The email below is a report from a controversial NY City Council delegation to Israel. It was sent out today by Eric Koch, the spokesperson for City Council Speaker, Melissa Mark-Viverito. Notice what’s missing: nothing about the occupation. No visit to an occupied Palestinian site. But the usual pinkwashing. And fun times with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, who has pushed forward the Judaization of occupied East Jerusalem.
Or as Council Member David Greenfield tweeted: “Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat explains the imperative for a United Jerusalem to [Mark-Viverito and other council members.]” Or as Council Speaker Mark-Viverito reported, “Great convo” with Barkat.
The delegation is set to visit several sites inside the occupation. Let’s see who’s first to tweet the wall!
The email:
Background on NYC Council Delegation Trip to Israel
Tuesday
The delegation received a security briefing from an IDF representative at Mitzpe Benaya, the northern border. The representative spoke about some of the conflicts in recent years at the northern border and took the delegation to a memorial for 73 Israeli soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in February 1997.
Photo: https://twitter.com/JCRC/status/567599709858955264
In the afternoon, the delegation traveled to Nazareth to visit Tsofen, an NGO that seeks to expand hi-tech industries in the Arab community of Israel. The Chairman, Dr. Ramzi Halabi, spoke about hi-tech as a vehicle to improve employment rates among Arab Israelis and to mitigate economic inequality.
Photo: https://twitter.com/jtaranto/status/567685553248673793
The delegation then traveled to Tel Aviv, where they visited the Tel Aviv Museum of Art and toured several collections.
That evening, the delegation dined with Tel Aviv Deputy Mayor Asaf Zamir, the youngest person to ever serve in this position in Tel Aviv (he was first elected at age 28). In addition to serving as Deputy Mayor, he is also a member of the City Council (at large).
More photos from Tuesday
https://twitter.com/MarkLevineNYC/status/567568379720900608
https://twitter.com/NYCGreenfield/status/567564792324317184
https://twitter.com/MMViverito/status/567684450389983232
https://twitter.com/JeffLeb/status/567646602475491329
Wednesday
The delegation began the day with a walking tour in the center of Tel Aviv and then proceeded to Sderot, a town of 25,000 residents and the largest town on the border of Gaza.
In Sderot, the delegation met with Mayor Alon Davidi, who discussed Sderot’s growth in the face of many challenges. The delegation was also briefed by the Eshkol Regional Council, where they discussed how 60% of the fresh produce consumed in Israel is grown within the region. Both meetings also focused on Sderot’s strong investments in education and culture. The delegation also toured their security command center – members asked many questions on the tunnels, rockets and the impact of violence.
Photo: https://twitter.com/jtaranto/status/568092714748637184
Photo: https://twitter.com/NYCGreenfield/status/568076978294624257
The delegation had lunch at Cafe Yael, which is a social entrepreneurship business run by at-risk youth ages 15-18. This program provides them the opportunity to participate in business-oriented enterprises, acquire professional skills in the workplace and reconnect with the community. While at the café, the delegation heard from the manager and wait-staff – along with a 16 year old member of Sderot’s youth council who discussed the war’s impacts on her town and how the youth council has come together to help. The delegation encouraged her to run for the City Council. Also at Cafe Yael, the delegation met with the director of the Israel Trauma Coalition. She stressed the long-term impacts of trauma and the importance of building a local infrastructure to address it, as opposed to outside NGOs coming in for short terms and then leaving residents behind. This resonated with members in Sandy-affected districts.
The delegation then visited the Ibim Absorption Center – a center for new immigrants. The delegation met with the staff and then proceeded to one of the classrooms, where children receive instruction. Members helped the children make masks for the celebration of Purim.
Photo: https://twitter.com/JimmyVanBramer/status/568104448129544192
In the evening, the delegation arrived in Jerusalem and participated in a dinner briefing with Professor Reuven Hazan of Hebrew University. He discussed Israeli politics, particularly how the parliamentary system and judicial system works in Israel and how they differ from the U.S.
Photo: https://twitter.com/JeffLeb/status/568163254809133056
More Photos from Wednesday
https://twitter.com/NYCGreenfield/status/568075456529829888
https://twitter.com/nkrasnovsky/status/568128758953029632
https://twitter.com/bradlander/status/567935177697001475
Thursday
Snow followed the delegation from New York City to Jerusalem.
Photo: https://twitter.com/MarkLevineNYC/status/568393591430590465
The delegation began the day by visiting City Hall and meeting with Mayor Nir Barkat, Deputy Mayor Ofer Berkovitz and members of the City Council. Delegation members discussed commercial development with Jerusalem officials, noting that they look to New York City as a model for cultural tourism as an economic development strategy. Jerusalem officials also discussed how they have offered incentives to hi-tech startups and sought to create clusters for biotech and medicine.
Photo: https://twitter.com/jtaranto/status/568422671085514753
Following the meeting, the delegation visited Yad Vashem and received a guided tour of the museum. The tour was very emotional for the delegation.
The delegation then visited the Jerusalem Open House for Peace and Tolerance- an LGBT center where they met with staff to discuss LGBT issues.
Photo: https://twitter.com/JimmyVanBramer/status/568412988257906688
More Photos from Thursday
Good job, Phil.
This is sickening to witness~ but it’s been going on forever. NYC people should be outraged.
I guess they were not treated like this when they arrived at Ben Gurion:
“Welcome to Israel, you subhuman
Re-entry into the country proved to be a humiliating affair, involving an interrogation and fingerprints.
………..As soon as she passed through, the two female agents stationed there shouted after her in Hebrew: “What do you think you’re doing? That’s not the way to enter. Come back.” My wife exited through the manual turnstile, placed the child down in front of her, put the pass over the barcode reader again and they quickly passed through. More shouting, again in Hebrew, and again my wife hurried back out. This time I interjected: “Instead of shouting at her in a language she doesn’t understand, perhaps you could just explain to her what she’s supposed to do.”
My wife repeated the process once more, and our 6-year-old daughter went in after her. The inspectors were now focused on me. I said that I understood that at three o’clock in the morning it’s hard to be that nice, but suggested that they at least make an effort for the sake of the tourists who are coming to Israel.
“Are you calling us lazy?” one of them asked accusingly.
I tried to slide my pass over the machine so I could go in. One of the inspectors, who like her colleague had her coat covering her ID tag, told me that I could try all I liked, but I wasn’t going in.
And so I waited there, without knowing why. I called out to my daughter to calm her and told her that I couldn’t come in yet because these two girls were exploiting their power and behaving in an undemocratic way. They shooed my daughter away and had a brief discussion of my parenting skills, and then one said to the other: “Come, let’s move away so we don’t catch his germs.”
I told them they should be ashamed, and that this was not the way to treat someone who’s coming to visit Israel.
“Subhumans like you, better that you don’t come to Israel. It’s a good thing you don’t live here,” the “nicer” one of the two hissed at me. I told them they were acting like a pair of idiots.”
more @- http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.643033
Subhuman is as subhuman does.
Well, some of us would say that all their visits are to occupied Palestinian sites and inside the occupation. :-D
Can’t blame them. After all they MUST show their devotion to the mothership, and besides, going to occupied Palestinian sites means facing reality, and the fact that they support obsessively, the continued human rights violations, and the suffering that they will be confronted with.
Why disturb their delusional minds right now?
Nude swimming anyone?
I guess they heard versions of this wherever they went:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LmsI1viJsI