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A letter to supporters of Israel: It is time to break your silence

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DEFEAT CAPITALISM AND ITS DEADLY SPAWN, IMPERIALISM
ecological murder • endless wars • ingrained racism & social injustice • worker exploitation • incurable via reforms

Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler
mondoweiss

Dear Supporters of Israel,

It is time to step out and criticize this country that has operated above accountability. Things are spiraling out of control. They have been out of control for some time, but now the insanity and madness are being exposed to the world, and this arrogant behavior must be brought into question for the sake of justice, humanity, and the survival of Israel. 

Recently, Israeli Occupation Forces entered the refugee camp of Jenin (January 2023), killing at least 10 Palestinians. Among the dead was a 61-year-old Black Palestinian mother peeking through blinds. Then, in February, a brazen attack by Israeli forces was carried out in Nablus that killed at least 11 and injured 102 Palestinians.

In response, it appears, Palestinian assailant(s) killed two Israeli brothers, and settlers have reacted in revenge attacks. There are attacks every day, reported and unreported, that are being carried out by Jewish settlers in a fanatical frenzy, and by Palestinians in response to the brutality of the occupation. This is a natural manifestation of a government swung severely to the right, embracing religious and political fascism and White Supremacy, while denying any of that, and without any legal restraints or accountability. 

To support Israel demands calls for accountability and restraint. If we remain non-judgmental in the face of wrong, injustice, and demagoguery then we are not supporting Israel, but ushering its demise. Diminishment comes in many forms: losing respect in the eyes of the world community; devolving into a totalitarian state; becoming a religious state of exclusivity and hate; and, in general, being a morally and ethically bankrupt country. 

If we allow Israel to continue to take this route it will cease to be — maybe not physically, but at the very least, it will be ethically and morally diseased. This coalition government of white supremacists, religious and political extremists need to be challenged now before it is too late.

Unfortunately, even after seeing the upheaval, violence, and calls for “Death to Arabs,” and “Death to Palestinians,” people who should be speaking out are saying “we’ll wait and see” instead. When there are attempts by religious extremists and political demagogues to defile the Al-Aqsa Mosque, even urinating on the floors of the mosque, there are still too many saying “we’ll wait and see.” 

The Congressional Black Caucus born of the Black struggle for civil rights and freedom seems to be saying “we’ll wait and see.” As Christian sites in historic Palestine are being defiled and destroyed, and religious extremists march and chant, “Death to Christians,” the silence of world Christendom is deafening, sorrowful, and an abdication of its responsibility in delineating right from wrong.

Liberals, horrified by the reports of the pogroms of this right-wing Israeli regime, still are lukewarm in their concerns and response, and apathetically question whether the actions have gone too far. They counsel to wait and see, believing in the myth of Israeli democracy, and hoping that this coalition government would eventually pivot, right itself, and in the end embrace democratic values. 

Dear supporter of Israel, why is “wait and see” a viable option at this point? Haven’t you seen enough? When is enough enough? What are you waiting for? How long will you wait? When does your waiting become too late? It is time to break your silence if you really want to save Israel. Because right now, Israel needs to be saved from itself.

I am reminded how when Donald J. Trump was elected the 45th President of the United States, many tried to excuse the looming disasters by embracing a wait-and-see posture, though his candidacy telegraphed what his presidency would be about. But many had hoped that the political system would work. Even when an ill-equipped person was elected; one who had pandered to the most vile and base elements of American culture, many chose to rationalize the expressions of hatred and racism with the consolation of waiting and seeing. 

Many in the Black community felt however, that when you hear a racist making statements you had better believe him. And the agenda of that election and administration resulted in culture wars, Christian Nationalism, White America first ideology, replacement theory, racist pronouncements, and the most extreme forms of xenophobic expressions. 

Many in the wait-and-see category kept waiting for the Trump presidency to right itself, to become more presidential, more diplomatic, more analytical — but it never did. They waited day after day and months into years for his administration to pivot, but the only pivot was further to the right and into greater division and racist anger. It plowed forward over the next four years making not wearing a mask during a pandemic a litmus test of loyalty, stressing first amendment rights as a way to insult non-white people, and pushing individual freedoms ad-nauseam at the expense of everyone else. 

Dear supporter of Israel, the same wait-and-see scenario will only reap the same results. 

What is being exposed is the long-held suspicion of Zionism as another form of White Supremacy, and is thrusting, with breakneck speed, an ideological spear within the world Jewish community and among the supporters of Israel. People, in general, do not want to be associated with fascism or White Supremacy, but because of your historical support for Israel you are now faced with that dilemma. This coalition government has created a moral dilemma of gigantic and long-lasting proportions. 

Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has been the lawyer for Israeli murderers and terrorists, and a member and leader of the ultra-extremist Kach party has been awarded the newly created post as National Security Minister. Mr. Ben-Gvir was even barred from serving in the Israeli occupation forces for his extremist and hateful views on Palestinians and Arabs. He has a portrait of Baruch Goldstein in his living room. Goldstein was a disciple of the rabidly racist Meir Kahane. Goldstein carried out a terrorist attack in the Hebron Mosque that killed 29 and wounded 125 Palestinians in 1994. For some, like Mr. Ben-Gvir, Goldstein is a national hero. So, what are you waiting to see from him? 

Benjamin Netanyahu has come back from what many had hoped was a political graveyard. He not only came back from the dead but put together a coalition of political and religious extremists to return to power. His coalition government is pushing for the ability of the Knesset to ignore rulings from the Israeli Supreme Court if those rulings threaten the coalition’s agenda and power. The restructuring of the Israeli judiciary will keep Netanyahu from legal jeopardy and allow the most extreme and racist elements of the government and Israeli society to carry out policies of apartheid, and pogroms of racial and cultural genocide against Palestinian Muslims, Christians, and secularists without accountability to the courts or anyone else. 

So, I would like to know, what are you waiting to see?

This is the time for all of us who claim to stand for civil and human rights to speak up. When we challenged South Africa and defeated apartheid, the prediction was that South Africa would cease to exist, but South Africa is still here. The same thing happened with Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), and Angola, and those nations are still here. Criticism of Israel is therefore not an advocacy for its dissolution, but to make it better, just, and righteous in its survival. To criticize and challenge a nation is not to destroy it, but to push it towards an evolutionary possess that will make it better and its future brighter. That process cannot begin however, without the criticisms that will make a country conform to the international community standards of human rights and justice.

Dear Supporter of Israel, this is a grave and frightening moment for Israel. Israel will either stand in the world’s raw spotlight of evaluation redeemed and justified, or it will sink deeper into that place where the soul of Israel will be lost forever and unable to be redeemed.

This is an appeal to the supporters of Israel, to be a voice that will seek to correct that nation; give to it the vision to live in harmony and peace with its Palestinian neighbors; and demand that Israel save itself from its current course of self-destruction. Your voice can save the nation, but your silence will ensure the country’s demise. This is my appeal, praying that you may have the courage to speak, and speak boldly.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR / SOURCE
Reverend Graylan Scott Hagler is the Senior Minister of Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, DC. He has served in that capacity since 1992. Additionally, he is the Director and Chief Visionary of Faith Strategies, LLC, an organization he started in 2015 to connect clergy with social justice movements, and social justice movements with the faith community. Rev. Hagler co-led a delegation of cultural artists to Palestine in 2014. He also led a group of Black clergy in 2016 to Palestine to witness the impact and effects of Israeli apartheid on Palestinians. 

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Up to You.

^3000US citizens have no real political representation.

We don't live in a democracy. And our freedom is disappearing fast.

I don't want to be ruled by hypocrites, whores, and war criminals.

What about you? Time to push back against the corporate oligarchy.

And its multitude of minions and lackeys.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

NOTE: ALL CAPTIONS AND PULL QUOTES BY THE EDITORS NOT THE AUTHORS
In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.


A World at War?

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Philip Giraldi

One recalls that when war fever surged demanding intervention by Imperial Britain in the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, a song became popular in the music halls which included “We don’t want to fight, But by Jingo if we do, We’ve got the ships, we’ve got the men, we’ve got the money too.” If the refrain sounds familiar, it should as the United States has been experiencing extreme “jingoism” since 2001. Any rejection of the “rules-based international order” established and policed by “leader of the free world” Washington has resulted in immediate punishment by sanctions followed by threats of military intervention. In some cases, as in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria, the actual armed intervention seeking regime change has been the end result. And it is all done to spread “freedom” and “democracy,” a claim that might be disputed by the millions of dead mostly Muslims who have had to suffer the consequences.

So the United States of America has been a country, like its best friend Israel, that seems to be perpetually at war…so what else is new? What’s new is that under President Joe Biden there has been zero diplomacy and almost reflexive reliance on wielding the “big stick.” To quote another bon mot from one of my favorite authors Raymond Chandler, creator of private eye Philip Marlowe, “…when in doubt, have two guys come through the door with guns.”

Don’t worry, Chandler’s two guys and many more like them are now in Ukraine undercover and in mufti training Ukrainians to use all the nifty Raytheon and Lockheed toys Uncle Joe has sent them. They are working together with the largely neocon advisers coaching Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who is guarded by British and US special forces, on what to say and do during his increasingly strident international calls to widen the war. If they are successful and manage to sink another Russian ship or two using harpoon missiles, which Zelensky is threatening to do, the proxy US war with Russia could quickly become for real. Zelensky’s family meanwhile is reportedly safely ensconced in an $8 million villa in Israel. He also has a multi-million dollar villa property near Miami and another in Tuscany. Who would have thought that being president of the poorest country in Europe could bring such material rewards?

"That the United States has been a major source of money, weapons and political cover for Israel since 1967 if not before is indisputable, the result of corruption of America’s government at all levels by the groups and billionaires euphemistically described as the “Israel Lobby.” War criminal Israeli leaders like Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu have boasted about their control over Congress and the White House as well as the media and every time Israel does something atrocious the only US response has been to give it more money..."

Australian journalist Caitlin Johnstone, who has a huge worldwide audience, opines that Biden is possibly the worst US president ever, worse even that his consistently denigrated predecessor and media punching bag Donald Trump. Her recent article succinctly addresses what makes Biden’s egregious failure both different and incredibly dangerous. She writes “Preventing nuclear war is a US president’s single most important job. It’s so important you shouldn’t even really have to talk about it, because it’s so self-evidently the number one priority. And this administration is just rolling the dice on nuclear conflict with increasing frequency every day. Even if humanity survives this standoff (and the one with China that’s next in line), Biden will still have been an unforgivably depraved president for allowing it to get this close. There’s no excuse whatsoever for just casually rolling the dice on all terrestrial life like this.”

Indeed, Joe Biden’s latest tricks include declaring that the US will go to war with China to protect Taiwan if Beijing should prove so bold as to want to take control of its wayward province. But the US established policy is to maintain “strategic ambiguity” about China/Taiwan, a diplomatic solution crafted in 1979 to help prevent any provocations by either party that would lead to the situation developing into a shooting war. Joe seems to have missed that point, if he ever understood it in the first place, and certainly his advisers appear to be no more savvy than he is, though the White House quickly issued a correction on the apparent gaffe in the form of a statement that automatic defense of Taiwan is not official policy. Yet.

But my favorite move by the Biden Administration, if one might be so bold as to suggest that it is actually capable of administering anything more kinetic than a hot dog stand, is the latest pander to Israel. The recent murder by military sharpshooter of Palestinian/American journalist Shireen Abu Akleh followed by a humiliating spectacle of police violence at the funeral as well as subsequently at a second Palestinian funeral, actually found some administration flunkies and congress critters calling for a full investigation by Israel. The Israeli government and army refused to do so and the White House has pretended that there is no longer anything to see or consider. Israeli Defense (sic) Minister Benny Gantz recently visited Washington but the issue of a murdered American was not even raised as top officials tried to outdo each other in expressing both their love for and fealty to the Jewish state, which Biden will soon be visiting. The US president will ignore the fact that Israel is celebrating his visit with its greatest eviction of Palestinian residents in twenty years.

That the United States has been a major source of money, weapons and political cover for Israel since 1967 if not before is indisputable, the result of corruption of America’s government at all levels by the groups and billionaires euphemistically described as the “Israel Lobby.” War criminal Israeli leaders like Ariel Sharon and Benjamin Netanyahu have boasted about their control over Congress and the White House as well as the media and every time Israel does something atrocious the only US response has been to give it more money. Israel would surely love to have the United States fights its wars, most prominently by attacking Iran, but somehow that military intervention and regime change, apart from a number of assassinations, has not yet taken place.

But now all of that might be changing due to a combination of the Biden regime’s recklessness and Israel’s genuine contempt for the American people, who they have been parasitically feeding off of since their settler state was founded. The US has, for the first time, participated in a large-scale military exercise with Israel on May 18th which was designed to simulate an attack on Iran using American Air Force refueling planes to enhance the ability of Israel to keep its jets flying to maintain air superiority over the Persians. It was a war game in the most literal sense even though the tanker aircraft did not actually refuel any Israeli planes and it basically commits the United States to be a dedicated participant if the Israelis should throw the dice and chance on a military attack on Iran’s presumed nuclear and air defense sites.

I also smell a possible false flag if the exercise is repeated, as it surely will be. What if one of the US planes taking part in a future exercise were to be shot down in an incident staged by Israel that might plausibly be attributed to Iran? As the exercises will presumably take place over the Mediterranean Sea in the coastal waters part of which Israel has inter alia stolen from Gaza and controls, bringing Iran into the equation would be difficult but possible to manage with enough cleverness combined with hubris, which the Israelis have in plentiful supply. That Israel would without hesitation shed American blood if it were to advance its own perceived interests should not be doubted by anyone. Look only at the two Israel false flag attacks against the US, the Lavon bombing incident in 1954 and the bloody assault on the USS Liberty in 1967, which killed 34 American sailors and injured more than a hundred others in an attempt to sink the ship and kill all its crew. That is the Israel America has grown to love and nourish, a viper in one’s bosom, always willing to strike the body that feeds it.

But to return to Caitlin Johnstone’s observation, America is in deep trouble. Its economy is visibly sinking while standards of living are dropping and will decline further as military spending grows while both the increasingly “woke” educational system and industrial base are no longer competitive. We have a plausibly psychopathic government that is bringing us to the brink of war with several nuclear powers. What we Americans need is not another war, but rather an end to war, particular those wars that can somehow kill most or even all of us. Instead, help build pressure to wind down the Ukraine war through negotiations, stop feeding Zelensky with weapons and money. Leave China alone and stop being Israel’s patsy against Iran and inside Syria. Try to get along with competitors. It would indeed be a Brave New World, wouldn’t it? A country at peace with itself and working to benefit the American people – something that we have rarely seen since 1945.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Philip M. Giraldi, Ph.D., is Executive Director of the Council for the National Interest, a 501(c)3 tax deductible educational foundation (Federal ID Number #52-1739023) that seeks a more interests-based U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. Website is councilforthenationalinterest.org, address is P.O. Box 2157, Purcellville VA 20134 and its email is inform@cnionline.org.

The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of The Greanville Post. However, we do think they are important enough to be transmitted to a wider audience.

 

 

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Up to You.

^3000US citizens have no real political representation.

We don't live in a democracy. And our freedom is disappearing fast.

I don't want to be ruled by hypocrites, whores, and war criminals.

What about you? Time to push back against the corporate oligarchy.

And its multitude of minions and lackeys.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

ALL CAPTIONS AND PULL QUOTES BY THE EDITORS NOT THE AUTHORS
Read it in your language • Lealo en su idioma • Lisez-le dans votre langue • Lies es in Deiner Sprache • Прочитайте это на вашем языке • 用你的语言阅读



Activists Shut Down London HQ of Israel’s Largest Arms Firm

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EXPOSING CAPITALISM'S MULTITUDE OF VICES AND INCURABLE PROBLEMS

XR Youth

PRESS RELEASE
20/04/22
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
  • Activists from XR Youth, taking action under the Palestine Action banner, have shut down the London headquarters of Israel’s largest arms firm: Elbit Systems
  • The activists have used fire extinguishers to spray the premises in blood-red paint, and are locked-on to the entrance, preventing access or operations at the building
  • Action taken in solidarity with the victims of Israeli brutality in Occupied Palestine, with the past week having seen Elbit products used against worshippers and civilians 

Today, several members of XR Youth collaborating with Palestine Action, shut down the London headquarters of Elbit Systems, at 77 Kingsway, Holborn. Activists have sprayed the site in blood-red paint, symbolising the bloodshed facilitated with Elbit-manufactured weaponry, and have locked-on to the entrance of the building, forcing its closure for the day. This action has been taken to show solidarity with the people of Palestine, who during Ramadan and Passover, have been crushed by renewed onslaughts of violence by Israel — violence which has escalated even since last May’s attacks on the Al-Aqsa mosque and other sites of Palestinian cultural importance and public life.

This past Saturday and Sunday, heavily armed Israeli police officers began a brutal attack on the Al-Aqsa mosque, breaking windows, throwing grenades, and deploying tear gas, which were used on peaceful worshipers who had come to the mosque to mark the holy month of Ramadan. Video of officers beating children and targeting families have been widely circulated on social media. It is also alleged that officers locked worshipers inside the mosque. Meanwhile, within the last 24 hours, Israel has been bombarding the Gaza strip and its captive population of Palestinian civilians.

The people of the UK, and notably its young people, are therefore taking action to hit the Israeli arms industry and its flagship company Elbit Systems where it hurts. Elbit Systems, Palestine Action’s primary target, are a weapons manufacturer with 9 sites in the UK. Their products are instrumental to the escalation and growing fatalities of a number of international conflicts. Crucially, they have been incredibly successful by marketing their weapons products as “battle-tested”. In their marketing, they omit the fact that their weapons are “tested” on Palestininan civilians before ever being sold commercially — civilians who are used as cannon-fodder so that Elbit can corner the market. Through its subsidiary IMI Systems, Elbit manufacture the vast majority of small arms and munitions, including baton rounds, used by Israeli forces in attacks such as those seen this week. The Israeli-owned firm also supply the Israeli military with 85% of its drones, including the Hermes, directly facilitating the constant bombardment of Palestinians.

This is just the latest in a sweep of actions undertaken by Palestine Actionists. Just 5 days ago, the group shut down Leicester’s UAV Tactical Systems, a subsidiary of Elbit’s, where actionists have confirmed sightings of Hermes drones in stages of manufacture. Palestine Action believes that Elbit has no right to manufacture its weapons of mass murder in the UK, nor the right to sell them in the wider world. Palestine Action’s mandate — and that of the young people who have acted today — is to keep resisting and taking direct action until Elbit Systems has been shut down. 

ENDS

NOTES TO EDITORS

Please Credit Attached Photos to Calum Ford (Free to use)

If you would like any further information on Palestine action, please contact info@palestineaction.org 

Palestine Action is a direct-action network of groups and individuals formed with the mandate of taking direct action against Elbit Systems’ UK locations at grassroots level, calling for them all to be shut down and for the British government to end its complicity in Israeli apartheid.

ELBIT SYSTEMS/SOURCES

Detail on Al-Aqsa mosque attacks: Israel storms Al-Aqsa, beats Palestinian worshipers to make way for Jewish settlers – Mondoweiss

Bombardment of Gaza: Israel strikes Gaza Strip in response to Palestinian rocket as tensions soar in Jerusalem – CBS News

Company profile on Elbit Systems, including quote by Israeli military general: https://whoprofits.org/company/elbit-systems/

More on the death and destruction inflicted by Elbit’s drones upon Gaza: https://corporatewatch.org/elbit-systems-company-profile-2/

Elbit surveillance technology for Israel’s apartheid wall: https://www.facing-finance.org/en/database/cases/elbit-systems-surveillance-system-torch-for-the-separation-barrier-in-israelpalestine/

 

Up to You.

^3000US citizens have no real political representation.

We don't live in a democracy. And our freedom is disappearing fast.

I don't want to be ruled by hypocrites, whores, and war criminals.

What about you? Time to push back against the corporate oligarchy.

And its multitude of minions and lackeys.

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

NOTE: ALL CAPTIONS AND PULL QUOTES BY THE EDITORS NOT THE AUTHORS
Read it in your language • Lealo en su idioma • Lisez-le dans votre langue • Lies es in Deiner Sprache • Прочитайте это на вашем языке • 用你的语言阅读


Coverup: Israeli forces kill Palestinian man in West Bank as tensions rise

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the establishment media is an enabler of endless wars and illegitimate oligarchic power

PressTV

Mohammad Hasan Assaf, the 34 year-old Palestinian who was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Nablus (photo by Wafa news agency)
Israeli military forces have shot and killed a young Palestinian man in the occupied West Bank, amid an escalation of violence across the occupied Palestinian territories.

According to the Palestinian Health Ministry, the 34 year-old victim, identified as Mohammad Hasan Assaf, succumbed to his injuries after being shot in the chest by Israeli forces during a military raid on the city of Nablus on Wednesday, Palestine's Wafa news agency reported.

The Israeli military did not immediately comment but said earlier that its troops were "conducting counterterrorism operations" in Nablus, as well as other cities and villages of the West Bank.

Meanwhile, Ahmad Jibril, the head of the Palestinian Red Crescent Emergency and Ambulance Department, said 17 Palestinians were injured after Israeli forces stormed the towns of Beita, al-Lubban al-Sharqiya, and Urif, in addition to Nablus.

Jibril said five Palestinians had been shot with live bullets. And one was run over by an Israeli military vehicle.

Eight Palestinians also suffered breathing difficulties after inhaling tear gas fired by the Israeli forces during clashes near Joseph's Tomb on the outskirts of Nablus.  The Israeli forces also detained a number of Palestinian youths.

 

SIDEBAR: Unheard cries of pain. Palestinians are not "the right kind of victims"

Aliya Hasan

tnoSpsraiu4afhh7lf471g0 
The pain in their cries will send shivers down your spine ????????
The family of lawyer & activist, 34 year old, Mohammad Assaf who was shot dead by “#israeli” occupation forces in #Nablus city this morning, bid him a sorrowful farewell ????
Why does their grief not illicit the same reaction from people around the world that are so compassionate when it comes to the suffering of #Ukrainians?
Do #Palestinian lives just not matter to these selective humanitarians?

The latest development comes as Israeli forces have stepped up their acts of violence against Palestinians in the cities and villages of the West Bank, including al-Quds, with new arrests, injuries, and brutal assaults reported across the Palestinian territory.

On Monday morning, a young Palestinian died of wounds he had sustained the previous day when Israeli military forces raided the occupied northern West Bank city of Jenin and opened fire on dozens of people protesting against Israeli occupation and acts of aggression.

On Sunday night, a young Palestinian man was shot and killed by Israeli forces in the southern occupied West Bank town of al-Khader. Earlier on Sunday, two Palestinian women had been murdered by Israeli forces in separate locations in the West Bank.

The regime in Tel Aviv has escalated its crackdown on Palestinians since the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, arresting a number of Palestinians in occupied East al-Quds, desecrating al-Aqsa Mosque, issuing new restrictions on the Palestinian people’s entry into the mosque, and ordering the demolition of Palestinian homes and agricultural facilities.

The Israeli violence, repeated on a daily basis, has led to fierce clashes between Israelis and Palestinians across the occupied territories.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir

www.presstv.co.uk

The views expressed herein are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of  The Greanville Post. However, we do think they are important enough to be transmitted to a wider audience.

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—The Editor, The Greanville Post
—The Editor, The Greanville Post
 

This post is part of our Orphaned Truths series with leading cultural and political analysts. People you can trust.

Indecent Corporate Journos Won't Do the Job, So Citizen Journalists Must

The Jimmy Dore Show • Fiorella Isabel — Craig Pasta Jardula (The Convo Couch) • Mike Prysner & Abby Martin (The Empire Files) • Lee Camp's Redacted Tonight • Caleb Maupin • Jonathan Cook • Jim Kavanagh • Paul Edwards • David Pear • Steven Gowans • Max Blumenthal • Ben Norton • Aaron Maté • Anya Parampil (The Grayzone) • Caitlin Johnstone • Chris Hedges • Alex Rubinstein • Alex Mercouris • Margaret Kimberley • Danny Haiphong • Bruce Lerro • Israel Shamir • Ron Unz • The Saker • Alan Macleod • Eric Zuesse • Ed Curtin • Gary Olson • Andrei Martyanov • Jeff J Brown • Godfree Roberts • Jacques Pauwels • Max Parry • Matt Orfalea • Glenn Greenwald • Rick Sterling • Jim Miles • Janice Kortkamp • Margaret Flowers

Up to You.

^3000US citizens have no real political representation.

We don't live in a democracy. And our freedom is disappearing fast.

I don't want to be ruled by hypocrites, whores, and war criminals.

What about you? Time to push back against the corporate oligarchy.

And its multitude of minions and lackeys.

The views expressed are solely those of the author and may or may not reflect those of The Greanville Post

YOU ARE FREE TO REPRODUCE THIS ARTICLE PROVIDED YOU GIVE PROPER CREDIT TO THE GREANVILLE POST
VIA A BACK LIVE LINK. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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 ALL CAPTIONS AND PULL QUOTES BY THE EDITORS NOT THE AUTHORS

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Scared to be Jewish in Los Angeles?

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Yasha Levine

The Israeli attack has been so ruthless and disproportionate that it has aroused disgust in many people who previously held no definite position on this issue.

As soon as the narrative started to shift on Israel’s massacre in Gaza and the apartheid reality of daily Israeli life, a curious thing happened: antisemitism and anti-Jewish violence suddenly, overnight, became a huge thing in America.

Politicians across America denouncing this “threat” to Jews, and all sorts of Jewish Zionist influencers are flooding their Facebook, TikTok, and Twitter feeds with horror stories about how terrified they are. Now that the Palestinians are in control of the narrative, there’s no telling what kind of violence will happen! We Jews are under attack! We’re cowering in fear, seeking refuge with sympathetic goy friends to escape the murderous antisemitic mobs!

The whole thing is of course bullshit.

The “evidence” behind this supposed danger to Jews are a few scuffles that broke out between pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian protesters over the last several weeks. What’s most notable about them is how rarely these scuffles happened. Palestinian solidarity rallies have taken place all over America, and they have been bigger than ever, with all sorts of people taking place. One or two fights happening on the margins of big emotional national events like these is pretty much statistically insignificant. What it shows is how totally peaceful they’ve been.

What else is notable about these fights is that when they did happen they were quite obviously rooted in political and ideological disputes, and not racism against “the Jews.” It’s not uncommon for people on different sides of a volatile and highly emotional political issues to come blows, which makes it even more impressive and significant that on the whole there was no real violence.

Not surprisingly, some of the incidents that have been labeled as “racially motivated attacks against Jews” were actually triggered by the Jewish — or, more accurately, the pro-Israel — side.

That’s what seems to have happened in Montreal, where members of the JDL — an extremist outfit started by now-assassinated FBI informant and Israeli politician Meir Kahane — attacked Palestinian solidarity activists and had knives and clubs. And as Max Blumenthal pointed out this week, two former IDF soldiers from the special forces Golani Brigade taunted and fought pro-Palestine protesters in New York and clearly reveled in the violence, and yet turned around and claimed they were victims of vicious anti-Jewish hatred — which is how the media framed their story.

Something similar happened here in Los Angeles.

   

A fight between pro-Palestine protesters and some pro-Israel folks out on the town eating dinner at a sushi restaurant was turned into a story about violent antisemitic mobs on the prowl, joyriding and beating up Jews in Los Angeles. LA’s shitty neoliberal mayor, Eric Garcetti, even claimed it was an “organized” attack. Organized by whom? Palestinian solidarity protesters? The Elders of Palestinian Zion? He doesn’t answer.

Prone to paranoia, I initially thought that this had to be an op — that it had to be a set up. The guys in the video were just too huge. They had their faces covered and were dressed in black like they were there for a pump and run operation meant to antisemitic havoc and shift the narrative on Palestine. Well, nah, I don’t think so anymore. It all seems much more mundane.

I dug into the story a little bit, got (useless) comment from the cops, and watched all the available videos — and it’s pretty clear that this was a fight triggered by politics. But what happened was that it got framed in the most inflammatory and deceptive way — as if this “attack” was part of a coordinated Palestinian campaign to terrorize the Jewish community in Los Angeles.

There’s one video that gives what appears to be the fullest picture of what happened.

It was filmed by what I’ll call the pro-Israel side — from a table on the sidewalk in front of a sushi restaurant, where the action took place.

The video starts by showing a caravan of cars with Palestinian flags stuck in traffic on La Cienega Blvd in Los Angeles. People in the cars are honking and chanting slogans like “Free Palestine.” There’s a black Jeep Rubicon in the caravan. It has a Palestinian flag and a couple of big guys dressed in black are standing up inside it.

One of the guys in the Jeep has a megaphone. He says: “Israel murders women and children everyday!”

To which the guy who is shooting the video (or maybe it’s one of his friends who is out of the frame) says: “YEAH, FUCK YOU!!”

The guy in the Jeep says: “You guys should be ashamed of yourselves.”

At which point the Jeep drives past the restaurant and exits the frame. Another car behind it — a white SUV — has a few young guys hanging out the windows. As it drives by, one of the guys flips off the people on the sidewalk. Clearly the people on the sidewalk were trading insults with the caravan.

There’s a sound of something small crashing against something — like someone thew something?

The next thing you see is that the guy who is shooting the video puts his phone down and grabs a bottle and some silverware or maybe a glasses and lurches aggressively forward. Does he throw the stuff at the caravan? It’s not clear.

The video continues, but all you see is the dark sky and a streetlight because the camera is facing up.

You can hear a scuffle building up and people trying to prevent it from happening. Someone on a megaphone from the pro-Palestine side is telling people to stop it: “It’s not worth it, guys. It’s not worth it. Hey! Hey! Hey! Stop! Stop! Stop!”

When the picture cuts back in, the fight is already happening. A few of the huge guys from the Jeep are on foot on the sidewalk, arguing and scuffling with some pro-Israel people from the restaurant. It’s chaotic, and people are pushing and swinging. Some guys — I think from the pro-Israel side — falls to the ground, gets kicked. One of the guys from the pro-Israel, who is jacked and amped to fight, grabs a big metal pole and swings it at one of the guys from the Jeep, just as the Jeep guy was walking away. After that, the fellas from the Jeep pin him guy against a car and beat him up a bit.

The video evidence is limited. But even what we have shows pretty clearly that it didn’t have much to do with an “organized antisemitic” attack. It looked like a political scuffle. Insults and people throwing things led to a fight. If I had to put money on it, I’d bet that the pro-Israel bros just couldn’t let the Palestinian caravan pass without shouting back at it, and that’s what helped trigger the whole thing.

And the guy who got roughed up the most? He’s not even Jewish — he’s a Lebanese Armenian.

If you have any info about what went down, let me know.

—Yasha Levine

PS: The LAPD is slowly arresting people suspected in the attack — two of them have already been booked. It’ll be interesting to see what’ll come out of the cases against them.

PPS: Initial stories, citing witnesses who didn’t want to be named, claimed the pro-Palestinian side was using antisemitic slurs. Maybe it happened, but I didn’t see it any of the videos.

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This post is part of our Orphaned Truths series with leading cultural and political analysts. People you can trust.

The Jimmy Dore Show • Fiorella Isabel — Craig Pasta Jardula (The Convo Couch) • Abby Martin (The Empire Files) • Lee Camp's Redacted Tonight • Caleb Maupin
Max Blumenthal • Ben Norton • Aaron Maté (The Grayzone) • Caitlin Johnstone • Chris Hedges

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