People should bring coffee to "Jews Say No," the fabulous ladies (and a few men too) outside the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency offices on Third Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets in New York. The east side of the street. They're holding a 24-hour protest. I stopped by this afternoon and heard about 20 of them chanting "A Shonde, a Shame/The Occupation in our Name!" The not-in-our-name thing is key. The group formed over Gaza, and took heart when 800 Jews joined a protest outside the Israeli consulate a month ago. I talked to Nina Felshin, an art curator at Wesleyan, who said it was the first time in a long career of social activism that she's identified Jewishly. "I'm not religious at all, I'm an atheist. I've always been a part of a diverse group of activists. But I want to use my Jewish voice to speak out." That way she can signal to non-Jews that it's not antisemitic to criticize Israel, and to Jews that their secret apprehensions about what Israel is turning into are widely shared. Jump in, the water's fine.
"Never again! Not in our name!
"Israel's violence is our shame!"
While I was there, a number of people engaged the protesters. More heat than light, you'd expect. But Hannah Mermelstein managed to explain to one guy that Palestinians have no problem accepting her as a Jew. "[The dispute] is not about borders, but about basic human rights," she said. "I've never once felt in any physical danger. Why is that? It's because I'm there in solidarity. This is not an ethic or religious issue, it's the politics of Zionism…Jews can live with Muslims and Arabs."
The big message of the group, which we should all remember when we're in discussions with anyone, is that "It's not the rockets, it's the occupation." They held up photographs of three Palestinian kids standing at a checkpoint behind barbed wire. Makes me angry.
Jane Hirschmann said they expected to have a few hundred people coming on and off the line overnight. So: coffee, doughnuts, and It's not the rockets, it's the occupation. They're there now. Hannah Mermelstein is there now. Go talk to her, ask her what it's like on the West Bank…
(Phil Weiss)
Related posts:
- Zionist dream
- Congresswoman brags of checking with Zionist Organization president before she signs on to legislation
- Zionist Organization of America states that George Mitchell has ‘racist’ ideas
- Outraged American Jews turn last night of Hanukkah into Shiva for Gaza
- Non-Zionist seder night (O, lord, how can we be like the neocons?)
{ 25 comments }
B'hatzlacha to this group – "It's the occupation stupid"
Damn. I really would like to go. 10 PM. Hour train ride in from Jersey, and then walk across town. Not much money. Can't do it. Next time…
Why now? I guess it's suddenly good in the eyes of some Jews for Jews to be against Zionism. Yawn!
More power to them.
Go ladies,go.
Next protest in front of congress.
Go ladies,go.
Now that Zionism is toast, let’s reiterate some of the lessons from its failure (particularly for Lefties suffering from delusions of righteousness): A) Perpetual, unconditional welfare is destructive and dysfunctional, as Israel proves. B) “Victims” aren’t always victims. As often as not, they’re running a money-grabbing angle; C) A dysfunctional culture should never be rewarded with welfare largesse; D) Special interest politics is a dead end and comprised of cynical opportunists; E) Deep down, politicians only care about those with money, therefore the smaller government is, and the less power that politicians have, the better off the poor will be so long as a there is a God-fearing citizenry about to do its good works.
LOL. Typical of the breed. Sorry, but you don't exactly brim with credibility if the only circumstances that you come out of the hole of hiding being Jewish is to attack Israel.
Funny how with very rare exceptions, the "Jews" who attack Israel are Jewish by birth but have absolutely no other connection to being Jewish. They don't go to synagogues, they do nothing charitable that relates to any Jewish organization (other than organizations that are anti-Semitic Kapos like themselves).
They are people whose whole existence is a denial of their Judaism. Their attacking Israel is just another symptom of this denial. They hate being Jewish so much that they attack Jews to prove to the rest of the world how not Jewish they are. Ironic that they then turn around and declare their "Jewishness" to make their attacks ore effective.
They are all screwed up in the head.
LOL Thom.
You sound like the kind of guy who just loves Irshad Manji, Amir Taheri and Wafa Sultan
Funny how with very rare exceptions, the "Muslims"
"Jews"who attack IslamIsraelare MuslimJewishby birth but have absolutely no other connection to being MuslimJewish.I could go on, but you get my drift
@Ed
BTW, I am not sure what you are talking about with the points you numbered, but that description fits the Palestinians to a T.
"A) Perpetual, unconditional welfare is destructive and dysfunctional, as Israel proves."
A vast percentage of the Palestinian population has been living off of UN handouts for decades without bothering to try to actually build a society.
"B) 'Victims' aren’t always victims."
The Palestinian propaganda brims with the idea that "weak makes right". The idea that they are the good guys because they are the weaker party.
BTW, nice racist stereotype about "As often as not, they’re running a money-grabbing angle;". Classic anti-Semitism there. Going to blather on about how we run the world and drink the blood of Christians now?
"C) A dysfunctional culture should never be rewarded with welfare largesse;"
Cultures don't come any more dysfunctional than the Palestinians. Poverty stricken, lose everytime they fight Israel, their answer, spend money and resources on missiles to force Israel to fight them. Rewarded by more U.N. and European handouts.
"D) Special interest politics is a dead end and comprised of cynical opportunists;"
People that scream about Israel defending itself after remaining silent about Palestinian terrorism that lead to Israel defending itself. Nothing more cynical than that.
"E) Deep down, politicians only care about those with money, therefore the smaller government is, and the less power that politicians have, the better off the poor will be so long as a there is a God-fearing citizenry about to do its good works."
ROFL. Not really connected with Palestine, but it is the G.W.B philosophy of government. The problem is that the Republicans think government is incompetent and when they get in, they do their best to prove it.
I can't think of any reason not to criticize Israel. Every other country gets attacked on the Internet. If Israel doesn't want to be criticized it could start by not occupying the west bank and shooting white phosphorous shells at UN schools.
Thom writes: "People that scream about Israel defending itself after remaining silent about Palestinian terrorism that lead to Israel defending itself."
A commenter lately wrote this, which I think has some merit: "Israel has as much right to defend itself as Germany when it invaded Poland." And another one wrote that if you want to characterize Palestinian as terrorists, then you would have to label members of the French Resistance as terrorists as well. And that, too, has some merit.
In fact, as noted by Michael Mandel, Israel is defending itself against "Peace": "[...] self-defence, if you will, not against rockets and mortars, but against having to make peace with the Palestinians on the basis of the pre-1967 borders as required by international law."
Thom.
A vast percentage of the Palestinian population has been living off of UN handouts for decades without bothering to try to actually build a society. . . . BTW, nice racist stereotype about "As often as not, they’re running a money-grabbing angle;"
Israel has taken over $110 billion from American taxpayers with no return to the American people other than threatening WWIII with Iran. Israel has never given out foreign aid to another country. Basically, a thief. Palestinian handouts from the UN? A pittance by comparison.
If Israel and its inhabitants are such a great country with such brains, why can't it accomplish success on its own steam, why does it need to be a parasite on the US whale?
Because the American Congress is 99% Kapo in the sense that it sells out the USA by being full partners with zionist lebensraum addicts.
"Jewish by birth" is all you need (no matter where you were born, where you grew up, or live) to rob Palestinian arabs of land they lived on for hundreds of years, bulldoze their homes, kill their babies with F-16s, tanks, Apache attack helicopters, white phosphorous, etc. If that's good enough for the sacred state Of Israel and organized jewry around the globe, why isn't it good enough for Thom and his ilk?
If you're born in USA and criticize USA policy, does that make you un-American?
If one born jewish criticizes Israeli policy, does that make him or her not Jewish, or a self-hating jew?
Phil says he's an anti-zionist. And he's stated on his blog in the past exactly why this is so. Maybe the hasbara newbie crowd of the last month or so should cruise through older parts of his blog. Come up with something other than hasbara canards & juvenile personal slurs.
I love it. Nina Felshin, the Female version of Phil Weiss. Somehow when it comes to bashing Israel she's Jewish. No other time, no other place
Thom: They don't go to synagogues, they do nothing charitable that relates to any Jewish organization (other than organizations that are anti-Semitic Kapos like themselves).
Why do you this this is, Thom? Could being smeared as "anti-Semitic Kapos" or "self-hating Jews" have something to do their estrangement from the organized Jewish community?
Jeez, citizen, could you make your spew a little more antisemitic? We can't be sure which side of the fence you're slinging bullshit.
Why would anyone need to actually put the truth in well parsed sentences to combat the stupidity coming from citizen?
Come up with something other than hasbara canards & juvenile personal slurs.
Posted by: Citizen | February 13, 2009 at 04:31 AM
Because the American Congress is 99% Kapo in the sense that it sells out the USA by being full partners with zionist lebensraum addicts.
Posted by: Citizen | February 13, 2009 at 02:15 AM
Hipocracy, thy name is citizen
Atta boychik, chris. Hit me wit' dat ol' time religion! You scraped to the bottom of its barrel & found the "antisemitic" adjective card. What's that we hear? The little boy who cried wolf? He never learns. Boogie-man gonna get you!
man, hasbara wanker and a bold tag, dangerous thing.
You don't have to be Chosen to criticize Zionism, just human.
@ Thom: "it is the G.W.B philosophy of government."
GWB grew government more than any politician since FDR. And he gave Israel a blank welfare and geopolitical check to do as it pleased. He was no conservative, even though he ran as one to get elected. Any authentic conservative or classic liberal would have gotten Israel off of welfare decades ago.
In fact, why don't all the wealthy American Zionists get together and pay for Israel's welfare check instead of passing the buck to the American taxpayer? Obviously, they're not willing to put their money where their mouths are. So it really can't be that important of an issue to them, despite their posturing. It's obviously more of a hobby, even though they're willing to go to extreme lengths in order to stick average Americans with the bill.
@David F.
Calling them what they are does have something to do with their estrangement.
Much the same way that putting a criminal in prison has something to do with his being a criminal.
Their "estrangement" as you call it leads them to attack Israel and spread anti-Semitic lies about Jews.
The relationship is that their anti-Semitism causes them to be called self-hating Jews. Not that being called self-hating Jews causes them to be anti-Semitic.
@Ed
I didn't say it was his practice, only his philosophy. As for supporting Israel, a stopped clock is right twice a day. It was about the only thing Bush did right.
As for the taxes, given the high percentage of American Jews who are doctors, lawyers, and other high earning professionals, I would be surprised if American Jews didn't pay twice the taxes (on average, per capita) as Americans of other demographic groups. We probably also take less in food stamps and other welfare.
Even if we only paid the average amount, Israel gets slightly more than one tenth of one percent of the U.S. budget. Given that almost all Jews in America, about 2% of the population, support Israel, and that Jews on average pay for more of the U.S. budget than the average American, it doesn't seem unreasonable to give one tenth of one percent of the budget to America's strongest ally in the Middle East. Especially since a lot of that money then gets spent on American made products.
So it really can't be that important of an issue to them, despite their posturing. It's obviously more of a hobby, even though they're willing to go to extreme lengths in order to stick average Americans with the bill.
I've often thought this as well. They've lost sight of what the whole thing was about, if they even knew in the first place, and now it's just second-nature to them to defend Israel at all costs, despite its brutal behavior, and to label anyone who doesn't agree with them as an "anti-semite". It really is a hobby, a way to pass the time, with no thought accompanying their actions.
JSN kicks major butt!
Right on, ladies, right on!
@Thom: "Jews on average pay for more of the U.S. budget than the average American, it doesn't seem unreasonable to give one tenth of one percent" to Israel.
Okay, Thom. Given that Catholics carry a big percentage of the US budget, why can't they designate that their funds go to the Vatican?
You have inadvertently put your finger on why Jewish-American Zionists are so troublesome and destructive to the American fabric and American unity: they insist on being the "chosen" exception to the rules that apply to everyone else. They use Israel's perpetual inability to get along with its neighbors as their rationale.
BTW, Israel isn't America's strongest ally in the Middle East, it is its biggest liability and albatross, because Americans end up paying a price for the insane behavior of screwy Israeli Jewish Zionists driven by their delusions of choseness and supremacy. Why should Americans subject their future to the whims and intemperate behavior of such an unpredictable and unstable people who are always in a fight with someone or other?
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