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‘Let’s talk about Zionism,’ is message at July 4 parade in Wellfleet, MA

Above is a sweet video of the July 4th Parade in Wellfleet, MA, last week. (Videographer is anonymous, posted by Holly Maguigan.) You can see Abdeen Jabara at :44, handing out leaflets. He reports: 

Wonderful event.  Historic occasion. This was sponsored by the July 4th Alliance for Palestinian Freedom. We specifically used “Zionist Israel” even though some people think we don’t need to mention Zionism either because they think it is redundant when mentioning Israel or that somehow Zionism is not totally implicated in What Israelis do to deny Palestinians their rights.  I personally think both are wrong.  The cards we handed out said on one side Palestine/Israel:  Peace or Apartheid.  Let’s talk about Zionism.

Writes Bruce Taub:

Every Fourth of July, in almost every American city and town there are Fourth of July parades celebrating America’s independence.  The Wellfleet July 4th Parade was saw 1000s of people lining the route, fire engines spraying the crowd, floats blowing bubbles or throwing candy or passing out bead necklaces to the kids.  The July 4th parade in Wellfleet, MA was like that except for the presence of the July 4th Palestinian Freedom Alliance float.  The applause and encouragment from the crowd was genuine.  The marchers  from ages 81 to 14 handed out 2000 of the postcards showing loss of Palestinian land from 1947 as they called out “Independence for Everyone.”  “Freedom and Justice for Everyone.”  The July 4th Alliance for Palestinian Freedom specifically used “Zionist Israel” to highlight Zionist ideology as the specific source of the enmity, not necessarily Israel per se.

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Yay Wellfleet! That’s exactly the right thing to do on any July 4th! End the Occupation!

(I so wish I could have been there)

Thanks Phil, Holly and Abdeen.

And this conversation about Zionism is exactly what should take place everyday.

98% of Americans have no clue what Jewish Zionism is, as ideology, as implemented history. Am I the only American who’s lived his whole life of way too many decades never encountering anyone who knows Jewish Zionist history and the US enablement of its un-American ideology?

It would be great if Gideon Levy could speak at the event next year. He is flying .

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.603232
“In the Jewish state, there is no remnant of the biblical injunction to treat the minority or the stranger with justice. There are no more Jews left who marched with Martin Luther King or who sat in jail with Nelson Mandela. The Jewish state, which Israel insists the Palestinians recognize, must first recognize itself. At the end of the day, at the end of a terrible week, it seems that a Jewish state means a racist, nationalistic state, meant for Jews only. “

This is a humdinging Ha’aretz editorial.
Chimes with what this site is about and has been warning about

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.603451
“Jewish hate of Arabs proves: Israel must undergo cultural revolution

Without a revolution based on humanist values, the Jewish tribe will not be worthy of its own state.

Haaretz Editorial | Jul. 7, 2014 | 2:20 AM | 17

There are no words to describe the horror allegedly done by six Jews to Mohammed Abu Khdeir of Shoafat. Although a gag order bars publication of details of the terrible murder and the identities of its alleged perpetrators, the account of Abu Khdeir’s family — according to which the boy was burned alive — would horrify any mortal. Anyone who is not satisfied with this description, can view the horror movie in which members of Israel’s Border Police are seen brutally beating Tariq Abu Khdeir, the murder victim’s 15-year-old cousin.

The Israel Police was quick to label the murderers “Jewish extremists,” meaning they aren’t part of the herd, they are outliers, “wild weeds.” This is the police’s way of trying to justify a sin, to “make the vermin kosher.” But the vermin is huge, and many-legged. It has embraced the soldiers and other young Israelis who overran the social media networks with calls for revenge and with hatred for Arabs. The vermin was welcomed by Knesset members, rabbis and public figures who demanded revenge. Nor did it skip over the prime minister, who declared “Vengeance for the blood of a small child, Satan has not yet created.”

Abu Khdeir’s murderers are not “Jewish extremists.” They are the descendants and builders of a culture of hate and vengeance that is nurtured and fertilized by the guides of “the Jewish state”: Those for whom every Arab is a bitter enemy, simply because they are Arab; those who were silent at the Beitar Jerusalem games when the team’s fans shouted “death to Arabs” at Arab players; those who call for cleansing the state of its Arab minority, or at least to drive them out of the homes and cities of the Jews.

No less responsible for the murder are those who did not halt, with an iron hand, violence by Israeli soldiers against Palestinian civilians, and who failed to investigate complaints “due to lack of public interest.” The term “Jewish extremists” actually seems more appropriate for the small Jewish minority that is still horrified by these acts of violence and murder. But they too recognize, unfortunately, that they belong to a vengeful, vindictive Jewish tribe whose license to perpetrate horrors is based on the horrors that were done to it.

Prosecuting the murderers is no longer sufficient. There must be a cultural revolution in Israel. Its political leaders and military officers must recognize this injustice and right it. They must begin raising the next generation, at least, on humanist values, and foster a tolerant public discourse. Without these, the Jewish tribe will not be worthy of its own state. “

Great work in Wellfleet! If you do it again next year we’ll join you–Chase and Jenny