved in anti-Israel activities.
For example, when Middle East scholar Daniel Pipes tried to speak on campus several years ago, he was shouted down by members of Students for Justice in Palestine and the Muslim Student Association. At the time the chancellor said, "Uncivil behavior, lamentable as it is, is not a crime, nor is it a violation of the Code of Student Conduct." No disciplinary action was taken against SJP or its members for that incident, nor when Nonie Darwish was likewise shouted down a year ago.
Only last week, SJP disrupted an innovative Zionist hip-hop concert on campus. Even though no Jewish students were involved in the physical altercation that ensued (contrary to what was reported in the school paper and what SJP claims), we wait to see how the university will deal with the assailants from SJP.
Other violations by SJP of the U.C. code of conduct — such as blocking of pedestrian traffic with demonstrations, the brandishing of fake firearms, physical harassment and intimidation of Jewish students — were presented to the dean of students but have been ignored.
What we see here is a double standard, one for the rest of campus and another for the Jews and those who actively support Israel.
Our tax dollars support the U.C. system, and Jewish donors are very prominent in supporting the U.C. campuses. It’s time for the Jewish community to become aware of what is happening at our university.
Meanwhile, Tikvah has a consistent record of positive, pro-Israel programming on campus. Until our inception a year ago, there was no substantive pro-Israel voice on campus. We changed that, attracting students of various religious and cultural backgrounds to our cause. We have collaborated with many off-campus groups, including the Israeli Consulate, Israel Peace Initiative, S.F.-based Jewish Community Relations Council, U.C. Berkeley Chabad, CAMERA, StandWithUs, JIMENA and more. Once again Jews walk with pride across Sproul Plaza.
We have also sponsored many successful events. On Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we took out ads in the student newspaper highlighting the civil rights leader’s strong support of the Jewish state. We have hosted lectures by Dennis Prager, Stanley Urman, Israeli Vice Consul Ishmael Khaldi (who spoke about being the highest-ranking Muslim in the Israeli foreign service) and others.
Last year we held two weeklong programs brimming with pro-Israel activities: Israel Peace and Diversity Week and Israel@60 Week (which included a widely attended on-campus Holocaust memorial on Yom HaShoah). We just finished our latest effort, Israel Liberation Week, and we have also been a positive influence on student government, with John Moghtader, a current senator in the Associated Students of the University of California, leading our group.
Regarding the Jewish Student Union and Berkeley Hillel, we must clarify misstatements that ran in j. Even though Tikvah is the largest and most active Jewish student group on campus, we have been allocated precisely zero dollars from the JSU this school year.
While the JSU and Berkeley Hillel remain silent, we are the ones on Sproul Plaza and around campus protesting the Finkelsteins of the world, educating students about Israel, organizing rallies and holding Holocaust memorials.
We were dumbfounded to find that Hillel is presuming to play some role in all this, as Tikvah has never been affiliated with Berkeley Hillel, nor have we ever received funds from them for any of our activities.
We are a grassroots student group. Our goal is to make sure Jewish students do not have to be subjected to a hostile anti-Israel, anti-Semitic environment on campus. That’s our bottom line.
John E. Moghtader, a third-year undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley, is an Associated Students of the University of California senator and president of Tikvah.
Elodie Resseguie is a fourth-year undergraduate at U.C. Berkeley and is on the Tikvah executive board. To learn more about Tikvah, e-mail tikvahsfi@gmail.com or visit tikvahsfi.blogspot.com.
=============================================
NOTE: This blogger frankly admits bias. My sentiments are pro-Israel, and necessarily negative about the Arab cause. However, if a member of the other side wishes to write a rational, well-balanced counterpoint, I will be more than willing to post it. Just bear in mind that it is my blog, and therefore my standards that need to be met.
Something eloquent, even if I think it utter balderdash, will slip in on appreciation alone.
I can always add comment below it disagreeing with what whatever you write. But I like eloquence. And chutzpah.
That said, the Arab and Filistinist side do at times make good points, and I do not wish to see comments utterly damning them or painting them as all black. Please reserve that for their simple-minded and depraved supporters.
=============================================
Friday November 21st., 2008 - 1:48 PM Pacific Standard Time
ADDENDUM: The message above by John E. Moghtader and Elodie Resseguie has now been cross-posted over at Jameel's place The Muqata.
Please see this post: TIKVAH STUDENTS AT U.C. BERKELEY
Please give Tikvah your attention and support, go visit their site, and blogroll it. Thank you.
Friday, November 14, 2008
PRO-PALESTINIAN ACTIVISTS ATTACK JEWS ON CAMPUS
Follows a statement by the pro-Israel students at UC Berkeley regarding the violence directed at Jews on campus last night.
Please disseminate widely.
Members of Students for Justice in Palestine Attack Jews at UC Berkeley Hip-Hop Concert
(Berkeley, CA- November 13, 2008)
We, the Zionist Freedom Alliance student group at Cal, are deeply concerned by the latest in a series of attacks on Jewish and pro-Israel students at UC Berkeley perpetrated by members of Students for Justice in Palestine. On the night of November 13, 2008 at around 6:00 PM, members of Students for Justice in Palestine disrupted our hip-hop concert that celebrated the Jewish connection to the land of Israel. Then they attacked students who asked them to stop their disruption.
Three members of the Students for Justice in Palestine illegally draped large Palestinian flags behind the stage of the concert, which was part of Israel Liberation Week. Yehuda De Sa (one of the performers), Cal alumnus Gabe Weiner, and current ASUC Senator John Moghtader walked to the balcony from which the flags were hanging and asked the students to remove the flags as they misrepresented the concert's message. The SJP members immediately became hostile at this request and current SJP leader Husam Zakharia instigated a physical altercation by striking Weiner on the head. As Weiner and the performer tried to defend themselves, Moghtader stood away from the scuffle and then made a successful effort to break up the fight.
Members of Students for Justice in Palestine shouted anti-Semitic epithets referencing the Holocaust throughout the ordeal. Zakharia and others from SJP were detained by the police and charged with battery. Citizens' arrests were filed against SJP members who took part in the altercation.
The violence, intimidation, and harassment exhibited by members of Students for Justice in Palestine at the concert is only one act in a pattern of similar behavior that they have exhibited towards Jewish and pro-Israel students on this campus. Last year, multiple charges were filed against SJP and some of its members citing harassment, violence, intimidation, and violation of numerous other campus rules. These charges all went ignored by Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard.
We call on state officials, the President of the University of California, the Chancellor, the Dean of Students, faculty, and the student body to take a unified stand against the continued harassment of Jewish and pro-Israel students on this campus, particularly by members of Students for Justice in Palestine.
----The Zionist Freedom Alliance Student Group at Cal
This blogger's afterword:
It has not been safe to be pro-Israel on campus in years. Bay Area universities have become, with the collaboration of administrators and the complaisance of many students, hotbeds of hatred and opposition to free-speech. I would have expected both the faculties and the officials in charge to have countered this, but it has become evident that most are willing panderers to extremists, the rest being both in denial, and in several cases outright anti-Semitic themselves.
To the Zionist students at UC Berkeley: Keep up the good work, boys, we're proud of you.
To my readers: Please show your support for the Zionist Freedom Alliance student group at Cal. They struggle against a vast array of anti-Semitic hate groups and front organizations, and bear the brunt of a battle for freedom of speech and diversity of opinion. Their opponents do not shy away from violence, intimidation, lies, and character assassination.
Please disseminate widely.
Members of Students for Justice in Palestine Attack Jews at UC Berkeley Hip-Hop Concert
(Berkeley, CA- November 13, 2008)
We, the Zionist Freedom Alliance student group at Cal, are deeply concerned by the latest in a series of attacks on Jewish and pro-Israel students at UC Berkeley perpetrated by members of Students for Justice in Palestine. On the night of November 13, 2008 at around 6:00 PM, members of Students for Justice in Palestine disrupted our hip-hop concert that celebrated the Jewish connection to the land of Israel. Then they attacked students who asked them to stop their disruption.
Three members of the Students for Justice in Palestine illegally draped large Palestinian flags behind the stage of the concert, which was part of Israel Liberation Week. Yehuda De Sa (one of the performers), Cal alumnus Gabe Weiner, and current ASUC Senator John Moghtader walked to the balcony from which the flags were hanging and asked the students to remove the flags as they misrepresented the concert's message. The SJP members immediately became hostile at this request and current SJP leader Husam Zakharia instigated a physical altercation by striking Weiner on the head. As Weiner and the performer tried to defend themselves, Moghtader stood away from the scuffle and then made a successful effort to break up the fight.
Members of Students for Justice in Palestine shouted anti-Semitic epithets referencing the Holocaust throughout the ordeal. Zakharia and others from SJP were detained by the police and charged with battery. Citizens' arrests were filed against SJP members who took part in the altercation.
The violence, intimidation, and harassment exhibited by members of Students for Justice in Palestine at the concert is only one act in a pattern of similar behavior that they have exhibited towards Jewish and pro-Israel students on this campus. Last year, multiple charges were filed against SJP and some of its members citing harassment, violence, intimidation, and violation of numerous other campus rules. These charges all went ignored by Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard.
We call on state officials, the President of the University of California, the Chancellor, the Dean of Students, faculty, and the student body to take a unified stand against the continued harassment of Jewish and pro-Israel students on this campus, particularly by members of Students for Justice in Palestine.
----The Zionist Freedom Alliance Student Group at Cal
This blogger's afterword:
It has not been safe to be pro-Israel on campus in years. Bay Area universities have become, with the collaboration of administrators and the complaisance of many students, hotbeds of hatred and opposition to free-speech. I would have expected both the faculties and the officials in charge to have countered this, but it has become evident that most are willing panderers to extremists, the rest being both in denial, and in several cases outright anti-Semitic themselves.
To the Zionist students at UC Berkeley: Keep up the good work, boys, we're proud of you.
To my readers: Please show your support for the Zionist Freedom Alliance student group at Cal. They struggle against a vast array of anti-Semitic hate groups and front organizations, and bear the brunt of a battle for freedom of speech and diversity of opinion. Their opponents do not shy away from violence, intimidation, lies, and character assassination.
PRO-PALESTINIAN PROVOCATION ON UC CAMPUS
The Daily Californian deliberately lies.
What happened was a violent provocation by Students for Justice in Palestine. What was immediately rushed onto the internet was a deliberate distortion of the facts and an attempt to paint Jews as violent racists.
This is not the first time that the Daily Californian has been caught violating the truth and promoting an extremist pro-Palestinian agenda.
This is the version originally posted:
SJP statement on violent anti-Palestinian attack on campus
November 14, 2008-- (Berkeley, CA)
Contact: admin@calsjp.org
Student organization "Students for Justice in Palestine" (SJP) is extremely concerned about a violent attack on three Arab Palestinian students on the evening of November 13, 2008 around 6:00PM, and calls upon campus administrators and authorities to immediately investigate the incident and bring those responsible to justice.
According to dozens of witnesses on the scene, three organizers for the "Zionist Freedom Alliance" attacked one male and two female Arab students who stood nearby the event holding a Palestinian flag. The assailants were identified by the Daily Californian to include current ASUC student senator John Moghtader, Cal alumnus Gabe Weiner, and performer Yehuda De sa. The paper also reported that all three had been cited by the UC Police Department on several counts of battery.
The three Arab students had decided to display the flag as a silent statement after hearing offensive anti-Arab remarks at the concert. They did not attempt to interfere with the event. Shortly after they put their flags on display, the assailants were seen angrily rushing into Eshleman Hall and disturbing several meetings to reach the protestors who were located on the 2nd floor balcony. Students on the scene report that the men were yelling racial epithets directed at Arabs and Palestinians.
When the assailants arrived at the balcony, they attempted to push the protestors aside and take their flags away. Witnesses claim that the assailants eventually knocked one protestor against the balcony railing, with a scuffle ensuing where two Arab students, one male and one female, were hit several times. Within a few minutes the assailants began to rush away, though a small group of their supporters had followed them upstairs. Throughout the process the assailants and their supporters were also overheard making remarks like, "we're about to take care of some f***ing Palestinians," and "you Arab dogs, we will kill you."
The group of assailants was eventually pushed away by a crowd of students who were waiting for the police to arrive and collect statements. One of the assailants accused his victims of assaulting him, causing citations to be issued on the victims despite the testimony of several witnesses on the scene refuting the claim. Fortunately nobody was seriously hurt during the ordeal.
SJP is concerned by the willful and concerted escalation to violence by these individuals, who are members of student organization Tikvah. SJP disagrees with the Daily Californian's characterization of the event as the result of "tensions between Palestinian and Jewish students." In fact, the incident was isolated, and the assailants are not representative of the Jewish community at Cal. After a series of similar threatening encounters with a handful of individuals this semester, SJP members began to document these incidents. Two of the attackers, John Moghtader and Gabe Weiner, were involved in another outburst at a campus lecture last month that led the Jewish Student Union to place Tikvah on probation [1, 2].
SJP calls upon campus administrators to pursue the incident immediately, and for students to remain committed to resolving their political differences through peaceful dialogue and discussion.
This is the version subsequently put on the Daily Cal site:
Fight Erupts at Israel Liberation Week Concert
By Will Kane and Vincent Quan
Daily Cal Staff Writers
Friday, November 14, 2008
Category: News > City > Crime
A previous version of this story was removed by editors after we became aware that some facts in the story were incorrect. That story has been replaced with this updated version.
The Daily Californian holds itself to high journalistic standards and always strives to produce objective and accurate content. The Daily Cal follows the ethics policy laid out by the Society of Professional Journalists, which is available at http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp.
If you have any comments or questions regarding this article or our policies, please contact me at editor@dailycal.org.
-Bryan Thomas, Editor in Chief & President
Tensions between Palestinian and Jewish students on campus ran high Thursday night after a fight broke out on an Eshleman Hall balcony overlooking a concert promoting Israel Liberation Week.
At about 5:45 p.m., as rap artists performed on Lower Sproul Plaza, three Palestinian students hung up two Palestinian flags on the building's second floor balcony, witnesses said. The students said they were responding to the anti-Palestinian lyrics they heard.
Upon seeing the flags, ASUC Senator John Moghtader, former senator Gabe Weiner and Yehuda De sa, the concert's opening act, went up to the balcony in an attempt to remove the flags. All three men are Jewish.
At that point, a fight broke out, police said. Witnesses added that the fight prompted up to half a dozen members of the audience to run up to the second floor. Police said two students and one non-student were cited for battery. Weiner was one of those students.
"I went up to the second floor because the message they were sending was an abomination to our national rights," Weiner said.
Senior Husam Zakharia, who was hit in the face during the altercation, said the rap lyrics he heard spurred him to hang up the Palestinian flag.
"We're going to go up and we're going to put up our Palestinian flag in silent protest-exercising our freedom of speech to say we're here and we exist," he said, adding that he was surprised by the violent reaction.
A number of UCPD officers and Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard spent at least two hours interviewing students and witnesses, attempting to piece together the series of events.
According to police, the fight was related to incidents of vandalism earlier this semester. In September, a bus stop sign outside Eshleman Hall promoting Israel was vandalized. That vandalism was followed by pro-Israel graffiti in a classroom in Dwinelle Hall, increasing tension among Israeli and Palestinian advocacy groups on campus.
As the altercation on Thursday night took place, Eshleman Hall's second floor was full of ASUC officials including President Roxanne Winston.
Many senators who saw the fight expressed shock that such an incident could happen among students, most notably former and current ASUC senators.
"I'm very strong now in my sentiments in that there should be immediate disciplinary action," said ASUC Senator Kifah Shah. "If it culminates to violence where three members of SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) are hit ... then that's just ridiculous."
Tags: Student Life, crime
Article Link: http://www.dailycal.org/article/103566
Background: As the Daily Cal is well aware, Students for Justice in Palestine has over the past several years promoted an atmosphere of intolerance on campus, in which Jewish and Israeli students, and their supporters, have been threatened and intimidated. Their actions have carried over into the Berkeley street, and have resulted in several incidents in which a pro-Israel view has been shouted down, speakers have been insulted and manhandled, and property vandalized.
This is mirrored by similar acts at other university campuses in California, notably at SF State and at UC Santa Cruz. School administrators and student body functionaries have not only been unwilling to step in, several are on record as stating that Zionism has no place on campus, and that Jewish support for Israel is, ultimately, the cause of such friction.
The atmosphere on the Berkeley campus was already nauseatingly anti-Semitic and poisonous before this provocation; it remains to be seen how much more vile it will become. This blogger does not expect any significant attempt by authorities and campus police to get to the truth of the matter. Especially given the increasing financial influence of certain foreign regimes in academia.
We wish the Jewish students on California campuses God-speed and the best of luck. It is a foregone conclusion that pro-Palestinian provocateurs will seek to make the academic environment even more poisonous and dangerous for Jewish students than it ever was.
What happened was a violent provocation by Students for Justice in Palestine. What was immediately rushed onto the internet was a deliberate distortion of the facts and an attempt to paint Jews as violent racists.
This is not the first time that the Daily Californian has been caught violating the truth and promoting an extremist pro-Palestinian agenda.
This is the version originally posted:
SJP statement on violent anti-Palestinian attack on campus
November 14, 2008-- (Berkeley, CA)
Contact: admin@calsjp.org
Student organization "Students for Justice in Palestine" (SJP) is extremely concerned about a violent attack on three Arab Palestinian students on the evening of November 13, 2008 around 6:00PM, and calls upon campus administrators and authorities to immediately investigate the incident and bring those responsible to justice.
According to dozens of witnesses on the scene, three organizers for the "Zionist Freedom Alliance" attacked one male and two female Arab students who stood nearby the event holding a Palestinian flag. The assailants were identified by the Daily Californian to include current ASUC student senator John Moghtader, Cal alumnus Gabe Weiner, and performer Yehuda De sa. The paper also reported that all three had been cited by the UC Police Department on several counts of battery.
The three Arab students had decided to display the flag as a silent statement after hearing offensive anti-Arab remarks at the concert. They did not attempt to interfere with the event. Shortly after they put their flags on display, the assailants were seen angrily rushing into Eshleman Hall and disturbing several meetings to reach the protestors who were located on the 2nd floor balcony. Students on the scene report that the men were yelling racial epithets directed at Arabs and Palestinians.
When the assailants arrived at the balcony, they attempted to push the protestors aside and take their flags away. Witnesses claim that the assailants eventually knocked one protestor against the balcony railing, with a scuffle ensuing where two Arab students, one male and one female, were hit several times. Within a few minutes the assailants began to rush away, though a small group of their supporters had followed them upstairs. Throughout the process the assailants and their supporters were also overheard making remarks like, "we're about to take care of some f***ing Palestinians," and "you Arab dogs, we will kill you."
The group of assailants was eventually pushed away by a crowd of students who were waiting for the police to arrive and collect statements. One of the assailants accused his victims of assaulting him, causing citations to be issued on the victims despite the testimony of several witnesses on the scene refuting the claim. Fortunately nobody was seriously hurt during the ordeal.
SJP is concerned by the willful and concerted escalation to violence by these individuals, who are members of student organization Tikvah. SJP disagrees with the Daily Californian's characterization of the event as the result of "tensions between Palestinian and Jewish students." In fact, the incident was isolated, and the assailants are not representative of the Jewish community at Cal. After a series of similar threatening encounters with a handful of individuals this semester, SJP members began to document these incidents. Two of the attackers, John Moghtader and Gabe Weiner, were involved in another outburst at a campus lecture last month that led the Jewish Student Union to place Tikvah on probation [1, 2].
SJP calls upon campus administrators to pursue the incident immediately, and for students to remain committed to resolving their political differences through peaceful dialogue and discussion.
This is the version subsequently put on the Daily Cal site:
Fight Erupts at Israel Liberation Week Concert
By Will Kane and Vincent Quan
Daily Cal Staff Writers
Friday, November 14, 2008
Category: News > City > Crime
A previous version of this story was removed by editors after we became aware that some facts in the story were incorrect. That story has been replaced with this updated version.
The Daily Californian holds itself to high journalistic standards and always strives to produce objective and accurate content. The Daily Cal follows the ethics policy laid out by the Society of Professional Journalists, which is available at http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp.
If you have any comments or questions regarding this article or our policies, please contact me at editor@dailycal.org.
-Bryan Thomas, Editor in Chief & President
Tensions between Palestinian and Jewish students on campus ran high Thursday night after a fight broke out on an Eshleman Hall balcony overlooking a concert promoting Israel Liberation Week.
At about 5:45 p.m., as rap artists performed on Lower Sproul Plaza, three Palestinian students hung up two Palestinian flags on the building's second floor balcony, witnesses said. The students said they were responding to the anti-Palestinian lyrics they heard.
Upon seeing the flags, ASUC Senator John Moghtader, former senator Gabe Weiner and Yehuda De sa, the concert's opening act, went up to the balcony in an attempt to remove the flags. All three men are Jewish.
At that point, a fight broke out, police said. Witnesses added that the fight prompted up to half a dozen members of the audience to run up to the second floor. Police said two students and one non-student were cited for battery. Weiner was one of those students.
"I went up to the second floor because the message they were sending was an abomination to our national rights," Weiner said.
Senior Husam Zakharia, who was hit in the face during the altercation, said the rap lyrics he heard spurred him to hang up the Palestinian flag.
"We're going to go up and we're going to put up our Palestinian flag in silent protest-exercising our freedom of speech to say we're here and we exist," he said, adding that he was surprised by the violent reaction.
A number of UCPD officers and Dean of Students Jonathan Poullard spent at least two hours interviewing students and witnesses, attempting to piece together the series of events.
According to police, the fight was related to incidents of vandalism earlier this semester. In September, a bus stop sign outside Eshleman Hall promoting Israel was vandalized. That vandalism was followed by pro-Israel graffiti in a classroom in Dwinelle Hall, increasing tension among Israeli and Palestinian advocacy groups on campus.
As the altercation on Thursday night took place, Eshleman Hall's second floor was full of ASUC officials including President Roxanne Winston.
Many senators who saw the fight expressed shock that such an incident could happen among students, most notably former and current ASUC senators.
"I'm very strong now in my sentiments in that there should be immediate disciplinary action," said ASUC Senator Kifah Shah. "If it culminates to violence where three members of SJP (Students for Justice in Palestine) are hit ... then that's just ridiculous."
Tags: Student Life, crime
Article Link: http://www.dailycal.org/article/103566
Background: As the Daily Cal is well aware, Students for Justice in Palestine has over the past several years promoted an atmosphere of intolerance on campus, in which Jewish and Israeli students, and their supporters, have been threatened and intimidated. Their actions have carried over into the Berkeley street, and have resulted in several incidents in which a pro-Israel view has been shouted down, speakers have been insulted and manhandled, and property vandalized.
This is mirrored by similar acts at other university campuses in California, notably at SF State and at UC Santa Cruz. School administrators and student body functionaries have not only been unwilling to step in, several are on record as stating that Zionism has no place on campus, and that Jewish support for Israel is, ultimately, the cause of such friction.
The atmosphere on the Berkeley campus was already nauseatingly anti-Semitic and poisonous before this provocation; it remains to be seen how much more vile it will become. This blogger does not expect any significant attempt by authorities and campus police to get to the truth of the matter. Especially given the increasing financial influence of certain foreign regimes in academia.
We wish the Jewish students on California campuses God-speed and the best of luck. It is a foregone conclusion that pro-Palestinian provocateurs will seek to make the academic environment even more poisonous and dangerous for Jewish students than it ever was.
Friday, May 11, 2007
WHAT HAPPENED IN FRONT OF THE CONSULATE AND HOW DID THE COUNTER-DEMO GO?
Call it a victory and gloat.
Neener... neener... neener.
We arrived at the area in front of the Israeli consulate between two o'clock and two thirty - one by one, trickling in from different directions. By quarter to three we were wondering when Amalek would finally get there.
[Note: Amalek is the most apposite term - we found out that this was a radical Islamic spin-off from Al Awda. And Al Awda is a nasty bunch to begin with.]
CANCELLED
Shortly after three o'clock, the police told us it wouldn't be happening, and started clearing away the barriers and orange cones.
The group that organized the event had gotten a permit for eight hundred people. That may have been wishful thinking, or in fact insane optimism. What they ended up with was only about twenty participants while down at Civic Center, and then they heard that we were in front of the consulate to counter-demo them.
Our being prepared may have been the last straw.
[Maybe they didn't want to face us, or perhaps they heard a boiling ibriq with some cardamom coffee beckon.......... ('Umm al 'Qahwa' is a harsh mistress).]
They called it off. They decided not to hike that last mile for a screamfest with less than two dozen people on their side. As one of our people put it, "ten counterprotestors standing in front of the consulate looks pretty good, but an angry protest march with only twenty people just looks silly".
All of it must have been just too much for them (as well as not being enough).
So we declared victory and left.
It was the best possible outcome for a pro-Israel counter-demo clobbered together at the last moment.
Still, I would've gladly welcomed those twenty or so radical Muslims; I was prepared to take off a shoe and wave it at 'em.
It would've been so nice seeing their wee little mob wearily turn the corner only to find us waiting. From Civic Center to Montgomery and California is not a short march, and I guess ten Zionists could scare anybody.
Note: It isn't that there aren't eight hundred extremists in San Francisco - there are several times that number. But getting even a few hundred of them all on the same page is undoubtedly a daunting organizational slog. Keeping them united long enought to riot purposefully, without them starting to go for each others' throats, is probably well-nigh impossible. Even if they do all belong to the same mosque.
Neener... neener... neener.
We arrived at the area in front of the Israeli consulate between two o'clock and two thirty - one by one, trickling in from different directions. By quarter to three we were wondering when Amalek would finally get there.
[Note: Amalek is the most apposite term - we found out that this was a radical Islamic spin-off from Al Awda. And Al Awda is a nasty bunch to begin with.]
CANCELLED
Shortly after three o'clock, the police told us it wouldn't be happening, and started clearing away the barriers and orange cones.
The group that organized the event had gotten a permit for eight hundred people. That may have been wishful thinking, or in fact insane optimism. What they ended up with was only about twenty participants while down at Civic Center, and then they heard that we were in front of the consulate to counter-demo them.
Our being prepared may have been the last straw.
[Maybe they didn't want to face us, or perhaps they heard a boiling ibriq with some cardamom coffee beckon.......... ('Umm al 'Qahwa' is a harsh mistress).]
They called it off. They decided not to hike that last mile for a screamfest with less than two dozen people on their side. As one of our people put it, "ten counterprotestors standing in front of the consulate looks pretty good, but an angry protest march with only twenty people just looks silly".
All of it must have been just too much for them (as well as not being enough).
So we declared victory and left.
It was the best possible outcome for a pro-Israel counter-demo clobbered together at the last moment.
Still, I would've gladly welcomed those twenty or so radical Muslims; I was prepared to take off a shoe and wave it at 'em.
It would've been so nice seeing their wee little mob wearily turn the corner only to find us waiting. From Civic Center to Montgomery and California is not a short march, and I guess ten Zionists could scare anybody.
Note: It isn't that there aren't eight hundred extremists in San Francisco - there are several times that number. But getting even a few hundred of them all on the same page is undoubtedly a daunting organizational slog. Keeping them united long enought to riot purposefully, without them starting to go for each others' throats, is probably well-nigh impossible. Even if they do all belong to the same mosque.
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GRITS AND TOFU
Like most Americans, I have a list of people who should be peacefully retired from public service and thereafter kept away from their desks,...
