To Anna Baltzer: What I did with My Caterkiller campaign kit.

The US Campaign to end the Occupation will generously send activists...any activists...campaign kits. Included are postcards, posters, cd's- an entire toolbox of props designed to perpetuate the demonization of Israel. The new National Organizer for the Campaign, Anna Baltzer recent sent out an email asking us just what we did with the literature her organization generously provided

Dear friends,

I just started as National Organizer with the US Campaign and am trying to gather information on past and present work by US groups on the Caterkiller Campaign, which will inform how we proceed with the campaign.
If you're getting this it's because you've probably ordered our CAT organizing packets in the past. Would you be willing to take a moment to answer some or all of the questions below?:

1. Did you find the CAT organizing packets useful? Do you have any suggested improvements?
2. What work has your group done on the CAT campaign in the past?
3. Do you continue to advocate for CAT accountability? If so, how? If not, why not?
4. Can you share any ideas or lessons learned that would inform how we proceed with the campaign?

If you'd prefer to talk about this by phone rather than email, please send me some times you'd be available and we'll set a date!
Thanks in advance, everyone,

Anna


Dear Anna,

I used the Caterkiller campaign kit as kindling for my organizations annual Lag B'Omer bonfire. I am extremely pleased with its performance. It ignited perfectly, and burnt clean and quickly. Thank you for asking.



It is traditional to light bonfires on Lag B'Omer. Lag B'Omer is the anniversary of the death of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, author of the Zohar. The Zohar (The Shining Light) deals with the mystical teachings of the Torah and forms the basis for Kabbalah. Taking this a step further, it is the tradition of local Israel activist groups to kindle a bonfire using the accumulated refuse of hate groups such as the US Campaign. Request your kit here www.endtheoccupation.org/form.php?modin=157 and remember, the best tool against darkness in our world is simply increasing the light.




UPDATE:


Kudos to Jack for sending in this photo of a creature (gremlin? Rabbit? any guesses?) making great use of his Caterkiller activists kit. Way to go Jack!

First Presbyterian Church of Oakland: Never again for anyone

The Hatem Bazian/Hajo Meyer dog and pony show ("Never again for anyone") is coming to town. The current cycle of hate, lies and demonization comes to the First Presbyterian Church of Oakland on February 17. Early reports from the tour have been troubling, with Jewish students alleging discriminatory admissions policies, in an event that had been advertised as "free and open to all"

Please contact the church at
(510) 444-3555 or email
Di Pagel, Director of
Christian Education
& Church Administrator
di@firstchurchoakland.org and

Rev. Jack Shriver
Interim Pastor
Shriverjack@netscape.net

Explain politely, why this program is so hateful, not just to the Jewish people, but to all that struggle against lies and injustice. Why politely? Because the best way, the only way to decrease the darkness in the world is to increase the light.

My open letter to them follows:

Dear Rev. Shriver,
"Like an unchecked cancer, hate corrodes the personality and eats away its vital unity. Hate destroys a man's sense of values and his objectivity. It causes him to describe the beautiful as ugly and the ugly as beautiful, and to confuse the true with the false and the false with the true. "
Martin Luther King Jr

I noticed your church is hosting a program with Hatem Bazien and Hajo Meyer, and that you are promoting it on your website. You may be unaware of how offensive and hateful this program is, not only to the Jewish people, but too all who suffered and perished in the Holocaust. If you have done any background into this program, you would have heard disturbing reports from Rutgers University that when supporters of Israel showed up to what was advertised as an event that was "Free and open to all", the organizers changed the policy on the spot, and began to charge admission.

There is no genocide in the Palestinian territories, and to use that word diminishes the suffering and death of millions who perished in the Holocaust

From the American Muslim for Palestine Website: “It’s very clear that the plan to ethnically cleanse Palestine of its indigenous Palestinian population predates the creation of the State of Israel,” Hatem Bazian said during Friday’s event at DePaul University. “That plan reaches to the very highest levels of the government.”

My question to Hatem: If the goal was to ethnically cleanse the Palestinians, why did Israel begin its "brutal and genocidal" occupation by vaccinating Palestinian children?

From an essay by Prof. Efraim Karsh:
The larger part, still untold in all its detail, is of the astounding social and economic progress made by the Palestinian Arabs under Israeli "oppression." At the inception of the occupation, conditions in the territories were quite dire. Life expectancy was low; malnutrition, infectious diseases, and child mortality were rife; and the level of education was very poor. Prior to the 1967 war, fewer than 60 percent of all male adults had been employed, with unemployment among refugees running as high as 83 percent. Within a brief period after the war, Israeli occupation had led to dramatic improvements in general well-being, placing the population of the territories ahead of most of their Arab neighbors.

In the economic sphere, most of this progress was the result of access to the far larger and more advanced Israeli economy: the number of Palestinians working in Israel rose from zero in 1967 to 66,000 in 1975 and 109,000 by 1986, accounting for 35 percent of the employed population of the West Bank and 45 percent in Gaza. Close to 2,000 industrial plants, employing almost half of the work force, were established in the territories under Israeli rule.

During the 1970's, the West Bank and Gaza constituted the fourth fastest-growing economy in the world -- ahead of such "wonders" as Singapore, Hong Kong, and Korea, and substantially ahead of Israel itself. ..

Under Israeli rule, the Palestinians also made vast progress in social welfare. Perhaps most significantly, mortality rates in the West Bank and Gaza fell by more than two-thirds between 1970 and 1990, while life expectancy rose from 48 years in 1967 to 72 in 2000 (compared with an average of 68 years for all the countries of the Middle East and North Africa). Israeli medical programs reduced the infant-mortality rate of 60 per 1,000 live births in 1968 to 15 per 1,000 in 2000 (in Iraq the rate is 64, in Egypt 40, in Jordan 23, in Syria 22). And under a systematic program of inoculation, childhood diseases like polio, whooping cough, tetanus, and measles were eradicated.

No less remarkable were advances in the Palestinians' standard of living. By 1986, 92.8 percent of the population in the West Bank and Gaza had electricity around the clock, as compared to 20.5 percent in 1967; 85 percent had running water in dwellings, as compared to 16 percent in 1967; 83.5 percent had electric or gas ranges for cooking, as compared to 4 percent in 1967; and so on for refrigerators, televisions, and cars.

Finally, and perhaps most strikingly, during the two decades preceding the intifada of the late 1980's, the number of schoolchildren in the territories grew by 102 percent, and the number of classes by 99 percent, though the population itself had grown by only 28 percent. Even more dramatic was the progress in higher education. At the time of the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, not a single university existed in these territories. By the early 1990's, there were seven such institutions, boasting some 16,500 students. Illiteracy rates dropped to 14 percent of adults over age 15, compared with 69 percent in Morocco, 61 percent in Egypt, 45 percent in Tunisia, and 44 percent in Syria.

Even today, according to UNICEF, Palestinian children have the lowest rate of stunting and malnutrition in the Arab Middle East, after Qatar.

Please, Rev. Shriver do not allow your beautiful church to be used by those spreading hate and lies. Thank you.

Several anti-hate groups are planning a vigil at the church, Feb. 17 from 6:00-7:30
2619 Broadway, in Oakland, California
Please join us.

Can we find 433,971 people to hate on Israel? Guess Not. California's Divestment Initiative fails

In case you were wondering:

The efforts to get a California divestment initiative on the ballot has failed. According to the Israel Divestment campaign:

"January 31, marked the end of the campaign to gather signatures to qualify The Israel Divestment Act for the California ballot. While the campaign produced signatures in nearly all 58 counties in the state, we do not have sufficient signatures to submit the petitions to the Secretary of State's office."

But, like a bad cold, or an infestation of bedbugs, its not going away just yet. Organizers have urged us to come back after February 15 for round two of "Can we find 433,971 people to hate on Israel?". We'll keep you all informed.

Muslim Brotherhood: ‘We are against Zionism’

No surprises here.

From the Jerusalem Post: A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt on Thursday evening repeatedly refused to commit to maintaining the peace treaty with Israel, or even recognizing Israel, if the Brotherhood becomes a player in the future governance of Egypt.

Mohamed Morsy also said the Muslim Brotherhood opposed violence. “We do not use violence against anyone,” he said. But what was happening on “Palestinian land,” however, he said, was not violence but “resistance. And resistance is acceptable by all mankind. And it is the right of people to resist imperialism,” he said.

Just a reminder. Palestinian resistance looks like this:



And this:



From the Stand With Us factsheet on the Muslim Brotherhood:

The Motto of the Muslim Brotherhood is "Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. The Qur'an is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope. Allahu akbar!”. The Brotherhood’s goal is to turn the world into an Islamist empire. The Muslim Brotherhood, founded in Egypt in 1928, is a revolutionary fundamentalist movement to restore the caliphate and strict shariah (Islamist) law in Muslim lands and, ultimately, the world. Today, it has chapters in 80 countries.

“It is in the nature of Islam to dominate, not to be dominated, to impose its law on all nations and to extend its power to the entire planet.” —Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna

The Brotherhood advocates violent jihad: The “change that the [Muslim] nation seeks can only be attained through jihad and sacrifice and by raising a jihadi generation that pursues death just as the enemies pursue life,” said Muslim Brotherhood Supreme Guide Muhammed Badi in a September 2010 sermon. Major terrorists came out of the Muslim Brotherhood, including bin Laden’s deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and Khalid Sheikh Mohammed (mastermind of the 9/11 attacks).

My question: If the Muslim Brotherhood rises to power and abrogates the longstanding peace treaty with Israel, do we get to take the Sinai back?

Eleven students charged with disrupting Israeli Ambassador's speech at UC Irvine

The Orange County District Attorney's Office has filed charges of misdemeanor conspiracy to disturb a meeting and misdemeanor disturbance of a meeting, said Susan Kang Schroeder, chief of staff for Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas. The charges stem from the disruption of Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren's speech Feb. 8, 2010. "This case is being filed because there was an organized attempt to squelch the speaker, who was invited to speak to a group at UCI," Rackauckas said.
We must decide whether we are a country of laws or a country of anarchy. We cannot tolerate a preplanned violation of the law, even if the crime takes place on a school campus and even if the defendants are college students. In our democratic society, we cannot tolerate a deliberate, organized, repetitive and collective effort to significantly disrupt a speaker who hundreds assembled to hear."

The defendants are:

Mohamad Mohy-Eldeen Abdelgany, 23, of UCI
Khalid Gahgat Akari, 19, of UC Riverside
Aslam Abbasi Akhtar, 23, of UCI
Joseph Tamim Haider, 23, of UCI
Taher Mutaz Herzallah, 21, of UC Riverside
Hakim Nasreddine Kebir, 20, of UCI
Shaheen Waleed Nassar, 21, of UC Riverside
Mohammad Uns Qureashi, 19, of UCI
Ali Mohammad Sayeed, 23, of UCI
Osama Ahmen Shabaik, 22, of UCI
Asaad Mohamedidris Traina, 19, of UCI


True to form, Jewish Voice for peace, known for their blog Muzzlewatch that claims to track "efforts to stifle open debate about US-Israeli foreign policy", spoke out in support of the disruptors. Apparently its perfectly fine to stifle open debate when they don't like whats being said.

A recent email sent out by Emily Ratner, on behalf of Jewish Voice for Peace, claims her interuption of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech before the Jewish Federation's General Assembly in November, was inspired by the brave example in part by these 11 students . Emily asked, paradoxically, "What will happen to the Irvine 11and to freedom of speech for all of us?".

Noam Chomsky once said (remember, this Emily) "If we don't believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don't believe in it at all." The attempts of the MSA in Irvine, and JVP to curtail others liberties is an affront to us all.

Read more here:

Everybody Dance Now! Flash Mobs for Social change.

The US Campaign to End the Occupation has issued a handy checklist for activists planning a flash mob, presumably to avoid such embarrassments as this.

Do with it as you please, remembering that this is the year of the Flash Mob! (Lucky attendees at national AIPAC might even get to experience the joys of a Code Pink flash mob in person)

Anna Baltzer, from the US Campaign to End the Occupation recently sent out a missive touting flash mobs as a substitute for traditional protests, claiming

"Through social networks, we now have the ability to generate and distribute influential media on our own. Flash mobs enable the use of pop culture and social networks to promote a message or campaign in a way that is easily accessible, especially to the young generation. This is a great complement to traditional forms of protest, and anyone can do it."

The Blog Divest this has a different take, noting the confusion and disgust many feel when experiencing a Code Pink and friends production

"The BDS flashers, in contrast, could not care less about the crowd in whose face they strut their stuff, for the simple reason that unsuspecting shoppers at Best Buy are not the audience for this performance, but are merely props. The audience for this dance troupe are like-minded BDSers with whom they can share a demonstration of “edgy direct action” which amounts to little more than self-indulgent irrelevancy.

This may explain why, in a YouTube world where the online audience for joyous flash mobs shoots into the millions, the “Hang Up on Motorola Dancers” have trouble breaking five figures, a reasonable estimate of the number of people who share their cause, minus the few of us who checked out their performance either for research purposes or simply to stare in dumbfounded shock at the lengths the Israel-dislikers will go to get anyone to pay attention to them. "

The US Campaigns checklist highlights the most important part of the flash mob: shameless self promotion, urging the flashers to "Distribute like mad!"
Their blueprint for publicity follows (Team Israel take note, and remember the words of ben Zoma "Who is wise? He who learns from everyone" )

Prepare your distribution plan and lists beforehand.

Send press releases to media (example press releases). Have it ready beforehand. If you send it out immediately following the event, you can tell them you have raw footage they could run so they don’t have to wait for the whole edited piece.

Post widely on Facebook and ask others to do the same; it can spread like wildfire.

Twitter (Don’t forget to use hashtag #bds)

“Like” and comment on the video on YouTube and Facebook, which increases traffic. That includes on friends’ Facebook pages.

Send it local, national, and international allies/leaders on this and other issues, especially people connected with larger networks and communities.

Send it out on sympathetic email lists, asking people to forward

Write related articles for online publications

For all the above, you can organize a gathering right after the video is released during which people sit together with their laptops and post the links on Twitter, Facebook, forums, listservs, websites, etc. Make a fun evening of it. The Bathrobes Brigades in the Netherlands organizes regular internet activism evenings.

Mubarak controlled by Jews

Anybody who thinks that something good will come of events in Egypt is not thinking clearly. Perhaps they cannot think.
Mubarak, whether he comes or goes, is identified with everything that Egyptians hate.
Not because he caused it, or is even in any way responsible for it, but because they cannot conceive of having personal responsibility themselves for their miserable conditions.

For most people in the Middle East, it's someone else's fault.
Not theirs.
Never.

And if Mubarak displeases them, it naturally follows that he's an Israeli agent.


EGYPTIAN PROTESTERS PROMISE TO DESTROY ISRAEL


"Who support Hosni Mubarak? Who support Hosni Mubarak? Da United States Government, da British government, and German cou..... government, and Freeeeeench government....... da pipple, if dey go free, dey gonna destroy Israel! Da country who control da Irak state, is Israel!"


And once they've gotten rid of Mubarak, all their problems will be solved! Life will be good!

Pathetic!

Precisely like Dick Becker of International ANSWER, like Medea Benjamin of Codepink, and like every single half-wit between here and the Caucasus mountains, the Egyptian man in the street willingly believes conspiracy theories and simplistic feel-good explanations.

Such people will never manage to engineer a free and open society.

We have far too many like them in the United States and Europe.
The Middle East, with one notable exception, is filled with such people.



周小燕

Never again for anyone, except for Jews. Unconscionable Anti-Semitism at Rutgers

The Never Again For Anyone dog and pony show is coming to a university near you. Unless of course, you happen to be a Zionist Jew. Especially if you happen to be a Zionist Jew wearing a kippa.

According to an article in World Net Daily
"Rutgers University campus police tonight barred some 400 Jewish students and their supporters, including some Holocaust survivors, from attending what was billed as an anti-Zionist gathering at the state school tonight.

The student-sponsored event was announced with an open invitation campus-wide, and Rutgers policy is for all student activities to be open to the public.

However, when the sponsoring organizations of "Never Again for Anyone" saw they were outnumbered by Jewish students and their supporters by about 4-to-1, they asked campus police to bar students wearing kippas – and eventually limited attendance to known supporters of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, Americans for Muslims in Palestine and the Middle East Children's Alliance."

Videos here:

Hajo Meyer's tour (Former head of the KK David Duke heartily endorses him!) is touring with Hatem Bazian, the UC Berkeley professor who called for Intifada in America.

Tour Schedule (but remember, Jews and Zionists are not welcome)

Washington DC: Jan 25, 2011
New York: Jan 27, 2011
New Jersey: Jan 29, 2011
Toronto, Canada: Jan 31, 2011
Toronto, Canada: Feb 1, 2011
Milwaukee: Feb 3, 2011
Chicago: Feb 4, 2011
Chicago: Feb 5, 2011
Detroit: Feb 6, 2011
Twin Cities: Feb 8, 2011
Atlanta: Feb 10, 2011
New Orleans: Feb 13, 2011
Sacramento: Feb 16, 2011
SF Bay Area: Feb 17, 2011
Los Angeles: Feb 19, 2011

UPDATE:

The Never again for anyone website now states $5 - $20 suggested donation on entry

Their Craigs list post however states "Free and Open to the public". Screen shots have been taken, kids. Its too late to change it now.

The facebook page, still unaltered, states "Free and Open to the Public" as well

Its Hard to Film a Miracle: Bialik- Rogozin school documentary nominated for an Academy Award

"Strangers No More,” a film profiling the extraordinary Bialik-Rogozin school in Tel Aviv has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Documentary.

Israel's Bialik-Rogozin school, serves 750 refugees and immigrants from forty-eight countries, many escaping persecution, poverty, and even genocide. The award winning American filmmakers, Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon have made over twenty documentaries. They followed three children at the school for 15 months. There are currently 21 Sudanese refugees at Bialik-Rogozin, who arrived with no formal education. The school has become a model for educating at-risk children around the country, and truly, around the world.

The directors have said “It’s hard to film a miracle” . The school provides evening Hebrew classes for both parents and children. There are cultural activities for the students, educational testing and intervention, diagnostic testing for children in need and hot lunches. The school is open from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. “We want to be like a home, and a home doesn’t close at 1 in the afternoon,” explained Karen Tal, the schools principal. Although 60 percent of the students come from single-parent homes and nearly all of them are from extremely poor families , the dropout rate is currently 5 percent.

More photos here


UPDATE: Feb 28, 2011

Directors Karen Goodman and Kirk Simon won an Oscar Sunday night for their film "Strangers No More" in the category for Documentary Short Subject !

Freedom House: Israel is the only free Country in the Middle east

Freedom House

In the least free part of the world, one tiny nation stands out as a beacon of freedom. It is Israel.

How does Freedom in the World measure freedom?

The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories that are derived from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: political rights and civil liberties.

The ratings are determined by a checklist of 25 questions, 10 addressing political rights and 15 addressing civil liberties.

The 10 political rights questions are grouped into three sub-categories:

* Electoral Process:
* Political Pluralism and Participation
* Functioning of Government


The 15 civil liberties questions are grouped into four sub-categories:

* Freedom of Expression and Belief:
* Associational and Organizational Rights
* Rule of Law
* Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights

And strangely enough, this tiny nation on a sliver of land in the Middle east is the only one targetted by the BDS'ers. Perhaps its not Israel they object to- perhaps its freedom

The Warsaw Ghetto in Gaza!?! Really?

How dare the Jews Fight Back: Rants and Raves from Gilad Atzmon

Notorious anti-Semite Gilad Atzmon hates when the Jews fight back.


Jews fighting back, 1948


Jews fighting back, 2010

Atzmon never met an anti-Semitic carnard he didn't like:
Jews controlling Finance? Check.
"Throughout the centuries, Jewish bankers bought for themselves some real reputations of backers and financers of wars and even one communist revolution. Though rich Jews had been happily financing wars using their assets, Alan Greenspan, the Chairman of the Federal Reserve of the United States, found a far more sophisticated way to finance the wars perpetrated by his ideological brothers Libby and Wolfowitz."

" The 'Elders of Zion' syndrome: Zionists complain that Jews continue to be associated with a conspiracy to rule the world via political lobbies, media and money. Is the suggestion of conspiracy really an empty accusation?
The following list is presented with pride in several Jewish American websites.
Jews in Bush's Administration (a list of some 30 names follows…)
Let me assure you, in Clinton's administration the situation was even worse. Even though the Jews only make up 1.9 per cent of the country's population, an astounding 56 per cent of Clinton's appointees were Jews. A coincidence? I don't think so."

Jews Killing Jesus? Check.
"I would suggest that perhaps we should face it once and for all: the Jews were responsible for the killing of Jesus who, by the way, was himself a Palestinian Jew. …..Why is it that the Jews who repeatedly demand that the Christian world should apologise for its involvement in previous persecutions, have never thought that it is about time that they apologised for killing Jesus?"

A 2009 fundraiser at the Berkeley fellowship of Unitarian Universalists featuring Atzmon was so egregiously anti-Semitic, reports are that people left in tears.

The current object of Atzmon's wrath? A comic book put out by grass roots Israel advocacy group "Stand With us"
From Atzmon's website: Forgive me if I don't link to it.
"It has become pretty obvious that that Israelis and Zionists do not try to disguise their morbidity anymore. Zionism is clearly a threat to humanity and humanism.
Airplanes and tanks, decorated with Jewish symbols, are consigned to spread death and carnage in the name of the Jewish people.
Captain Israel, a kosher superman, is holding a Menorah torch. He is there to set the entire region on fire.
Israelis and Zionists are proud of their pathological, murderous intentions. They are a threat not just to their neighbors, but to humanism and humanity in general.
Unlike the naive, idealist and humanist Superman who steps in to attack and terrorize wife beaters, profiteers, a lynch mob and gangsters, the kosher Super man is far from being naive. He is an ethnic cleanser, murderous and politically indoctrinated. He is there to save one people only namely the 'chosen tribe'."
Atzmon closes with:
I really want to know, once and for all, where Zionism ends and Jewishness starts?

Its clear Atzmon, like the classic haters from history, simply cannot tolerate when the Jews fight back.

Bay Area Anti-Zionists Ignore Dr. King's Message

Originally posted at Bluetruth:


Today was Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in the United States. In San Francisco, as in many other cities around the country, commemorative marches occurred.  In San Francisco, perhaps unlike in many other cities, an anti-Israel group decided that it would try to hijack the parade to its "river to the sea" agenda.

It was a stunning and arrogant display. Not because they handed out fliers advertising the anti-Israel posters in BART put up by Jewish Voice for Peace and Sabeel, not because they attempted (without success) to start anti-Israel chants among the marchers, but they because did it in willful disregard of Dr. King's own position on Israel.  

Dr. King stood for peace. And he understood that peace for Israel was impossible in the context of ongoing attacks and threats of destruction, so that Israel needed to ensure its security first--even after the Six Day War, which occurred 10 months before he said:

"Peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect her right to exist, its territorial integrity, and the right to use whatever sea lanes it needs.  Israel is one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy.  Peace for Israel means security, and that security must be a reality."  

(http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Quote/kingsecurity.html)

And Dr. King understood that, far too often, attacks on Israel were a more politically acceptable expression of anti-Semitism.

"When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews, you are talking anti-Semitism."

(http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=7&x_issue=21&x_article=370)

Yet Bay Area Women in Black, which is supposedly a Jewish women's group but was led for much of march by Hassan Fouda, decided to ignore Dr. King's own sentiments and make this march about what THEY wanted, not what Dr. King wanted.  

                                                                             

(And who, you may ask, is Hassan Fouda?  A man whose association with anti-Semitism has left a trail from his previous residence in Connecticut to the Bay Area, and has also included an attempt to bring outdated medications and old unusable equipment-- and a group of Turkish jihadists-- to Gaza earlier this year. Though he is not the man in this picture!)

Of course, those of us who knew this was going to happen didn't let it go unchallenged.  And no better way to do it than with Dr King's own words (thanks to BlueStarPR).  

My teenaged daughter who came along to photograph the scene was incensed that they would attempt to force this issue into the march commemorating Dr. King.  Of course, this is a standard tactic for anti-Israel groups:  International ANSWER's overt support of Hamas and Hezbollah drove any political leader with an ounce of sanity far away from their rallies against the Iraq war, and the San Francisco Pride Parade is always treated to the sight of groups demonstrating against the only country in the Middle East where LGBT individuals can live freely.  Maybe their insistence on making everything part of their war against Israel also has something to do with narcissism-- after all,  who better than a teenaged girl to recognize someone trying to say "It's all about MEEEEEEEE!!!!"

DrMike

Palestinian Youth Network: The goal of BDS is the End of Israel

From the weblog of Hussein Ibish

“Recent efforts by student activists and others to convince the University of California Berkeley to divest from two companies with strong ties to Israel and its defense establishment is the first really powerful test of the "BDS" movement in the United States. The bottom line is this: if you can't get divestment through UC Berkeley, you're done. UC Berkeley is the epicenter of not only liberalism, but even radicalism, in American academia and indeed American social life in general.”

And, as we all know, divestment was defeated at UC Berkeley. Ariel Kaplan, a student involved in fighting the campaign explained how in this three part installment at Bluetruth.

Does this mean the BDS’ers have given up at UC Berkeley? Not, not a bit. An attempt to indoctrinate a new generation of students took place November 29th at Boalt Hall .The “Palestinian Youth Network” , co-sponsored by a who’s who of extremist organizations, including the Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC ) and Al Awda held a teach in called “The only Peace That Israel Wants is the Last Piece of Palestine: The Liberation of our Land and people is Non-negotiable”

In the talk, peace with Israel, and the right of the Jewish people to self determination was unconditionally rejected.

Nadeen El Shorafa, discussing solidarity, claimed

“ I see solidarity in two different ways. There’s sort of a power solidarity and joint struggle and I’m going to explain them both how I see it. Power dynamics is central to these different definitions I want to talk about when it comes to solidarity. The first one which I call Power Solidarity is folks who have a lot of power in society in terms of class, race, gender and sexuality. So, for example, a heterosexual white male, upper class white male is someone who has power in our society. And a lot of folks who fit those identities are in solidarity with the Palestinian people. And then I see something called Joint Struggle. Joint Struggle are folks on race, class, gender and sexuality who experience a lot of struggle depending on how they identify. And the term Joint is key here. They struggle jointly with the Palestinian people. Because the Palestinian people suffer according to race, class, gender and sexuality .


Nadeen- the Palestinian people do suffer according to race, gender and sexuality, and they suffer at the hands of their own leadership. Polygamy, forced marriages, under-aged marriages and honor killings are problems in all Muslim communities. Forced female genital mutilation is a problem throughout North Africa.

Nadeen also mentioned claimed that building of infrastructure was not allowed, immediately contradicting herself with the statement
“ You might have heard there’s a mall being built in Gaza. We have a beautiful mall being built in Gaza.” She added “ I was just reading today that Gaza is experiencing a growth in its economy - very little - about 16%. “.
16 % is “very little”?

To Nadeen, “BDS is a means to an end it’s not the end”, and the end result is the end of Israel.
“The end goal is the end to Zionism that should be the end goal. And unless that is the focus and center of your activism and organizing when it comes to Palestine and joint struggle and solidarity then there’s a problem, because that really is the key to ending, or the goal to liberation also of Palestinians is the ending of Zionism. And it’s not just for the Palestinians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, east Jerusalem, the Palestinians within Israel, the Palestinians in the Diaspora. “

There you have it boys and girls. The goal of BDS, the Boycotts Sanctions and Divestment Movement is not peace. Its not justice. Its not democracy. The goal of BDS is the end of Israel.

Ahava and the Bay: The Makings of Yet Another BDS Hoax

Ahava has been getting a great deal of attention from the haters, lately. In Canada, the Hudson Bay Company ("The Bay") has been under a great deal of pressure to stop carrying the upscale health and beauty aids. This week, the Bay's decision to stop carrying Ahava was met with chortles of glee from the usual suspects. But according to the Chief Adventurer and CEO, Bonnie Brooks, this was not a political decision.


Last week, after a regularly-scheduled review of the products it offers, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) discontinued sales of AHAVA beauty products, primarily because of sales results which had been declining for several years.

Although this decision was made by HBC solely for commercial reasons, it occurred at the same time as an aggressive campaign by several groups advocating a boycott of AHAVA products. At no point did political considerations enter into the exercise of HBC's business judgment. HBC has made it clear that it has not "bowed to political pressure" in the past, has not done so now and will not do so in the future. HBC neither subscribes to nor endorses politically-motivated boycotts of merchandise from countries with whom Canada has open and established trading relationships, including Israel.

AHAVA products will soon be reformulated and redesigned as a totally changed brand. The new AHAVA products will be ready by mid-spring and is planned to be re-launched at HBC stores across Canada. We encourage consumers across Canada to purchase those products as soon as they are available.


Code Pink suggest to their activists they write thanking the Bay " for standing up for human rights and international law" . Apparently they didn't read this part of Ms.Brooks' press release: "HBC has made it clear that it has not "bowed to political pressure" in the past, has not done so now and will not do so in the future."

"Ridicule is man's most potent weapon" Women in Black: Ripe for Ridicule

A UC Berkeley student can barely contain her laughter reading the sign on the back of a member of Berkeley Women in Black

For years, Berkeley Women in Black have been annoying students at the UC Berkeley campus. In the words of one student:
The only thing more Berkeley than having an inflammatory opinion is gathering together a cadre of similarly-minded people and staging an unimpressive display to annoy passers-by. Cue the Women in Black, a group of incensed nonagenarians standing together to protest the bloodthirsty, imperialist Israeli occupation of the land of Palestine. To paraphrase their flier, for nearly 20 years they’ve been blocking foot traffic, mouthing off, and toting decorative umbrellas each Friday in front of Sproul Plaza....It’s appropriate that these women have chosen to associate their cause with darkness, since it’s abundantly clear they’ll never see the light."


"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."
Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals.

California Fights Back. Pro Israel activism in San Diego

A wide-ranging coalition of haters, including Al-Awda San Diego, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) at SDSU and UCSD, San Diego International Action Center, Arab American Association at Cal State San Marcos, Arab Student Association at SDSU, Middle East Cultural and Information Center (MECIC), National Lawyers Guild San Diego Chapter, Party of Socialism and Liberation, Muslim American Society (MAS) Freedom, , San Diego branch of International Socialist Organization (ISO), Activist San Diego and The San Diego Coalition for Peace and Justice called for a demonstration and candlelight vigil on Sunday, January 9 starting at 3 PM at the Fountain in Balboa Park, in remembrance of the 2nd anniversary of Operation Cast Lead.

Well, they called for the demo, but hardly anyone showed up.

Except for those on the other side.
Estimates are that pro-Israel supporters, organized by the San Diego Israel coalition outnumbered the protesters 10 to 1.

Whats going on? Looks like California is beginning to fight back. Yascher Koacher to the San Diego Israel Coalition. May you go from strength to strength .

Code Pink: Droning on and on and on

Pity Poor Code Pink. They just don't get it, and drone on and on and on.

Their latest obsession is with drones, and once again, we find them rubbing noses with the likes of "World Can't Wait" and the AFSC. They recently sent out a joint announcement:

The World Can't Wait Stop the Crimes of Your Government News from the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter
Resistance to Drone Warfare: Mobilizing Against Drones & Endless War

Sponsors include: Bay Area CodePink, Grandmothers Against War, AFSC SF, Peace Center of Nevada County and Sacramento VFP. Endorsed by World Can't Wait SF Bay. When: January 4th, 7:00 PM Where: AFSC, Quaker Meeting House, 65 9th St., San Francisco (Near Civic Center BART)
Find out about the growing collaborative drone resistance and anti-militarism campaign. Be inspired to join us soon at a military base near you! Blah blah blah, Blah blah blah. For more info, contact: Toby Blome: ratherbenyckeling@comcast.net or Martha Hubert: mhubert7@earthlink.net

To Code Pink: What exactly is "Collaborative Drone Resistance"? Is this, as one commenter asked, an effort to organize drones into collaborative resistance? Or is it about teaching people how to resist collaborative drones? How can one resist a drone anyway, except for A) hiding and B) shoulder-launched missiles--neither method requiring a lot of collaborate effort?

We expect no answers from Code pink.

Last year, incidentally, Code Pink declared victory over Ahava, claiming Costco had capitulated to their bullying ("felt the love", in Code Pink lingo) and discontinued carrying Ahava Dead Sea health and beauty aids . Ahava gift packs, carried at Costco were a seasonal product- they were carried only during the winter holiday, but nonetheless, come January, Code Pink was touting their success. (I assume Code Pink is also responsible for Costco discontinuing the sales of evergreen wreaths in January). However, an intrepid Costco shopper just sent us this photo- Yep, Just in time for 2010 winter gift giving season, Costco again is carrying Ahava!



Costco is selling Ahava products as holiday gifts, providing evidence of yet another failure of BDS, and Code Pink.

Haifa Disney : Hows that Boycott coming, BTW?

A new Disney complex is scheduled to open in Haifa in 2013

A 20-acre, $168 million entertainment complex including a 25-screen multiplex and a Disney amusement park is set to be built near the Carmel Tunnel.

The Walt Disney Company's investment arm Shamrock Holdings and the Israeli New Lineo cinema chain announced the plans Tuesday.

Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav said, "This plan expresses confidence in our plans to turn Haifa Bay in a thriving business area. The plan began with the municipality's assistance in the building of Cinemall and the upgrade of the mall, previously known as the Lev Hamifratz Mall, and the building of the transport hub for the cable car, which carries passengers up to the Technion and Haifa University."

Read more here

So, hows that boycott going, btw?

Why Are You Protesting Against Israel ?

Why Are You Protesting Against Israel?

More talking bears discussing the Middle east:



Best lines from the anti-Israel bear
"You are trying to confuse me with facts".


And yes, Israel allows in thousands of tons of food and building supplies. Just last week 1,047 total truckloads of aid was sent to Gaza with a total weight of 24,381 tons

Goods Delivered into the Gaza Strip
Merchandise - in truckloads
Food Products
Rice 5
Milk Powder and Baby Food 8
Wheat 100
Salt 8
Cooking Oil 20
Legumes 5
Produce (Fruits and Vegetables) 93
Meat, Chicken and Fish Products 38
Flour 10
Dairy Products 31
Sugar 27
Mixed\ Additional Food Products 99
Total Food Products 444
Cement 5
Iron 1
Aggregates 41
Glass , Aluminum and Wood Profiles 34
Total Construction materials 81
Animal Feed 138
Ceramics and Plumbing 48
Electric Products 49
Inputs to Agriculture 32
Hygiene Products 30
Medicine and Medical Equipment 5
Clothing and footwear 20
Essential Humanitarian Products 170
Mixed\ Additional Products 30

Its for your information, only. I'm not trying to "confuse you with facts"