Cairo, Egypt
Yesterday we joined the people of Gaza, the people of all of Palestine, and allies around the world in remembering the anniversary of the inhuman and illegal Israeli attacks that stole the lives of more than 1,400 mothers, fathers, daughters, and sons last December and January. And, in a manner far too appropriately suited to remembering an unfathomably vicious massacre and the preposterous silence of the American and Egyptian governments, we freedom marched in circles throughout the streets of Cairo.
The Egyptian government has revoked the contracts for the buses that would take us one step closer on our journey to Gaza and has forbidden us from leaving Cairo. Military police have torn down our small hand-written cards tied to the Kasr al Nil Bridge, following the Israelis’ lead in trying to disappear the names and numbers of Gaza’s martyrs. Candles meant to float along the Nile in remembrance are still in their boxes, their hundreds of distributors never permitted to board the feluccas (river boats) waiting just beyond overwhelming security forces. We regroup, circle again, and find another path to remembering and reminding, another way through the many checkpoints and the impossible border ahead.
The Egyptian government taunts us, encouraging us to enjoy the tourist attractions Cairo offers during our mandatory stay in the city. And some of us do. We even take Gaza with us: Yesterday, Abdullah Anar, a Turkish Muslim, and Max Geller, an American Jew, raced up the face of one of the pyramids to unveil a 12 meter by 6 meter Palestinian flag. For about three minutes one of the most resilient structures on earth proudly called the name of one of the world’s most unbreakable people. We smuggle stories like this one through the tunnels connecting our hearts, exposing them in whispered reminders of the beauty and truth in this struggle, and the unending patience and flexibility we are slowly learning from our friends in Gaza.
We are more than 1,300 representing over 40 nations; we are scrappy, and we are undeterred. More than 330 French delegates camp out at their embassy, demanding the buses that never arrived there last night. They face an army of twenty-five military trucks, and a wall of police three bodies deep on all sides. 8 of us are held in Ismailia, a long way from our border destination. 30 more are detained in Al Arish, near the Rafah crossing. 2 keep a lonely vigil at a checkpoint just outside of Al Arish, refusing to turn back. And hundreds of us circle silently in the smoky haze of Cairo, evading the informants that infest our hostels and meeting spaces, planning, failing, and then planning again.
We do not forget that our frustrations here in Cairo are the smallest fraction of what our friends in Gaza suffer every day. We do not forget the passport privilege that has so far kept us from physical harm. We do not forget the shelter awarded by some of our embassies, and our friends and allies who make endless appeals to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry on our behalf. Yesterday was not a day of forgetting. December 27th is a day to remember.
We remember the more than 1,400 that were murdered. We remember the hundreds more who have died as a result of this horrific siege. We remember the tens of thousands who are still homeless, one full year later. And we remember our sisters and brothers on the other side of the Rafah border who have breathed life into this historic march every day for months, who have guided our feet to Cairo, and who light the shadowy path to Gaza. Most of all we remember that they will still be caged in Israel’s massive open-air prison long after we’ve safely returned home.
And so we freedom march in circles, planning, dodging, regrouping, often failing, sometimes succeeding, and then circling again. Joining our friends in Gaza for the Freedom March on December 31st is possibly nothing more than a dream now, but in these long days we take lessons from our Palestinian mentors, who have walked far more treacherous circles than ours. And we march with them in Cairo and in dozens of cities across the globe as we demand that the Israeli, American, and Egyptian governments listen to the people of the world and set Gaza free.
Emily Ratner (emily@nolahumanrights.org) is an organizer and mediamaker based in New Orleans. In June she traveled to Gaza with a New Orleans delegation. This month she will be joining thousands of Palestinians and internationals for the Gaza Freedom March on December 31st. Help us get there.
In Egypt: Contact the Palestine Division in Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo Ahmed Azzam, tel +202-25749682 Email: ahmed.azzam@mfa.gov.eg
In the U.S.: contact the Egyptian Embassy, 202-895-5400 and ask for Omar Youssef or email omaryoussef@hotmail.com
“We smuggle stories like this one through the tunnels connecting our hearts”
“hundreds of us circle silently in the smoky haze of Cairo, evading the informants that infest our hostels and meeting spaces, planning, failing, and then planning again”
“but in these long days we take lessons from our Palestinian mentors, who have walked far more treacherous circles than ours”
I think we’ve all known 23 year old girls like this–self-dramatizing, earnest to the point of inanity, deeply convinced that her personal struggle is global. Their language betrays a desire to be a partisan in occupied France (informants INFEST her HOSTEL? LOL!) But then, something happens. They get married, have children, and realize that the heroes of their confused youth were the butchers of little children like their own.
Ouch OJ,
but you are definitely right on….. I like your sense of reality. Its something that is definitely lacking from this blog.
Emily, I hope you enjoy Cairo, if you haven’t seen the pyramids yet, its worth a look. Of course you will be funding the Zionist controlled Egyptian Antiquities Authority, but it may be worth a look anyways.
Traitor Joe and Yonira Deville seem to be getting along so well, aren’t they? It’s like we’ve been a dating match site for people who are just tickled pink at the thought of starving Palestinian orphans or hospitals, mosques and apartment buildings that are just squashed flat by American military hardware in the hands of Zionist cultists.
Talk about a match made in hell.
I suppose someday they’ll both have to leave the country they’ve betrayed and help to break its back, but for now, they’ll have to look wistfully on Gaza from afar and keep dreaming of the day they can waltz together across the slaughtered corpses of all those “lesser” men, women and children, once their adoptive vaterland has finished dealing with the Palestinians.
“I like your sense of reality. Its something that is definitely lacking from this blog. ”
Sense being the operative word, and given your own disconnect Yonira, you’ve just given OJ a kiss of death in terms of credibility.
OJ: I’m 57 years old; I’ve had plenty of experience to prove that I know something of life; and I identify completely with Emily Ratner and wish I were in Cairo with her, Phil, and the rest of them.
That is ok OJ and yonira, one can judge your condition by what you post, it is a sort of dead from the neck up ailment (and probably a waist down one also) – and inability to think beyond your own cave shadows. We carry the future with us, you cannot identify, because you are already dead.
This is how some outsiders would look into the picture (This actually have happened in our school). A bully on top of a low fence pushed his classmates setting beside him towards another student hanging on a branch nearby trying to reach something. The hanging student seeing they would both fall from the tree fend off strongly the friend to protect himself from impending doom. With such a strong thrust, the friend hit the concrete wall and have his forehead bleeding. What followed next, the teachers and the mother of the friend seeing blood, barged in with nose fuming in anger, berating the student for his ‘brutality’. Then there was heated ‘arguments’ before the school principal as the parent of the student came and defended his act. The student was finally vindicated because other students who saw the incident took witness and testified in his defense.
In this case as Israel, appears to be like the student, shall we berate him also? The civil societies are just like the teachers who after seeing blood, reacted angrily without taking into reason and fair justice at all. In this incident, who acted like fools? Can intellectual people losing rationality not act like morons (sorry for the term) at all?
That has to be the stupidest, most contrived analogy I have ever seen. And I’m speaking as some who grew up protecting other people from bullies.
Are you honestly suggesting that Israel is somehow “saving” the Gazans by starving them and leveling their homes, schools, mosques, hospitals, polices stations, factories, farms, etc.? Seriously?
actually she has done OJ a great service by demonstrating for us an example of the confused youth who likely will grow up to realize that the heroes of their confused youth were the butchers of little children like their own.
There is one big difference between the two; to sacrifice in saving one is honor, while saving to sacrifice one is pride…
For what are we saving here, in this conflict? Honor? Or hatred for more war?
What are we sacrificing here, rationality, true justice? lives for what?
As some people who ask, can there be peace without justice, are we really sure what we are taking sides here ends in doing true justice? Or our justice is just feeding fodders to this war?
Gee, zamaaz, the only thing I noticed about the distinction you are making, is that the people you associate with “honor” are white European in descent, whereas the people you condemn are brown Arabs.
Or on the other side, Chaos4700, these white Europeans may have acted like morons… It depends on how we look at the circumstances… We need to have look at our selves, and take a deeper and lots of afterthoughts over the situation; ‘Perhaps, there could also be some wrong in me…’
good advice, i suggest you take it. have a deeper look at yourself, lots of afterthoughts over the situation there could very well be some wrong w/you. logic impaired perhaps.
I heard some people say, ‘truth is sometimes stranger than fiction..’
well i’d say your fiction is stranger than truth!
Bullies are very creative people, they almost have infinite ways to create trouble to others. Perhaps what you saw was only an iota in the art of bullying….
You mean like, declaring a ceasefire, then breaking a ceasefire to kill half a dozen people on the surface for the crime of digging in the dirt, then declaring that the ceasefire was actually broken by the retaliation to said incident?
Or how about declaring a “settlement freeze,” then building anyway, and then claiming you can’t negotiate with the other side because they aren’t responding to the fake gesture of consolation that you didn’t actually do?
Zamaaz, have you ever considered the fact that perhaps you are like the teachers and the mother of the friend, assuming that the Palestinians are the aggressors, when in fact it is Israel who is the bully that started it all? Again, you admit that you are ignorant, like the teachers and the mother before they learned the truth from the other students. Learn first and then when you have, come back and speak. Otherwise you are exactly like those who react without knowing.
Yes this is what I meant too, before we fume with madness let us determine first the mitigating circumstances…I would like to ask question to everyone who really have the historical knowledge on this war in Gaza; before shooting started and rockets flew in relation to these issues (resettlements, blockade, etc.) who really did fire the first shot over Gaza?
In a rule of law, seeking for justice is one thing, killing is another. He who ‘touches’ first is liable.
Zamaaz. You have much, much to learn if you need to ask a question like that. You need to get the books I recommended. You need to do a lot of reading. You are making judgments here without knowing what you are talking about. You are just like the teachers in your analogy. Learn first. Then come to conclusions and don’t assume that your first conclusion is the correct one.
Short and incomplete answer:
Many, if not most, of the people of Gaza are descendants of Palestinians who were forcibly expelled from their lands in what became Israel and were never allowed to return. In 1967, Israel occupied Gaza and the West Bank and put the Palestinians under severe restrictions and institute two sets of laws in the occupied territories, one very harsh military one for Palestinians, and one democratic and civil one for Jewish Israelis. Israel has been occupying Gaza ever since, and even though it removed its Israeli civilians in 2005, it is still the occupying power in Gaza, controlling the airspace, all borders, and the sea access to Gaza. If you want a good reading on the actions of Israel in Gaza and the West Bank, I would suggest you go to the B’Tselem site. B’Tselem is an Israeli human rights organization that documents Israel’s actions in the occupied territories.
Here’s its website:
link to btselem.org
Read first, and stop making analogies out of ignorance. Ignorance is not in itself something to be ashamed of, but willful ignorance is.
And by the way, before I am accused, let us first look again into the case; of the school incident. Let us consider first the timeline, turn of events, and the intent and accompanying reactions of the actors involved…and superimpose these into the Gaza incident…a) Before shooting starts who is at the first place doing his own business as he is entitled to? why was the friend hurt? why was the student forced to react strongly? why did he acted strongly? Shall we conden the teachers,and the mother in the first palce? No because they were shocked! But are their actions reasonable, credible, or worthy? The trouble here, like the teachers, is further multiplied when people react into the situation like a dog driven at a corner…biting anyone they see nearby.
This is another question, why should we drive ourselves in a corner when we are in an open space full of options?
November 4th, 2008.
Look it up, Zamaaz.
There were 65 projectiles launched into Israel between the June ceasefire and November 4th.
You should also get your facts straight about what really happened on November 4th.
No Chaos, it’s much more important that we get to the bottom of this purely imaginary schoolyard bullying incident–once we understand the ins and outs of that everything regarding the Israeli/Palestinian conflict will become clear. Why waste time on learning anything about the actual history when one can dream up analogies?
Zamaaz is probably sincere, but there’s a tremendously low signal-to-noise ratio in his posts, and there seem to be an awful lot of them. I’d recommend people just pass him by.
Now I see the reason why Hamas took the last option of violence…So violence we must, violence shall we have… my sincere symphaty to all who were involved and suffered in this tragic incident…while we here are just audience in this passage of time…and suffer also while hearing the cries of the wounded…
somehow all of us must look at ourselves countless times, inorder to end this war.
Wilful ignorance, zamaaz. Learn first, then speak. Speaking from ignorance is not helpful.
Yonira, sweetie? See, there is this thing we have called factual statistical data. One notices you have absolutely none to offer.
Here, this article does a pretty good job of laying it out.
link to huffingtonpost.com
But of course, we already know you can’t really be bothered to read all that much, yonira, so let me just quote you the conclusion statement:
“There were 65 projectiles launched into Israel between the June ceasefire and November 4th.”
Wrong. There were 15 and even Isrel admits, none were fired by Hamas.
link to youtube.com
“You should also get your facts straight about what really happened on November 4th. ”
Yes Yonira,
Do enlighten us as to what the facts are with regard to November 4th.
Where’d you get your numbers yonira?They seem to be skewed. According to the Israeli Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center, an NGO with ties to the Israeli government, there were 20 rockets and 18 mortar shells fired between the start of the ceasefire and November 4th. That’s 38 projectiles.(Compared to 1072 rockets and 1199 mortars fired in the 5 months prior to the ceasefire. ) And none of the rockets or mortars were fired from Hamas itself during that time of the ceasefire prior to November 4th. According to the ITIC:
“… Hamas was careful to maintain the ceasefire and its operatives were not involved in rocket attacks. At the same time, the movement tried to enforce the terms of the arrangement on the other terrorist organizations and to prevent them from violating it. Hamas took a number of steps against networks which violated the arrangement, but in a limited fashion and contenting itself with short-term detentions and confiscating weapons…. However, it was clear that … Hamas sought to avoid direct confrontations with the rogue organizations (especially the PIJ) insofar as was possible, lest it be accused of collaborating with Israel and harming the ‘resistance.’ Hamas therefore focused on using politics to convince the organizations to maintain the lull arrangement and on seeking support for it within Gazan public opinion (including issuing statements by its activists regarding the lull’s achievements).”[70]
Source: link to zcommunications.org
Thanks to Chaos for the great link.
i’ve met emily, we were on the same delegation to gaza in june. not every smart motivated socially conscious young woman is confused OJ. your misogynistic flag is flying.
Atta boy, OJ, smear the idealism of youth; it never did anything for a better world.
He’s a troll. He can’t say anything substantive, so he sits around spraying insults and racist drivel.
The fact that this hatemonger is still allowed to post here despite the objections of many to his abuse, while Cliff was banned, despite the objections of many, does not speak well for Phil’s judgment.
I have suggested, many a time, that Phil get in touch with Mark Elf of Jews Sans Frontieres and discuss with him about the problems of running the comment section on an anti-Zionist web-site.
But, of course, there’s a big difference; Mark Elf acrually reads and responds to his comment section.
Believe me, even as stupid as OhioJoe and Yonira (excuse me for the ungentlemanly comment, my dear) are, it might not bem long before one of their more marginally intelligent best fiends suggests that the comment section at Mondoweiss is ripe for Hasbara.
And so we will get a flood of Israeli propaganda, and anti-semitic and Holacaust denying provacatuers. (Well, at least in that departmnent I think we have the real thing) And a heapin helpin of Witty!
Hey Phil, remember Ferdinand, the Bull? He tried to play both sides of the fence. But they don’t call him the Bull anymore.
Mark Elf tries to maintain the standard of (forgive me if this is not ver frickin’batim, okay?) : No bigots, liars or time-wasters.
And he still lets me comment!
I’d be resentful if it weren’t for the fact that I’m pretty thick-skinned about OJ and yonira’s snipes at my sexual orientation. As it stands, yeah, I’m a bit disappointed in Mr. Weiss. He’s allowed a bit of a double standard to creep into the moderation by tolerating all sorts of hate speech against Arabs, Muslims, homosexuals, etc. but clamping down hard whenever anyone says anything even remotely edgy about Jews.
I respect Mr. Weiss but… it’s hard not to perceive that Jewish exceptionalism is at work, even here.
I didn’t know that Cliff was banned. Sorry to hear about that.
I enjoy reading JSF from time to time, but Elf has a particular line and anyone who varies from that runs the risk of getting smeared as “anti-semite”. Elf considers Paul Eisen an anti-semite, so I think that he may consider Phil Weiss one too. Both Paul and Phil talk about Jewish power and influence and that seems to be a verboten talking point at JSF.
And JSF does much less posting than Phil does, and I would bet that even without the heavy moderation JSF gets considerably fewer comments than Phil’s site does. So the JSF model doesn’t work here.
I do wish that Phil would be more evenhanded in who he bans. Outside of rank personal insults and/or repeated hateful and/or violent statements, I don’t think any opinion should be banned.
I’m sorry to hear Cliff was banned as well. He could certainly hold his own, and he was passionate. One reason why I thought he was a valuable addition here was his (east) Indian heritage; he didn’t grow up with the North American fear of being called an anti-semite; Indians scoff at those labels or, at least, deal with them in any entirely different way; they are more than used to having groups of people delineated best, good, indifferent, or untouchable, whatever, based on ancient prescriptions or scripts. Cliff represented a view that exists among the intelligentsia on many continents outside of the US — although I believe he lived in the US, but not sure — and his passion for ‘stop the inhumane killing’ resonated on many levels. Grant you, I didn’t read everything he wrote, but I will miss him.
Adding my voice here to those who lament banning people like Cliff. His passion was evident, as MRW, even if he ran off the rails at times. he also confessed to being young, which i tended to believe, and when called on something has shown himself capable of recanting/rephrasing.
Let’s face it – there are many people around the world who are just roiled and enraged by the carnage israel inflicted on gazans and the daily egregious human rights violations committed against palestinians egged on by diaspora zionists, and enabled by US administrations so fond of preaching about democracy, liberty and rights. Not all of them have been cowed by the heavy handed tactics of shouting ‘anti-semite’ at the drop of a hat. indians, in particular, know all about caste systems and the evil they wrought. No wonder they see some of that played out in comment sections even of those professing to be anti-zionist. The US version of Brahamins may decry the caste system, but are still awfully thin skinned when it comes to the privilege of criticizing just so.
personally, i can’t for the life of me see why Cliff, who came across at most as a bit too earnest at times, would be banned for an off-handed, off-color comment or two, while obvious islamophobes and trolls like OJ – pretend non-jews (yes, he lies about that) who violate the rules of civilized exchange every time they comment, are still around.
One finds it hard not to see the double standard as tree and chaos say above. Why is it OK to smear muslims with mud slinging but jews can’t be subjected to the occasional spittle? To be sure, it’s Phil’s blog, and he can treat commenters as he wishes but a perceived lack of even handedness casts a bit of a pall over the discourse.
I am reminded of the disproportionately vitriolic response by Goldberg to garrison’s mild mention of jewish writers of secularized christmas songs.
I quite agree.
But Phil has announced a comment policy here. He has claimed that hate speech won’t be tolerated. And he’s asked people to report such abuse.
So what happens? People report the flagrant, abusive hate speech of people like OJ, people whose only purpose here is to troll, to insult other posters and cause trouble. The reports are ignored.
But someone like Cliff, whose opinions could certainly be immoderately expressed yet who had made many positive contributions to the discourse here, gets summarily banned because his comments were occasionally negative towards Jews.
It is clear that Phil’s moderation principles don’t conform to his stated policies.
Ohio was just banned and Cliff should be back. Phil was going to do it before leaving for Cairo, but maybe didn’t get to it. I’ll look into it.
It’s just Phil and me trying to keep up with the comments, so as you can imagine it’s too much to follow (although I know many of you do, and we appreciate it). If you ever want to contact us about issues you’re having with the comments, or a commenter, you should email mondoweiss@gmail.com.
Thanks, Adam. I appreciate your efforts and know its not easy. I’m happy to hear that OJ is banned, as he was purely abusive, and glad to hear that Cliff will be back because he contributed to the discussions.
Good for you Adam. Glad you let us know – am sure everyone appreciates it. You have a truly loyal following here, which is probably the envy of many a blog. Sometimes we even get some real high level discourse going, which is the very thing trolls try to disrupt. Thanks again for all your work.
I have never said anything about your homosexuality Chaos. Don’t lie about that also. I don’t think either OJ or myself have said anything about Muslims either, at least things which you could consider hate speech.
As for Cliff, was he banned or is he just having a fit because he was disciplined on here? I know his comment was moderated, but beyond that does anyone really know?
Thanks, Adam. I genuinely think he added something to the board, and it was fun, actually, to watch his 24-year-old self nearly split himself with steam over topics the rest of have come to peace with. I do believe his heart is in the right place, and it has to do with inhumane treatment of people, which the Millennials, of which he is one, have little patience with and will wind up deriding Baby Boomers, of which I am one, for generations to come as phony murderers for the loss of human life we have allowed under the guise of nationalism, or national security, or the effing Bible, or whatever. The Land of the Free we are not.
Talk to the hand, “girlfriend.”
Yes, you did, yonira. You used the word faggot, too.
I didn’t have to go far to find this from OJ, with you applauding his comment:
Since Ratner was speaking of her support for the Palestinian civilians of Gaza, OJ was clearly and hatefully accusing all Gazans of being “the butchers of little children”, apparently even the children of Gaza, who make up 50% of the population, are butchers in OJ’s fevered brain. Hate speech. Funny you couldn’t recognize it yonira, and instead thought he should be commended on his “reality”.
And that was a relatively mild comment of OJ’s.
Thank you, Adam.
Thanks Adam. And nice to see people here didn’t think I was an antisemitic either.
I don’t want to beat a dead horse, but annie if you want to talk to me in emails about my post (or we can bump the thread) – I’m willing to do so w/o swearing like a sailor.
People here didn’t see it because it was deleted, but I wasn’t trying to insult Nurit. One analogy I tried to make to Adam I think in an email, was of the episode of Scarborough where Z. Bersomething called Joe ‘stunningly superficial’ – he held up a newspaper with a picture of a Palestinian woman and Israeli woman.
The Israeli was being comforted after a rocket siren went off (due to rockets, it wasn’t a drill). The Palestinian had lost her family.
This is not to A) devalue the suffering of the Israeli or to imply that the Israeli in this comparison is symbolic of Israeli suffering or B) equate the Israeli woman in the picture to Nurit (within the bigger picture I guess).
My focus was on an activist who was for a long time, PEP. I wasn’t criticizing A (Nurit). I was criticizing AB (the citing of Nurit by the long-time PEP activist).
And what I meant by ‘paradigm of parity’ was a kind of language/imagery that mystifies the conflict. It’s true that both sides are suffering, but one side is suffering a hell of a lot more on top of obvious logistical inequalities/blah blah. But I should have known who Nurit was and you know even if she wasn’t outspoken, she still lost her daughter. So I was treading on sensitive territory and I should have just not said anything.
I wasn’t attacking Nurit for speaking about her own suffering though. I was attacking the picture presented by someone who was recently PEP.
All in all, what I said was stupid and the more I think about my post, it’s just too paranoid in tone. Too rigid. I’m imposing all kinds of conditions for who gets to support the Palestinians. In fact, I recently read a ridiculous comment by Julian in another thread about Hedy Epstein. He’s basically trying to ‘define’ who is a Holocaust survivor and even insults her figure at the end. She’s an elderly woman, and you’re insulting her for her looks? And when I think about my post, I felt like I was also clamping down and being a gatekeeper. Like I was trying to restrict who is and isn’t acceptable. And while that’s not entirely wrong, the point is about extent and I was extreme.
I believe in my basic point, but when I got down to the details in this specific case, it just made me feel ugly. Like I was weighing peoples losses and it made me think of the siege of Gaza and how the Israeli government dictates what is a ‘luxury item’ (food) not to be allowed in.
I feel bad about what I said, but I didn’t like Phil banning me and then annie getting the last word in.
I didn’t randomly come in, insult a mother who lost her child, and then leave.
My basic point was already articulated by Ahmed too I believe in a piece on the blog called something like ‘A more Jewish focus won’t blah blah[...]‘ and by Seham who wrote about how Palestinians always need a Jewish person to say something first. She ended by quoting Darwish(sp) – whose words perfectly illustrate my point.
I do get this blog is through Phil’s lens – a focus on Jewishness. I am not ignorant of that – but I’m not criticizing his right to frame this conflict anyway he wants, I’m criticizing the legitimacy of doing so. The intellectual legitimacy.
And again, while I was upset and went off the rails (and I was vulgar in emails), I still think this blog is better than anything else on I-P and that’s because of Phil/Adam and the guest commentators.
Basically, it’s my fault for taking the internet for granted and getting mad because I can. I vent here, and go about my day. That’s not fair really. Have to show some restraint or people get alienated.
Anyways, sorry for my original post in any case.
Here is what I said MRW:
I understand your frustration w/ ppl like Chaos, you can repeat something a hundred times, but still he continues w/ the same accusations. No need to call him a faggot though, it just feeds his victim complex.
Please at least go back and read the post, memory is often clouded by passion.
So… he shouldn’t call me a “faggot,” not because the word doesn’t apply or is, you know, hateful, but because if he does, I’ll exploit it in some kind of “victim complex.”
Really now.
You’ll have to excuse me, I’m suffering from massive convulsions of laughter at the thought of a Zionist Jew attributing a victim complex to anyone else. If that pot got any blacker, coal companies would start writing legislation for Congress to allow them to drill on it.
Cliff – this was really good – I did not see the offending post being, as usual, late for the aftermath, but what matters is the way you are willing to recast the episode, explaining without excusing. of course, am glad to see my hunch was not far of the mark, and glad to see you back in any case. Just don’t get all misty eyed, over-chastized on us now…OK?
he shouldn’t call you that because its offensive and not needed.
This is the first time you bothered to acknowledge that it was offensive at all. Were you hoping to get partial credit for late work?
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Thanks to Emily for this report.
Yes, and I think she will be bringing us more samples.
Activists also joined in commemoration by trending #Gaza on twitter. Check the action story at link to justicentric.posterous.com
and link to nadinemoawad.com
thanks for excellent news/links
Let’s see how Odious Jerk manages to smear this protester:
link to google.com
According to the Italian daily La Repubblica the 140 members of the Italian delegation to the GFM tried to get to Rafah and their buses were blocked by Egyptian authorities. Some have managed to reach the Italian Embassy and others UN headquarters in Cairo. They are asking the Italian foreign ministry to intervene.
According to another report, the group that was blocked numbered about 500, of various nationalities. The Italians have gone to their embassy (which is giving them assistance) and others to UN headquarters.
Shmuel: Are you also fluent in Italian? How many languages do you know? How did you get to be so fluent in English, (especially contrasted with certain native English-speakers who post here)?
James, I live in Italy and am fluent in Italian. My English is the result of my Canadian birth. My family moved to Israel when I was a child.
,” (especially contrasted with certain native English-speakers who post here)”
Oh, lay off, James! I was brought up on Longuyland.
My New York Times today contains no mention of these events. My Financial Times at least does include a tiny story.
Don’t buy newspapers; read them on the internet, for free. (Except the FT; that’s worth a subscription; much more so than the Wall Street Journal, now that Murdoch has it).
PS I want to replace the odious jerk shown on my photo. (It was taken years ago, and I was drunk on the beach at the time). Does anyone know where these profiles come from? I can’t trace mine back.
www.gravatar.com
I’ve stopped reporting abuse from Odious Jerk, because, as someone said above, he’s a useful foil.
He writes such outrageous crap, that he is worth commenting on, and maybe he’s keeping the hasbara crew away.
He is trailer trash.
He’s also gone, Richard Parker, if you’ll scroll up and read Adam Horowitz’ post. Banned today.
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