Day of rage against Israeli Couscous, redux

Khaled Abu Toameh, Palestinian reporter for the Jerusalem Post gave at talk at UC Berkeley a few months ago. He mentioned a discussion with a friend- they were trying to name a hero of the Palestinian people, but could not identify a single one that had not been associated with violence. The poet, Mahmoud Darwish was eventually agreed upon, but the question remained, why was this so difficult? Why is violence so inherent the Palestinian cause?

I ask myself this again, as another day of rage upon Israeli couscous is upon us. The anti-Israel forces are planning attacks on March 30 on Israeli products and the stores that stock them. This is, they claim, in commemoration of "Land Day". Hmmm. What better way to celebrate a holiday than by a grocery store pogrom? Why bother with picnics, family gatherings, fireworks, or even a sale at Macy's when you can interfere with someone's shopping experience ?

A recent grocery store pogrom led by Amir of the "peace" group "South bay mobilization" ended in a trash can set on fire in a fit of "Pay attention to ME! Pay attention to ME!" worthy of an angry 2 year old. What will tomorrow bring? I guess I'll have to find out second hand. Its Pesach, the holiday of our deliverance of Egypt and I'll be spending it with family and friends, not trashing someone else's property in the name of "justice".

Don't expect me to wish you luck with the Berkeley Bowl, Kate. The last time you pulled your nonsense, the store was so angry, they created end of aisle displays of all their Israeli products. I suspect it will be no different this time. And where but the Berkeley Bowl can I find crunchy candy sweet persimmons, straight from the Sharon Valley in Israel? They are great eaten out of hand, but try them sliced thin in a spinach salad, with a light vingarette. Just heavenly.

Follow up April 30.
A recent trip to the Berkeley Bowl showed they've added a brand new line of Israeli health and beauty aids, "Yes to carrots". Made with Dead Sea Minerals. Never tested on animals



Looks like the campaign to deshelve Israeli products from the Berkeley bowl is a resounding failure. I never get tired of saying that, Kate.

UC Berkeley ASUC President Smelko vetoes Divisive Israel Divestment bill

Will Smelko, the president of the UC Berkeley student senate, vetoed the divestment bill the senate had approved last week, that called for the University of California to divest from companies that have provided military supplies to Israel.
President Smelko declared, "To achieve and maintain campus unity and peace, the perception of the bill as a symbolic attack on a specific community of our fellow students, and/or fears of the bill being used as a tool to delegitimize the state of Israel, cannot be overstated."

Next week the student senate will vote on whether to overturn the veto of the ASUC president Will Smelko. Please consider sending an email to President Smelko (president@asuc.org) thanking him for his courageous decision and statement, and copying the rest of the student senate (senate@asuc.org) to let them know of your support for the president's position.

"While the ASUC as a body has stated convincingly that it does not want ASUC and UC dollars going to fund weapons, war crimes, or human rights violations, this veto has to do with the mechanism by which the ASUC achieves its mission of building peace and goodwill in a way that avoids the shortcomings of the bill (such as a) ... selective, one-sided focus on a specific country that lacks important historical context and understanding," Smelko said in his statement.

Smelko said that his decision to veto the bill had come after lengthy consideration.

"This decision was by no means easy, and in fact one of the more difficult decisions I've had to make," he said in the statement. "No matter what I do, large groups of people are going to be very mad and upset, and I have to balance that with the fiduciary duties and responsibilities I swore to when I took office last May, no matter how big the pressure may be."

San Francisco anti-war protest fizzles

Today's big anti-war protest was a big waste of time. Like all anti-war protests here in the City by the Bay, it was organized by International ANSWER (Dick Becker's group), which tried to rope in as many different groups as possible in order to make an impressive showing, while fronting the usual destructive messages.


A semblance of diversity

They did pull in a broad spectrum of groups.
Four different versions of communist revolutionary, each with their own booth. Code pink. Veterans for Peace. The International Solidarity Movement. Bayan (Philippino something, didn't ask, can't stand those folks). Black Blok and other free-range anarchists. The nine-eleven conspiracy cults, representing seven different belief-systems - did you know the Masons were behind the attack? I didn't.
Free Leonard Peltier. The Queer Insurrection. Revolutionary Labor organizers. Radical Vegans. Angry Arab-American teenagers. The Uhuru Black Nationalists from Oakland. Elderly people from all over Northern California.


Few people

They did NOT make an impressive showing.
It was all supposed to start at eleven, but didn't actually get cracking till twelve. By that time nearly eight hundred people had dribbled into Civic Center Plaza. There were several angry speeches, and precisely forty five minutes late, at quarter to one, the mob headed into the Tenderloin chanting revolutionary slogans, leaving a skeleton crew to guard the dozen or so booths.


And no point

Their message was too unstructured and all-inclusive to make any impact.
The only ones on focus were the two dozen Palestinian activists, who carried International ANSWER's trademark banner ("Occupation is a Crime - Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine"), at the front, and chanted about Palestine whenever possible. There was also a banner right next to them, which Dick Becker forced them to carry, reading "fund jobs, schools, healthcare, housing, not war". They didn't look too pleased by that. Grim and sour.
Despite the large number of signs in Spanish, the Latinos were conspicuous by a near complete absence. Did I already mention that there were elderly folks from all over Northern California? That means 'mostly white' and 'middle class'. But not all washed - some white people have eccentric notions of hygiene (patchouli is NOT a disinfectant).
Jobs, healthcare, home-owner concerns, toxics in the water, Jews are to blame for nearly everything, no it's the Masons, you're both wrong it's actually Bush and Cheney and the Bilderburgers. Down with Obama.


Aimless slog

After an hour and a half of stumbling around the Tenderloin, herded hither and thither by the very patient men in blue, the march returned. The Palestinian homies got to the podium first, and began shouting 'free free Palestine' through a bullhorn. Ten minutes later Dick Becker's boys finally got them to shut up so that more angry speeches could be made. Much of which were off-tangent and hard to understand (please enunciate next time, folks - oh heck, go ahead and mumble, nobody really cares).


The 'scene'

At this point the crowd started thinning out rapidly, leaving no more than a couple of hundred in the Plaza. Lilly Haskell and her Jihadi pets remained in the area, and Forest Schmidt resumed chatting-up a woman at a booth not his own. Gloria LaRiva gibbered and moaned irrelevantly into the microphone, and there was burning sage.


Lilly Haskell is the Wellesley graduate and Arab-wannabe who was arrested last year when a bunch of "Palestinian" teenagers attacked a Jewish grandma in the subway last, Forest Schmidt is Richard Becker's flunky and general handyman - until today, I thought he didn't like women. Gloria LaRiva is not Dick Becker's housekeeper, but his favorite spokeshorse - she shows up at every one of his social events to prove that he is sensitive to the voice of the non-white community.
And as a Chinese-American, I really do appreciate the attempt, no matter how flat it falls. Thanks, Dick!


Kudos to the police

And as usual, the San Francisco Police Department performed stellarly, keeping the Anarchists and hepped up juveniles from destroying private property and overturning garbage cans. If it weren't for them, windows would be broken, little old Chinese ladies would be roughed up, and anybody who looked too Jewish would be attacked - that seems to be the standard modus operandi of the liquor store owner's kids when nobody is watching.


By the way, Forest Schmidt, several of the cops are far better looking than you. Plus they don't have that little rodent moustache either. They're real men.

Essays from the UC Berkeley Hearing regarding Divestment

Matt, from UC Berkeley's Tikvah: Students for Israel read this thoughtful essay at the ASUC hearing regarding Divestment on March 17. Reprinted here with permission and gratitude:

Good evening ladies and gentlemen of the ASUC. As much as I appreciate what you do for the student body, there are some bills that come up before you occasionally that are simply so ludicrous, hypocritical, and misguided that I must put my foot down. I come before you tonight to inform you that it is absolutely correct to say that Israel does not have the world’s most pristine human rights record. The Israeli government has made many poor decisions across its history, and even recently. When I make such statements, I critique Israel, but I do not cross the line into anti-Israel or anti-Semitic rhetoric.

Here’s where the picture gets more complicated. Some supporters of this bill claim that it is not anti-Israel, and that it is simply interested in human rights. Let me show you where you are wrong on this. I agree that we as students should not have investments in countries with abysmal human rights records. This goes against our core values, and it is our moral duty to stand up and decry human rights violations when they occur. If you agree with these statements, then you ought to be ashamed of yourselves. If you are going to divest funding from Israel in the name of human rights, you must divest funding from every single other country in the region, and then some. Let’s start with Saudi Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, freedom of religion does not exist. There are separate roads for different religions, and prohibition of public practise of other religions. I as a bisexual can be officially executed for who I am, and who I love, as can any other member of the LGBT community, in any country across the region. Foreigners with AIDS are deported. There are no laws against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Women cannot drive cars, cannot go out into public without a male relative guardian, and are essentially subjected to what may be accurately labelled “gender apartheid”. Human slavery, though outlawed on paper decades ago, still exists, particularly in a form where children as young as four are trafficked from South Asia to serve as camel race jockeys. Berkeley even has gone so far as to have a partnership with a university in Saudi Arabia.

Let’s move on to China. In the course of the brutal repression and occupation of Tibet, at least hundreds of thousands, if not millions (according to Tibetan estimates), have been killed, and tens if not hundreds of thousands have “disappeared”. China has been the largest investor in Sudan’s oil business, is Sudan’s biggest economic partner, and has in fact supplied the very fighter jets and military trucks used by the janjaweed to perpetrate the genocide in Darfur. The threat of a Chinese veto, among other things, has even stalled the UN Security Council from taking stronger action about Darfur.

In Iran, gays, lesbians, and Bahá’ís are murdered, men may even be killed for non-penetrative sexual acts, the government publishes the anti-Semitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion, there is a stranglehold on political freedom and freedom of speech, and the government sponsors terrorist organisations committed to the annihilation of Israel such as Hamas and Hizballah, the latter of which has wreaked internal havoc on the country of Lebanon. Turkey denies the genocide it perpetrated 95 years ago against the Armenians, as it simultaneously broadcasts cartoons portraying Jews as bloodthirsty baby-killers, and welcomes a UC study abroad program.

Israel is the only country in a region stretching from Morocco to Iran marked by the most recent Freedom in the World report as FREE. Not partly free, not “not free”, free. You repeatedly tout the number of dead in Gaza as evidence of war crimes. By this logic, in World War II, Germany should be seen as the victim of war crimes perpetrated by Britain and the USA, who specifically targeted civilian areas. Israel not only intended to avoid civilian casualties, but took special measures, quoted by some as the most stringent measures in human wartime history, to ensure that they would not happen. Are you sad that more Israelis didn’t die? So before you even consider removing funding from Israel, consider the vast swath of countries whose human rights abuses far outweigh those of Israel. The fact that this country is being brought up before any of these others singles out Israel, and the fact that to date no resolutions have been passed condemning any of these other countries nor removing investments in them, is indicative of the fact that Israel is held to a higher standard.

I don’t care if it’s one company being divested from, or a hundred, the rationale behind it is intensely hypocritical and flawed. The only time I should see this bill even coming up, and we can have a true debate about this issue, should be when we have condemned every single other country in the region for their mountain of human rights violations. Until that happens, I stand by my viewpoint that this bill is flagrantly anti-Israel, and absolutely takes a ‘side’ in the political web of the Arab-Israeli conflict by sidestepping the larger picture of a region filled with crimes against human dignity that you choose to ignore on this Senate floor. I do not yield my time to questions.

BERKELEY STUDENTS VOTE AGAINST ISRAEL

In a move stunning for both its inherent bigotry and its high level of moron quotient, the Student Senate at UC Berkeley voted for a bill calling for divestment from two companies because of Israel.

All quotes below are taken from the press release.
["UC Berkeley Student Senate Passes Divestment Bill in Response to Israeli Occupation"]


QUOTE:
The Senate bill directs both the UC Regents and the Student Government to divest from General Electric and United Technologies. General Electric manufactures Apache helicopter engines; United Technologies manufactures Sikorsky helicopters and F-16 aircraft engines.
END QUOTE.


QUOTE:
Student Senator Rahul Patel supported the bill, declaring that “in the 1980s the Student Government was a central actor in demanding that the university divest from South African apartheid. 25 years later, it is a key figure in shaping a nationwide movement against occupation and war crimes around the world. Student Government can be a space to mobilize and make decisions that have a significant impact on the international community. We must utilize these spaces to engage each other about issues of justice worldwide.”
END QUOTE.


The odious and false comparison with South African Apartheid is rather interesting, given that several other countries actually can be called 'apartheid regimes'..... not only in the Arab world.
Such stellar international players as India, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, and Turkey, for example.


QUOTE:
The Senate deliberation, which started Wednesday night, concluded at 3 am Thursday morning, March 18. The meeting was flooded with students, educators, and community members, which prompted the relocation of the Senate session from the Senate Chambers to a larger room. The attendees took turns making impassioned arguments for and against the bill. The diverse list of guest speakers included 76 names, ranging in age from college freshmen to Vietnam veterans.
After amendments, the final bill passed on a 16-4 vote.
In addition to Israeli military action, the student initiative was motivated by an 2005 call on behalf of 171 Palestinian civil society organizations calling on "people of conscience all over the world to impose broad boycotts and implement divestment initiatives against Israel … until it fully complies with the precepts of international law."
END QUOTE.


It would appear that many of the Student Senators are ignorant of international law. This is, of course, in keeping with their loyalties to the 171 Palestinian civil society organizations aforementioned, in addition to the ISM, MECA, and others of a questionable nature. That, besides their being ignorant, they are ethically crippled, goes without saying.

Berkeley is no longer the stellar educational institution it once was.


QUOTE:
According to Emiliano Huet-Vaughn, co-author of the bill, “this vote is an historic step in holding all state and corporate actors accountable for their violations of basic human rights. The broad cross section of the community that came out to demand our university invest ethically belies the notion that the American people will tolerate the profiting from occupation or other human rights abuses.” Student Senator Emily Carlton, co-sponsor of the bill, agreed, adding “this action will only be historic if it is repeated throughout the country and the world; I hope that student governments all over America will see in this a sign that the time to divest from war is now.”
END QUOTE.


Co-authors of the bills were students Tom Pessah (tompessah@berkeley.edu, 510.590.7902) and Emiliano Huet-Vaughn (emiliano@econ.berkeley.edu, 510.847.6186).
This per the press release that Katherine Fuchs (katherine.endtheoccupation@gmail.com) forwarded on March 18, 2010.


-----------------------------------------------

AFTERTHOUGHT


My parents studied at Berkeley, as did their siblings and their friends.
I also went to Berkeley. So did many of my friends.

Berkeley was once a wonderful institution. It is no longer so.
The town itself is notorious for the anti-Semitic atmosphere, the campus is a place where it is not safe to be pro-Israel.

I shall henceforth be cheering for Stanford on game day, and boycotting all things Berkeley.

New BDS Epic Fail : The Davis Co-op says No to BDS

Earlier, we had written about an attempt by some community members to bring the BDS movement into the bucolic town of Davis, and the subsequent community response.

There has finally been a resolution, and once again, the side of sweetness and light has prevailed:

From our Friends at Divest this- the source for information on the BDS movement worldwide

On Monday evening, the forces of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) were handed a major defeat when the Davis Food Co-op, located in Davis California, turned down demands by BDS activists to put a boycott of Israeli goods to a Co-op wide vote.

While this story may not be big enough to hit the national press, the details surrounding the decision make this as significant an event in the continuing annals of BDS failure as the Presbyterian Church's 2006 decision to abandon divestment altogether (a decision which changed the threat level of BDS from "potential issue" to "serious loser").

As backdrop, the Davis Food Co-op is a highly successful, member-owned cooperative with a nearly forty year history and over 9000 member-owners. Given the nature of the organization, the institution takes understandable pride in its progressive values and responsiveness to members needs, connections to the community that have contributed to its decades of success.

Sadly, it was these very qualities that made the organization a target for the local branch of the BDS movement, a movement whose two major tactics involve: (1) dressing up their mission of de-legitimization and demonization in a progressive/human-rights vocabulary; and (2) abusing the openness of organizations like the Co-op for their own narrow, political ends.

The Co-op recently reduced the number of members needed to put an issue to a Co-op-wide ballot from 15% to 5%, which gave local BDS organizers the impression that less than 500 signatures were needed to put their proposed ban on Israeli food products to a vote. And so their project kicked off with ongoing "tabling" at the Co-op featuring petitioning backed up by the usual context-free, anti-Israel propaganda (where Israelis were assigned the role of bullying tyrants, the Palestinians that of pristine victims, and the rest of the Middle East and all of history dumped down the memory hole).

Fortunately, large numbers of Co-op members chose to not take this challenge lying down, organizing their own tabling to educate members about the issues, and working with the leadership of the Co-op (with help from the local Jewish community) to inform the Co-op about the true nature of BDS.

What happened next was an exact replay of what's gone on whenever the boycott project tries to insinuate itself into an open-minded organization. This included all of the bitterness and divisiveness of the Arab-Israeli conflict spilling out into the community, forcing neighbors to take sides in one of the world's oldest and most complex disputes lest they be accused of betraying their progressive values.

The key to understanding the decision that was taken on Monday is that the Co-op by-laws require that member initiatives must be based on requests that were of a "lawful and proper purpose," a clause that they agreed would be more "stringently interpreted and enforced" once the threshold for a membership vote was reduced from 15%-5%.

Early in the debate over the proposal, the Co-op's board focused primarily on the "lawful" part of that phrase, seeming to reject the ballot request due to potential that it might place the organization in legal jeopardy. Now I've written before on the issue of whether or not BDS could be considered illegal based on current US anti-boycott legislation, concluding that the matter is murky (or, at least, open to interpretation).

Had the Co-op chosen to nix the boycott on the ground of potential legal risk alone, this would have been within their rights, and certainly would constitute a win over the boycotters. But the Co-op decided to do more than that. Much more.

If you look at the response they released on Monday, (click on the March 15, 2010 Resolution link of this Wiki) their entire reasoning for rejecting the boycott proposal was based on whether the proposal fulfilled the requirement regarding "proper purpose." And in over a dozen "Whereas-es" (some multi-part), the organization's leaders made it clear in no uncertain terms that a boycott does not come close to meeting that threshold.

Needless to say, the boycotters complained that, unlike matters of legality, what constitutes "proper purpose" is undefined, and thus open to the interpretation of the organization's leaders. But that is exactly why the decision made by the organization is so significant.

In this case, "proper purpose" meant the organization deciding which matters were in the community's interest and which were not. It meant grappling with the core values of the organization, and determining which issues need to be debated in the context of a cooperatively owned supermarket and which didn't. It meant looking at the obligations the organization owed not just to its membership at large, but also to the wider world. And in each and every case, the institution explained in clarifying detail why BDS did not belong at the Co-op, and why individual choices (like whether or not to buy Israeli oranges) are best left to individuals, not be subject to a majority vote.

All of this is, needless to say, incomprehensible to those behind the boycott attempt since a lack of propriety (i.e., a willing blindness to what constitutes "proper purpose" for themselves and others) is one of the key weapons of anti-Israel activists, giving them license to insert their political project (under various guises) into all manner of civic organization, regardless of what pain or damage this might cause to the institution they are trying to infiltrate.

But on Monday night, the leadership of the Davis Co-op laid down the law in terms that cannot be interpreted as anything other than a sweeping rejection of BDS.

Does this mean that Davis has suddenly become a hotbed of Zionism? Of course not. Political opinions on the Middle East vary within the Davis community on this and other issues as much as they've always done. But in making their decision, the Co-op was not making a statement on the Middle East conflict, but was instead taking a stand (based on their own rights and principles) to not be dragged into that conflict just because a group of single-issue partisans tried to exploit the organization's openness for their own ends.

No doubt, the BDSers who put so much time and effort into this project saw the Davis Co-op as one of the few institutions in America that might be vulnerable to their boycott calls, and hoped to be able to leverage success there to bring the message generated by this debate to other food co-ops and potentially other food retailers across the country.

And in this one case they were absolutely correct that the message from Davis must travel far and wide, warning similar organizations across the land of what happens to an organization when BDS comes knocking.

Dear Lily Haskell

Dear Lily,

How long has it been? How many months till last I saw you?? Why haven't I seen you at anti-Israel events? Are you hiding in the shadows, avoiding public contact at all cost? Are you scheming away towards some nefarious end? Wherever you are, I want you to know that I'll be waiting. Waiting. For every event that you miss, another chance to confront you about your blind hatred is lost.

If only we could talk over coffee or a beer, perhaps you'd see that we both want the same thing: peace, and an end to prejudice on both sides (well, maybe I just want the second part). You'd finally understand that I want Palestinians to live side-by-side with Israelis, espousing nothing but a love of life. A place where both peoples have stable jobs, send their kids to safe schools, and can walk down the street safely, without molestation by suicide bombers/assassins/thugs and burdensome IDF checkpoints. Wouldn't that be wonderful? I think it would be, and it's what I want for Israel and the Palestinians.

However, you tend to operate like Hamas does and until you end that pattern of behavior there can be no peace. Blind hatred serves no one.

Perhaps one day you'll be honest with yourself and admit that murdering Jews is anathema to peace. Insisting that Israel just "go away" has no basis in reality.

Remember Lily, where there is life, there is hope.


Sincerely,
Anarcho Zionist

Pro-Peace, Pro-Israel, Pro-love.

******
Lily Haskell aka Elizabeth Haskell aka Lily (Elizabeth) Aida Haskell is a member of AROC, Arab Resource and Organizing Center, as well as a former intern of the National Lawyers Guild/San Francisco. On December 9, 2008, at an anti-Israel rally/AIPAC dinner, with use of a bullhorn, Lily led this vile chant:

"Israel Supporters watch your backs, or we'll push you down a shaft!"

Yes, that's what she belted out. She was referring to the untimely death of our friend, brother, and pro-Israel advocate, Dan Kliman.

And yet, as someone who is supports peace, love and Israel, a hand must be extended to help those filled with so much hate and prejudice, like Lily Haskell. Hence, the open letter to her.

Shalom.

We love goats

Time to remind all of you of the fact that we love goats.

No, not in the way you think - that might be something for these people:

[DISCLAIMER: I do not wish to suggest that these people are involved with goats. For all I know they hate goats with a passion, or in a few cases perhaps worship them as reincarnated deities. Lord knows, there is no evidence that I know of that shows ANY of them anywhere near goats at any time! No goats were harmed in any way in putting this post together, and the linking of the names below with any activity meant to involve, probably involving, possibly involving, or even tangentially related to goats by the reader would be irresponsible and unwarranted. Maybe even sick. I don’t know. Okay?!?]


ACTION FOR A PROGRESSIVE PAKISTAN
AMERICAN JEWS FOR A JUST PEACE
ANOTHER JEWISH VOICE, SANTA FE
BAY AREA INTERNATIONAL JEWISH ANTI-ZIONIST NETWORK
BIRTHRIGHT UNPLUGGED
BDS BAYAREA
BOSTON BDS
BOSTON COALITION FOR PALESTINIAN RIGHTS
BREAK THE SIEGE
BURNSVILLE AND EAGAN, MINNESOTA PEACE VIGILS
CAMPAIGN TO END ISRAELI APARTHEID – SOUTHERN
CHARLOTTE 4 PEACE
GLOBAL JUSTICE PROJECT
GNASHING TEETH
HUMAN RIGHTS ACTION SERVICE, MO
INTERFAITH WITNESS FOR MIDDLE EAST PEACE
JUSTICE FIRST FOUNDATION
JUSTICE FOR PALESTINIANS
OPT OUT!
OWL’S NEST NORTH COLLABORATION
PEOPLE AGAINST HATE SPEECH
QUEERS UNDERMINING ISRAELI TERRORISM (QUIT!)
SAN JOSE PEACE AND JUSTICE CENTER
SOUTH ALAMEDA PEACE AND JUSTICE COALITION
SOUTH ASIAN COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
SOUTH BAY MOBILIZATION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE
SOUTH BAY UNION OF GIANT SQUID
STUDENTS UNITED FOR PALESTINIAN EQUAL RIGHTS
THE CAMPAIGN AGAINST US TERROR WEAPONS
THE OREGON CAMPAIGN TO END ISRAELI APARTHEID
TRI-CITY PEACE AND JUSTICE
US CAMPAIGN FOR THE ACADEMIC AND CULTURAL BOYCOTT OF ISRAEL
VETERANS AGAINST TORTURE
VETERANS FOR PEACE
WESPAC FOUNDATION
WOMEN IN BLACK, LA

And also these individuals:

TOM ABERNETHY , NY
SALMA ABY AYYASH, CAMBRIDGE, MA
KAMAL AHMED CUSTOMER, CAMBRIDGE&BURLINGTON STORES, MA
CHARLOTTE ALBRECH, MINNEAPOLIS, MN
SALEM AJLUNI, SAN JOSE, CA
YASMINE ALKHATIB, LOS ANGELES, CA
HANNAH ALLEN, AMHERST, MA
D ALWAN, OAKLAND, CA
AHMAD AMARA, HARVARD UNIV, MA
ERIC ANDERSON, LOS ANGELES, CA
JUDY ANDLER, CAMBRIDGE, MA
JAHAN ANSTAN, CA
LOUISE ANTONY, AMHERST, MA
THOMAS ASH, CAMBRIDGE, MA
DEVIN ATALLAH
TERESE ATALLAH
HIMA B, NYC, NY
MIKE BALDWIN, HAYWARD, CA
JANE BARK
SUSAN BARNEY, ARLINGTON, MA
KATHLEEN BARRY, CA
BEN BARSON
JAN BAUMAN
KHALIL BENDIB, BERKELEY, CA
GRETA BERLIN, BOARD OF DIRECTOR, FREE GAZA MOVEMENT, LOS ANGELES CA
ODD JOB BOB, CA
BOB BOWES
UMAYYAH CABLE, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
ELLEN CANTAROW, MEDFORD, MA
GEORGE CAPACCIO, MA
CHARLOTTE CASEY, PRESIDENT, SAN JOSE PEACE AND JUSTICE CENTER, SAN JOSE, CA
JOHN CASSEL, OAK PARK, IL
JOYCE CASSEL, OAK PARK, IL
MARGARET CERULLO, AMHERST, MA
PETER CHABAREK, EUGENE, OR
CORTNEY CHILDS, CORVALLIS, OR
DAWN CISEK
DANIEL CLAYTON, BROOKLYN, NY
SUSAN CURTISS, LOS ANGELES, CA
DEEMA DABIS
HUMA DAR, BERKELEY, CA
L DAVIDSON, WEST CHESTER, PA
WALT DAVIS, SAN ANSEMLO, CA
KATHLEEN DENSMORE, PhD, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
DAVID DIXON
JACK DRESSER
SUSAN DUNCAN
MARTHA DWYER
JANET EISELEY CA
JEAN ENTINE
HEDY EPSTEIN, ST LOUIS, MO
KRISTI ERLICH
SHERIF FAM
SURA FARAJ, MILWAUKE, WI
FRANCIS FEELEY
DAVID FIELDER, BERKELEY, CA
JULIA FIGUEIRA-MCDONOUGH, PASADENA, CA
ROBERT FITZPATRICK, CHARLOTTE, NC
CHRIS FORD, LOS ANGELES, CA
MANZAR FOROOHAR, SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA
KARIN FRIEDEMANN, BOSTON, MA
MELISSA FROILAND, MILWAUKEE, WI
SHALINI GERA, HAYWARD, CA
PROF JOHN GERASSI, QUEENS COLLEGE, NY
ELIANE HAGOPIAN, BOSTON, MA
KATHERINE HANNA, BOSTON, MA
SWANEAGLE HARIJAN
KATHARINA HARLOW, MONTEREY, CA
MARTIN HARWAYNE
JANICE HAYDEN, CONCORD, MA
JEAN HAYS, FRESNO, CA
PAT HENDRICKS
CHARLIE HINTON, CA
JOSHUA HOUGH
LYDIA HOWELL, MINNEAPOLIS, MN
JAY HUBBELL, FRESNO, CA
MARY HUGHES
HAPPY HYDER, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
SUMIA IBRAHIM, NY
HAYAT IMAM, DORCHESTER, MA
MARY IZETT, LAFAYETTE, CA
A JARRAR, SAN JOSE, CA
JANE JEWELL, CA
PETER KARDAS, OAKLAND, CA
CASSANDRA KATSIAFICAS, BROOKLYN, NY
JUNE KENAGY, ALBANY, OR
REEMA KHAN, CAMBRIDGE, MA
LOU KIPNIS, SANTA FE, NM
VIDULA KIRTIKAR
VICTOR KIZASKI
ALICE KLEIN, MA
DAVID KLEIN, LOS ANGELES, CA
JEFF KLEIN DORCHESTER, MA
JANET KOBREN, OAKLAND, CA
JUDITH KOLOKOFF
JOEL KOVEL
GREG KOZICZ, BROOKLYN, NY
BADAR KUDSI, CA
JANE KURINSKY
PAUL LARUDEE, BERKELEY, CA, FREE GAZA MOVEMENT
CECILE LENEMAN
HOWARD LENOW
MICHAEL LETWIN, NEW YORK CITY LABOR AGAINST THE WAR, LABOR FOR PALESTINE NY
MARIAH LEUNG, AL NAKBA AWARENESS PROJECT
JOSEPH LEVINE, AMHERST, MA
SCOTT LINDER FREMONT, CA
MICHAEL LYON, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
SUNAINA MAIRA, OAKLAND, CA
MICHAEL MARIA, BOSTON, MA
ALICE MARSHALL, NY
IVAN MARTIN, ST LOUIS, MO
SAHAR MASUD
TANIA MAXWELL
HANNAH MEDROW, MILWAUKEE, WI
RASHA MHMOUD, BROOKLYN, NY
SERGIO MONTEIRO, LOS ANGELES, CA
DORINDA MORENO, FM GLOBAL, CA
MICHEL MOUSHABECK, NORTHAMPTON, MA
DR NANCY MURRAY, CAMBRIDGE, MA
HIRA NABI, AMHERST, MA
FARRUKH NAJMI
SHAHEEN NAZERALI, NY
DAVID NELSON
MARCY NEWMAN, CA
DOROTHY NAOR, ISRAEL
ANA NOGUEIRA, BROOKLYN, NY
KAMAL OBEID, HAYWARD, CA
DAVID OBERWEISER
IVAN OLSEN, CA
MARCELLO PETRIGH
ANGELA PRICE
REV JOHN PROCHASKA
YASMIN QURESHI, SAN JOSE, CA
MAZIN QUMSIYEH, PHD
BILL RAMSEY, ST LOUIS, MO
ANNE REMLEY, ANN ARBOR, MI
FREDERICK REMLEY, ANN ARBOR, MI
GREGORY RIENZO, CASTRO VALLEY, CA
ROSALIE RIENZO, CASTRO VALLEY, CA
JOHN ROBERTS, CAMBRIDGE, MA
KATHY ROBERTS, CAMBRIDGE, MA
PAULA ROCHELLE
JULIE RUFO, ALAMEDA, CA,
AMIN SABA, SAN JOSE, CA,
DINA SABA, SAN JOSE, CA,
FADI SABA, PRESIDENT, SOUTH BAY MOBILIZATION FOR PEACE AND JUSTICE, SAN JOSE, CA
NELLIE SABA, SAN JOSE, CA
RAKSHANDA SALEEM, CAMBRIDGE, MA
CAROLYN SCARR, BERKELEY, CA
SKIP SCHIEL, FRIENDS MEETING AT CAMBRIDGE (QUAKER), CAMBRIDGE, MA
HANNAH SCHWARZSCHILD
JON SEIGE, BOSTON, MA
BILL SELL
SAHAR SHAFQAT, MARYLAND
SAID SHEHADEH, PsyD QUEENS, NY
ANNA SHENK
LENORE SHERIDAN
SNEHAL SHINGAVI, VA
MOAZZAM SHIEKH, SAN FRANCISCO, CA
CATHERINE SHINN, SAINT LOUIS, MO
SAUL SLAPIKOFF, CAMBRIDGE, MA
EVE SPANGLER
JOHN SPRITZLER
RAMKUMAR SRIDHARAN, SAN JOSE, CA
A STEK, LOS ANGELES, CA
CORNELIA SULLIVAN, BOSTON, MA
IJAZ SYED, SUNNYVAL,E CA
ALLYSON TAYLOR
JOHN THIELKING, SAN JOSE, CA
KIN TILSEN WI
SAADIA TOOR, NYC, NY
JAMES VANN, OAKLAND, CA
DONALD VEACH
NICOLE VOLZ, BROOKLYN, NY
NABIL WAHBEH
DARLENE WALLACH, SAN JOSE, CA
DONNA WALLACH, SAN JOSE, CA
KATHLEEN WANG, DIAMOND BAR, CA
LARRY WARTEL, LOS ANGELES, CA
LANGSTON PIERCE-WON, OAKLAND, CA
AHMAD YAMAK, CA
NADIA YASSA, Esq, MA
JAMAL ZEID, LINCOLN, CA
MAGGIE ZHOU, ARLINGTON, MA

All of whom apparently endorsed last year's call to boycott Israeli goods and commit chicken-shit acts of vandalism provided no one was looking.

See this post:
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/06/trader-joes-and-anti-semites.html

[Please stop thinking about goats. This post is NOT about goats. Really!]

A rousing thankyou to the person who told me what 'bakrichot' means.
My vocabulary has been immeasurably enriched, as well as my understanding of other cultures.

[Baa. Baa. Baa!]

周小燕

Jewish Voice for Peace (and BDS) Can't Explain Why They Should Be Funded by the Jewish Community Federation

Jewish Voice for Peace (the "Proud to be ashamed to be Jewish" ) group seems upset at the new policy guidelines endorsed by the San Francisco Jewish Community Federation, judging by the whining at their Muzzlewatch blog.

A local activist responds:

"This policy statement is a turning point-- not in its restatement of the existing values of the Federation, but in standing up against the creeping subversion of our community institutions by those who do not share and support those values. Jewish Voice for BDS is right about one thing, though--these guidelines are indeed aimed at them. After all, though they are a small fringe group, they have been vocally spitting in the face of this Jewish community's institutions for years. And the community, as embodied in its Federation, has finally said "Enough. We will not fund this agenda." No excommunication, no auto-da-fe, no fatwa, just a statement that those who wish to attack one of our central values shouldn't expect us to pay for it."

"The Federation is under no obligation to fund a group just because they happen to put the word "Jewish" in their name-- whether that's the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival, Jewish Voice for Peace, or a "Messianic Jewish" congregation.

Organizations stand for a set of principles. The Federation's mission statement declares:

"The Federation gives continuity to Jewish values: [including]The supporting of Israel, the democratic homeland for the Jewish people". Why, then, should it support, even indirectly, organizations or programs whose mission or content runs counter to that? Doing so would actually violate the fiduciary responsibility that its board has to its donors. Since the founding principles of BDS include the fictitious "right" of return for descendants of refugees from the Arab war against the Jews in 1947-8, the BDS movement has clearly stated that its goal is not merely the end of Israel's occupation of the West Bank, nor the establishment of a Palestinian state living in peace next to a Jewish state of Israel; its goal is a Palestinian state in place of Israel. "

Read it all at Bluetruth

Cal SJP Leader Husam Zakharia Prefers Violence to Peace

Legend:

Cal (UCB) = UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY

SJP = STUDENTS FOR JUSTICE IN PALESTINE

SJP LEADERSHIP = Husam Zakharia, leader of the Students for Justice in Palestine

-------

WHAT HAPPENED?

On Friday, March 5, 2010:

University of California at Berkeley was again the site of a clash involving pro-Israel and anti-Israel activists last Friday when Husam Zakharia, leader of the Students for Justice in Palestine, assaulted Jessica Felber of the pro-Israel Tikvah group with a shopping cart.

WHAT WAS THE RESULT?

Felber told Israel National News that she responded to the incident by immediately placing her attacker under citizens’ arrest. Police arrested him later that day and Felber expressed hope that the District Attorney will see the case through and file charges against Zakharia.

HAVE TIKVAH STUDENTS BEEN HARASSED BEFORE?

Felber said that Friday’s incident was not the first time Zakharia used violence against pro-Israel advocates. According to her, physical intimidation has frequently been employed as a tool by SJP to silence students opposing their anti-Zionist activities on campus. SJP students have been terrorizing us for three years with intimidation, accusations and threats. This incident is simply the culmination of it all and we are not going to tolerate it anymore.

READ THE FULL STORY: Anti-Israel Activist Attacks Jewish Girl on Campus

Its Buycott Israel month!

From our Friends at Buycott Israel!

There seems to be no stopping the momentum BUYcott is gaining around the world. In addition to the new BuyIsraeliProductsNow campaign we told you about last week, a new project is starting this week: BUYcott Month (www.buycottmonth.com), a month-long campaign for buying from, investing in and celebrating the state of Israel.

BUYcott Month is a little offbeat, but promises to be a lot of fun. Supporters of Israel from around the world are being asked to send in photos of themselves or friends buying and enjoying Israeli products, taking part in Israel-related cultural events, "breaking" a boycott, or doing anything that celebrates Israel or fights anti-Israel activity during the month of March. As part of this campaign, these photos should include people giving what's called a "Finger-B" hand gesture to indicate their activity is part of the BUYcott Month project.

Are you buying Israeli products during Buycott Month? Having a couscous party? An Israeli wine tasting? An Ahava mud-wrestling match? We want your photos and your story. We’re ready to share pictures of you:

· Purchasing and enjoying Israeli products
· Talking with friends and colleagues about investing in hot Israeli companies
· Taking part in Israeli cultural events
· Counter-protesting at Boycott-Israel events

Or how about a dose of “Extreme Boycott” like sharing Israeli chocolates at the top of a mountain or at the bottom of the sea?

Don't forget- its your support that led to a 33% increase in Israeli exports in the last quarter of 2009. Lets kept the monentum going. Support democracy and buycott Israel!

Israel Peace and Diversity week meets Israel Apartheid Week at UC Berkeley

From the Side of Sweetness and Light:

Monday 3/1
11:00a-2:00p Human Rights in Israel (Sproul Plaza)

7:30p Captain Avner: LGBT in the Israeli military (room TBA)

Tuesday 3/2
11:00a-2:00p Obstacles to Peace (Sather Gate)

7:00p Sgt. Benjamin Anthony: Experiences in the IDF (101 Morgan)

Wednesday 3/3
12:00-1:00p Peace Rally (Sproul Plaza)

Friday 3/5
11:00a-2:00p Path to Peace (Sproul Plaza)

From the Side of Darkness and Terror


Monday, March 1st:
INTRO TO APARTHEID - A discussion of the term Apartheid, similarities and differences between South Africa and Israel/Palestine, and what past struggles can teach us.
Joanna Manqueros, activist against South African Apartheid;
Room 105, Boalt Hall School of Law
7 pm

Tuesday, March 2nd:
TO SHOOT AN ELEPHANT - Come watch a film made by international eyewitnesses present in the Gaza strip during Operation Cast Lead.
Room 2060, Valley Life Sciences Building
7 pm

Wednesday, March 3rd:
DEBATING BOYCOTT DIVESTMENT AND SANCTIONS - What is the state of the international BDS movement for Palestine? Why is BDS important and what can you do?
Omar Barghouti, Student at Tel Aviv Unniversity and Co-founder of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel
Room 105, Boalt Hall School of Law
6:30 pm

Friday, March 5th:
CULTURAL CELEBRATION / FUNDRAISER- A night of Arabic music, dance, food and poetry:
Location: MLK Multi-Cultural Center, Inside the ASUC building
7 pm

Monday, March 8th:
PALESTINIAN NON- VIOLENT RESISTANCE & INTERNATIONAL SOLIDARITY- A presentation of community-led movements against Israeli policies in the Wesk Bank.
Lubna Masarwa
Room 105, Boalt Hall School of Law - Bancroft between College & Piedmont
6:30 pm

And of course there will be the ubiquitous "direct actions" set up on campus to annoy the students- checkpoints and walls,and soldiers, oh my!


The best response to the lies and demonization came last year from Israel Vice Consul, Ishmael Khaldi, a Bedouin Arab.

So, I would like to share the following with organizers of Israel Apartheid week, for those of them who are open to dialogue and not blinded by a hateful ideology:

You are part of the problem, not part of the solution: If you are really idealistic and committed to a better world, stop with the false rhetoric. We need moderate people to come together in good faith to help find the path to relieve the human suffering on both sides of the Israel-Palestinian conflict. Vilification and false labeling is a blind alley that is unjust and takes us nowhere.

You deny Israel the fundamental right of every society to defend itself: You condemn Israel for building a security barrier to protect its citizens from suicide bombers and for striking at buildings from which missiles are launched at its cities - but you never offer an alternative. Aren't you practicing yourself a deep form of racism by denying an entire society the right to defend itself?

Your criticism is willfully hypocritical: Do Israel's Arab citizens suffer from disadvantage? You better believe it. Do African Americans 10 minutes from the Berkeley campus suffer from disadvantage - you better believe it, too. So should we launch a Berkeley Apartheid Week, or should we seek real ways to better our societies and make opportunity more available.

You are betraying the moderate Muslims and Jews who are working to achieve peace: Your radicalism is undermining the forces for peace in Israel and in the Palestinian territories. We are working hard to move toward a peace agreement that recognizes the legitimate rights of both Israel and the Palestinian people, and you are tearing down by falsely vilifying one side.

Israel Exports Surge 33%. Is the BDS movement responsible?

TEL AVIV, Feb 16 - Israel's economy grew at an annualised 4.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009, its fastest pace in nearly two years and helped by a surge in exports...

Exports -- which account for nearly half of Israel's economic activity -- surged 33 percent in the fourth quarter while consumer spending rose 4.4 percent, according to the government's prior estimate of fourth-quarter data.

I can't help but wonder about the role the BDS movement has played in this. Did the BDS movement help fuel this growth by calling attention to the wide variety of Israeli consumer goods available in America?

Trader Joes Couscous was reported to "fly off the shelves" in some locations, as a direct result of the boycott publicity.

And in Toronto over 500 cases of Israeli wine were sold out in half an hour to the dismay of boycott organizer, who slunked away in embarrassment.

When we fight back, we win.
Support Democracy, buy Israeli.
And be sure to sign up for notifications of Buycott action here

Can we find 433,971 people to hate on Israel? California's Divestment Initiative

Cross posted Here:

After 10 years of abject failure, the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions Movement, like the Energizer bunny, keeps going and going and going...

Chris Yatooma has recently introduced a ballot initiative to force California's state pension funds to divest from companies doing business in Israel. 433,971 signatures are needed by mid-July to put the proposed law on the November election ballot.

The initiative was submitted under the name of the "Israel Divestiture Forum," (IDF). According to an interview in the San Francisco Examiner , Yatooma claims "that's just me having some fun". No, Mr. Yatooma, it's fraud. The same way Paul Larudee of the International Solidarity Movement naming his latest anti-Israel venture the "Association for Investment in Popular Action Committees" ( AIPAC ) is fraud, meant to deliberately deceive. It’s the same tactics we've seen over and over again, as the anti-Israel forces attempt to push their agenda on a disinterested public. In the absence of facts and history, fraud and outright forgery have become the well-oiled tools in the anti-Israel tool chest.

According to Mr. Yatooma, "Public retirement systems in this state currently invest on behalf of the citizens of California in publicly traded foreign companies that may be at risk due to business ties with foreign states such as Israel." Clearly Mr. Yatooma has not read "Start up Nation" . Israel has more companies on the tech-oriented NASDAQ than any country outside the United States - more than all of Europe, Japan, Korea, India, and China combined. Israel also attracts more of the global pool of venture capital investments per capita than any other country, with $2 billion in foreign venture capital invested in 2008. For the last five years the Israeli economy has substantially outstripped the average GDP growth rate of developed countries. Today Israel has the highest density of startups in the world.

Yatooma's initiative is chock full of typos, misstatements and downright lies. His agenda is clear, however- by declaring "territory occupied by Israel since 1949" he denies the right of Israel to exist, within any borders.

Over the years the California initiative process has been hijacked by special interest groups pushing their agenda, and this year is no different. An initiative costs $200 to file, but can cost nearly $2 million to qualify for the ballot. The question is not whether Yatooma find 433,971 people to hate on Israel, but whether he can do it without resorting to fraud, forgery and lies. Given the history of the BDS movement, the odds aren't good.

BERKELEY FELLOWSHIP OF UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISTS AND THE WORLD CAN'T WAIT - HAMAS AGENDA

The Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists - an activist group flying under religious cover in the East Bay settlement of Berkeley - continues to promote hatred towards Israel and her supporters.

Their compadres at The World Can't Wait sent out the following notice:


Quote:
Sunday, February 21, 7 PM
END THE SIEGE! FREE GAZA ! A REPORT BACK ON THE GAZA FREEDOM MARCH WITH ALAN GOODMAN
Berkeley Fellowship Of Unitarian Universalists 1924 Cedar Street (At Bonita), Berkeley, CA Info: 510-684-8270

Alan Goodman, a participant in the Gaza Freedom March and a correspondent for Revolution newspaper, will give a report back on the Gaza Freedom March that took place on December 31, 2009 in Cairo. His slideshow-presentation illustrates and brings to life the critical situation for the people of Gaza one year after Israel's massacre. It highlights the importance of the Gaza Freedom March, in the struggle to break the siege of Gaza. This presentation paints a vivid picture of challenges in persevering with the mission of the March in Egypt after Egyptian authorities banned the marchers from going to Gaza - including a unique report on a major protest meeting of Egyptians to break the siege of Gaza......
End quote.


Now, if you are worried about the ethics of publishing material from their mailing list, don't be. The same notice also said "Forward this email far and wide, and mark your calendar. And we'll see you there! P.S. World Can't Wait will be tabling at all these programs, so if you can volunteer to help, we welcome your email or call!"
You may consider this post a 'far and wide forwarding'.


NOTE: Despite their best efforts, the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists cannot possibly equal the sheer hatemongering of their night with Gilad Atzmon last year on June 8.
It was a charity performance on behalf of the Free Gaza and International Solidarity Movements, co-sponsored by Bay Area Women in Black.


I remember it well.


Tuesday, June 02, 2009
HATE: CHURCH SANCTIONED IN BERKELEY
The Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists (BFUU) plans to host notorious hate-monger Gilad Atzmon. The event in question will a be a charity performance on behalf of the Free Gaza and International Solidarity Movements, co-sponsored by Bay Area Women in Black.
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/06/hate-its-church-sanctioned-in-berkeley.html


Monday, June 08, 2009
ANTI-SEMITISM IN BERKELEY - THE BFUU AND GILAD ATZMON
"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... "
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/06/anti-semitism-in-berkeley-bfuu-and.html

Tuesday, June 09, 2009
UNITARIANS, GILAD ATZMON, HAMAS FLAG? BERKELEY!
"After the Berkeley Unitarians had been made aware of the "controversial" nature of Gilad Atzmon's writings, they decided to go ahead with the planned event, claiming they had merely "contracted to rent the BFUU hall" for a "group the BFUU-SJC had supported before", namely the ISM (International Solidarity Movement). "
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/06/unitarians-gilad-atzmon-hamas-flag.html


Tuesday, June 09, 2009
STEPHEN PEARCY AND JOSEPH ANDERSON AT THE BFUU
"Personally, I *EXULT* everytime I see an Israeli Jew bit the dust. And the same goes for their American cousins! EVERY SINGLE JEW EVERYWHERE IN THE WORLD is a just and appropriate target for anti-colonialist liberation! We need to start targeting *EVERY* synagogue, *EVERY* Jew community center, school and everywhere else that you racist devils preach and propogate your agenda."
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/06/stephen-pearcy-and-joseph-anderson-at.html


Wednesday, June 10, 2009
MORE ABOUT GILAD ATZMON
"Questioning the holocaust and its meaning is what liberation of humanity means today and in the near future. "
"If the Palestinians are indeed the last victims of Hitler, then the holocaust and its meaning do belong to them more than anyone else."
http://atthebackofthehill.blogspot.com/2009/06/more-about-gilad-atzmon.html


It is worth remembering that the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists assert themselves as being equitable and openminded - in Berkeley that means an uncritical attitude towards bigotry, pro-terrorist ideologies, and hate.
Because, after all, those too are viewpoints.

Please direct any queries you may have to:

Berkeley Fellowship Of Unitarian Universalists
1924 Cedar Street (At Bonita), Berkeley, CA
Info: 510-684-8270


I am sure they will be delighted at the chance to make their opinions known.
Or their assorted sincere feelings.
That, also, is part of religious outreach.

Journalist Khaled Abu Toameh to speak at UC Berkeley

Wednesday February 17, 2010 at 7:00pm
Tan Oak Room of MLK Building, UC Berkeley
UC Berkeley
Berkeley, California

Acclaimed Palestinian Journalist Abu Toameh will speak at UC Berkeley Wednesday. Khaled Abu Toameh ( خالد أبو طعمة‎, ) is an Israeli Arab journalist and documentary filmmaker. He is the West Bank and Gaza correspondent for the Jerusalem Post and U.S. News and World Report, and has been the Palestinian affairs producer for NBC News since 1988.

Khaled Abu Toameh was formerly a senior reporter for The Jerusalem Report, and a correspondent for Al-Fajr. He has produced several documentaries on the Palestinians for the BBC, Channel 4, Australian, Danish and Swedish TV.

Read his work here and here

Khaled Abu Toameh provides a a balanced, nuanced approach to reporting about the middle east. In his words:

During a recent visit to several university campuses in the U.S., I discovered that there is more sympathy for Hamas there than there is in Ramallah.

"Listening to some students and professors on these campuses, for a moment I thought I was sitting opposite a Hamas spokesman or a would-be-suicide bomber.

I was told, for instance, that Israel has no right to exist, that Israel’s “apartheid system” is worse than the one that existed in South Africa and that Operation Cast Lead was launched only because Hamas was beginning to show signs that it was interested in making peace and not because of the rockets that the Islamic movement was launching at Israeli communities.

I was also told that top Fatah operative Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life terms in prison for masterminding terror attacks against Israeli civilians, was thrown behind bars simply because he was trying to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Furthermore, I was told that all the talk about financial corruption in the Palestinian Authority was “Zionist propaganda” and that Yasser Arafat had done wonderful things for his people, including the establishment of schools, hospitals and universities.

The good news is that these remarks were made only by a minority of people on the campuses who describe themselves as “pro-Palestinian,” although the overwhelming majority of them are not Palestinians or even Arabs or Muslims.

The bad news is that these groups of hard-line activists/thugs are trying to intimidate anyone who dares to say something that they don’t like to hear. "

Berkeley Daily Planet = Kaputz!

Yes. It's over. Done. Gone. The Berkeley Daily Planet, the evil little rag run by no other than Becky O'Malley herself, is (almost - come Feb 25th) no more.

For years, Becky kept the rag alive with her own funds, determined to bash Jews at every opportunity. Rumor has it that the accountant embezzled enough funds to deter even this most vicious anti-semite from spending further pension proceeds on the rag.

So, the rag goes online. To be lost among the intarwebs, in a minefield of boredom.

The Daily Planet Watchdog had this to say:

Sad, Sad Day

The Daily Planet announced today that it is ceasing print operations, effective February 25. It will apparently continue on, at least for a while, as some kind of online echo chamber for Marxist and jihadi opinion, devoid of reportage.

We mourn its loss. A good local paper could have been a great civic asset. Regrettably, Daily Planet Executive Editor and Owner, Becky O’Malley, could never bring herself to represent the public good. Instead, she insisted on using her newspaper for the relentless dissemination of hatred and misinformation, enslaving it to her bitter prejudices and personal vendettas. In time, the paper’s advertisers fled, most decent citizens of Berkeley ceased reading it (except to monitor it for hate speech or to read its funnies), the paper’s print run shrank, and its news racks devolved into receptacles for fast food wrappers (see here), a habitat for vermin (see here). In a final orgy of self-pity, O’Malley threw a fundraiser for herself, but less than one-half of one per cent of her readers came to her party, resulting in little profit, if any at all. See here.

Defiant to the end, when recently castigated for publishing a paranoid conspiracy theory about the swine flu vaccine, she promised to desist from publishing further junk science lest it harm the public. But then when leaders in the community posed the question as to why she would desist from publishing junk science when she continues to publish junk history and junk theology that only serves to demonize Jews and Israelis (see here), her incredible response was to change her mind about junk science, and to state that she would then continue to publish nutty conspiracy theories (January 28, 2010). So great was this sorry woman’s hatred and bitterness.

We regret what could have been. However, we take heart that the Daily Planet’s ignoble demise, along with the financial ruin of its owners, Becky and Michael O’Malley, might serve as an object lesson to Berkeleyans for generations to come. In particular, future Berkeley newspapers (and politicians for that matter) may think two or three times over before they ever again so grossly insult the sensibilities of a large proportion of Berkeley’s population.

We do not know whether the Daily Planet’s online blog will warrant further efforts on our part. Nevertheless, we will keep DPWatchDog online into the indefinite future as a corrective to the availability of past issues of the Berkeley Daily Planet at the local library and online, for the use of future historians, and as a matter of personal pride, happy to have been able to help serve the public good.

John Gertz
Editor

Fight the BDS Movement--Shop at the Davis Co-op on Feb 14 and Show Israel Some Love!

The BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement is an tactic from the anti-apartheid effort now adopted by the anti-Israel groups in the US and Europe. Of course, it completely ignores the fact that Arabs in the State of Israel have citizenship and full and equal political and civil rights. and that there is no apartheid in the Mid-East’s only democracy.

Periodically, this effort targets stores selling Israeli products, in an effort to persuade them to stop stocking them. This time, they have focused their efforts on the Davis Co-op. The good news is that Co-op isn't buying the garbage being peddled by the anti-Israel groups.

So, go to the Davis Co-op and show Israel some love on Sunday, Feb. 14 for Valentine’s day.

1. Buy a whole bunch of Israeli products (if they are off the shelf, maybe someone else read this and bought the entire stock-- so go to the store manager and tell him/her they need to buy more!) Israeli wine, couscous and feta cheese are available at the Co-op.

2. Tell the store manager to keep stocking these products because you really like them!

3. Also tell the store manager that we’ve declared Feb. 14 as the "Day to Buy Israeli Products" so they can be prepared. And please pass the couscous.

Davis Co-op
620 G St
Davis, Ca., 95616

A New Product to Boycott: Non-invasive lung cancer test developed in Israel.

Another medical marvel out of Israel- A non-invasive, inexpensive way to diagnose lung cancer:

"Using an array of sensors made of gold particles measuring just 5-nanometers wide (one nanometer is 1/100,000 the width of a human hair), researchers at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology have developed an "electronic nose" able to distinguish the breath of lung cancer patients from those without the disease. The research results, published online yesterday on the Website of Nature Nanotechnology, could lead to a rapid and non-invasive way of diagnosing and screening for lung cancer." In an initial trial, the “breathalyzer” test was able to detect lung cancer with 86 percent accuracy.

Also interesting about this project is that the research in Israel was led by Dr. Hossam Haick, an Arab Israeli and winner of many awards for his research, including the Chair for Leaders in Science and Technology (2006-2008), the Israel-France Award for Academic Excellence (2008), the Herschel Rich Innovation Award (2008), the Minerva Short-Term Research Award (2008), the Bergmann Award for Excellent Young Scientists (2007), the CREATE Award (2007), the Al-Qendil Prize (2007), and the YMCA (2007) and Rotary (2007) Honorary Decorations. In addition, Dr. Haick was selected for the lists of “50 Leading Israelis for 2007” and “four saluted Israeli scientists” of Yedioth Aharonot. Other honors and awards include the Fulbright fellowship, ‘Israel Ministry of Science and Technology' awards, Dr. Avrahami prize, and CNR-IMIP prize. Just what we'd expect from Israel, the apartheid state.

These findings have great potential for fast, easy, and cost-effective early diagnosis and screening of lung cancer. Be sure to look for this, and other fine Israeli innovations on the next Code Pink boycott list, because saving lives is never as important as advancing an ideology.

BERKELEY DAILY PLANET ADVERTISERS SUPPORTING JEW HATE

For a long time the Berkeley Daily Planet has had an agenda that can best be categorized as 'fashionably anti-Semitic'. This is in keeping with much of the Berkeley welt-anschauung, and so cannot be considered either daringly different or deliberately provocative. Anti-Semitism in Berkeley is a stolidly middle-class phenomenon.

The distaste for Jews in Berkeley is reassuringly boring, bourgeois, and supportive of the status-quo.

Consequently, businesses that advertise in the Berkeley Daily Planet (published weekly) do so secure in the knowledge that their funding of Becky O'Malley's racist rag will in no way offend their customer-base. Purchasing ad-space in the Berkeley Daily Planet is a savvy business move and attracts precisely the clientele to which they wish to cater.


Ethical people will not want to patronize the following businesses:


Black Oak Books
2618 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley, 94710, Tel. 510-486-0698.
Berkeley Self Storage
2235 San Pablo Ave., Berkeley Tel. 510-843-1400.
Johnson Medical Inc.
2801 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, 510-843-2488.
The Luggage Center
2221 Shattuck Ave., Berkeley, 94704, Tel. 510-843-3385.
Persimmon
9024 The Alameda, Berkeley, Tel. 510-524-3220.



BERKELEYITE GUTTER PRESS

For more on the Daily Planet and its hetze against Jews, see this post:
http://anarchozionist.blogspot.com/2009/10/becky-omalley-is-rabid-hater.html
And this:
http://deathbynoodles.blogspot.com/2009/07/daily-planet-watchdog-and-bitter-bitch.html


For an in-depth expose of the Berkeley Daily Planet, go to the site of the Daily Planet Watchdog:
http://dpwatchdog.com/


Even a passing examination of the facts will make it obvious that the Berkeley Daily Planet and its readers aspire to an almost Faustian creepiness.

Berkeley, once a forward looking bastion of liberal values, has become a cramped and stunted parody of itself; a place where free-speech is permitted provided it is au-courant, hip, and above all politically approved, where dissent is applauded only if it is comfortingly orthodox.
The Berkeley Daily Planet caters to an audience that is hopelessly addicted to their own self-gratificatory fantasies.

In the past, similar publications would be sold under the counter.

Nowadays masturbatory material like the Berkeley Daily Planet is unabashedly sponsored by the venal salesmen of a passé bohemia.