#anti-israel protests

[eretzyisrael]

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[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

By  Virginia Kruta

Even as anti-Israel protests disrupted Black Friday shopping — all over the United States and beyond — outgoing President Joe Biden was seen exiting a Nantucket bookstore with an anti-Israel volume clutched in his arms.

The protests were documented in several cities across the country — everywhere from Boston and New York City to Chicago and Seattle — where they blocked traffic on the streets and harassed shoppers in local malls.

“Bombs are dropping, why are you shopping?” protesters demanded as customers attempted to find their post-Thanksgiving deals in New York City’s Columbus Circle.

“Protesters blocked traffic for an hour on the Magnificent Mile on Black Friday to highlight the ongoing war in Gaza to holiday shoppers and to call for boycotts of major retailers that do business in Israel,” The Chicago Sun-Times reported.

[stupidjewishwhiteboy]

So Rashida Tlaib has criticized Michigan’s Attorney General (who is Jewish) of being biased against pro-Palestine/anti-Israel protestors at the University of Michigan, leveling charges against them for trespassing and (iirc) not obeying orders from the police. Tlaib pointed out that the AG hadn’t leveled similar charges for protestors for other causes, and that therefore the reason why she had in this case was because she was somehow biased against propal/antiisrael protestors. She did not say this was because the AG was Jewish, although a lot of people feel like that may have been implied (or that various lefty types would make that connection on their own even if that wasn’t Tlaib’s intention). Personally I don’t like to make assumptions like that.

What I would like to point out however is a common attack point against criticism of the actions of Hamas, Hezbollah, and indeed of college student activists (including ones that aren’t Arab, Muslim, or Palestinian), is that such criticism is Islamophobic or racist against Arabs or Palestinians. I feel like I have seen Tlaib herself do this multiple times. To be fair there definitely are those who extrapolate the actions of Hamas et al to say something about Palestinians, Arabs, or Muslims as a whole, and that is racist, but many (and hopefully most) of the people I see criticizing Hamas et al go out of their way to make it clear they are only criticizing Hamas et al.

[taratarotgreene]

Jupiter Uranus Conjunction continues radical changes

Jupiter and Uranus are now both at 22° plus Taurus still in an exact conjunction. On April 20 they met at 21+° Taurus, read about that history ground shaking event here https://infinitynow.wordpress.com/2024/04/20/once-in-a-lifetime-radical-jupiter-uranus-conjunct-in-taurus/ WHEN WILL IT STOP? Technically When Jupiter enters GEMINI May 25 ar precisely 4;15 pm PDT, 7:15 pm EDT, 11:15 pm GMT.…

[moonlayl]

[creativemedianews]

Colleges that allow pro-Palestinian protests risk Republican punishment

[wonderlandmoonrose7]

I’m just here to remind everyone once again that we can’t stop protesting and boycotting and spreading the word for Palestine, even if it’s been a while. The people in power (mainly the Israeli and US governments) are relying on us losing steam.

And I do want to mention that a small bit of hope to be found among all of this is that things aren’t losing steam. I still see dozens of posts about Palestine every day, I see footage of protests almost every day, and the boycotts are working. I just want to encourage everyone that we just need to keep it up! I’ve seen so many social issues fade out over time, a week of outrage and then things settle down, but that isn’t the case here and I really respect everyone who’s still posting and protesting and seeking out information to end this once and for all. Focus on that hope, and use it to keep going :)

[troythecatfish]

[headlinehorizon]

Harvard Alumni Demand Action Against Antisemitism on Campus

https://headlinehorizon.com/U.S./Crime/1288

A growing number of Jewish alumni and students at Harvard University are calling for the institution to crack down on antisemitism following anti-Israel protests on campus. Over 1,600 members of the Harvard College Jewish Alumni Association have signed an open letter condemning the protests and demanding recognition of their humanity. The alumni are urging Harvard to enforce its code of conduct, include antisemitism in its diversity framework, and provide training on the various manifestations of antisemitism.

[eretzyisrael]

by Dion J. Pierre

A New York judge has upheld Columbia University’s suspension of its Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter, a measure taken against the campus group after it launched of spree of assaults, hate campaigns, and disruptive protests following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7.

SJP, as well as its affiliate pro-Hamas partner Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), sued the university in March, alleging that its suspension perpetuated “already pervasive dangerous stereotypes about Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims,” and other minority groups. Represented by the New York chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the groups sought to have their status restored by appealing to the courts, as well as the public, whom it attempted to convince that Columbia University, one of the most culturally left-wing higher education institutions in the country, discriminates against minorities of color.

The strategy proved unsuccessful last week, as Judge Nicholas Moyne of the New York State Supreme Court, who presided over the case, ruled that the university had sufficient cause to suspend the two groups.

“After reviewing the record, the court finds that Columbia University’s decision to temporarily suspend the petitioners from their status as recognized student groups was neither arbitrary or capricious, irrational, or in violation of clearly established university policies,” Moyne said in his decision. “Accordingly, the petition is denied and the cross-motion to dismiss the petition is granted. All student groups at Columbia are subject to and required to comply with Columbia’s special events policies, which govern, inter alia, when, where, and how events on campus, including protests and demonstrations, may be held and what notice needs to be given to university officials prior to the commencement of any student group events, demonstrations, or protests.”

Columbia University suspended SJP and JVP in last November, explaining in a statement that the groups had “repeatedly violated university policies related to holding campus events, culminating in an unauthorized event … that proceeded despite warnings and included threatening rhetoric and intimidation.” Both SJP and JVP have been instrumental in organizing disruptive anti-Israel protests on Columbia’s campus since Hamas invaded Israel last Oct. 7 and killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians.

Even after being disciplined, however, SJP members continued their activities in front groups — such as Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD), a non-campus affiliated organization that supports the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel — staging more protests in flagrant violation of the terms of its suspension.

[the-garbanzo-annex-jr]

by Alan M. Dershowitz

Many of the protests that now demand a unilateral ceasefire -- including the attempts to shut down Christmas celebrations -- are orchestrated by some of the same radical groups that organized the pro-Hamas demonstrations before Israel went into Gaza.

Demonstrations and protests by groups such as the Students for Justice in Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace or the National Lawyers Guild seem anything but spontaneous and grassroots responses to "Israel's military actions in Gaza." They are not demonstrations against what Israel does; they are protests against what Israel is, namely the democratic nation-state of the Jewish people.

Recall that these protests began before Israel counterattacked against Hamas. They were in full bloom on October 8, even while the bodies of 1,200 murdered Israelis, including babies burned alive, were still being gathered and counted, and the roughly 240 hostages taken by Hamas to Gaza identified.

The protests are exclusively anti-Israel, anti-American, pro-Hamas, and pro-terrorism.

Where are the calls for anything that would actually help the Palestinians or make their lives better: freedom of speech, equal justice under the law, freedom of the press, better job opportunities, and an end to government corruption and abuse?

So when you watch an anti-Israel demonstration on television, please understand who is behind it and what are their ultimate goals, because the next target is American democracy -- and you.

[remindertoclick]

Reminder to Click for Palestine today!

Click for the other causes as well if you can!

[directactionforhope]

U.S. Free Palestine Protests this Weekend: 2/17 through 2/19

2/17 Denver, Colorado Indianapolis, Indiana San Diego, California Seattle, Washington

2/18 Boone, North Carolina Milwaukee, Wisconsin New Orleans, Louisiana

2/19 Aransas Pass, Texas Chicago, Illinois Los Angeles, California - Jews for Ceasefire All-Day Shiva

And there are many more! Check out the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, Code Pink, and your local Palestinian and/or Muslim groups for protests in your area!

[politijohn]

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[odinsblog]

“I had a Zionist grandmother who grew up, she grew up in Poland, she was supposed to go to Israel to study. Her father had paid for her for the first year of tuition. And then in 1939, when she was in her last year of high school, Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland.

She ended up for a couple of years in the Soviet-occupied part of Poland, which was how she ended up in Moscow. And by the time Germany occupied all of Poland. So then she spent the rest of her life living in Moscow.

And 45 years after the end of the war, dreaming of being able to go to Israel, but not being able to because she was now stuck in the Soviet Union. And so I think I was very infected by, infected in a non-derogatory sense, by my grandmother's dream of Israel. And I had my own dream of Israel growing up as a, as a Jewish kid who was bullied and beaten up and teased.

I just wanted to live in a country that, that was majority Jewish. I could not understand why my parents would want to go to the United States and live in another country where Jews are in the minority. My parents on the other hand just didn't want to be Jewish.

Like their only experience of being Jewish was being systematically discriminated against. They were both born during the Second World War, so they were second generation, utterly non-religious and separated from any Jewish tradition, except the tradition of being a targeted minority. So they just, they just wanted to go somewhere where they wouldn't be Jewish.

And so when I was 15, a year after we moved to the United States, I actually went to Israel planning to stay there and didn't. For a variety of reasons, but one of them was being confronted with, with what I found at the age of 15, a shockingly racist society.

So the first time I went to Israel was when I was 15, it was 1982. And then there was like an 18, 17 or 18 year gap.

And I started traveling to Israel regularly from 1999, 2000. And the first time I went back was to actually complete the research on the book about my grandmother's. So it's been a good 25 years that I've been coming back.

And I think Israel has undergone a lot of changes in that time. But no, I don't think that like the kind of Ashkenazi Sephardic racism that shocked me in 1982 has found subtler expressions. But politics of settlement have only been exacerbated.

And I still find them extremely painful to observe, especially because some of my beloved relatives are settlers.

I did visit them this last time I was in Israel, because I really wanted to see what it looked like for them.

I was compelled to go visit them because of a Facebook post that my cousin made. And just to give you an idea, I really hold these people very, very dear. But for years, I would go to Israel, Palestine and not tell them that I was there, because I kind of couldn't face them.

So it's been a number of years since I last saw them, a number of years since I went to that settlement. But my cousin had posted something on Facebook. It was a picture of her son playing the violin.

And she wrote, in one of the houses where they stayed in Gaza, there was a violin. He played for his soldiers and then put the violin back. And I found that post-heart-rending and eye-opening, the picture of him playing the violin was not from Gaza.

It was from earlier, but he had apparently told her about playing the violin in Gaza. And obviously she was worried about her son serving in Gaza and so she's posting about it. And she wants to assert that he is a good boy.

But also, entirely missing from that post and from her world view is that somebody lived in that house in Gaza. That violin belonged to somebody. Like, it was such an extraordinary example of the blindness that we were talking about a little bit earlier that I wanted to go visit them and kind of engage with that blindness more.

And I got a really good dose of blindness to the point where, and we had this incredible moment when we went walking around the settlement after Shabbat lunch. And we sort of got to this hilltop where there's a swing and there's a little free library.

And we're looking out on a Palestinian village. And I said, what are we looking at, to my cousin? And she was trying to get her bearings.

And she said, where are we looking? And she named another settlement, which was kind of, which was not on our line of sight. It was like this literal example of looking at an actual Palestinian village that she drives past every day.

And before the village was sealed off after October 7th, she used to get gas there. And she knows it exists. But somehow she, also it also doesn't enter her geography.

It is nameless.”

—Masha Gessen, the descendant of Holocaust survivors, discusses the dehumanization of Palestinians (part 2 of 3)