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Indybay Feature

San Francisco Activists Confront the Zionists Where They Live

by Kate
An ad hoc group of activists, mostly Jewish, disrupted the Israeli Consul General's "Israel Update" on Thursday night at the San Francisco JCC.
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On Thursday evening, August 10, a small group of mostly Jewish activists disrupted a talk by the Israeli consul general to a group of about 300 supporters of the state of Israel at the San Francisco Jewish Community Center. They all found it a surreal experience, and I'm still wondering how worthwhile it was.

Members of the group gritted their teeth as the new director of the Israel Action Center talked about the kibbutz in the Galil where he once lived, and the Katyushas now falling there, without mentioning the US-supplied GBU "bunker busters" and F16s strafing Beirut. He mentioned a place called Kfar Qana, but not the massacre of a family sleeping in a shelter in Qana, Lebanon. He asked the assembly to rise (they never say "stand", it's always "rise") for a moment of silence to remember those who have fallen. There was no question, he did not mean the 1000 Lebanese and 200 Palestinians. Deborah Mintz, director of the Jewish Community Federation's Israel Center, just back from a visit to Israel, spoke about the wonderful generosity of the Israeli people, opening their homes to those evacuated from the north, mentioning that "though the news gives a very different story," Israelis (like most Israelis, using "Israelis" to mean "Jewish Israelis") were "even allowing Druze and Arabs into their homes." She did not mention of the 1 million refugees forced out of Southern Lebanon by these very generous Israelis.

The Consul General stated that Israel had generously given back “every inch” of Lebanon in 2000 (which they did not, actually, there remained an occupied strip in the south), but Hezbollah “exists for no other reason but to kill Jews,” and “continued to engage in unprovoked attacks,” leaving Israel no choice but to go to war to destroy Hezbollah. He said that the Israeli army was shocked to find out what firepower Hezbollah had -- "anti-ship missiles," he said with horror, they had advanced military technology, they were "almost like a real army!" And so, he said, of course as you attack Hezbollah, some civilians are going to be hit, but you have to understand that some of those so-called civilians are really Hezbollah.

As he stated that Israeli society was 100% united behind the justice of the campaign, ignoring the 10,000 people who demonstrated against it in Tel Aviv last weekend, three women unfurled a banner, which said "Jews Say Stop the War on Gaza and Lebanon." Chanting, "No one is free while others are oppressed, We as Jews should know that best," they held their ground as people spat at them, grabbed them, ripped their banner and threatened to beat them. “Dykes,” “bitches” and “cunts” were the favored insults of the mostly middle-aged, middle-class crowd. “You’re not really Jews,” one man said. “My grandfather died in Buchenwald,” one of the women replied calmly.

The consul general exhorted people to leave them alone, saying, "This is what is so great about free speech." "Only Israel would be so tolerant," someone said (funny, San Francisco is not in Israel, is it?), and the crowd turned to the women and started to applaud in a truly creepy way. Event organizers got security guards to stand in front of the banner, so people couldn't read it, and the consul general would really have continued his speech, but people were too fixated on the disrupters to listen. After about 15 minutes, the women agreed to leave and were escorted out.

One by one, other activists stood up and railed against the lies and the defense of Israeli war crimes, always coming back to the point that as Jews, we are outraged and frightened by this blatant disregard for human rights and human life.

“Nabila,” the only Arab member of the group had intended to be a silent observer, but as she watched the others speak and be ejected, she felt empowered, and as she heard the racist rhetoric from the podium, she felt the need to speak out. "I feel like I haven't been able to breathe for the last three weeks,” she commented later. “I have had no voice. Tonight for the first time, I feel that I can talk."

“I will never forget her standing up and having her say, she was so powerful, it was beautiful to see,” observed Brian.

San Francisco police, who were called to the scene after the first disruption, became increasingly agitated as one speaker after another was ejected, only to be followed a few minutes later by another. “They’re coming out of the woodwork in there,” one of the demonstrators heard a police officer say. They took ID from several of the disrupters, but no one was taken into custody or cited.

There was no media present, but the activists feel they definitely had an impact. Kate heard about it the next day from a coworker who happened to be in the audience. His impression was that there were at least 15 demonstrators (there were really 8) and that the disruption went on all night.

“I thought of all the civil rights activists who stood up in the face of brutal racism, the resisters who stood up at Nazi rallies, the Algerian women on the front lines of the battle against French colonialism” said Sara. “It won’t change their minds, it may label us extremists, it won’t change the immediate conditions on the ground in Lebanon but they cannot invite the consular general of Israel to speak and be allowed the comfort of believing that there is not dissent and outrage.”

“I kind of enjoyed just staring back at the people yelling at me,” Brian said. “I have really not enjoyed the whole you shout, I shout, bla bla, but I do enjoy staring back at their hate with a smile, it is kind of liberating in a way.”

For a more detailed account see Kate’s blog, http://katrap40.livejournal.com/7332.html

For information about all the many protest and cultural events in the Bay Area to end the siege in Lebanon and Gaza, see http://www.adcsf.org or http://www.breakthesiege.net
§Speaking to those who don't want to hear
by Kate
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