13 activists from local Jewish group arrested protesting private US aid to Israel

This guy stood around yelling something about Palestinians being "peasants" for maybe an hour. He wasnt Jewish and said he had no real connection to Israel but he looked like he could have killed somebody since he was so angry.

This guy didnt yell as much but he looked like there was so much hatred bottled up inside that his head was about to explode. Neither this guy nor the last one would respond to any questions about Israel's actions.

Most support for Israel seems to be blind and emotional. Many people support Israel since they are still angry from 9/11(and blame anyone from the Middle East who looks nonEuropean). There is also some support for Israel due to Jewish feelings of self protection, but that support is relatively small (and very qualified) with a higher number of Evangelicals in the US supporting Israel than Jews. True Zionists, those who believe in a religously pure Jewish state in the Middle East are rare but do exist. As with most fanatical causes, the worst Zionists (such as Baruch Goldstein) come from the US.

I must admit I am touched by the courage these activist Jews show in the face of the overwhelming support for Israel from Jews the world over. Shapiro's family (Jewish) had to leave their home in Brooklyn as they were getting death threats because their son negotiated for the Palestinians trapped in the Church of Nativity. Jewish support for Israel is blind indeed and nurtured by fear and propaganda. Most Jews have a distrust of almost everybody, currently Arabs in particular, and they think all Arabs are evil and out to get them. Not much different than the Nazi mentality that the Jews were also evil and out to get them. It is amazing that in such a short period most have forgotten the tragedy they had to endure under the Nazis in terms of the racism and hatred aimed at the oppressed. You would think they would have sympathy for the oppressed. Amazing what blind patriotism can do.

The previous writer, Gabriel, refers to the horrors of Nazi Germany being perpetrated against European Jews 57 years ago. That is about 2 generations ago and is thus not in the personal memory of most people, including most people in the Jewish community. While this writer is from a Holocaust family, most people of Jewish descent are not and most people in the American Jewish community have been in the US for 3 or more generations and thus identify as Americans.

However, the Holocaust has nothing to do with Israel. Israel was created by world oil imperialism, in particular US oil imperialism, to be a US military base to protect US oil profits. The Zionists who promote such an agenda are the rich beneficiaries of such an agenda. You will note that this event was held at the new, swanky 4 Seasons Hotel, where rich religious Jews gave millions of dollars to promote their investments in Israel and US imperialism, which they support because it is good for capitalism, and they love capitalism. It is not a matter of patriotism; it is a matter of money.

The class struggle exists in all communities, including the Jewish community. This writer cannot imagine belonging to an organization that would have any event that could afford to pay for a conference/banquet room at the 4 Seasons Hotel, much less raise millions of dollars for anything. The same is true of most Americans of Jewish descent, most of whom, like this writer, are atheists.

The Zionists are extremely wealthy people who are using the Holocaust and their Jewish identity to maximize their profits. That is, they are first and foremost very wealthy capitalists. There are of course supporters of Israel who are not wealthy. However, they are not in control.

As to the statement: "Most Jews have a distrust of almost everybody, currently Arabs in particular, and they think all Arabs are evil and out to get them." This is a lie. Most people of Jewish descent act like most other people. That is to say, the rich Jews act like other rich people; educated Jews act like other educated people; poor Jews act like other poor people. People who are skeptical are usually educated and have learned to question at least some things. There are also skeptical people among the poorly educated; their experiences in the class struggle have taught them to distrust the rich. As to anti-Arab racism, this is pervasive in American society, which you should know, as it is promoted in the capitalist press every day. I have heard non-Jews utter the most vicious anti-Arab trash imaginable, because that is what the capitalist class promotes in this society. Scapegoating Arabs, like all other scapegoating, is a means of dividing us so the rich can exploit all of us and maximize their profits.

The name of the game is always money in a capitalist society. The class struggle prevails.

I agree completely

This guy haranged the crowd with right-wing fury. I think he is dangerous.

Then intelligence about him needs to be gathered. Where does he live? What does his car look like?

4.3 MB, 15 sec. clip

if only the european jews of the '30's & '40's had been like these jews, they would have all put a gun to their head and pulled the trigger, saving nazi german all the money and time they spent on building concentration camps

'We say:
-Israel is a racist, apartheid state.'

--what "state" generally isn't? some people within the state like it like this.

*sigh* there's got to be a better way to get hate filled people to think about why it is they hate and live in fear (fear of having to be considered equally as "righteous" as any other people).

For more on Israeli human rights abuses, racism, and violoations of international law visit

http://www.israel-state-terrorism.org

There were collaborators Jews that helped Nazis to calm down and organize Jews that just arrived to death camp and direct them to gas chambers. Collaborators Jews say, “Just come down, you are not going to die, look at as we are OK”. New arrived Jews were going to gas chambers in a very organized manner. Jews for Palestine belong to the same category of collaborators.

way to go!! . made me happy to see these pics of you all out for the end of the occupation! thanks so much. it's great to see jews organizing for this effort!

Pretty interesting pictures, I salute all the people ( Jews & gentiles) who showed
Up to these demonstrations. To show solidarity with oppressed people of Palestine
And to send a message to our runaway government , that not all people here are
Sleep !!

Funny how one sided it is. When was the last time you saw someone blaming the Palestinians for being in their situation? Guess its easier to blame other people for their problems. The Jewish society allows self criticism; unfortunately it isn't as common in a Muslim society.

You actually do hear quite a few activists from Muslim countries criticizing their home countries very sharply.

On of the main leaders of the SWP in Britain, Tariq Ali, has spent most of his life critizing the fundamentalists in his home country Pakistan.

see:

http://www.lrb.co.uk/article.php?get=ali_01_2403
http://www.indexonline.org/news/401_20011018_ali.shtml

and

http://www.zmag.org/search/search_results.cfm?keyWords=Tariq+Ali&collection=allZnet&searchType=simple

But there is ONE big difference. A small protest against Israel by A Jewish Voice For Peace (http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/) gets attacked constantly with the proIsrael crowd calling the protesters selfhating Jews or worse. Tikkun (http://www.tikkun.org/) had received a huge number of threatening letters and phone calls. But, you dont here this same level of hatred towards people with political differences on the Islamic world in the US or Europe. Although I wouldnt doubt Ali has received threats for his attacks on fundamentalism, those arent printed as commentary in major newspapers and are not treated by the press as legitimate political discourse. Not that the right wing Islamic community is any more tollerant that the right wing Jewish community (there are constant threats against people who attack Islam) but its alot more obvious that attacking a dictator or war in an Islamic country is not attacking all members of that religion.

Ive never heard the ADC (http://www.adc.org/) come out and attack groups criticizing Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran etc.. but the ADL(http://www.adl.org) treats political differences as if they are religious hatred. It confuses the issue and makes open discussion of Israel's policy nearly imposible. The weird Israeli/Jewish conspiracy people make it even worse since they play into the hands of the ADL or perhaps have caused the ADL to act the way it does (some of the posts seem like attempts to discredit the Palestinians but I fear that a good number of the conspiracy posts are by people who actually believe them). The ADL is clearly proIsrael but I'm guessing it started that way and its not a conspiracy. What the Left needs is a group like the ADL which has no political agenda outside of attacking antiSemitism.

The sign says "Jews for a Free Palestine." Most Jews support a Palestinian state that respects Israel's security. Israel itself wants peace and is willing to compromise for it (after all, Israel accepted a Palestinian state when it was born in 1948 by accepting the Partition Plan of UN Resolution 181).

What most people (not just Jews) do not accept (and cannot accept) is the destruction of Israel, which is a legitimate and democratic member of the league of nations.

So you said Israel is a democratic and accepted state by the league of nations. Well the jewish people came from Poland, Russia ect.. They lived where Israel is hundreds of years ago right? So they don't really have the right to go in there, kick people off their land and threaten them with a powerful U.S. backed millitary. If they wanted a land for their people I'm sure Canda or the U.S. being big countries, and freinds of the jewish people, would have given them plenty of land. As well I'm sure the Palestinians would have let you come visit your holy sites as much as you want. If you had the land in the U.S. or Canada you'd probally have better land. For farming ect.. You would be closer to other rich nations and save money on travelling and exporting products. Most of all you wouldnt have to worry about your security so much. I also see a lot of your Religuos people Rabbi's ect.. dont beleive in the occupation, so it can't really be about religous rights to the land right? Anyway thats just my view on it I may be wrong about the reasons Israel wants the land.
Slan.

the occupation should be ended but the palestinians need to stop attacking jews and then they will recieve the peace that both side so eagerly want and deserve. Also, i dlike to add, "fuck all motherfuckers who want the end of a jewish state, cuz without one, we'd all be dead.