Thank you, Mayor Breed! San Francisco Honors Israel on her 72nd Anniversary

Last night, San Francisco's City Hall was lit up in blue and white, to commemorate Yom Ha'atzmaut, the 72nd anniversary of Israel's independence.

From the City Hall Lighting Events Calendar:

Thank you, Mayor Breed, for this beautiful gesture of solidarity.

Today, the Israeli flag flies at City Hall, acknowledging again, the bond between our people.

San Francisco Celebrates Israel with Koolulam: It's My Life - Bon Jovi

Koolulam is a social-musical initiative centered around mass singing events that join diverse people in the creation of a collaborative musical experience. 

On June 2, 2019,  San Francisco's Congregation Emanu-El, the  Israeli American Council, Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund, Jewish National Fund, and the Consulate General of Israel in San Francisco invited 1,200 people to celebrate Israel by singing together with Koolulam.

Check out the result as 1,200 of your best friends join together singing Jon Bon Jovi's  "It's my life".

Jewish owned business- Manny's in the Mission- vandalized again.

Open for less than a year, Manny's in the San Francisco's Mission district  has already had a major impact on the local community.  The  "people powered and community focused meeting and learning place" has hosted a multiple of Democratic presidential hopefuls, and  made headlines with its live reading of the Mueller report.    Two debate watching parties at Manny's were standing room only, and were featured on the first page of the Wall Street Journal.

Its no wonder that the San Francisco Examiner proclaimed "Manny's is the perfect business for the Mission".

Yet since its opening, Manny's has been subject to anti-Semitic and homophobic attacks, meant to intimidate both Manny and the community members who patronize his business.  The  business has been repeatedly vandalized- most recently this weekend.

The following screed appeared in several extremist websites and facebook pages.  The author describes the attacks on the business as  a  "low-intensity effort to fuck with Manny’s"

We glued the locks of the gentrifying business Manny’s and tagged a circle-A and “Free Cedar.” Manny’s is run by a Democratic Party operative who worked as an LGBT advisor to the Obama administration and as a top fundraiser for the Hillary Clinton campaign in Silicon Valley. His cafe is a blatant and sinister attempt to co-opt revolutionary sentiments back into the electoral shit show. This wanna-be politician is literally selling books by Frantz Fanon and James Baldwin while hosting live readings of the Mueller Report. He had the audacity, in some fluff piece about the cafe, to compare his tacky self-promotion to the riots at Compton’s Cafeteria and the Stonewall Inn. He fancies his business as a social center for #TheResistance in a neighborhood which has endured brutal waves of evictions and whose long history of actual resistance has been under threat of erasure. Several of the locks we glued were of gates preventing houseless people from sleeping in the alcoves of the business. We hope this small act highlights the hypocrisy of his “civic engagement”.

This attack is a contribution to a low-intensity effort to fuck with Manny’s which has included pickets, wheatpasting, and book expropriation. There is an ongoing boycott of the space, but clearly more action is desired.

It is easy to attack!
Free Cedar!
Go!

 When one of ours is under attack, what do we do?  Get up, fight back.

Show Manny some love and support.

Eat at Manny's.  Go there for coffee.  Host your  book club there.
Become a sponsor, or make a one time donation.
Love him on Yelp.
Go to one of the amazing thought provoking events at Manny's- check out the schedule here.

Manny's ongoing success will be our best revenge.

Manny's in the Mission: Small Business of the year.

It couldn't have happened to a nicer guy.

From Scott Weiner:

Today I honored Manny's as our Senate District 11 Small Business of the Yeasr.  Manny's is an amazing, unique, & progressive small business in tje Mission- a civic gathering place, a cafe, restaurant & bookstore.  Thank for Manny Yekutiel , for all that you do.

Manny's cafe, on the corner of 16th and Valencia, has been the target of anti-Semitic attacks and vandalism since its opening.  Yet the visionary  business has become a destination for progressive activists across the Bay area.  Its become a mainstay on the Democratic presidential campaign trial, with the  Buttigieg campaign,  former Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Julian Castro, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, Washington Governor Jay Inslee, Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Rep. Seth Moulton, Beto O'Rouke, Eric Swallwell and Cory Booker all making appearances

Business is thriving.

Manny's and Manny Yekutiel: May you continue to go from strength to strength.

Read more about Manny's in the Mission:
Welcome to Manny's
How many hoops must Manny Yekutiel jump through before he’s deemed worthy to set foot in the Mission?

Manny’s In San Francisco’s Mission A Key Stop For Democratic Candidates

Jewish café owner in S.F. faces protests for being a ‘Zionist gentrifier’

California Democrats reject anti-Israel language at State Convention

Six highly controversial anti-Israel resolutions introduced at the California Democratic Conference have been rejected. The  resolutions were effectively emasculated  in Committee, and  were ultimately disowned by the original authors.

Press release from the Progressive Zionists of California

PZC COMMENDS CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY FOR REJECTING DISCRIMINATORY ANTI ISRAEL RESOLUTIONS AND LEGISLATION

(Sunday, June 2, 2019, San Francisco, California) --

Progressive Zionists of California (PZC) commends the California Democratic Party for rejecting numerous anti-Israel resolutions this weekend. In particular, we are pleased with the numerous rewrites of particularly troubling resolutions in the Resolutions Committee. The resolutions as amended were so odious to their authors that they withdrew their names as authors. We commend the Resolutions Committee in particular for their thoughtful discussion, and commitment to dialogue.

Additionally, PZC co-founder Paul Kujawsky was crucial in defeating five requests to support anti-Israel bills or oppose pro-Israel bills in the Legislative Committee. He argued effectively for this committee in particular to adopt "no position" for four of five bills, saying of the weekend, "This is a total defeat for anti-Israel activists this weekend. I could not be prouder of our efforts to combat extremism in the party."

Andrea Beth Damsky, founding member of PZC, echoed that sentiment, "I am so pleased with this powerful repudiation of anti-Zionist activity in the California Democratic Party. The conversation about the conflict takes up far too much time and energy, and we look forward to refocusing our resources into issues of concern for all Democrats -- reproductive freedom, climate change, housing, and even perhaps adopting the Equal Rights Amendment!"

PZC is grateful to our partners: the Jewish Legislative Caucus, Zioness Movement, Democrats for Israel Los Angeles, Democratic Majority for Israel, American Jewish Committee, ADL - Anti-Defamation League, and numerous grassroots partners for their cooperation, support, and guidance. We look forward to working together in the future to keep our political discourse free from anti-Semitism so we can focus on making our communities better for everyone. When we organize together, we win.

ABOUT PZC:

PZC is a grassroots coalition of Democrats that supports the self-determination of the Jewish people in their ancestral homeland, addresses antisemitism wherever it arises, supports progressive policies in the CDP, and stands against the undemocratic policies of right-wing Israeli leadership.

Another Bay Area BDS Fail

I can only imagine the local BDS community sitting in their basement apartments, sipping their kombucha and taking deep cleansing breathes in an effort to self-soothe. Even in the San Francisco Bay Area, attempts to isolate Israel are failing.   New direct flights to Israel are being added,  attempting to keep up with the growing number of business and leisure travelers to the Holy land.

As seen in San Jose,  reported by the bloggers at S.F. Bay Pro Israel Counter Terrorist Unit

Throughout San Francisco Airportas well, there are signs promoting the new direct flights.

These signs might as well just say BDS Fail.

Equipto's attack on a progressive establishment in San Francisco

Manny's is a welcoming and inclusive community gathering spot in San Francisco's Mission district.
Its advisory board is reflective of the diversity and values of our local community.

A local musician (member of Bored Stiff ) and a self described "thug", Equipto (given name Illych Yasuchi Sato) has been spearheading an active campaign against Manny's on social media.

Equipto is of Columbian and Japanese heritage and knows little about this conflict, beyond a few  buzzwords, repeated often and with gusto.   Equipto thinks he's  "progressive", yet Equipto's exclusionary racist banter is biased, ignorant and racist.

Empire!

  Empire? What empire?

Zionist!

"When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You’re talking anti-Semitism,” Dr. Martin Luther King.

Yo- Equipto: Zionism is the civil rights movement of the Jewish people.  If you dont believe Jews are entitled to civil rights, well, we have a word for that.

Apartheid!

                         

In the world according to Equipto,  Jews, er "Zionists" should be relegated to special parts of the city.  We've seen that before.  Can you say "ghetto"?  I think you can.

The shallow analysis, reductionist, zero sum game of Equipto's tweets have made him today's Anti-Zionist not Anti-Semite of the Day over at Israellycool.

Classy, Equipto.  Classy.    Manny is of Afghani heritage, btw.

Support Manny's. Support Progressive Activism in San Francisco's Mission District.

Opened earlier this year by Emanuel Yekutiel, a former intern in the Obama White House, Manny’s is a community gathering place on the corner of 16th and Valencia St in San Francisco’s Mission District. Inspired by DC based Busboys and poets, the space was envisioned as a coffee shop, restaurant and event space

From Mission Housing:

Sam Moss, the executive director of Mission Housing, said he was excited about the project. “One thing about the affordable housing industry that gets lost in translation is how important our ground-floor spaces are, and should be, to serving the general community’s needs,” he said. Moss said he chose Yekutiel’s business out of a half-dozen other interested parties for precisely that reason. “16th and Valencia should be a hub of empowerment,” he said. “I see this as a way to do it.”

The community was clearly engaged by Emanuel Yekutiel’s vision. His kickstarter raised over $75,000.

From the Kickstarter campaign:

Where can you go to meet and engage socially with civic leaders, advocates, public servants, activists, elected officials, unsung heroes, artists, and poets, and writers, the motivated and the marchers?

Where can you go to plug in civically? To get inspired by your community leaders and hear about the issues that motivate them? To get informed on the fights being waged both here and abroad for a more justice and equitable society? Where can you physically go to take that first step and get involved?

With the help of many people, I am building that place - building it at a bustling intersection in San Francisco, one of the most civically engaged cities in the world. The City of the Summer of Love, of the Beat Poets, of Harvey Milk, and of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta.

I'm calling it Manny's.

Manny's will be a civic social gathering space that will combine high-quality coffee, tasty food, great beer and wine, a political bookshop, and a large civic event space.

One half of the space is devoted to social: food, drink, and books. The other half will be devoted to civic: a fully functional event space that will hold nightly programming. The bookshop will be run by the 25 year old veterans of the book industry, Dog Eared Books.

It sounds like a perfect fit in San Francisco, and particularly in the Mission district, yet Manny’s is being targeted by some of the most bizarre protests since Cliff’s Variety in the Castro was tormented for daring to sell Israeli seltzer machines.

Its an astonishing level of hypocritical virtue-signaling, even for San Francisco, a city that elevated it to an art form.

Photos from the Lucy Parsons Project on Twitter

The Lucy Parson's Project calls for running the Jew, er, "Zionist", out of town.   Sounds like they are calling for a pogrom.

World salad from Indybay, the Bay Area's own agitprop site calls Manny's a " gentrifying wine-bar, cafe and fake “social justice” space", claiming the existance of this community space will  "accelerate the raising of rents and the displacement of Black, Latinx, disabled and trans/queer people in the Mission."  And worse of all  (is this the real reason for the protest?), they describe Emmanuel Yekutiel as  having "unequivocally espoused racist, Zionist, pro-Israel ideals".

What can you do?   Visit Manny's, on the ground floor of Mission Housing’s Maria Alicia Apartments, 3092 16th St., San Francisco.   Attend some of the sponsored events.  And consider donating here

SFPD bias. The catch and release of terrorist wannabee Salim Ahmad Nasser

His name is Salim Ahmad Nasser.  He violently attacked a peaceful celebration in honor of Israel's independence in San Francisco.  The attack was witnessed by members of the San Francisco Police Department and by dozens of others.  And yet he was released without consequence, by an impotent police department that just couldn't be bothered protecting the first amendment rights of the Jewish community

The "catch and release" policies of the San Francisco police department jeopardize free speech and lawful assembly in our community, and sends a message to Jewish community members that if they take to the streets, they do it alone.

The release of Salim Ahmad Nasser is just one in a series of incidents where attacks on Jewish community members  have been ignored by the police department.

Salim Ahmad Nasser  under arrest for battery

In the police report, filed on May 15  2018, Salim Nasser is described as "extremely angry" and "aggressive".  He was heard yelling profanities at the pro-Israel crowd that had gathered in celebration of Israel's 70th anniversary. The police readily admit witnessing his assault on a young man with an Israeli flag.  Nasser admitted knocking the young man to the ground.   He is taken away, and summarily released.  There is no consequence to his action.   There was no jail time.  No restraining order to keep him from attacking peaceful protests in the future.

The message to the pro-Israel and the Jewish community is chilling.   The San Francisco Police Department is not committed to protecting our constitutional rights or our personal safety.  SFPD- you can do better.  We need you to do better.

Point of View. Sister Act: San Francisco and Haifa

Check out this striking piece of interactive public art down by the San Francisco Cruise ship terminal.  There is an identical piece in Haifa.

San Francisco and Haifa,  two "Cities by the Bay" have been sister cities since 1973.  Today's installation of "Point of View" is just one in a series of cultural and sporting events that have tied the 2 communities together.

Matthew Passmore from Oakland's MoreLab  and Israeli artist Saron Paz collaborated on the design and execution of the project.

The installations feature panoramic cameras, atop identical towers, allowing visitors in each country a glimpse into the other.

Check it out.

Israel Haters on Parade. San Francisco May 15, 2018

In which anti-Israel demonstrators in front of the San Francisco Israeli consulate call for endless war.



This demonstration was sponsored by multiple anti-Israel groups, including

-American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
-Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC)
-Art Forces
-Alliance of South Asians Taking Action (ASATA)
-Center for Political Education (CPE)
-GABRIELA Oakland
-General Union of Palestine Students (GUPS)
-Hella Organized Bay Area Koreans (HOBAK)
-International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN)
-Jewish Voices for Peace (JVP)
-Middle East Children's Alliance (MECA)
-NorCal Friends of Sabeel
-Palestine Youth Movement (PYM)
-Students for Justice in Palestine - CAL Berkeley
-VietUnity
-Xicano Moratorium Coalition (XMC)

Not a single  "peace group" among them.

Anti-Trump protests hijacked by Israel- haters. Could have seen that coming.

Via Emunah

First the Palestinians  hijacked airplanes. Now they hijack agendas.

Its happening again.

We saw this with first with the local anti-war movement. We saw it with Occupy and with Black Lives Matter. And we are seeing it with the anti-Trump protests, as the San Francisco Israeli consulate is targeted in this afternoon’s protest.

San Francisco Israeli Consulate targeted  in anti-Trump protests 

Palestinian Flag at anti-Trump protest in San Francisco

Hannukah Menorah stolen in San Francisco

A  large brass menorah  was stolen from Washington Square Park in San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood ( Filbert and Stockton streets) this weekend. The menorah, erected by Chabad is 6 feet tall, 3 feet wide and weighed over 100 pounds. It was installed two weeks ago in the northeast corner of the park as part of a neighborhood celebration of Hanukkah.

The menorah was taken before it could be lit for the second night of Hanukkah Sunday.

We are a stubborn, resourceful people. You can’t take the light from us.

The community responded by bringing their family menorahs to the celebration, filling the park with light.

North Beach Chabad has filed a police report. It is hoped that surveillance footage from neighboring businesses and residencies will lead to an arrest. In typical San Francisco fashion, this is not being treated as a hate crime.

Sister Act. Thank you, Mayor Ed Lee

San Francisco's Mayor Ed Lee wants to help its sister city Haifa get back on her feet following the devastating fires. He just tweeted

" #SF is proud to be Haifa's Sister City & we encourage you to support the recovery efforts from the fires. Donate now at sfgivesback.org"

The donations are channeled through the venerable Jewish National Fund (JNF)
The Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) has more info:

Tens of thousands of residents of the Israeli port city of Haifa, a San Francisco Sister City, were forced to evacuate last week when high winds pushed fires into residential areas. More than 700 homes were damaged or destroyed, and residents are only now returning. While among many serious fires in Israel, Haifa's were some of the worst. In response, San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee has launched a new website at http://sfgivesback.org/ to help bring attention to the situation and drive donations.

“On behalf of the residents of San Francisco, my thoughts and prayers go out to the families affected by the fires that have struck our Sister City Haifa, Israel. San Francisco stands ready to support and assist...," he said in a statement.

This is an impressive action by the mayor and we have sent him our thanks. We encourage anyone who feels grateful to reach out to him at: Mayor Edwin M. Lee City Hall, Room 200 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place San Francisco, CA 94102 Telephone: (415) 554-6141, Fax: (415) 554-6160 Email: mayoredwinlee@sfgov.org  Facebook: Mayor Edwin M. Lee Twitter: @mayoredlee

San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee is in Israel

San Francisco's Mayor Ed Lee is in Israel

From the J Weekly

The April 10-14 tour takes the mayor and his entourage across Israel and into the West Bank city of Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority’s administrative center.

Lee’s visit was organized by the Haifa-San Francisco Sister City Committee, the Jewish Community Relations Council, the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and the Consulate General of Israel in S.F.

One of the first items on Lee’s itinerary was to meet with Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav and sign a memorandum of understanding between longtime sister cities Haifa and San Francisco. The agreement aims to strengthen contacts and exchanges in trade, investment, science, technology and the arts.

From the Mayor's twitter account:

Counter Anti-Israel Rally for December 14th

From our friends at San Francisco Voice for Israel

Action Alert: Counter Anti-Israel Rally for December 14th
Monday, December 14, 5pm
The Westin St. Francis
335 Powell St, San Francisco

According to the New York Times, AIPAC is the most important organization affecting the US’s relationship with Israel. AIPAC works to lobby for pro-Israel legislation and to educate legislators on issues related to the US-Israeli relationship.

Every year, AIPAC holds gala events throughout the Bay Area. This year, the enemies of America and Israel, including extremist groups ANSWER and the Arab Resource Organizing Center (AROC) are planning on protesting the event, and harassing event attendees. They are calling for an end to the “unbreakable bond” that link our democracies.

San Francisco Voice For Israel will be there to be sure the pro-Israel voice is represented and to help ensure attendees will be able to enter the hotel unmolested.

Please come join us. The protests typically are only nominally about AIPAC and mostly about demonizing Israel.

Keep in mind that those who will be demonstrating against Israel excuse stabbings and car assaults on Israeli civilians. Many openly support such actions.If you are going back to a parking garage after our counterprotest, please travel in groups.

As always, feel free to make your own signs but please no signs or graphics offensive to any racial or ethnic group including but not limited to Arabs, Islam, or Palestinians.

San Francisco Protest in front of the Israeli Consulate

Via Emunah:

In 2008, 8  students were massacred  in the school library of Mercaz Harav, in Jerusalem. 15 were wounded.   Jewish websites were filled with photos of the blood-soaked library. The rest of the media was strangely silent.  The world, it seems, does not mourn dead Jews.

In a gesture near sociopathic in its scope, anti-Israel activists in the Bay area took to the streets to protest, lest anyone in the city pay attention to the dead Jews.  I recall them  standing in front of the Israeli consulate chanting  “Stop killing our children”.  Our hearts were broken over the lives lost, and still they taunted us.

They felt no compassion for the slaughtered children, who were, after all, only  Zionists.  Settlers.   Anything to strip them of their essential humanity.

That scene was repeated last Thursday at 6, again in front of the Israeli consulate. I watched, from a safe distance, while local extremist groups called for the destruction of  Israel. The usual chants of  “From the river to the sea”  were punctuated with  “we support the Intifada” and  "ba ruh, ba dam, nafdeek ya Filistin"  ("with our blood we will redeem you Palestine”).   In case their intent was unclear,  a new chant “We don’t want 2 states. We want 48”, referencing all of Israel,  pierced the air.  Activists standing by the “Jewish Voice for Peace” banner did not blink an eye.

In the last  few weeks in Israel, a  young Israeli boy, 13 was stabbed riding his bike. He is still fighting for his life. An elderly woman  was stabbed in the back.   A rabbi was hacked to death with a meat cleaver.   Ten Israelis are dead, over 175 injured in a cascade of violence spurred on by incitement at the highest levels.   And in San Francisco, again, anti-Israel activists took to the streets, lest anyone in the city pay attention to the dead Jews.

They stood with Hamas headbands. With shirts featuring the PFLP  terrorist Laila Khalid that stated  “My heroes have always killed colonizers”.   

I soon realized that there was no such thing as  a “safe distance” with this crowd. Forrest Schmidt of International ANSWER came over repeatedly to harass me.  Cheryl Davila of the Berkeley Human Welfare Commission hissed “Bitch” at me.     When I  saw the young men furtively glancing at me as  they wrapped their kuffiyehs over their faces, I knew it was time to go.

This was not Gaza.  This was not the West Bank.  This was San Francisco 2015.

Fly the friendly skies direct to Tel Aviv. BDS fail

One of the goals of the BDS movement is to isolate Israel, economically, politically, and culturally. Even here,  in the belly of the beast- the San Francisco Bay area, the BDS movement is failing .

United Airlines has just announced that it will launch 3 non-stop flights a week between Tel Aviv and San Francisco beginning on April 1, 2016.   Flight times are expected to be 14 hours, 10 minutes eastbound and 15 hours, 5 minutes westbound.

From the J Post:

“We’re very excited about introducing nonstop service between Tel Aviv and San Francisco with the customer-pleasing Dreamliner,” said Avi Friedman, United’s Managing Director Sales in Israel. “This is a response to demand from our customers for direct flights to one of the United States’ most popular business and tourism destinations, with the added benefit of convenient onward connections from our San Francisco International hub.”

The 787-9 Dreamliner flights will depart Tel Aviv at 12:55 a.m. on Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays and land in San Francisco at 6:00 a.m. the same day. The returns will depart San Francisco at 8:00 p.m. on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, arriving in Tel Aviv at 8:10 p.m. the following days. 

US Ambassador to Israel Daniel B. Shapiro said the announcement was welcome news that would strengthen ties between the US and Israel. 

"These flights will facilitate technology exchanges between high-tech firms on the West Coast of the United States and the start-up community here in Israel, as well as people-to-people engagement between Israelis and Americans," he said.

As Jewish blood runs in the streets, Palestinians protest in San Francisco

Via Emunah

Remember when the Palestinians massacred 8 children at Mecatz Harav and their compatriots protested at the San Francisco Israeli consulate?

Its happening again.

105 rock attacks, 35 firebombings, and three stabbing attacks took place across Israel today.

As Jewish blood flows in the streets of Israel, a protest is planned in front of the Israeli consulate in San Francisco, 456 Montgomery, because the Palestinians are the victims, damn it, the victims and don't you ever forget that.

This salute to terror is sponsored by the General Union of Palestinians students (GUPS)

Thursday Oct 15 6 pm.

Bay Area Says No to a Nuclear Iran

Hundreds of Bay area resident gathered on Sunday, August 30 in San Francisco's Civic center Plaza to ask their elected representatives to "Say No" to the bad Iran deal.

The bipartisan rally was sponsored by a host of grassroots community based organizations, including 

Zionist Organization of America, Western Region
Russian Speaking Jewish Community of SF
Rimon Club Z
Stand With Us
Jewish National Fund
Golden State Teenage Conservatives 
Phyllis Chesler Organization
Iron Dome Alliance
Americans for a Safe Israel
JCC Watch
Human Rights Voices
Log Cabin Republicans
London Center for Policy Research
Clarion Project
National Council of Young Israel
American Friends of Yeshivot Bnai Akiva 
Middle East Forum
NORPAC
The World Values Network
American Friends of Ateret Cohanim
Frederick Douglass Foundation
One Family
My Liberty
Bay Area Patriots
Christians United for Israel Action Fund
Bay Area Says Vote No On Iran Nuclear Agreement

Speakers included John Rothman, Dr. Mike Harris, Rabbi Shimon Margolin, Rochelle Conner, Director of the Frederick Douglass Foundation of California and retired Judge Quentin Kopp

More photos here.