ZIONIST DEATH THREAT

A message left on the voice mail of the activist group If Americans Knew, where Weir is the executive director, said, "me and my buddies ... were trained in the Israeli army, and we support DAFKA [a Bay Area pro-Israeli student coalition]. We will come and kill every single one of you sons of bitches for what you are doing to destroy Israel."

The message also warned Weir and her coworkers not to be in the office at 2 p.m. the next day and to shut down her organization. California Penal Code, section 422, makes such calls a crime punishable by up to a year in jail "even if there is no intent of actually carrying [the death threat] out."

Weir defied the threat and went to IAF's office at 1 p.m., escorted by Berkeley police officers who had already made a sweep of the building and neighborhood. She was there without direct police protection at 2 p.m.

"I've been talking with the Berkeley police and the FBI, who are now investigating. But everything seems to be normal," Weir told the Bay Guardian.

If Americans Knew disseminates news from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that rarely makes it into mainstream media, like a study it released earlier this year showing that the San Francisco Chronicle is 20 times more likely to report on the deaths of Israeli children than of Palestinian youth (see "Which Deaths Matter?," 5/28/03). (Corbett Miller