The Boulder Daily Camera reports on a campaign by local extremists to head off a proposal to make Boulder a sister city of Nablus. The initiative was defeated last June, but three City Councilpeople, including Macon Cowles, above, voted for it. The opponents of the proposal say it’s anti-Semitic. How crazy is that?
A Colorado Springs-based conservative organization is targeting Boulder City Councilman Macon Cowles with automated phone calls spotlighting his vote in favor of making the Palestinian city of Nablus a Boulder sister city.
In the so-called “robocalls,” which appear to have started Thursday evening, the caller identifies himself as “Kevin” from Colorado Liberty Alliance.
“Boulder means something special, but Councilman Macon Cowles doesn’t understand it,” the recorded call said. “Are honor killings of women, jailing journalists for what they write and oppressing gays Boulder values? Of course not. But Councilman Macon Cowles voted to make Nablus, where these atrocities are routine, Boulder’s sister city.”
Cowles described his run-in with one of the anti-Nablus activists at a fundraiser for local farmers:
Cowles said he was going to get a glass of wine when Eric Weissmann, a failed Republican candidate for the 2nd Congressional District, the seat held by Boulder Democrat Jared Polis, said, “After you, Nablus.”
Weissmann exchanged words with Cowles’ wife, Regina Cowles, at the fundraiser, and Weissmann then started tweeting extensively about Cowles’ vote and urging people not to re-elect Cowles, who is one of two incumbents running for re-election.
The other is Mayor Matt Appelbaum, who voted “no” on making Nablus a sister city…
“I think his vote to make Nablus a sister city of Boulder was an endorsement of the anti-Semitic rhetoric used by the proponents of that relationship and in complete disregard of the human rights situation in Nablus,” Weissmann said.
Max Blumenthal brought this to our attention.
Mork and Mindy was filmed in Boulder. Maybe the Republican is from the planet Ork too. Nanu nanu
“Making Boulder a sister city to Nablus would be ‘anti-Semitic,’”
Meh. What isn’t?
“Are honor killings of women, jailing journalists for what they write and oppressing gays Boulder values? Of course not.”
I like when people are so precise when they specify “values”. Quite possible these are Colorado Springs values. More seriously, while Colorado Springs is not that far from Boulder, politically they are extremely far apart.
Characteristically, the article in Boulder newspaper cites Boulder Jewish opponents of “Nablus sister city” as stressing that they have nothing to do with the evil influence from Colorado Springs.
Pragmatically, Macon Cowles has a very good case. This is precisely a kind of idea that would be attacked by die-hard supporters of two sides in the conflict, after all, it is pretty close to “normalizing”. Yet “sister city” program entails some exchanges when both sides can learn more about problems and successes of the other side. Indeed, I do not recall any recent case of journalists arrested in Boulder. While in Nablus, quick google search shows:
Journalists can also be arrested by PA forces that are trained by USA and cooperating with IDF, so it is not precisely indigenous idea. Of course, each story has more than one side. But if a community like Boulder cannot make an effort to understand other cultures with achievements and problems, problems that come from within and from outside, who can do it in USA? Think tanks in D.C.? [piotr dabbles is semi-sincere speech writing, but Boulder should have well-deserved civic pride]
I don’t think it’s neccessary to highlight that the local representative of the Israel lobby, who made such outragous comments, is Republican. I think, it would be better to highlight that that zionist racist in disguise represents the Israeli lobby.
The dirty little secret is Boulder is loaded with PEPs. You couldn’t blame the shameful vote in June on the Springs and Republicans. They just repeated what the good “progressives” of Boulder said at the meeting:
http://www.dailycamera.com/news/boulder/ci_23432091/boulder-city-council-denies-making-nablus-sister-city