Protest anti-Semitic speaker Max Blumenthal

Via Dr. Mike Harris and our friends at San Francisco Voice for Israel

ACTION ALERT:

WHERE: First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way, Berkeley
WHEN: Wednesday July 1 7:00-8:00 PM

Next week, on Wednesday July 1, the First Congregational Church in Berkeley will be hosting a talk by Max Blumenthal. Blumenthal will be promoting his latest book, "The 51 Day War" about Operation Protective Edge in Gaza last summer. If it's anything like his last book, "Goliath", it will be filled with outright lies, cherrypicked facts, and support for Hamas. "Goliath" was described as the "I Hate Israel Handbook" by Eric Alterman in the left wing magazine The Nation; Alterman famously stated "It is no exaggeration to say that this book could have been published by the Hamas Book-of-the-Month Club (if it existed)".

Blumenthal's relentless promotion of anti-Semitic stereotypes and his recurrent comparisons of Israel to Nazi Germany has led his writing to be endorsed by David Duke and by neo-Nazi sites such as Stormfront and Rense. Blumenthal has openly welcomed reviews of his book based on that comparison. Justifiably, Blumenthal has been condemned by the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Louis D Brandeis Center for Human Rights.

None of this will be news to KPFA-FM, which is presenting this talk (the church is not sponsoring the talk, but is renting the space so does share some responsibility for giving Blumenthal a stage). Yet they will eagerly give Blumenthal, who spoke at a pro-Hamas rally in San Francisco during Operation Protective Edge last summer, another arena in which he will present his twisted viewpoint that meets Sharansky's "3D" criteria of anti-Semitism: delegitimization of Israel, demonization of Israel, and double standards applied to Israel.

StandWithUs/SF Voice for Israel will be gathering to stand against this purveyor of hatred and those who are bringing him into our community. KPFA has every right to provide him a platform; the church has every right to allow their sacred space to be used for such profane speech. And we have just as much a right to bear witness to their action, to call them out for enabling this, and to stand up against what the Louis D Brandeis Center described as "the mainstreaming of anti-Semitism".

We will gather from 7 PM to 8 PM outside the church which is at 2345 Channing Way in Berkeley, between Dana and Ellsworth. We will have flags and signs available; please feel free to bring your own signs and Israeli and American flags. No signs may be displayed that condemn all Arabs or all Muslims as an entire group, as we do not stoop to the level of Blumenthal's supporters. Many good signs about Hamas and Gaza are on the StandWithUs website here and here

We will not be attempting to stop anyone from entering the event. Nor will we engage in arguments with Hamas supporters who will be attending the event, though if any of the attendees has an open mind and wants to engage in a civil dialogue, we will be happy to provide them with the facts that Blumenthal doesn't want them to hear.

For more information on Blumenthal:
http://avimayer.tumblr.com/…/max-blumenthal-and-the-gargant…
http://warped-mirror.com/…/free-speech-and-antisemitism-ma…/
http://warped-mirror.com/…/09/max-blumenthals-jew-hating-f…/
http://brandeiscenter.com/…

UPDATE: Max tweeted about the upcoming protest last week,  calling the organizers "right wing fanatics" and derided them for including anti-racist guidelines 
see https://twitter.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/614162202736496640/photo/1 

Of course, the other side not only tolerates blatant anti-Semitic hate at their events, they feature it on their signs. See  http://www.zombietime.com/stop_the_us_israeli_war_8_12_2006/ for examples