This is the result of San Francisco Bay Area pro-peace activism. Much earlier today, the windows of the Israeli Consulate at 456 Montgomery Street in San Francisco were damaged when bricks were thrown. A brave left-wing soul, no doubt, did the deed.
Monday, May 31, 2010
Bay Area Peace Activists Get Results
This is the result of San Francisco Bay Area pro-peace activism. Much earlier today, the windows of the Israeli Consulate at 456 Montgomery Street in San Francisco were damaged when bricks were thrown. A brave left-wing soul, no doubt, did the deed.
Israeli Soldiers Ambushed by "Free Gaza" Flotilla Peace Activists
A "peace activist" holding a knife poses on board the Gaza flotilla Israel Navy commandos boarded the ship on May 31, 2010. From Haaretz
Israeli military said in a statement: "Navy fighters took control of six ships that tried to violate the naval blockade (of the Gaza Strip) ...
During the takeover, the soldiers encountered serious physical violence by the protesters, who attacked them with live fire."
One of the commandos told reporters he descended by rope from a helicopter onto one of the six ships in the convoy and was immediately attacked by a group of people waiting for them.
"They beat us with metal sticks and knives," he said. "There was live fire at some point against us."
Footage taken from the ships shows Israeli soldiers being beaten with clubs, and being thrown off the deck of the ship. One IDF soldier was critically wounded. A Turkish crew member reportedly snatched a gun from an IDF soldier and then opened fire. Another soldier was stabbed in the stomach. All in the name of non-violent resistance.
And in the true spirit of their eternal victimhood, the pro-Hamas community is mobilizing with the theme "How dare the Jews fight back"
Expect demonstrations today in San Francisco.
The day of hate includes:
A demonstration at the empty Israeli Consulate in the morning, on a deserted street in the financial district, followed by a continuation of the rage at Powell and Market, in the afternoon.
UPDATE
In this footage, taken on board the
Mavi Marmari on 30 May2010, IHH leader Bulent Yildirim clearly instructs
his followers to throw the Israeli commandos overboard when they land on
the ship. His speech was made in Turkish and repeated in Arabic by a
translator.
Friday, May 28, 2010
FINE GAZA DINING
For the benefit of travellers - Euro parliamentarians and other anti-Semites - I have posted the full menu to one of Gaza's premier dining spots here:
http://infectiousasian.blogspot.com/2010/05/roots-in-gaza.html
For your delectation, a brief sampling:
Deep Fried Fish Combination
Fish combination of sea bass, red mullet, calamari and shrimp marinated in lemon and parsley sauce, deep fried and served with cucumber, tomato and lemon slices.
Mushroom Steak
Half a pound of beef fillet cooked in creamy mushroom sauce and served with fries, baked potato or vegetable sauté.
Steak Au Poivre (pepper Steak)
Half a pound of beef fillet cooked in creamy pepper sauce and served with fries, baked potato or vegetable sauté.
Chateaubriand With Béarnaise Sauce
Half a pound of chateaubriand slices cooked in rich béarnaise sauce and served with fries, baked potato or vegetable sauté.
Fettuccine Marinara
Enjoy the real taste of Italian fettuccine with smoked salmon and marinara sauce.
Sea Food Fettuccine
Enjoy the real taste of Italian fettuccine with shrimp and calamari cooked in hot tomato sauce.
Now doesn't that sound positivley SCRUMPTUOUS? Mmmmm, good eating!
My mouth is watering, I hope yours is too.
Of course, if you end up in an Israeli jail instead, that's bad luck. Please blame your navigator, and your retrograde hate-filled ideals, for that.
The fine cooks of Gaza will have not been responsible for your misadventure.
Mmmmmm, steak au poivre...... mmmmmmmm!
周小燕
http://infectiousasian.blogspot.com/2010/05/roots-in-gaza.html
For your delectation, a brief sampling:
Deep Fried Fish Combination
Fish combination of sea bass, red mullet, calamari and shrimp marinated in lemon and parsley sauce, deep fried and served with cucumber, tomato and lemon slices.
Mushroom Steak
Half a pound of beef fillet cooked in creamy mushroom sauce and served with fries, baked potato or vegetable sauté.
Steak Au Poivre (pepper Steak)
Half a pound of beef fillet cooked in creamy pepper sauce and served with fries, baked potato or vegetable sauté.
Chateaubriand With Béarnaise Sauce
Half a pound of chateaubriand slices cooked in rich béarnaise sauce and served with fries, baked potato or vegetable sauté.
Fettuccine Marinara
Enjoy the real taste of Italian fettuccine with smoked salmon and marinara sauce.
Sea Food Fettuccine
Enjoy the real taste of Italian fettuccine with shrimp and calamari cooked in hot tomato sauce.
Now doesn't that sound positivley SCRUMPTUOUS? Mmmmm, good eating!
My mouth is watering, I hope yours is too.
Of course, if you end up in an Israeli jail instead, that's bad luck. Please blame your navigator, and your retrograde hate-filled ideals, for that.
The fine cooks of Gaza will have not been responsible for your misadventure.
Mmmmmm, steak au poivre...... mmmmmmmm!
周小燕
Free Gaza From Hamas Flotilla Sets Sail
Many anarcho-zionists continually turn to the words of famed radical Saul Alinsky for inspiration. His 70's pamphlet "Rules for radicals" still functions as a "how to" manual for direct action, grass roots advocacy groups.Organizers from Stand With Us, a non-profit Israel advocacy group are clearly well versed in Alinsky's ideology, fighting fire with fire, and doing it brilliantly.
Alinsky: "Ridicule is man's most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage."
Stand With Us is organizing a flotilla of boats sailing from Asdod tomorrow to met the "Ship of Fools" from the Free Gaza Movement on its alleged humanitarian mission to "free Gaza."
"We will be there with our own flotilla of boats and signs that expose the real human rights problems. Gaza must be freed from the chains of the Hamas dictatorship and its Iranian sponsors," said Roman Baron, who helped organize the counter-demonstration.
"Ending Israel's restrictions on Gaza could be easy. Hamas just has to end its war, accept Israel's existence as a Jewish state and agree to past PLO-Israel peace agreements. Our flotilla will educate the public and hopefully pave the way for a better future for Israelis and Palestinians," Baron said.
In the event that the Free Gaza Pro-hamas Flotilla makes it through to Gaza, independent bloggers have been putting together a Gaza Travel Guidebook for them. This guide of where to stay, eat and shop while touring Hamasistan should be a helpful resource to the latest round of Gaza tourists.
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Bay Area Women in Black and Jewish Voice for Peace: “Proud to be Ashamed to be Jewish”
Bay Area Women in Black and Jewish Voice for Peace: the “Proud to be Ashamed to be Jewish” crowd are joining together to protest the Jewish cultural festival “Israel in the Gardens”. These groups are known for their overwhelming hypocrisy, routinely standing alongside the most viciously anti-Israel groups in the Bay area. Bay Area Women in Black and Jewish Voice for Peace both endorse the Boycott Sanctions and Divestment Movement and support the Palestinian “right of return”, calling for the demographic destruction of the state of Israel. Last year Bay Area Women in Black sponsored notorious anti-Semite Gilad Atzmon in a fund raiser for the International Solidarity Movement,. proving to the world that while they'd never support Zionism, holocaust deniers were just fine. Once again participants from Jewish summer camps, days schools, non-profits and synagogues will be forced to walk a gauntlet of hate as the twenty or so protesters will insist that only their voice matters, and er, just ignore those inconsequential 20,000 participants beyond the gate.
Their email follows: (my comments in italics)
Those of you who have done this before know that the people of Voice for Israel/Stand With Us
You’ve been standing opposite us for 5 years now. And yet you still get the name wrong. Its no wonder something as complicated as Middle east History is far beyond your intellectual capacity. Its Stand With Us/ San Francisco Voice for Israel. We’ll expect you’ll get it wrong again next year.
can be very aggressive.
We are so very very scary. We’ll never forget the time when Bay Area Women in Black was so threatened by our motley group of Holocaust survivors, aging hippies, children and Rabbis singing songs of peace that they called the Oakland police .
Two years ago some of their members (including some of the youngsters)
The very scary and aggressive youngsters? Like this one?
invaded our line and tried to provoke us to react to their taunts of “self-hating,” “traitor,” “terrorist,” etc.
Children holding signs! Anything but children holding signs! No! Not that!
Although it wasn't easy for some of us, we remained silent and made no response to them at all, thereby avoiding confrontation.
Trouble is Judith, while you are bothered and offended by youngsters holding signs in support of Israel, you seem less concerned about the actions of other youngsters, like these Palestinian children practicing "non-violent resistance"
We hope this year that the S.F. Police will be a bit more vigilant than they were the last time in keeping the VOI people from getting into our line, but we're letting you know what may happen so it isn't a "surprise" if it does.
Here’s a hint, Judith. Stay across the street. Don’t interfere with people entering the festival. Thats the way to avoid confrontation.
Their email follows: (my comments in italics)
Those of you who have done this before know that the people of Voice for Israel/Stand With Us
You’ve been standing opposite us for 5 years now. And yet you still get the name wrong. Its no wonder something as complicated as Middle east History is far beyond your intellectual capacity. Its Stand With Us/ San Francisco Voice for Israel. We’ll expect you’ll get it wrong again next year.
can be very aggressive.
We are so very very scary. We’ll never forget the time when Bay Area Women in Black was so threatened by our motley group of Holocaust survivors, aging hippies, children and Rabbis singing songs of peace that they called the Oakland police .
Two years ago some of their members (including some of the youngsters)
The very scary and aggressive youngsters? Like this one?
invaded our line and tried to provoke us to react to their taunts of “self-hating,” “traitor,” “terrorist,” etc.
Children holding signs! Anything but children holding signs! No! Not that!
Although it wasn't easy for some of us, we remained silent and made no response to them at all, thereby avoiding confrontation.
Trouble is Judith, while you are bothered and offended by youngsters holding signs in support of Israel, you seem less concerned about the actions of other youngsters, like these Palestinian children practicing "non-violent resistance"
We hope this year that the S.F. Police will be a bit more vigilant than they were the last time in keeping the VOI people from getting into our line, but we're letting you know what may happen so it isn't a "surprise" if it does.
Here’s a hint, Judith. Stay across the street. Don’t interfere with people entering the festival. Thats the way to avoid confrontation.
How Fatah says 'no'
Over on another blog, a few recent quotes by Palestinian notables are given. These quotes show precisely why it is pointless to continue the farce of peace negotiations with the current Palestinian leadership. They also indicate that the United States administration might be completely in the dark about the realities of the Middle-East. Which is a valid suspicion at this point, as the current administration seems to be making a pig’s breakfast of our relations with our only ally in that dangerous part of the world.
"...there is a need to create and endorse new struggling tools, such as the popular resistance, and to increase our efforts in the international arena to isolate and punish Israel, prevent it from deepening its relations with the European Union and attempt to expel it from the United Nations.”
~Nabil Shaath, Fatah Central Committee member~
"... the PA should not repeat the mistake of the past, when it engaged in a 'deaf dialogue' with Israel for 18 years after the signing of the Oslo Accords."
~Abbas Zaki, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Member of the Fatah Central Committee and former Palestinian envoy to Lebanon~
"...the Palestinians may also demand the implementation of United Nations Resolution 181, which was adopted in 1947 and recommends the division of the British Mandate of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, with the Jerusalem-Bethlehem area being under special international protection."
~Abbas Zaki, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Member of the Fatah Central Committee and former Palestinian envoy to Lebanon~
Read more here:
http://www.treppenwitz.com/2010/05/why-no-is-the-only-answer-israel-will-ever-hear.html
NOTES
POPULAR RESISTANCE: A politically correct word for terrorism, i.e. killing the civilians of the other side as practiced by revolutionary groups that many Europeans worship.
ISOLATE AND PUNISH ISRAEL: Maintain a boycott while engaging in terrorism; status quo.
ATTEMPT TO EXPEL IT FROM THE UNITED NATIONS: Turn the United Nations into the League of Nations.
DEAF DIALOGUE: Arab monologue.
Treppenwitz expresses himself well. Read him.
"...there is a need to create and endorse new struggling tools, such as the popular resistance, and to increase our efforts in the international arena to isolate and punish Israel, prevent it from deepening its relations with the European Union and attempt to expel it from the United Nations.”
~Nabil Shaath, Fatah Central Committee member~
"... the PA should not repeat the mistake of the past, when it engaged in a 'deaf dialogue' with Israel for 18 years after the signing of the Oslo Accords."
~Abbas Zaki, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Member of the Fatah Central Committee and former Palestinian envoy to Lebanon~
"...the Palestinians may also demand the implementation of United Nations Resolution 181, which was adopted in 1947 and recommends the division of the British Mandate of Palestine into two states, one Jewish and one Arab, with the Jerusalem-Bethlehem area being under special international protection."
~Abbas Zaki, Member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, Member of the Fatah Central Committee and former Palestinian envoy to Lebanon~
Read more here:
http://www.treppenwitz.com/2010/05/why-no-is-the-only-answer-israel-will-ever-hear.html
NOTES
POPULAR RESISTANCE: A politically correct word for terrorism, i.e. killing the civilians of the other side as practiced by revolutionary groups that many Europeans worship.
ISOLATE AND PUNISH ISRAEL: Maintain a boycott while engaging in terrorism; status quo.
ATTEMPT TO EXPEL IT FROM THE UNITED NATIONS: Turn the United Nations into the League of Nations.
DEAF DIALOGUE: Arab monologue.
Treppenwitz expresses himself well. Read him.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
EGYPT MURDERING MINORITIES
The world is remarkably silent when Muslims exterminate Christians. Perhaps nowhere more so than in the case of Egypt - long a "friend" of the Western World and handsomely recompensed for that service - where without United States aid and assistance, plus the money from pandering to European tourists, there would be massive food-shortages and societal collapse due to official corruption, overpopulation, misguided policies, and general neglect of both development and infrastructural upkeep.
Without the West, Egypt would be a failed state falling into chaos, instead of just a corrupt dictatorship ruled by a clique that cares but for cash.
However, Egypt also has a remarkable safety valve; a substantial Christian minority that can be discriminated against and periodically slaughtered.
This fortunate circumstance keeps the impoverished Muslim majority quiescent.
[No doubt many other countries are envious, and wish they could still do the same; alas, most have been far too profligate in that regard, and barely have any non-Muslims left to persecute.]
Article in the Wall Street Journal:
Egypt's Persecuted Christians
Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2010
By Moheb Zaki
Cairo
A few weeks ago in the coastal city of Marsa Matrouh, an enraged mob of some 3,000 angry Muslims gathered after Friday prayers. After the mosque's imam exhorted them to cleanse the city of its infidel Christians, called Copts, they went on a rampage.
The toll was heavy: 18 homes, 23 shops and 16 cars were completely destroyed, while 400 Copts barricaded themselves in their church for 10 hours until the frenzy died out.
This was only the latest of more than a dozen such attacks during the past year, including in the village of Kafr El-Barbary on June 26, the town of Farshout on Nov. 21, and the village of Shousha on Nov. 23. Then came Naga Hamadi, where passengers in a drive-by car fired at random into Christians leaving a Coptic Christmas service on Jan. 6. The massacre killed seven and left 26 seriously wounded.
[End quote]
Such behaviour is encouraged at the highest levels - from government departments through the most respected of Islamic institutions. Al-Azhar University, font of much discord for several decades - many of its Malay, Philippino, Indonesian, Afghan, and Pakistani graduates have founded terror-cults upon returning to their homelands - is perhaps the most guilty of inculcating violent tendencies among the 'Umma'.
Quote:
Al-Azhar's textbook for its high-school students, called "Al Iqna'," states that killing a Muslim is punishable by death, but if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim he is not subject to capital punishment since the superior cannot be punished for killing the inferior (p. 146). It also states that the blood money (compensation for manslaughter) rates for a woman is half that for a man, but for a Christian or Jew it is one third that of a Muslim (p. 187); and that there can be no stewardship (such as a superior in work) of a non-Muslim over a Muslim (p. 205).
Thus the hundreds of thousands of Azhar schools, which are monitored by the state, indoctrinate and then discharge annually into Egyptian society hundreds of thousands of young Muslims with an ideology of intolerance, contempt and hatred toward Copts (and even more intensely toward Jews).
[End quote]
The Egyptian rulers, like many despots, refuse to acknowledge that there is an issue.
Quote:
Despite the long-standing suffering of the Copts, the Egyptian government cynically insists that there is no sectarian problem and brands as traitors those who draw international attention to the Copts' plight. So far the United States and the rest of the Western democracies, despite repeated Coptic appeals, have done little besides calling upon the Egyptian regime to foster greater tolerance.
[End quote]
Read the entire article here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703745904575248301172607696.html
Then bring it to the attention of your elected representatives.
You may also wish to contact the Egyptians directly................
The Egyptian Consulate General in San Francisco
القنصلية العامة لجمهورية مصر العربية
في مدينة سان فرانسيسكو
276 Mallorca Way, San Francisco, CA 94123-1515
Tel. (415) 346-9700 / 346-9702 / 346-7352
Fax (415) 346-9480
email: egypt@egy2000.com
Web: http://egy2000.com/
The Consulate covers Arizona, Alaska, California, Idaho, Washington, Utah, Montana, Oregon, Nevada, Hawaii and Wyoming.
You may address your letter to the Honourable Consul General:
Mr. Hesham Elnakib, Ph.D.
http://www.egy2000.com/indexl.htm
Do not count on a positive response, however; the Egyptian government does not recognize a problem in the persecution of Copts.
In any case, San Francisco is merely a plum posting, staffed by comfortable people with a properly clerical attitude.
I would assume that the most you can expect them to do is put your name on a list, for possible watching or "minding" should you ever decide to take a jaunt to the Sphinx and the Pyramids.
Like many 'Arab' governments, they don't take kindly to critics.
Especially not pesky Westerners.
Without the West, Egypt would be a failed state falling into chaos, instead of just a corrupt dictatorship ruled by a clique that cares but for cash.
However, Egypt also has a remarkable safety valve; a substantial Christian minority that can be discriminated against and periodically slaughtered.
This fortunate circumstance keeps the impoverished Muslim majority quiescent.
[No doubt many other countries are envious, and wish they could still do the same; alas, most have been far too profligate in that regard, and barely have any non-Muslims left to persecute.]
Article in the Wall Street Journal:
Egypt's Persecuted Christians
Wall Street Journal, May 18, 2010
By Moheb Zaki
Cairo
A few weeks ago in the coastal city of Marsa Matrouh, an enraged mob of some 3,000 angry Muslims gathered after Friday prayers. After the mosque's imam exhorted them to cleanse the city of its infidel Christians, called Copts, they went on a rampage.
The toll was heavy: 18 homes, 23 shops and 16 cars were completely destroyed, while 400 Copts barricaded themselves in their church for 10 hours until the frenzy died out.
This was only the latest of more than a dozen such attacks during the past year, including in the village of Kafr El-Barbary on June 26, the town of Farshout on Nov. 21, and the village of Shousha on Nov. 23. Then came Naga Hamadi, where passengers in a drive-by car fired at random into Christians leaving a Coptic Christmas service on Jan. 6. The massacre killed seven and left 26 seriously wounded.
[End quote]
Such behaviour is encouraged at the highest levels - from government departments through the most respected of Islamic institutions. Al-Azhar University, font of much discord for several decades - many of its Malay, Philippino, Indonesian, Afghan, and Pakistani graduates have founded terror-cults upon returning to their homelands - is perhaps the most guilty of inculcating violent tendencies among the 'Umma'.
Quote:
Al-Azhar's textbook for its high-school students, called "Al Iqna'," states that killing a Muslim is punishable by death, but if a Muslim kills a non-Muslim he is not subject to capital punishment since the superior cannot be punished for killing the inferior (p. 146). It also states that the blood money (compensation for manslaughter) rates for a woman is half that for a man, but for a Christian or Jew it is one third that of a Muslim (p. 187); and that there can be no stewardship (such as a superior in work) of a non-Muslim over a Muslim (p. 205).
Thus the hundreds of thousands of Azhar schools, which are monitored by the state, indoctrinate and then discharge annually into Egyptian society hundreds of thousands of young Muslims with an ideology of intolerance, contempt and hatred toward Copts (and even more intensely toward Jews).
[End quote]
The Egyptian rulers, like many despots, refuse to acknowledge that there is an issue.
Quote:
Despite the long-standing suffering of the Copts, the Egyptian government cynically insists that there is no sectarian problem and brands as traitors those who draw international attention to the Copts' plight. So far the United States and the rest of the Western democracies, despite repeated Coptic appeals, have done little besides calling upon the Egyptian regime to foster greater tolerance.
[End quote]
Read the entire article here:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703745904575248301172607696.html
Then bring it to the attention of your elected representatives.
You may also wish to contact the Egyptians directly................
The Egyptian Consulate General in San Francisco
القنصلية العامة لجمهورية مصر العربية
في مدينة سان فرانسيسكو
276 Mallorca Way, San Francisco, CA 94123-1515
Tel. (415) 346-9700 / 346-9702 / 346-7352
Fax (415) 346-9480
email: egypt@egy2000.com
Web: http://egy2000.com/
The Consulate covers Arizona, Alaska, California, Idaho, Washington, Utah, Montana, Oregon, Nevada, Hawaii and Wyoming.
You may address your letter to the Honourable Consul General:
Mr. Hesham Elnakib, Ph.D.
http://www.egy2000.com/indexl.htm
Do not count on a positive response, however; the Egyptian government does not recognize a problem in the persecution of Copts.
In any case, San Francisco is merely a plum posting, staffed by comfortable people with a properly clerical attitude.
I would assume that the most you can expect them to do is put your name on a list, for possible watching or "minding" should you ever decide to take a jaunt to the Sphinx and the Pyramids.
Like many 'Arab' governments, they don't take kindly to critics.
Especially not pesky Westerners.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
UC Irvine and Amir Abdul Malik Ali
The Muslim students at University of California at Irvine have garnered quite an impressive record of Jew-hatred and anti-Semitism over the years.
So much so, that UC Irvine is also affectionately called “Hitler Academy” by some people.
In large part it’s because of their pet mouthpieces. Rabid racists, fervent jihadis, notorious anti-Semites….
And Malik Ali.
This clip shows Amir Abdul Malik Ali (at the third minute mark) calling Jews the oppressors of all peoples, and praising Hamas and Iran:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtuCk6BDZSU
Note the adoring acolytes.
Here’s Malik Ali spewing about black nationalism and them evil Jews on October 5, 2006:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Mahw1RIhw
Please note the chanting of Allahu Akbar by his fans.
So, who the hell is this hate-spewing moron?
He’s a racist convert to Islam from Oakland, California, attached to As-Sabiqun, an American Muslim organization based in Washington DC, and with branches in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento, in addition to Oakland, where it was founded by another convert, Imam Abdul Alim Musa nearly twenty years ago at the Masjid Al-Islam mosque.
Their primary goal is the overthrow of the American government and its replacement with an Islamic dictatorship. Until that happens, however, they lend support to Jihadism as a nationalist ideal, speak at anti-Jewish events on college campuses (notably UC Irvine, which has been a very welcoming and supportive environment for them), and promote anti-Semitism where-ever they can.
Amongst other things, their speakers have accused Jews of controlling the media and committing the September 11 attacks.
“Israel wants Palestinians to have their own state. It’s beyond that now. No. That’s off the table. One state. Majority rules. Us. The Muslims.”
Mailk Ali has been an applauded speaker at UC Irvine since 2002, brought in by the Muslim Student Union. At every speech he has advocated Islamic revolution, and blamed the Jews for society's ills. One of his key positions is that Muslims must learn how to fight the host society and wage war against unbelievers - whom he seems to define as 'white men' and 'Jews'.
[Sources: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualprofile.asp?indid=2102 and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Abdel_Malik_Ali and
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2008/fall/anti-semitism-goes-to-school et autres.]
You can see this ponce in full spew here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvt234AMXpc
Read more about him here:
http://www.adl.org/main_Anti_Israel/sabiqun_anti-semitism.htm?Multi_page_sections=sHeading_4
For some reason he isn't quite as popular at UC Berkeley. Perhaps because his brand of anti-Semitism is too crude and unrefined for the genteel intellectuals of that East Bay town, even though in their hearts they agree with him?
They fight the anti-Israel fight in their own way - by boycotts, multi-page resolutions, and meaningful snubs. Plus sneering letters to the editor, and artistic cocktail parties.
But at UC Irvine, Malik Ali is golden. Even many members of the faculty love him.
So much so, that UC Irvine is also affectionately called “Hitler Academy” by some people.
In large part it’s because of their pet mouthpieces. Rabid racists, fervent jihadis, notorious anti-Semites….
And Malik Ali.
This clip shows Amir Abdul Malik Ali (at the third minute mark) calling Jews the oppressors of all peoples, and praising Hamas and Iran:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtuCk6BDZSU
Note the adoring acolytes.
Here’s Malik Ali spewing about black nationalism and them evil Jews on October 5, 2006:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Mahw1RIhw
Please note the chanting of Allahu Akbar by his fans.
So, who the hell is this hate-spewing moron?
He’s a racist convert to Islam from Oakland, California, attached to As-Sabiqun, an American Muslim organization based in Washington DC, and with branches in Philadelphia, Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sacramento, in addition to Oakland, where it was founded by another convert, Imam Abdul Alim Musa nearly twenty years ago at the Masjid Al-Islam mosque.
Their primary goal is the overthrow of the American government and its replacement with an Islamic dictatorship. Until that happens, however, they lend support to Jihadism as a nationalist ideal, speak at anti-Jewish events on college campuses (notably UC Irvine, which has been a very welcoming and supportive environment for them), and promote anti-Semitism where-ever they can.
Amongst other things, their speakers have accused Jews of controlling the media and committing the September 11 attacks.
“Israel wants Palestinians to have their own state. It’s beyond that now. No. That’s off the table. One state. Majority rules. Us. The Muslims.”
Mailk Ali has been an applauded speaker at UC Irvine since 2002, brought in by the Muslim Student Union. At every speech he has advocated Islamic revolution, and blamed the Jews for society's ills. One of his key positions is that Muslims must learn how to fight the host society and wage war against unbelievers - whom he seems to define as 'white men' and 'Jews'.
[Sources: http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualprofile.asp?indid=2102 and
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amir_Abdel_Malik_Ali and
http://www.splcenter.org/get-informed/intelligence-report/browse-all-issues/2008/fall/anti-semitism-goes-to-school et autres.]
You can see this ponce in full spew here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pvt234AMXpc
Read more about him here:
http://www.adl.org/main_Anti_Israel/sabiqun_anti-semitism.htm?Multi_page_sections=sHeading_4
For some reason he isn't quite as popular at UC Berkeley. Perhaps because his brand of anti-Semitism is too crude and unrefined for the genteel intellectuals of that East Bay town, even though in their hearts they agree with him?
They fight the anti-Israel fight in their own way - by boycotts, multi-page resolutions, and meaningful snubs. Plus sneering letters to the editor, and artistic cocktail parties.
But at UC Irvine, Malik Ali is golden. Even many members of the faculty love him.
Facing Hatred on Campus: You Can't Fight Fire With Flowers
[The following, by Roz Rothstein and Roberta Seid, is crossposted from The Jewish Journal.]
An increasing number of students report that efforts to demonize Israel have intensified on college campuses. Most recently, the student senates at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), held marathon debates about anti-Israel divestment resolutions. In May, the annual Hate Israel Week will be held on many campuses yet again.
Bruised by these painful experiences and taken aback by their increasing frequency, many pro-Israel students are concerned about the growing trend. They wonder why each time they douse anti-Israel fires, the flames reignite. They wonder what they are up against.
It's simple. They face a dedicated anti-Israel movement that is not discouraged by temporary setbacks. The Muslim Student Union (MSU) and Muslim Student Association (MSA), allied with extremist groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), focus single-mindedly on one goal: demonizing Israel. This is not your normal student activism. MSU and MSA members are obsessively driven by their mission. They are determined, methodical, focused, well-funded and strictly organized. The leaders are usually devout and infuse religious and moral justifications into the movement, making hatred of Israel akin to a religious as well as social justice cause.
The MSU, MSA and SJP groups don't just plan actions for their own schools. SJP and the 600 MSU/MSA chapters across North America use the Internet to coordinate their anti-Israel strategies and to share their best practices. They exchange anti-Israel propaganda. They share fliers, props and slogans. They analyze what was effective and refine their tactics and execution for the upcoming year.
The MSU and MSA also maintain continuity. New leaders are groomed to replace leaders who graduate. Incoming students are actively recruited, welcomed into the supportive fold of the organization, indoctrinated and fired up with zeal. Other methods also ensure continuity. For example, a young man standing at the "apartheid wall" display on a California campus this past April told a reporter for the Daily 49er at California State University, Long Beach, that he is a Muslim missionary who is volunteering for three years to accompany the wall and "educate" students about it.
The methods used by the MSU, MSA and SJP have only one goal -- instilling hatred and intolerance against Israel and anyone who dares to defend it and the sincerity of its search for peaceful coexistence. They launch slick campaigns, street theater and campus displays like the "Apartheid Wall." They orchestrate demonstrations against pro-coexistence speakers and host pseudo-academic panels. They showcase far too many speakers whose only credentials are a Jewish background and a willingness to spew anti-Israel propaganda. They bid for academic credibility by asking professors hostile to Israel to co-sponsor their events. (For example, the programs for UCSD's May 2010 anti-Israel week are co-sponsored by academic departments.) They form coalitions with campus groups by supporting popular student causes and by claiming they are activists for social justice and human rights, when in fact their only purpose is to vilify Israel, and they ignore the serial human rights abuses rampant in other countries. They work to promote their agenda in student government and the student newspaper.
Once they've laid this groundwork, the MSU, MSA and SJP move on to bolder measures: recommending punishment for Israel that their new allies will support, such as divestment. Divestment resolution campaigns, in turn, mainstream their anti-Israel message and bring it to an ever-wider circle through debates in student government and media coverage.
All of these tactics are part of a carefully thought-out, well-orchestrated, long-term offensive for turning Israel and its supporters into campus pariahs. This larger movement is at the root of anti-Israel actions on campuses. Most Israel supporters ignore this larger picture, hoping that the fires will burn out and go away. But they are not going away. The movement is becoming more entrenched and more aggressive for two reasons: One is that the zeal of MSU, MSA and SJP membership is growing, fed partially by their successes and by their financial supporters. Even when they don't win campaigns like divestment resolutions -- and in most cases they know in advance that winning is impossible -- they consider it a victory that divestment was seriously discussed and that they created a platform to air their propaganda and to put Israel on trial. As divestment leaders commented after losing the vote at Berkeley, "We lost the vote but won the night. We made a statement recorded for posterity and forced everyone to listen and watch."
The second reason for the growing aggression of MSU, MSA and SJP is their expectation of a disorganized response from Israel's supporters. Pro-Israel students are focused on other things, like school, their social lives and their futures, as students should be. They did not go to college expecting they would have to defend their identity or Israel. But on too many campuses, they are rudely awakened. Most become involved not because they intended to or have some sense of mission, but out of necessity.
Consequently, pro-Israel students are often caught off guard and unprepared for new anti-Israel ambushes, as happened with the UCSD student senate divestment bill this past April. The bill suddenly appeared on the agenda, and they had only a few days to put together presentations opposing it. Yet the divestment proponents had prepared for a year, recruiting allies and polishing their speeches, slogans and video presentations of Jewish far leftists and anti-Israel activists like Anna Baltzer and Hedy Epstein.
The pro-Israel students cannot be entirely faulted for their inconsistent responses. They are often conflicted about what to do. They are hamstrung by concerns about offending other groups on campus and by often unsupportive or nonconfrontational administrations who give cover to these bigoted campaigns under the umbrella of free speech. Most university systems lack standards that protect the rights of all students, including those who are under attack by hostile campaigns. Pro-Israel students also sincerely believe that reaching out with sympathy and understanding for the other side's grievances and engaging in reasonable debate will help defuse the situation. Unfortunately, this has rarely been the result.
Pro-Israel students are also taken aback by the other side's use of half-truths and racist anti-Semitic stereotypes, by their aggressive violation of the usual rules of conduct on campuses, and by some measure of discomfort, intimidation and even outright fear. The 11 MSU students who tried to shout down Ambassador Michael Oren at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), in February violated standards of civil decorum and free speech, and they were arrested. One of those arrested was the president of the MSU at UCI. In the United Kingdom, where, in May, Israel's deputy ambassador was virtually assaulted by a menacing crowd, the constant intimidation has made Israel's supporters there fearful of organizing pro-Israel events. At the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, students placed a Palestinian flag on top of a pro-Israel exhibit. When a Jewish student removed the flag, MSU students physically attacked him.
Roz Rothstein is the co-founder and CEO of StandWithUs, and Roberta Seid is director, research-education, StandWithUs.
An increasing number of students report that efforts to demonize Israel have intensified on college campuses. Most recently, the student senates at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), held marathon debates about anti-Israel divestment resolutions. In May, the annual Hate Israel Week will be held on many campuses yet again.
Bruised by these painful experiences and taken aback by their increasing frequency, many pro-Israel students are concerned about the growing trend. They wonder why each time they douse anti-Israel fires, the flames reignite. They wonder what they are up against.
It's simple. They face a dedicated anti-Israel movement that is not discouraged by temporary setbacks. The Muslim Student Union (MSU) and Muslim Student Association (MSA), allied with extremist groups like Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), focus single-mindedly on one goal: demonizing Israel. This is not your normal student activism. MSU and MSA members are obsessively driven by their mission. They are determined, methodical, focused, well-funded and strictly organized. The leaders are usually devout and infuse religious and moral justifications into the movement, making hatred of Israel akin to a religious as well as social justice cause.
The MSU, MSA and SJP groups don't just plan actions for their own schools. SJP and the 600 MSU/MSA chapters across North America use the Internet to coordinate their anti-Israel strategies and to share their best practices. They exchange anti-Israel propaganda. They share fliers, props and slogans. They analyze what was effective and refine their tactics and execution for the upcoming year.
The MSU and MSA also maintain continuity. New leaders are groomed to replace leaders who graduate. Incoming students are actively recruited, welcomed into the supportive fold of the organization, indoctrinated and fired up with zeal. Other methods also ensure continuity. For example, a young man standing at the "apartheid wall" display on a California campus this past April told a reporter for the Daily 49er at California State University, Long Beach, that he is a Muslim missionary who is volunteering for three years to accompany the wall and "educate" students about it.
The methods used by the MSU, MSA and SJP have only one goal -- instilling hatred and intolerance against Israel and anyone who dares to defend it and the sincerity of its search for peaceful coexistence. They launch slick campaigns, street theater and campus displays like the "Apartheid Wall." They orchestrate demonstrations against pro-coexistence speakers and host pseudo-academic panels. They showcase far too many speakers whose only credentials are a Jewish background and a willingness to spew anti-Israel propaganda. They bid for academic credibility by asking professors hostile to Israel to co-sponsor their events. (For example, the programs for UCSD's May 2010 anti-Israel week are co-sponsored by academic departments.) They form coalitions with campus groups by supporting popular student causes and by claiming they are activists for social justice and human rights, when in fact their only purpose is to vilify Israel, and they ignore the serial human rights abuses rampant in other countries. They work to promote their agenda in student government and the student newspaper.
Once they've laid this groundwork, the MSU, MSA and SJP move on to bolder measures: recommending punishment for Israel that their new allies will support, such as divestment. Divestment resolution campaigns, in turn, mainstream their anti-Israel message and bring it to an ever-wider circle through debates in student government and media coverage.
All of these tactics are part of a carefully thought-out, well-orchestrated, long-term offensive for turning Israel and its supporters into campus pariahs. This larger movement is at the root of anti-Israel actions on campuses. Most Israel supporters ignore this larger picture, hoping that the fires will burn out and go away. But they are not going away. The movement is becoming more entrenched and more aggressive for two reasons: One is that the zeal of MSU, MSA and SJP membership is growing, fed partially by their successes and by their financial supporters. Even when they don't win campaigns like divestment resolutions -- and in most cases they know in advance that winning is impossible -- they consider it a victory that divestment was seriously discussed and that they created a platform to air their propaganda and to put Israel on trial. As divestment leaders commented after losing the vote at Berkeley, "We lost the vote but won the night. We made a statement recorded for posterity and forced everyone to listen and watch."
The second reason for the growing aggression of MSU, MSA and SJP is their expectation of a disorganized response from Israel's supporters. Pro-Israel students are focused on other things, like school, their social lives and their futures, as students should be. They did not go to college expecting they would have to defend their identity or Israel. But on too many campuses, they are rudely awakened. Most become involved not because they intended to or have some sense of mission, but out of necessity.
Consequently, pro-Israel students are often caught off guard and unprepared for new anti-Israel ambushes, as happened with the UCSD student senate divestment bill this past April. The bill suddenly appeared on the agenda, and they had only a few days to put together presentations opposing it. Yet the divestment proponents had prepared for a year, recruiting allies and polishing their speeches, slogans and video presentations of Jewish far leftists and anti-Israel activists like Anna Baltzer and Hedy Epstein.
The pro-Israel students cannot be entirely faulted for their inconsistent responses. They are often conflicted about what to do. They are hamstrung by concerns about offending other groups on campus and by often unsupportive or nonconfrontational administrations who give cover to these bigoted campaigns under the umbrella of free speech. Most university systems lack standards that protect the rights of all students, including those who are under attack by hostile campaigns. Pro-Israel students also sincerely believe that reaching out with sympathy and understanding for the other side's grievances and engaging in reasonable debate will help defuse the situation. Unfortunately, this has rarely been the result.
Pro-Israel students are also taken aback by the other side's use of half-truths and racist anti-Semitic stereotypes, by their aggressive violation of the usual rules of conduct on campuses, and by some measure of discomfort, intimidation and even outright fear. The 11 MSU students who tried to shout down Ambassador Michael Oren at the University of California, Irvine (UCI), in February violated standards of civil decorum and free speech, and they were arrested. One of those arrested was the president of the MSU at UCI. In the United Kingdom, where, in May, Israel's deputy ambassador was virtually assaulted by a menacing crowd, the constant intimidation has made Israel's supporters there fearful of organizing pro-Israel events. At the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee, students placed a Palestinian flag on top of a pro-Israel exhibit. When a Jewish student removed the flag, MSU students physically attacked him.
Roz Rothstein is the co-founder and CEO of StandWithUs, and Roberta Seid is director, research-education, StandWithUs.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Palestinian Cultural Day: Celebrating Heritage Through Art Santa Clara, CA. May 14 2010
Palestinian Cultural day was observed today at the Santa Clara County Goverment Center
I can't help but wonder if Supervisor Dave Cortese or any of the other minor local dignitaries participating in this event, noticed what passed for art ?
Yes, its a child with a gun. Is that the "diversity" you value, Mr. Cortese, or was hosting this event just a shameless way to cater to the 30,000 Palestinians in Santa Clara County?
The caption reads "I shoot with complete faith and pride. I pull the trigger and aim towards the enemy without any fear".
Co-Sponsors include the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Arab American Cultural center of Silicon Valley, the Catholic Diocese of San Jose, and South Bay Jewish Voice for Peace, among others.
I can't help but wonder if Supervisor Dave Cortese or any of the other minor local dignitaries participating in this event, noticed what passed for art ?
Yes, its a child with a gun. Is that the "diversity" you value, Mr. Cortese, or was hosting this event just a shameless way to cater to the 30,000 Palestinians in Santa Clara County?
The caption reads "I shoot with complete faith and pride. I pull the trigger and aim towards the enemy without any fear".
Co-Sponsors include the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Arab American Cultural center of Silicon Valley, the Catholic Diocese of San Jose, and South Bay Jewish Voice for Peace, among others.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
COMMENT MODERATION
Rabbosai,
In recent days, some members of our own side have mentioned names in the comments underneath posts on this blog.
Those comments have been removed.
Given the tactics that are common here in the Bay Area, and the threats that have been sent to Pro-Israel activists over the past several years, I hope you understand that our names shall not be mentioned, nor will any hints or clues that might reveal that data be allowed.
Consequently, comment moderation has been enabled.
In recent days, some members of our own side have mentioned names in the comments underneath posts on this blog.
Those comments have been removed.
Given the tactics that are common here in the Bay Area, and the threats that have been sent to Pro-Israel activists over the past several years, I hope you understand that our names shall not be mentioned, nor will any hints or clues that might reveal that data be allowed.
Consequently, comment moderation has been enabled.
Saturday, May 8, 2010
Rabbi Lerner, Vandalism, and Morons
In a comment string underneath Ami Isseroff's recent piece condemning the petty and cowardly attack on Rabbi Michael Lerner's home by a vandal, anonymous readers have sought to further attack Rabbi Lerner and justify the vandalism.
[This post: http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2010/05/decent-people-must-condemn-attack-on.html ]
There is no way of defending the vandalism - an act which goes against every shred of decency which we expect from our side, and reflects a mind twisted and bent by stupidity and hatred.
This is something that San Francisco Voice for Israel, Stand With Us, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Northern California Board of Rabbis, and the Jewish Federation of the East Bay have all made clear by their condemnations.
Such personal, targeted, and vindictive acts of vandalism have no place in the discourse.
This is NOT a defense of Rabbi Lerner - his opinions are repulsive to many righteous and well-informed people - but a furious criticism of a petty and cowardly crime.
BUT HOWEVER!!
An anonymous commenter drew attention to an article by Rabbi Lerner, writing:
"Look, lerner got PUNKED for real by alice walker on Yom Kippur last year!!!
lerner's stupidity back fires on him by his own admission on beyt tikkun's website: http://www.beyttikkun.org/article.php/20090929072148570"
Evidently the dunce did not read the article himself. Or, if he did, he does not read well.
I Was Disturbed by Alice Walker's Yom Kippur presentation
Rabbi Lerner on Alice Walker's Talk at Yom Kippur.
Quote from the article:
“I was shocked and disappointed that Alice Walker, whose book The Color Purple won a Pulitzer Prize, would give a talk so lacking in nuance and filled more with attitude than facts or analysis.”
As you see, Rabbi Lerner finds Alice Walker’s stated opinions to be objectionable – because those opinions were misinformed. He also states that they were not supported by deduction or sound interpretation.
“I had framed her talk by presenting my own brief summary of the history which had led Israeli and Palestinians into this 120 year old conflict, explaining how both sides bore responsibility for the conflict, even though Israel's far greater power in the past sixty years has given Israel far greater moral responsibility to take definitive action to end the Occupation, end the human rights abuses, and provide reparations to the Palestinian people--as part of a peace agreement that would provide security for both Israel and Palestine. ”
These are Rabbi Lerner’s own words.
And yes, an argument can be made that as Israel dominates the process, there is a greater responsibility to take initiatives and work towards a just and equitable solution.
I myself cannot see how this contradicts Israel’s right to exist in peace and security within defined borders, not in a state of constant war or conflict with her neighbors. Nor does it say that Israel cannot be both a Jewish state, and a safe haven for Jews from all over the world.
“Instead of picking up on that attempt at even-handedness, Ms. Walker's first comments dismissed the history as largely irrelevant.”
Rabbi Lerner means that without an understanding of the conflict, both in cause and in detail, one cannot understand either the side’s motivations or ideals. A logical conclusion, one would think – but he indicates that Ms. Walker refuses to do so.
“Ms. Walker's claims about human rights abuses by Israel are largely substantiated by independent investigations.The Goldstone report to the U.N. only reconfirms what we should already have learned from the meticulous documentation of ongoing crimes of occupation that can be read from B'tselem: The Israeli Human Rights ORganization.”
Here one can definitely disagree with Lerner. Especially as there are many flaws in the Goldstone Report, particularly in its uncritical acceptance of incorrect data, skewed evidence, and outright lies. As he should have noted.
That it was commissioned by the United Nations argues further against accepting the report – the UN has a long history of bias, clear and evident to anyone for decades. B’tselem is absolutely untrustworthy.
“However, there are at the moment no credible reports of Israeli soldiers raping Palestinian women, as Ms. Walker alleges.”
In other words, she lied – and Rabbi Lerner calls her on that. He subsequently rips the allegation apart in several ways.
He then goes on to say:
“I was particularly disturbed that Alice Walker's presentation was so unconvincing and missed the opportunity to speak to our hearts, in large part because it felt contaminated by anger and a lack of compassion for the Jewish people and for Israelis.”
An accusation of blatant bias by Ms. Walker, bias which Rabbi Lerner exposes in detail. And he recognizes that her ideology is informed by anger – anger which, as he has shown, is not backed up by accurate knowledge, clear thinking, or even exposure to facts.
In Alice Walker, Israel-hatred and anti-Semitism have merged; they now represent not even two different faces, but the same side of a coin.
If for no other reason than this, Ms. Walker must be rightly recognized as a vicious bigot - not rabbi Lerner's conclusion, but it need not even be spelled out; it is quite evident.
“I now regret having had Alice Walker as a speaker. I personally experienced some of her remarks as offensive to me and her manner of talking to us dismissive and put-downish and her perception of the Jewish people seemed largely ignorant of the tradition of Jews that we represent and that has been growing worldwide. So I want to apologize to our community for subjecting you to this talk. ”
This is Rabbi Lerner's personal vidui.
He apologizes, and he wishes to atone and be forgiven for having provided a forum for a woman who told lies about Israel, spread hatred, and, as he has shown, didn’t know what she was talking about.
Alice Walker substituted the rhetoric of ignorant hate for any examination of the facts.
This is extremely common - Lerner himself is guilty of that failing - but occurs on both sides of this issue. If we are to win this battle for the minds of America and the approval of history, we ourselves cannot not err in this fashion.
The commenter who defended the personal targeting of rabbi Lerner's house displays precisely the same moral weaknesses and unethical sensibilities as Ms. Walker did in her lies and unfounded accusations, as she continues to do on her blog, in her writing, and at many speaking engagements. She is an intellectual phony, but he (the commenter) is an intellectual failure. And the vandal he defends is, plain and simple, a criminal.
The rest of the Rabbi Lerner's piece is the poofle expected from that source. A lecture, almost a harangue, containing much moralistic cotton-wool, and a bucket load of new-age horse manure.
周小燕
[This post: http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2010/05/decent-people-must-condemn-attack-on.html ]
There is no way of defending the vandalism - an act which goes against every shred of decency which we expect from our side, and reflects a mind twisted and bent by stupidity and hatred.
This is something that San Francisco Voice for Israel, Stand With Us, the Anti-Defamation League, the Jewish Community Relations Council, the Northern California Board of Rabbis, and the Jewish Federation of the East Bay have all made clear by their condemnations.
Such personal, targeted, and vindictive acts of vandalism have no place in the discourse.
This is NOT a defense of Rabbi Lerner - his opinions are repulsive to many righteous and well-informed people - but a furious criticism of a petty and cowardly crime.
BUT HOWEVER!!
An anonymous commenter drew attention to an article by Rabbi Lerner, writing:
"Look, lerner got PUNKED for real by alice walker on Yom Kippur last year!!!
lerner's stupidity back fires on him by his own admission on beyt tikkun's website: http://www.beyttikkun.org/article.php/20090929072148570"
Evidently the dunce did not read the article himself. Or, if he did, he does not read well.
I Was Disturbed by Alice Walker's Yom Kippur presentation
Rabbi Lerner on Alice Walker's Talk at Yom Kippur.
Quote from the article:
“I was shocked and disappointed that Alice Walker, whose book The Color Purple won a Pulitzer Prize, would give a talk so lacking in nuance and filled more with attitude than facts or analysis.”
As you see, Rabbi Lerner finds Alice Walker’s stated opinions to be objectionable – because those opinions were misinformed. He also states that they were not supported by deduction or sound interpretation.
“I had framed her talk by presenting my own brief summary of the history which had led Israeli and Palestinians into this 120 year old conflict, explaining how both sides bore responsibility for the conflict, even though Israel's far greater power in the past sixty years has given Israel far greater moral responsibility to take definitive action to end the Occupation, end the human rights abuses, and provide reparations to the Palestinian people--as part of a peace agreement that would provide security for both Israel and Palestine. ”
These are Rabbi Lerner’s own words.
And yes, an argument can be made that as Israel dominates the process, there is a greater responsibility to take initiatives and work towards a just and equitable solution.
I myself cannot see how this contradicts Israel’s right to exist in peace and security within defined borders, not in a state of constant war or conflict with her neighbors. Nor does it say that Israel cannot be both a Jewish state, and a safe haven for Jews from all over the world.
“Instead of picking up on that attempt at even-handedness, Ms. Walker's first comments dismissed the history as largely irrelevant.”
Rabbi Lerner means that without an understanding of the conflict, both in cause and in detail, one cannot understand either the side’s motivations or ideals. A logical conclusion, one would think – but he indicates that Ms. Walker refuses to do so.
“Ms. Walker's claims about human rights abuses by Israel are largely substantiated by independent investigations.The Goldstone report to the U.N. only reconfirms what we should already have learned from the meticulous documentation of ongoing crimes of occupation that can be read from B'tselem: The Israeli Human Rights ORganization.”
Here one can definitely disagree with Lerner. Especially as there are many flaws in the Goldstone Report, particularly in its uncritical acceptance of incorrect data, skewed evidence, and outright lies. As he should have noted.
That it was commissioned by the United Nations argues further against accepting the report – the UN has a long history of bias, clear and evident to anyone for decades. B’tselem is absolutely untrustworthy.
“However, there are at the moment no credible reports of Israeli soldiers raping Palestinian women, as Ms. Walker alleges.”
In other words, she lied – and Rabbi Lerner calls her on that. He subsequently rips the allegation apart in several ways.
He then goes on to say:
“I was particularly disturbed that Alice Walker's presentation was so unconvincing and missed the opportunity to speak to our hearts, in large part because it felt contaminated by anger and a lack of compassion for the Jewish people and for Israelis.”
An accusation of blatant bias by Ms. Walker, bias which Rabbi Lerner exposes in detail. And he recognizes that her ideology is informed by anger – anger which, as he has shown, is not backed up by accurate knowledge, clear thinking, or even exposure to facts.
In Alice Walker, Israel-hatred and anti-Semitism have merged; they now represent not even two different faces, but the same side of a coin.
If for no other reason than this, Ms. Walker must be rightly recognized as a vicious bigot - not rabbi Lerner's conclusion, but it need not even be spelled out; it is quite evident.
“I now regret having had Alice Walker as a speaker. I personally experienced some of her remarks as offensive to me and her manner of talking to us dismissive and put-downish and her perception of the Jewish people seemed largely ignorant of the tradition of Jews that we represent and that has been growing worldwide. So I want to apologize to our community for subjecting you to this talk. ”
This is Rabbi Lerner's personal vidui.
He apologizes, and he wishes to atone and be forgiven for having provided a forum for a woman who told lies about Israel, spread hatred, and, as he has shown, didn’t know what she was talking about.
Alice Walker substituted the rhetoric of ignorant hate for any examination of the facts.
This is extremely common - Lerner himself is guilty of that failing - but occurs on both sides of this issue. If we are to win this battle for the minds of America and the approval of history, we ourselves cannot not err in this fashion.
The commenter who defended the personal targeting of rabbi Lerner's house displays precisely the same moral weaknesses and unethical sensibilities as Ms. Walker did in her lies and unfounded accusations, as she continues to do on her blog, in her writing, and at many speaking engagements. She is an intellectual phony, but he (the commenter) is an intellectual failure. And the vandal he defends is, plain and simple, a criminal.
The rest of the Rabbi Lerner's piece is the poofle expected from that source. A lecture, almost a harangue, containing much moralistic cotton-wool, and a bucket load of new-age horse manure.
周小燕
Greta Berlin , Free Gaza Movement and the latest Ship of Fools
Greta Berlin’s press releases for the "Free Gaza movement" could be classified as works of fiction. My comments in italics.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Contact: Greta Berlin, +33 63 142 7577, Iristulip@gmail.com
Huwaida Arraf, +970-598-336-215, +972-542-635-936, huwaida.arraf@gmail.com
Caoimhe Butterly, +353 876 114 553, sahara78@hotmail.co.uk
On May 24, 2010, the Freedom Flotilla sets sail for Gaza determined to, once again, challenge Israel’s blockade of 1.5 million Palestinians trapped in an open-air prison.
An open air prison with 25 miles of white Mediterranean beaches
These passengers include members of Parliament from around the world, U.N., human rights and trade union activists, as well as journalists who will document the largest coordinated effort to directly confront Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza and take in basic supplies.
Greta, could you mean basic supplies including wheat and flour, meat, chicken, fish and legumes in addition to agricultural produce, animal feed, hygiene products and medicals supplies?
These already came through the crossings from Israel. along with games, basketballs and balloons, trampolines and swimming pools, generators, air-conditioning accessories, clothing, shoes and hats, chairs, mattresses and styrofoam cups; and raw materials for paper production.
In the past three months, Israel has limited fuel to run the power station.
Gas for domestic use (cooking and heating) is supplied according to Palestinian demand and is not subject to any limitation by Israel
Much of Gaza is often in darkness.
Uh huh. Generally beginning at dusk. Ending at dawn. Like the rest of the world.
There are just enough trucks coming in to barely prevent total starvation,
According to Unicef, Palestinians have the second lowest rate of stunting and malnutrition in the Arab Middle east. Its no wonder , with 439 truckloads (10,983 tons) of goods transferred to the Gaza Strip just last week
Egypt, complicit with the Israeli-US policy of blockading Palestinians, is building an underground steel wall to prevent people in Gaza from bringing in vitally needed supplies through tunnels.
Maybe the Palestinians shouldn’t have passed over a million dollars worth of counterfeit funds last time they were allowed in
I can’t help but wonder if the free Gaza group will stay at the Commodore Gaza again, and eat at Roots, described by the Lonely planet guide as where "important people dine on steak au poivre and chicken cordon bleu" . Their own website describes "Sophisticated, exquisite, diverse and approachable Cuisine" The 14 page menu sure looks good.
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Contact: Greta Berlin, +33 63 142 7577, Iristulip@gmail.com
Huwaida Arraf, +970-598-336-215, +972-542-635-936, huwaida.arraf@gmail.com
Caoimhe Butterly, +353 876 114 553, sahara78@hotmail.co.uk
On May 24, 2010, the Freedom Flotilla sets sail for Gaza determined to, once again, challenge Israel’s blockade of 1.5 million Palestinians trapped in an open-air prison.
An open air prison with 25 miles of white Mediterranean beaches
These passengers include members of Parliament from around the world, U.N., human rights and trade union activists, as well as journalists who will document the largest coordinated effort to directly confront Israel’s illegal blockade of Gaza and take in basic supplies.
Greta, could you mean basic supplies including wheat and flour, meat, chicken, fish and legumes in addition to agricultural produce, animal feed, hygiene products and medicals supplies?
These already came through the crossings from Israel. along with games, basketballs and balloons, trampolines and swimming pools, generators, air-conditioning accessories, clothing, shoes and hats, chairs, mattresses and styrofoam cups; and raw materials for paper production.
In the past three months, Israel has limited fuel to run the power station.
Gas for domestic use (cooking and heating) is supplied according to Palestinian demand and is not subject to any limitation by Israel
Much of Gaza is often in darkness.
Uh huh. Generally beginning at dusk. Ending at dawn. Like the rest of the world.
There are just enough trucks coming in to barely prevent total starvation,
According to Unicef, Palestinians have the second lowest rate of stunting and malnutrition in the Arab Middle east. Its no wonder , with 439 truckloads (10,983 tons) of goods transferred to the Gaza Strip just last week
Egypt, complicit with the Israeli-US policy of blockading Palestinians, is building an underground steel wall to prevent people in Gaza from bringing in vitally needed supplies through tunnels.
Maybe the Palestinians shouldn’t have passed over a million dollars worth of counterfeit funds last time they were allowed in
I can’t help but wonder if the free Gaza group will stay at the Commodore Gaza again, and eat at Roots, described by the Lonely planet guide as where "important people dine on steak au poivre and chicken cordon bleu" . Their own website describes "Sophisticated, exquisite, diverse and approachable Cuisine" The 14 page menu sure looks good.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Invest in Peace in Israel and the Palestinian territories
Those of us that spent hours sitting through the Divestment proceedings at UC Berkeley were uniformly dismayed at the bitter decisiveness of the issue. Good people on both sides, convinced of the justice of their position engaged for hours without accomplishing a thing. Many of us wondered- How can we take the energy and passion of these acticvists and channel it towards positive change?
Students at Stanford may have developed a workable stategy. Why not channel efforts to help the organizations in the Middle east that work to build co-existence? Why not work to strenthen the organizations that promote economic, social and cultural bonds between the people of the region? There are many. In Hadassah Hopital nominated for a Nobel Prize in 2005, Arab doctors treat Jewish Patients. Jewish doctors treat Arab patients. Consistent with its philosophy of equal treatment and equal employment opportunities for all, the Hadassah Medical Organization has always embodied the concept that medicine serves as a bridge to peace. Save a Child's heart an Israeli-based international humanitarian project, whose mission is to improve the quality of pediatric cardiac care for children from developing countries including Palestinian children. The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies is a regional center for environmental leadership. With a students from Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Israelis, and around the world the Arava Institute encourages environmental education nad cooperation between all peoples.
Students at Stanford Unniversity have taken this concept a step further, with their innovative "Invest for Peace " program.
One powerful line from the hours-long debate at Berkeley came from the Cal Chabad Rabbi. He made the point that you cannot fight darkness with darkness; you must fight darkness with light. A negative campaign against alleged abuses will only bring more negativity and damage. And, it will not address the issues or solve the problems – it will only cause further polarization and make peace even more elusive. In my experience with divestment when applied to this conflict, damage is wrought, but nothing positive comes of it. In the past, divestment campaigns helped combat apartheid in South Africa and genocide in Darfur. However, the divestment campaign against Israel is a crass bludgeon, which reduces an incredibly complex situation to euphemisms and demonizations.
Therefore, the Stanford Israel Alliance chooses to invest, and we hope you will join us. We agree that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is deep, complex, and painful. We support the Palestinian people in their desire for an independent state alongside the State of Israel. To that end, we wish to help the Palestinian people build up their infrastructure and economy, which will be the basis for a future state.
In the coming weeks, Stanford Israel Alliance will be raising awareness and support for two NGOs that are working to improve Palestinian and Israeli society. Lendforpeace.org is a microfinance organization based in the Palestinian Territories, inspiring entrepreneurship among Palestinians. The Peres Institute for Peace is an Israeli organization that builds connections between Israeli and Palestinian businessmen, environmentalists, and civil leaders to forge common frameworks between the two peoples.
Our goal is to move past the venomous rhetoric that divestment inspires and attempt to tackle the Israeli/Palestinian conflict from a positive perspective. It is our responsibility as Stanford students to help foster a more nuanced understanding of the issues, and to deal with the legitimate grievances that exist.
The Stanford model can be used by caring students across the country. Invest in Peace. Find and support organizations that work to bring people together, not ones that tear people apart. More co-existence, more interaction, stonger cultural and economic ties are the path to peace.
Students at Stanford may have developed a workable stategy. Why not channel efforts to help the organizations in the Middle east that work to build co-existence? Why not work to strenthen the organizations that promote economic, social and cultural bonds between the people of the region? There are many. In Hadassah Hopital nominated for a Nobel Prize in 2005, Arab doctors treat Jewish Patients. Jewish doctors treat Arab patients. Consistent with its philosophy of equal treatment and equal employment opportunities for all, the Hadassah Medical Organization has always embodied the concept that medicine serves as a bridge to peace. Save a Child's heart an Israeli-based international humanitarian project, whose mission is to improve the quality of pediatric cardiac care for children from developing countries including Palestinian children. The Arava Institute for Environmental Studies is a regional center for environmental leadership. With a students from Jordan, the Palestinian territories, Israelis, and around the world the Arava Institute encourages environmental education nad cooperation between all peoples.
Students at Stanford Unniversity have taken this concept a step further, with their innovative "Invest for Peace " program.
One powerful line from the hours-long debate at Berkeley came from the Cal Chabad Rabbi. He made the point that you cannot fight darkness with darkness; you must fight darkness with light. A negative campaign against alleged abuses will only bring more negativity and damage. And, it will not address the issues or solve the problems – it will only cause further polarization and make peace even more elusive. In my experience with divestment when applied to this conflict, damage is wrought, but nothing positive comes of it. In the past, divestment campaigns helped combat apartheid in South Africa and genocide in Darfur. However, the divestment campaign against Israel is a crass bludgeon, which reduces an incredibly complex situation to euphemisms and demonizations.
Therefore, the Stanford Israel Alliance chooses to invest, and we hope you will join us. We agree that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is deep, complex, and painful. We support the Palestinian people in their desire for an independent state alongside the State of Israel. To that end, we wish to help the Palestinian people build up their infrastructure and economy, which will be the basis for a future state.
In the coming weeks, Stanford Israel Alliance will be raising awareness and support for two NGOs that are working to improve Palestinian and Israeli society. Lendforpeace.org is a microfinance organization based in the Palestinian Territories, inspiring entrepreneurship among Palestinians. The Peres Institute for Peace is an Israeli organization that builds connections between Israeli and Palestinian businessmen, environmentalists, and civil leaders to forge common frameworks between the two peoples.
Our goal is to move past the venomous rhetoric that divestment inspires and attempt to tackle the Israeli/Palestinian conflict from a positive perspective. It is our responsibility as Stanford students to help foster a more nuanced understanding of the issues, and to deal with the legitimate grievances that exist.
The Stanford model can be used by caring students across the country. Invest in Peace. Find and support organizations that work to bring people together, not ones that tear people apart. More co-existence, more interaction, stonger cultural and economic ties are the path to peace.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
UC San Diego divestment - again!
FROM STAND WITH US:
Dear Friends of Israel,
The student community at UC San Diego is once again facing a divestment debate this evening, Wednesday May 5th.
The anti-Israel leadership has already started sending emails, letters, petitions, and propaganda campaigns to promote their mission for the sake of demonizing Israel on campus.
The anti-Israel group is calling for their supporters to show up in huge numbers. They are saying that "This historic resolution is a huge step forward for our cause."
The location of the meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m.
at UCSD Price Center Ballroom East
Address: 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093
Anti-Israel leadership is asking people to write letters to the ASUCSD Council Members, and we must encourage friends of Israel to do the same. The addresses and sample letter are below.
Please forward this call to action to your friends.
Write a short letter to the Associated Students president,
the UC San Diego chancellor, and the president of the University of California regarding the divestment bill at UC San Diego.
The subject of the e-mail can read, "Please say NO to the unfair divestment bill."
Below is a sample letter.
Please feel free to copy and paste it, or write a letter of your own.
Please do this by 4:00 o'clock today, Wednesday, May 5.
Sample Letter:
I urge you to vote NO to the anti-Israel divestment bill. The bill is a manipulative way to push an extremist agenda that seeks to marginalize Israel and anyone who supports it on campus. It should be clear to you that the one-sided nature of the bill divided students at Berkeley and has divided the UCSD student body. There are consequences for this division, including name calling and even swastikas at Berkeley.
It should also be clear that Hamas and terrorism are missing from the bill and from all the speeches being made by the pro-divestment side, in an effort to demonize Israel. If the group presenting this bill were truly pro-Palestinian, they would be working to promote peace, and they would be working against Hamas. They would be concerned about the suffering of both people, and they would talk about the context instead of only addressing Israel's response to terrorism.
Simply put: Unfortunately, on campuses across the country, this aggressive campaign is being used to empower the political aims of an extremist and hostile group that seeks to promote one-sided propaganda against Israel.
Please vote no on divestment.
Thank you so much for your urgent consideration.
Sign your name, school, affiliation, etc.
E-mail your letter to:
aspresident@ucsd.edu , chancellor@ucsd.edu , president@ucop.edu
Please Cc your letter to: o1khan@ucsd.edu , jehrhart@ucsd.edu , thaglund@ucsd.edu , katiehall007@gmail.com , akenwort@ucsd.edu , bpena@ucsd.edu , dprevo@ucsd.edu , cbthomas@ucsd.edu , a6vu@ucsd.edu , k1hoang@ucsd.edu , tppham@ucsd.edu , mfvalent@ucsd.edu , bmceuen@ucsd.edu , rorear@ucsd.edu , lswerhon@ucsd.edu , velin@ucsd.edu, jnstorey@ucsd.edu , nmetildi@ucsd.edu , pnuth@ucsd.edu , jdcondel@ucsd.edu , MegChat101@gmail.com , iiahmed@ucsd.edu , a2powers@ucsd.edu , jsgrossm@ucsd.edu , awing@ucsd.edu , asvpstudentlife@ucsd.edu , asvpexternal@ucsd.edu , asvpfinance@ucsd.edu , with a copy to info@standwithus.com
Thank you in advance for helping the UCSD pro-Israel, pro-peace student community.
Dear Friends of Israel,
The student community at UC San Diego is once again facing a divestment debate this evening, Wednesday May 5th.
The anti-Israel leadership has already started sending emails, letters, petitions, and propaganda campaigns to promote their mission for the sake of demonizing Israel on campus.
The anti-Israel group is calling for their supporters to show up in huge numbers. They are saying that "This historic resolution is a huge step forward for our cause."
The location of the meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m.
at UCSD Price Center Ballroom East
Address: 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093
Anti-Israel leadership is asking people to write letters to the ASUCSD Council Members, and we must encourage friends of Israel to do the same. The addresses and sample letter are below.
Please forward this call to action to your friends.
Write a short letter to the Associated Students president,
the UC San Diego chancellor, and the president of the University of California regarding the divestment bill at UC San Diego.
The subject of the e-mail can read, "Please say NO to the unfair divestment bill."
Below is a sample letter.
Please feel free to copy and paste it, or write a letter of your own.
Please do this by 4:00 o'clock today, Wednesday, May 5.
Sample Letter:
I urge you to vote NO to the anti-Israel divestment bill. The bill is a manipulative way to push an extremist agenda that seeks to marginalize Israel and anyone who supports it on campus. It should be clear to you that the one-sided nature of the bill divided students at Berkeley and has divided the UCSD student body. There are consequences for this division, including name calling and even swastikas at Berkeley.
It should also be clear that Hamas and terrorism are missing from the bill and from all the speeches being made by the pro-divestment side, in an effort to demonize Israel. If the group presenting this bill were truly pro-Palestinian, they would be working to promote peace, and they would be working against Hamas. They would be concerned about the suffering of both people, and they would talk about the context instead of only addressing Israel's response to terrorism.
Simply put: Unfortunately, on campuses across the country, this aggressive campaign is being used to empower the political aims of an extremist and hostile group that seeks to promote one-sided propaganda against Israel.
Please vote no on divestment.
Thank you so much for your urgent consideration.
Sign your name, school, affiliation, etc.
E-mail your letter to:
aspresident@ucsd.edu , chancellor@ucsd.edu , president@ucop.edu
Please Cc your letter to: o1khan@ucsd.edu , jehrhart@ucsd.edu , thaglund@ucsd.edu , katiehall007@gmail.com , akenwort@ucsd.edu , bpena@ucsd.edu , dprevo@ucsd.edu , cbthomas@ucsd.edu , a6vu@ucsd.edu , k1hoang@ucsd.edu , tppham@ucsd.edu , mfvalent@ucsd.edu , bmceuen@ucsd.edu , rorear@ucsd.edu , lswerhon@ucsd.edu , velin@ucsd.edu, jnstorey@ucsd.edu , nmetildi@ucsd.edu , pnuth@ucsd.edu , jdcondel@ucsd.edu , MegChat101@gmail.com , iiahmed@ucsd.edu , a2powers@ucsd.edu , jsgrossm@ucsd.edu , awing@ucsd.edu , asvpstudentlife@ucsd.edu , asvpexternal@ucsd.edu , asvpfinance@ucsd.edu , with a copy to info@standwithus.com
Thank you in advance for helping the UCSD pro-Israel, pro-peace student community.
URGENT ACTION ALERT - UCSD Divestment Vote
Action Alert: UCSD Vote on Anti-Israel Sanctions Wed May 5 6 PM Pacific Time
http://news.zionism-israel.com/2010/05/action-alert-ucsd-vote-on-anti-israel.html**** UCSD VOTE IS IN A FEW HOURS - PLEASE CIRCULATE TO LISTS AND FRIENDS AND SHARE ON YOUR FACEBOOK WALL ****
Dear friends,
Once again UCSD students are voting on a motion to divest from investment in Israel. Please write to the addresses below and explain why it is unfair to single out Israel and wrong to use the campus as a political battleground.
If you are able to drive to San Diego for this, please do. The anti-Israel group is calling for their supporters to show up in huge numbers. The are saying that "This historic resolution is a huge step forward for our cause."
The meeting will begin at 6:00 p.m. at UCSD Price Center Ballroom East, 9500 Gilman Dr., La Jolla, CA 92093 If you can't get there, then write. Below is a sample letter. DO NOT send the same letter. Do not copy any organizations on the letter. If you need to do so, send copies separately.
**** SAMPLE LETTER - PLEASE DO NOT USE THESE WORDS EXACTLY****
SUBJECT - VOTE "NO" on Israel Divestment Bill
Dear student representatives, You are called upon once again to vote for an anti-Israel divestment bill. The bill is part of a campaign by anti-Israel organizations being conducted in California. It is poorly disguised as a "neutral" bill. The activists are attempting to use campuses as a political battle ground for the delegitimation of Israel. There is no denying that the UCSD divestment vote is about Israel and one-sidedly against Israel. The organizations and people that support it include Anna Balzer and PACBI.
Pacbi is a Hamas front that excoriates Palestinians who engage in dialogue as traitors who take crumbs from Europeans and Americans Supporters of divestment do not want to "end the occupation.," They want to end the right of self-determination of the Jewish people. They don't want peace with Israel. They want peace without Israel. The groups supporting this bill are nearly all anti-Israel and include, in addition to PACBI, the notorious "One Democratic State" and "Birthright unplugged" groups.
In what sense is the bill "neutral" as it claims? Anna Balzer explains eloquently that the bill is about divestment from Israel because of alleged Israeli human rights violations. Nobody can pretend that Anna Balzer is nuetral or that the bill is "neutral" in any way. There is no way that it can be claimed that the bill is about rights violations or occupation in general, or that it is neutral between Israel and the Palestinians. The description of Israeli "rights violations" is a one - sided demonization. There is no call in the bill to block investment in Gaza and the West Bank, though the regimes there certainly have committed grievous rights violations against their own people as well as against Israel. Hamas, which rules Gaza, is a genocidal organization that declares in its charter that it must murder all the Jews in order to bring about the end of days. It has killed numerous opponents and persecutes and murders Christians in Gaza. The United States government pays the salaries of Palestinian Authority officials who recently named a square in honor of Dalal Moughrabi, a terrorist who murdered a number of Israelis as well as an American tourist.
If the bill was "neutral" and not about Israel it would certainly mention the longest occupation in the world - the Chinese occupation of Tibet and the execution of numerous Chinese dissidents cited by HRW, and it would call for divestment from corporations like Google that do business with China. It would mention the egregious human rights violations of Saudi Arabia, and call for divestment from energy corporations like Aramco that do business in Saudi Arabia. It would call for divestment from Sudan which is conducting a genocidal campaign against Darfur. There is in fact a long list of real rights violators and occupiers, including Turkey, Iran and Egypt, that are still getting the business and investment of US corporations. If students are really interested in correcting rights violations, you need to focus attention on the real rights violators. On university campuses, Israel might seem like a demonic human rights violator. In Israel and Gaza the reality is different. Try to hold a gay rights parade or a Women's rights parade in Gaza or Tehran and you will find out all you need to know about "human rights" in the Middle East and who are the real violators.
**** END OF SAMPLE LETTER ****DO NOT SEND THE ABOVE TEXT PRECISELY
Addresses:
avpstudentorgs@ucsd.edu, asvpfinance@ucsd.edu, gbournou@ucsd.edu, avpconcerts@ucsd.edu, mchatrat@ucsd.edu, dachavez@ucsd.edu, bchirco@ucsd.edu, jdcondel@ucsd.edu, asadvocacy@ucsd.edu, vpofexternalrelation@gmail.com, tdhillon@ucsd.edu, asenterprises@ucsd.edu, jsgrossm@ucsd.edu, mguiboa@ucsd.edu, aspresident@ucsd.edu, thaglund@ucsd.edu, katiehall007@gmail.com, asvpstudentlife@ucsd.edu, k1hoang@ucsd.edu, c1hoang@ucsd.edu, ssjung@ucsd.edu, akenwort@ucsd.edu, o1khan@ucsd.edu, aselections@ucsd.edu, emlaw@ucsd.edu, velin@ucsd.edu, jlintern@ucsd.edu, dal022@ucsd.edu, asservices@ucsd.edu, bmceuen@ucsd.edu, nmetildi@ucsd.edu, bjng@ucsd.edu, pnuth@ucsd.edu, rorear@ucsd.edu, bpena@ucsd.edu, tppham@ucsd.edu, asdiversity@ucsd.edu, a2powers@ucsd.edu, dprevo@ucsd.edu, arvind@ucsd.edu, adsinger@ucsd.edu, jnstorey@ucsd.edu, lswerhon@ucsd.edu, asacademics@ucsd.edu, ctedone@ucsd.edu, cbthomas@ucsd.edu, jtriphon@ucsd.edu, mfvalent@ucsd.edu, a6vu@ucsd.edu, taweng@ucsd.edu, asvpexternal@ucsd.edu, awing@ucsd.edu, aslocalaffairs@ucsd.edu, asathletics@ucsd.edu
Thank you,
Ami Isseroff
Monday, May 3, 2010
Decent people must condemn the attack on Rabbi Lerner's home
The petty vandalism done to Rabbi Lerner's home can only be the act of fools, who do not understand that they are damaging the cause of Zionism and of Israel.
Only fools resort to violence to settle an otherwise peaceful political difference of opinion. Everyone else understands that as soon as you have used violence, you lost the argument, no matter how just your claims might be.
The perpetrators do not not represent anyone other than themselves. Rabbi Lerner's opinions and actions are despicable, but committing this act of petty vandalism against him will only give his cause an aura of undeserved glory and martyrdom.
Ami Isseroff
Only fools resort to violence to settle an otherwise peaceful political difference of opinion. Everyone else understands that as soon as you have used violence, you lost the argument, no matter how just your claims might be.
The perpetrators do not not represent anyone other than themselves. Rabbi Lerner's opinions and actions are despicable, but committing this act of petty vandalism against him will only give his cause an aura of undeserved glory and martyrdom.
Ami Isseroff
RABBI LERNER'S HOME VANDALIZED
Rabbi Michael Lerner's home in Berkeley was vandalized over the weekend. According to a press release issued by Tikkun Magazine, "The attackers used a powerful form of glue to attach posters to his door and around the property of his home attacking Lerner personally, and attacking liberals and progressives as being supporters of terrorism and "Islamo-fascism."
They posted a printed bumper sticker saying "fight terror--support Israel" next to a caricature of Judge Goldstone whose UN report on Israel's human rights violations in its attack on Gaza last year has been denounced as anti-Semitic and pro-terror by right wingers in Israel and the U.S.. The caricature has Goldstone talking about being kept from his grandson's bar mitzvah, and the caricature of Rabbi Lerner responds by saying "any enemy of Israel is a friend of mine."
------------------------------------
VANDALISM IS AN ACT OF HATE
Okay then, can you spell S.T.U.P.I.D. out there in Alwaysrightistan?
Do you really think such acts of vandalism are justified? What the hell is wrong with you? Where is your sense of Jewish Ethics? Where is your common decency?
And do you REALLY think that such stupid and reprehensible actions will not come back to haunt you?
Look, I don't agree with Rabbi Michael Lerner either.
But he's free to have his own point of view, and, like everyone in this country, he is free to be wrong, utterly and completely wrong.
Disagreement is one thing, targeted vandalism is something else entirely.
It's positively European.
------------------------------------
Press Release: From Tikkun Magazine
Contact: Will Pasley 510 644 1200
Rabbi Lerner's Home Attacked by ... [CUT: unwarranted assumption]
Berkeley, Ca. May 3, 2010
Release date: May 4, 2010
Berkeley police today confirmed that the attack on Rabbi Lerner's home late Sunday June 2nd or early morning Sunday July 3rd was in fact a crime and was being investigated.
The attackers used a powerful form of glue to attach posters to his door and around the property of his home attacking Lerner personally, and attacking liberals and progressives as being supporters of terrorism and "Islamo-fascism."
They posted a printed bumper sticker saying "fight terror--support Israel" next to a carcature (stet) of Judge Goldstone whose UN report on Israel's human rights violations in its attack on Gaza last year has been denounced as anti-Semitic and pro-terror by right wingers in Israel and the U.S..
... [CUT : self-serving blather] ...
In the 24 years of Tikkun's operation, we have received many death threats and vicious hate mail, including phone calls to our office announcing that "Rabbi Lerner is dead" and others saying "We will kill all of you."
This particular attack has two worrisome elements not previously there:
1. They attack Rabbi Lerner's home.
As law enforcement people told us, this is a way of conveying the messaget to Lerner: "We know where you live, we know your house is vulnerable, so don't ignore our threats."
2. By linking Lerner to alleged terrorism, they provide for themselves and other extremists a "right-wing justification"to use violence against Lerner, even though
Lerner has been a prominent advocate of non-violence.
He regularly critiques Palestinian acts of violence when they occur, including the shelling of Israeli towns by Hamas, just as he critiques the violence of the Israeli occupation, and as he critiques the US war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the occupation of Chechny by Russia, the occupation of Tibet by China, the human rights violations agaisnt their own people by the rulers of Iran, the acts of violence of those resisting the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, the violence against women and homosexuals in many Arab and African countries (and in
the US and Israel as well), the genocide in Darfur, the violence against Jews in some parts of Europe, and the list goes on.
Needless to say, this latest attack, on Lerner's home, has caused great concern to his family.
... [CUT: one-sided statement] ...
They posted a printed bumper sticker saying "fight terror--support Israel" next to a caricature of Judge Goldstone whose UN report on Israel's human rights violations in its attack on Gaza last year has been denounced as anti-Semitic and pro-terror by right wingers in Israel and the U.S.. The caricature has Goldstone talking about being kept from his grandson's bar mitzvah, and the caricature of Rabbi Lerner responds by saying "any enemy of Israel is a friend of mine."
------------------------------------
VANDALISM IS AN ACT OF HATE
Okay then, can you spell S.T.U.P.I.D. out there in Alwaysrightistan?
Do you really think such acts of vandalism are justified? What the hell is wrong with you? Where is your sense of Jewish Ethics? Where is your common decency?
And do you REALLY think that such stupid and reprehensible actions will not come back to haunt you?
Look, I don't agree with Rabbi Michael Lerner either.
But he's free to have his own point of view, and, like everyone in this country, he is free to be wrong, utterly and completely wrong.
Disagreement is one thing, targeted vandalism is something else entirely.
It's positively European.
------------------------------------
Press Release: From Tikkun Magazine
Contact: Will Pasley 510 644 1200
Rabbi Lerner's Home Attacked by ... [CUT: unwarranted assumption]
Berkeley, Ca. May 3, 2010
Release date: May 4, 2010
Berkeley police today confirmed that the attack on Rabbi Lerner's home late Sunday June 2nd or early morning Sunday July 3rd was in fact a crime and was being investigated.
The attackers used a powerful form of glue to attach posters to his door and around the property of his home attacking Lerner personally, and attacking liberals and progressives as being supporters of terrorism and "Islamo-fascism."
They posted a printed bumper sticker saying "fight terror--support Israel" next to a carcature (stet) of Judge Goldstone whose UN report on Israel's human rights violations in its attack on Gaza last year has been denounced as anti-Semitic and pro-terror by right wingers in Israel and the U.S..
... [CUT : self-serving blather] ...
In the 24 years of Tikkun's operation, we have received many death threats and vicious hate mail, including phone calls to our office announcing that "Rabbi Lerner is dead" and others saying "We will kill all of you."
This particular attack has two worrisome elements not previously there:
1. They attack Rabbi Lerner's home.
As law enforcement people told us, this is a way of conveying the messaget to Lerner: "We know where you live, we know your house is vulnerable, so don't ignore our threats."
2. By linking Lerner to alleged terrorism, they provide for themselves and other extremists a "right-wing justification"to use violence against Lerner, even though
Lerner has been a prominent advocate of non-violence.
He regularly critiques Palestinian acts of violence when they occur, including the shelling of Israeli towns by Hamas, just as he critiques the violence of the Israeli occupation, and as he critiques the US war in Iraq and Afghanistan, the occupation of Chechny by Russia, the occupation of Tibet by China, the human rights violations agaisnt their own people by the rulers of Iran, the acts of violence of those resisting the US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan, the violence against women and homosexuals in many Arab and African countries (and in
the US and Israel as well), the genocide in Darfur, the violence against Jews in some parts of Europe, and the list goes on.
Needless to say, this latest attack, on Lerner's home, has caused great concern to his family.
... [CUT: one-sided statement] ...