JEWS SHUT DOWN ISRAELI CONSULATE FOR 3 HOURS

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Poirot
by Poirot
15-Jan-2009
 

Early this morning, Jewish activists in a historic first in Los Angeles, chained themselves to the entrance of the Israeli Consulate and blocked the driveway to the parking structure, blocking all traffic in and out of the building.

"We sent a clear message to the world that LA Jews are part of the global majority in opposition to the Israeli siege of Gaza," said Lenny Potash a 72-year old protester who was cuffed to eight other activists, blocking the driveway to the consulate. The activists were joined by 50 other supporters and who chanted "LA Jews say, End the Siege of Gaza" and "Not in Our Name! We will Not be Silent!" Protesters also held up signs reading "Israeli Consulate: Closed for War Crimes."

"We succeeded today in letting Jews and other Americans of conscience know that it is safe to speak out against the policies of the Israeli government and that the Israeli lobby does not speak for everyone," said Robin Ellis, a Registered Nurse who also risked arrest to block the consulate entrance. "We are committed to escalating non-violent activities in the future to end the siege and win justice for Palestinians," Ellis said.

The group of activists were an ad-hoc, multi-generational group of LA Jewish residents, including members of the recently founded International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. They shared a commitment to ending the Israeli siege on Gaza and an end to Israeli apartheid. The demonstration will kick off a wave of demonstrations across the United States uniting Palestinians, Jewish people, and other Americans outraged by the siege.


"We are shocked and outraged at Israeli's latest act of violent aggression against the Palestinian people. Killing over 950 people, including 250 women and children, bombing schools and mosques and then calling it self-defense—that is the worst kind of hypocrisy. It also amounts to war crimes," said Hannah Howard, a local member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network. "We shut down the Israeli consulate today because as Jewish people we cannot allow business as usual while violence is being done in our name."

Action participants also spoke out against the US government's unconditional support for Israel's siege and its ongoing war against the Palestinian people. "While US-funded F16's rain down bombs on the people of Gaza, our elected officials locally and nationally offer unqualified support." said Marsha Steinberg, a retired union representative. "Our government must stop sending billions of dollars in military and economic aid to the Israeli war machine," Goldberg said. In the coming week, concerned Americans from all backgrounds will call on the new Presidential administration to make a 180 degree change in policy.

"While the end of the siege on Gaza is our most immediate priority, this is only the latest chapter in Palestinians' 60 plus year experience of occupation and ethnic cleansing. Peace and justice in the region will only come when Palestinians have freedom and control their own destiny," said Lisa Adler, a community organizer in Los Angeles and another member of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.

"Even before the siege began, Israel's inhumane months-long blockade of Gaza created a major humanitarian crisis. We must end the siege. And we are building a nonviolent international movement of boycott, divestment and sanctions that brings an end to Israel's policies of occupation and apartheid and advances the Palestinian struggle for justice," said Adler.

For more information on the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network, visit www.ijsn.net

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Kaveh Nouraee

Ajam

by Kaveh Nouraee on

I'm not confusing any of the issues, despite your assertions to the contrary. There is a great deal more to this than time allows for either of us (well, at least me) to keep going back and forth.

I think I've been pretty clear in saying that I'm not giving Israel any credit either in all of this. They could have handled this a lot differently and there would not have been all of this bloodshed.

Needless to say, I'd like to see a restoration of the 1967 borders, with, of course, a guarantee that there will be no further incursions or violations by Hamas, Hezbollah or anyone else, and that Israel would do the same. I only see a two-state solution as workable.

Even more, I would really like to see what everyone's excuse will be when Hamas or Hezbollah or whoever violates the agreement.


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Cause and effect II

by Ajam (not verified) on

Dear KN, you seem to be confusing a number of issues. “Yes, the overwhelming majority of West Bank settlements remain,” here you sound as if any effort has been on the way to curb the settlements. Whereas, to the contrary, while Gaza was being evacuated of its 75,00 settlers (aka disengagement), 12,000 settlers were added to the West Bank in 2005!

You also sound as if Gaza and WB are two different territories “but we are talking (for the moment) about Gaza.” while Palestinians consider both WB and Gaza as their territory – there are Hamas in WB and Fattah in Gaza. In other words, while on issues such as cease-fire as well as other administrative affairs Gaza and WB act independently, when it comes to any final peace treaty, they’re considered one entity! Nevertheless, while you try to make a distinction between Gaza and WB, you throw Hezbollah (a Lebanese entity) into the mix!

While the situation in Gaza is different from that of Europe in 1940s, the means of armed resistance against a conventional army are similar. And as a matter of fact, the Partisans (militia) were the relatives of the Nazi victims all over Europe. Interestingly, there is a Hollywood propaganda movie (Defiance?) in that regard (armed struggle rising out of the Warsaw Ghettos) about to be released!

Furthermore, you seem to confuse the cause and effect here. Israeli settlement developments were not a reaction to the Palestinian armed struggle, but the cause of it! Hence, in order to put a stop to the armed resistance, Israel has to stop and dismantle its settlements as a precondition for any probable treaty. In reality, not only Israel is yet to show the willingness to undertake such a measure, but it has further developed the settlements all the while negotiating with the Palestinian Authority. Indeed, the closest Israel has ever come to halt the settlement building was in 1991 when Bush (the father) conditioned the $multi-billion loan guarantees to Israel's promising to put an end to the settlement process. Albeit Israel made the promise while resuming the activities upon receiving the loan!


Kaveh Nouraee

Ajam

by Kaveh Nouraee on

Yes, the overwhelming majority of West Bank settlements remain, but we are talking (for the moment) about Gaza.

In Gaza, where Hamas has decided that they are going to administer the rule of law and not the PNA (which is the only entity recognized as the lawful governing body of both Gaza and thw West Bank), not only have they fired rockets into Israel, but they also just marched on into Egypt without permission, supposedly to get food and water and medicine.

Hosni Mubarak, not wanting to escalate the situation with these goons, said OK (they were already in Egypt, so saying "no" would be too little, too late) so long as they didn't try to re-arm themselves and cross back into Gaza.

And what did Hamas do? Try to cross back into Gaza re-armed and re-loaded, of course. Many were caught, but it's a given that many made it back with fresh ammo and more arms.

I'm not going to try and tell you that everything Israel is doing is straight up and above-board. I know it hasn't always been that way.

Also, the victims of the Third Reich were not armed as Hamas is. There was no equivalent of Hamas or Hezbollah in the ghettos of Warsaw or Krakow or anywhere else in Europe.

Wouldn't you think that if the Israelis wanted to rid the area of all Arabs they would have implemented their own version of Hitler's Final Solution? 

I have to preface this by saying that all life is precious. The Third Reich systematically killed between 9 and 11 million people (civilians) in the 12 years that the Thousand Year Reich existed. In the 60 years since Israel declared its independence, have the numbers even come close?

Any way you want to look at it, war is ugly. It's the ultimate lose-lose situation.

Get rid of Hamas, get rid of Hezbollah, and all the other entities that Israel could possibly use as an excuse or as a reason or justification for not going back to the 1967 borders and pulling out of ALL the settlements.

If nothing changes then, I'll be the first to speak up against it.


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UK Jewish MP: Israel acting like Nazis in Gaza

by zim (not verified) on


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Resilience

by Ajam (not verified) on

Dear KN, Nazi military carried the third Reich flag, swastikas and all the works. However, French, Italian and Yugoslav Partisans (militia) hid among the civilians while they carried out attacks on Nazis. Welcome to asymmetrical warfare my friend!

And thank you for the news on Israel's evacuation of 21 Gaza settlements in 2005!!! But, FYI, there are still tens of thousands of settlements in the West Bank, housing 325.000 armed Jewish settlers with tens of thousands of Israeli troops to protect them. These settlements run deep through Palestinian territories, monopolize the majority of the water reservoirs and divide the Palestinian lands into little parcels by Jewish-only roads and by-pass HWYs. In some cases, Palestinians have to dig under-pass tunnels (like rodents) to get from one side of their orchard to another!


Kaveh Nouraee

Hamas vs. Israeli Defense Ministry

by Kaveh Nouraee on

Hamas: Hides in apartment buildings, houses, schools, hospitals, shops and businesses.

Israeli Defense Ministry: Has an Israeli flag out front, with visible signage in both Hebrew and English that says "Offices of the Israeli Defense Ministry".

Ajam, Israel withdrew from all 21 settlements in Gaza in 2005.


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Cause and Effect

by Ajam (not verified) on

Dear ID, so long as the occupation goes on, the relationship between Israel and Palestinians remain that of the colonist and colonized. Hence, even the most civilized of the Zionists whould prefer to look for ways of containing the Plaistinian dissent than to eliminate the cause of it!


IRANdokht

Ajam

by IRANdokht on

That'd be too civilized!

If they retreat to 67 borders, give back the illegal settlements, take out their fences and "checkpoints" and leave them alone, then how would they justify killing them? 

IRANdokht


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finally, a rational

by Anonymous fishie but someone took my name (not verified) on

finally, a rational discussion of this situation without the vicious name calling. i wish everyone could understand that disagreeing with israel's aggression (as i emphatically do) is NOT an admission of israel being evil. i don't KNOW what exactly is really going on and neither do any of you. the media is biased, depending on the flavor of the day. you've all said it before in one thread or another. you can't deny the fallacy in reacting to a one-sided presentation. at this point i'm not defending israels OVERLY aggressive actions but simply her right to defend herself. and it seems that just because someone is a friend of israels in general, that that means you have to crucify anyone and everyone who defends her against the vicious anti-semitism.

there IS a difference. ya know?


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Alternative to patroling!

by Ajam (not verified) on

How about ending the occupation, stopping the settlement buildings and pulling back behind the 1967 borders?


Azadeh Azad

Jewish Women Occupy Israeli Consulate in Toronto

by Azadeh Azad on


IRANdokht

if you ever wonder why this is inhumane!

by IRANdokht on

Thank you Poirot

I am not surprised to see that there are jewish people who are looking at these events in disgust. There are also jewish groups and publications that condemn the actions of IDF

The IDF has no mercy for the children in Gaza nursery schools 

 

This is  from www.haaretz.com

The public's shocking indifference to these figures is incomprehensible. A thousand propagandists and apologists cannot excuse this criminal killing. One can blame Hamas for the death of children, but no reasonable person in the world will buy these ludicrous, flawed propagandistic goods in light of the pictures and statistics coming from Gaza.

One can say Hamas hides among the civilian population, as if the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv is not located in the heart of a civilian population, as if there are places in Gaza that are not in the heart of a civilian population. One can also claim that Hamas uses children as human shields, as if in the past our own organizations fighting to establish a country did not recruit children.

IRANdokht

PS: to the ones who will try to show me how to be a "Good Iranian" and only speak of IR and it's problems: please try to be a "decent human being". 

 


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Where are you, Jewish friends?

by old friend (not verified) on

Where are all those friends whose Jewish weddings and barmitzvahs we have often celebrated on this site? Where are all those warm and compassionate Jewish friends we've had in our lives? Where are those generous and caring parents of our children's friends who have come to our help in family emergencies? Where is that famous Jewish brilliance and wisdom? What happened to all of you? Where did you disappear to? Why aren't you speaking up? Why don't you use this site to remind us you are still who you are and you are still here?

Most of the posts and comments disseminating and applauding brave Jewish voices, inside Israel and out, have been contributed to this site by non-Jews. That is good but there is a great need to hear from our Jewish friends themselves. Please show yourselves again. Friendship is not just for times of celebration, it is also for times of mourning -- and for the time to take action against catastrophe.


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Judaism

by good jew (not verified) on

“When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are to possess and casts out the many peoples living there, you shall then slaughter them all and utterly destroy them… You shall make no agreements with them nor show them any mercy…You shall destroy their altars, break down their images, cut down their groves and burn their graven images with fire. For you are a holy people unto the LORD thy God and He has chosen you to be a special people above all others upon the face of the earth…”
–Book of Deuteronomy, 7:1-8


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mother

by Mother (not verified) on

We need to show the world we are not all the same.
We DO have compassion. I am a mother.


DW Duke

Patrolling

by DW Duke on

It is puzzling that the border between Israel and the Gaza Strip can't be patrolled sufficently well to prevent the rocket launchers near the target areas from firing into Israel.  It would be far less expensive both in terms of resources and lost lives.  Additionally, the one's actually involved in the assaults would be killed not innocent civilians. 

The border of Gaza Strip and Israel is only 27 miles long.  Along the border are towns that are being shelled by Kassam rockets such as Sderot.  Israel says this assault on Gaza is to stop the rockets coming into Israel.  Why can't Israel simply patrol the border where the rockets are being fired and take out launchers when they are set up.  Even if they had to patrol 27 miles of border with a 5 helicopters each responsible for a 5 mile stretch that would be far cheaper than an invasion.   It is hard to understand why the problem can't be addressed directly.  The invasion in Gaza is like amputating an arm to deal with a broken finger.   


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Thank you

by ML (not verified) on

May the real Jewish people prosper and live in peace.
Thank you for speaking your mind and taking action to show it.
God Bless you all.