Settlers filmed shooting at Palestinian protesters‎

[Šñøü†ê®]

How Teller can associate "liberalism" with zionism is a remarkable misappropriation of the truth. Zionism is clearly a pathological condition...

[Guido]

Zionism, being the most aggressive expression of ethnic nationalism in the world today, is fundamentally and essentially incompatible with liberalism, as demonstrated by the well-intentioned but futile efforts of people like Peter Beinart, and by Israel's incremental but gathering regression into a quasi-fascistic ethnocracy.

This is Zionism, as practiced in the liberal city of Tel Aviv:

It started out as a fairly quiet demonstration – or demonstrations, to be precise. One small demonstration took place in Shapira, my neighborhood, where several weeks ago an Israeli young man threw Molotov cocktails into asylum seekers’ homes. The dominant discourse here was, as is typical of the neighborhood, more moderate, and focused on blaming the government (and not the asylum seekers) for local hardships in south Tel Aviv.

On my way to the central right-wing demonstration in Hatikva neighborhood, a five minute bike ride to the east, I ran into several dozen demonstrators walking in the opposite direction. It turns out that these were J14 activists from all over the city, who wanted to make a point of the importance of finding solutions to benefit both veteran Israeli communities, struggling to make a living and fearing a rise in crime, and the masses of African asylum seekers who have no jobs and nowhere to go but these parts of the city. They felt unwelcome at the central demonstration and decided to split and form this march.

The central demonstration was organized mostly by Likud activists, which was somewhat strange to begin with, as the protest was officially aimed at the Likud led government. It started out quite peacefully, and a group of us journalists and photographers was standing on the side, somewhat bored and discussing plans for the weekend. On the stage, local residents told stories of attacks they experienced by African asylum seekers, while MKs from the Likud and parties further to the right were placing the blame for all the neighborhoods’ hardships on the asylum seekers and “the left.” The crowd was growing uneasy, but none of us thought that this would turn into anything big.

It all started with one woman who came at me out of nowhere, and started screaming: “You throw stones at soldiers! Shame on you! Get the hell out of here!” I tried to say that I have never thrown stones at anybody in my life, but she was not exactly in the mood for dialogue. “You lie! I see you every week on television throwing stones at soldiers and calling them Nazis!”

From this point on everything happened extremely fast. The one woman turned into two, then a group of ten people, which kept on growing. I tried to explain that this was a misunderstanding, that I never attacked any soldier, that I am a resident of Shapira and a journalist covering the protest. But I was talking to myself. Nobody was listening.

Only four seconds or so must have passed before similar charges were leveled at my colleague, Ilan Lior of Ha’aretz, who was standing next to me. “You too throw stones at soldiers! I drive a bus and every week I see you attacking checkpoints!” someone yelled. A hand from the crowd grabbed Ilan’s notepad and threw it in the air. Ilan was trying to say that he was never in the occupied territories and that it’s all a misunderstanding, but he too was talking to himself. Nobody was listening.

At this point, about six Border Police officers showed up and tried to stand between the growing mob and the two of us. I hoped this would help, but soon enough an older woman broke through and leaped towards me, beating my chest, back and hands. I started retreating, knowing that I wouldn’t stand a fighting chance against the masses if I tried to stop her. I lost sight of Ilan. He was sucked into the crowd. I had an open road behind me, I could escape. I feared for Ilan. I feared for myself.

I knew no one would come to my aid. Faced with the angry mob and seeing more people coming from behind me and looking for action – I chose flight. A speaker on the central stage was saying how Daphni Leef and her J14 friends were actually the cause of all “our” problems. I was standing near a police car, wondering how I would get my bike back from the demonstration area, when I heard the loudspeakers announcing that “Haggai Matar is here, and he and his mother are traitors who should be kicked out of the country.” This was really time to split and go home.

And then the mob began to charge forward

I was walking back towards my part of town when I heard a massive cry, looked back, and was horrified to see the mass – about 1,000 people strong – racing forward in my direction, screaming “Sudanese to Sudan!” Later, I would find out that Ilan managed to escape the crowd around him, that 20 people started to chase him, and that the 20 soon turned into this horde I was seeing. Ilan was grabbed by policemen who possibly saved his life when they tossed him into a police car and got out of there.

I kept on running and reached the Hagana Bridge, separating the greater part of Tel Aviv from its eastern neighborhoods. It is also the bridge separating Hatikva from Shapira, Neve Sha’anan and LevinskyPark, where dozens and hundreds of asylum seekers sleep at nights. Right now this bridge was – like in old times – the last line of defense between the mob and the area most densely populated by foreigners.

Fortunately, the police realized this, and was successful in stopping the human flow on the bridge. Unfortunately, this was not the end. A car packed with Africans was caught in the crowd, its windows shattered, its riders threatened and saved by police. Seeing this from afar I decided it was time to go home, but reports kept flowing in: the mob turned back into Hatikva and attacked asylum seekers’ businesses and homes, looted at least one store, and attacked random black people on the streets. Seventeen were arrested, but the attacks went on for hours. An Activestills photographer present on the scene later told me that the pictures he took tell only a small portion of the story. He was threatened not to take pictures of looters, and saw so many stones thrown at houses and people beaten (mostly quite lightly) on the streets – that he couldn’t possibly take pictures of it all.

http://972mag.com/how-i-survived-a-t...-attack/46587/

[GanjaFreebird]

The final solution is that you go back to IZRAelz and play your guitar thereby making everyone commit suicide. Freebird should do the trick.

No, the final solution will be when you die and Israel will still exist as a Jewish state. You won't be the first nor the last asshole who won't live to see Hitler's job being finished, trust me!

[GanjaFreebird]

Zionism is clearly a pathological condition...

And so is your obesity and insanity, but that still doesn't make anybody a bad person though.

[Cyclone Ranger]

You spineless old bastard. Moral people don't measure greatness on the ability to wage war and own the world. Jealous of our freedumb are they George Bush? No fool like an old fool.

That's not what America's (or Israel's) greatness is founded on, you imbecile.

[Malcolm Wright]

Holy crap Guido - that's full on.
I had no idea it had reached the point of racist rioting. Then again sounds like the journalists were as surprised by it turning into that as I am reading the article.

M.

[Cyclone Ranger]

Sounds like a load of politically biased horseshit from an activist disguised as a reporter, especially one who makes claims like 'Israel is the most aggressive ethnocracy in the world today,' which would be pretty surprising to anyone who's ever been to Sudan or Yugoslavia

[Malcolm Wright]

Actually that claim about Zionism is Guido's claim, not the article's.
I wouldn't dismiss the article out of hand.

M.

[Malcolm Wright]

Here's another source that confirms the broad lines of Guido's article.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7...233509,00.html

See - your bias makes you reject evidence out of hand.

M.

[GanjaFreebird]

Malcolm, that's the problem, Israel's haters are so extreme and insane that their exaggerations make it really hard for honest people to separate anti-semitic and radical bullshit from fair criticism of Israel. Israel is far from perfect and just like any other country, it has done wrong things and still does wrong things sometimes, however, considering the fact that Guido is about as trustworthy as Pinocchio on a bad day, it's hard for me to take anything he says seriously, even if there might be SOME truth among the piles and piles of bullshit. I hope that explains.

[Cyclone Ranger]

Fair enough on that. I'm usually too bored by Guioo's longwinded cut and paste postwhoring to look for quote tags.

However, the author's bio describes himself as a "journalist and political activist" who spent two years in Israeli prison for failing to serve in the IDF, and has been active in many pro-Palestinian causes.

That doesn't sound lie journalistic objectivity to me.

[Cyclone Ranger]

It confirms that a protest against Sudanese illegal aliens occurred, not the contents of the article.

[Malcolm Wright]

It confirms that a protest against Sudanese illegal aliens occurred, not the contents of the article.

It confirms details from the article although naturally not all of them.
But point taken about not having the energy to chase up every and all things thrown your way.

My point is that its best to say nothing in those cases, rather than assume you know you're being fed false information and say so. Be content with your lack of motivation to look any further.

M.

[Guido]

Fair enough on that. I'm usually too bored by Guioo's longwinded cut and paste postwhoring to look for quote tags.

However, the author's bio describes himself as a "journalist and political activist" who spent two years in Israeli prison for failing to serve in the IDF, and has been active in many pro-Palestinian causes.

That doesn't sound lie journalistic objectivity to me.

What is "cut and paste postwhoring"? Does that mean quoting articles written by people who actually write first-hand accounts of events that they witnessed in lieu of simply regurgitating meaningless one-line cliches and slogans that were already shop-worn retreads when they were first mumbled by government bureaucrats and politiicans before being recycled by propaganda outlets like CNN and Fox News without the slightest critical analysis or creative motivation -- which is all you've ever done and all you will ever do, being too lazy and dumb to think an original thought during your entire life as a compulsive liar and habitual imposter? What are "quote tags"?

The reason I quote articles is because I like to read things that are actually interesting, instead of mindlessly bickering over competing cliches, which constitutes your only occupation in life.

A good example of what I mean by "meaningless one-line cliche" that was already a shot-worn retread before being regurgitated by you is this one:

"That doesn't sound lie journalistic objectivity to me."

I have no idea what "journalistic objectivity" means, and neither do you, but that doesn't matter because we all know what you really mean, which is:

"That doesn't sound like something that reflects my own prejudices, which in turn reflect the official government version of events even though the author was present at the events described, and provides video evidence in support of his words, while I wasn't present at the events and don't really have any idea what happened, am not really interested in any case, because when factual events tend to contradict my own prejudices, those events should be ignored, even by people who have the courage, integrity and intelligence that I so clearly lack in every aspect of my miserable, anonymous and largely fabricated existence."

Get a fucking job, Walter Mitty.

[Guido]

Here is another witness account. This simply cannot be "journalistic objectivity" (whatever that is, I have no idea) because to the extent it's accurate, it tends to challenge Cowpunk's prejudices and makes him feel personally uncomfortable:

How a Tel Aviv anti-migrant protest spiraled out of control

Haaretz writer Ilan Lior describes how he narrowly escaped an encounter with a violent mob during a protest against African migrants in south Tel Aviv's Hatikva neighborhood.

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national...emium-1.432456

It started as a legitimate protest, and then it went out of control. The masses understood the message: the time for talking is over - it’s now time to act.

I have been a journalist for ten years. I’ve covered terror attacks, funerals, car accidents, and protests. I’ve seen fury, frustration, despair, and sadness in a variety of places and forms. But I’ve never seen such hatred as it was displayed on Wednesday night in the Hatikva neighborhood. If it weren’t for the police presence, it would have ended in lynching. I have no doubt. Perhaps a migrant worker would have been murdered, perhaps an asylum seeker, or maybe just a passerby in the wrong place at the wrong time.

It started as a legitimate protest. South Tel Aviv residents objected to the government’s policy, or more accurately, the government’s lack of policy. Over the course of a few years, tens of thousands of Africans have made their way into the neighborhoods of south Tel Aviv. Residents call them infiltrators, others call them refugees or asylum seekers. The Africans have made life in south Tel Aviv hellish, according to the residents.

A demonstration of hatred took place on the stage. One after another, residents took the stage to tell horror stories of violence perpetrated by the infiltrators. Some called for extreme action and even violence. “Bibi, I’m taking the law into my own hands,” warned one of the residents. Protest organizers, among them a city councilman, Shlomo Maslawi, attempted to tone it down and calm the crowd. We must not turn to violence, they said.

The Knesset members were not interested. Believe it or not, they fanned the flames. “The Sudanese are a cancer in our body,” said Miri Regev, (Likud). “All the left-wingers that filed petitions in the Supreme court should be embarrassed – they stopped the expulsion,” she added.

Michael Ben Ari joined in on her incitement. “There are rapists and harassers here. The time for talk is over,” said Ben Ari (National Union), exciting the crowd. He also pointed a finger of blame at the left-wingers, and “tzfonbonim” (Israeli slang for affluent, stuck-up residents of north Tel Aviv).

Regev and Ben Ari did their part. The protest went out of control. The masses understood the message: Talk is over, it’s time to act. Now is the time to take the law in to our own hands, to get violent, to release our rage. Some members of the migrant community passed by, scared, while others say they were afraid to leave their houses. The protesters, they believed, are just waiting for the right time to strike.

Just moments after Ben Ari’s speech, I found myself in a surreal situation. “You’re a left-winger that throws rocks at soldiers at checkpoints,” one protester called at me. “You’re a traitor, we’ll finish you,” threatened another. I tried to explain that I was a journalist, and not a left-wing activist, that I’ve never protested at checkpoints, nor thrown a rock at anyone. I told them that I came to give a voice to the residents’ calls, to their struggles, and to pass the message on to those who make decisions. No one listened.

The situation started to deteriorate very quickly. The threats became more intense, hands were thrown in the air, one of the protesters pushed me, another snatched my notepad and threw it in the air. “You’re making a mistake,” I said, desperately trying to stop the carnage. Border Patrol officers saved me, escorting me off to the side. “I recognize you. I’m a bus driver. I saw you throw rocks at soldiers at a checkpoint last week,” said one woman, running amok. “You’re mistaken, they’re deceiving you,” I answered. “I’ll get you,” she threatened, in front of the uniformed officers.

A short time after, she was joined by another protester, then another, then another. The officers decided they needed to get me out of there, and fast. They began to push me down Hahagana street. “Faster, they’ll murder you,” the frightened officers told me. I looked behind me. Hundreds of people had begun to chase me. It was clear to me that the small police presence would not be able to deal with the masses. Some of them caught up. One grabbed my shirt, and ripped it, while threatening to murder me. For the first time, I saw true hatred in the eyes of another person.

The officers pushed me into a patrol car, in an attempt to protect me. The patrol car became the center of the chaos. The masses surrounded it, protesters banged on the doors and windows, rocked the car from side to side. “Traitor,” they yelled.

The hardship of south Tel Aviv residents is real. No one denies that. These are weak neighborhoods, forced to take on a population with nothing, engaged in a daily struggle for survival. But that’s only part of the story. On Wednesday, everyone with black skin was labeled an enemy. These Knesset members are largely responsible for turning the words into acts. They cannot shake off that responsibility. The harsh violence against passersby that happened to have black skin is a direct result of their wild incitements. The incitements on Wednesday are the start of a slippery slope. It is best to stop it as early as possible. If the public leaders and neighborhood officials won’t take responsibility, someone could pay with their life. The writing is on the wall, in black and white.

[Guido]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012...grants-protest

Demonstrators have attacked African migrants in Tel Aviv in a protest against refugees and asylum-seekers that indicates an increasingly volatile mood in Israel over what it terms as "infiltrators".

Miri Regev, a member of the Israeli parliament, told the crowd "the Sudanese are a cancer in our body". The vast majority of asylum-seekers in Israel are from Sudan and Eritrea.

Around 1,000 demonstrators took part in the demonstration on Wednesday night, waving signs saying: "Infiltrators, get out of our homes" and "Our streets are no longer safe for our children." A car containing Africans was attacked and shops serving the refugee community were looted. Seventeen people were arrested.

A reporter for the Israeli daily Maariv described it as an "unbridled rampage" and explosion of "pent-up rage".

"Suddenly one of [the protesters] noticed that in one of the cars waiting for traffic to move were two young dark-skinned men, apparently foreign workers. For the hundreds of inflamed and enraged young people, that was all they needed. Within minutes, they dismantled – there is no other word to describe it – the car and its passengers. Some of them smashed the windows with their hands and rocks, others kicked the car, bent the plastic parts and tried to attack the people inside. 'I'm not from Sudan, I'm not from Sudan,' the driver tried to tell the assailants, but nobody was listening at that stage."

The protest followed a claim on Sunday by the prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, that "illegal infiltrators [were] flooding the country" and threatening the security and identity of the Jewish state. "This phenomenon is very grave and threatens the social fabric of society, our national security and our national identity," he said.

The government is constructing a fence along the Egypt-Israel border to deter migrants and asylum-seekers, and is building what will be the world's largest detention centre, capable of holding up to 11,000 people.

It is also seeking court approval to deport up to 3,000 refugees back to South Sudan, despite concerns over the humanitarian crisis there and human rights violations.

Israel's police chief has urged the state to allow asylum-seekers to work in order to avoid economic and social problems.

[Šñøü†ê®]

Teller says Tel Aviv is one of the most "liberal" cities on Earth, but how can it be anything more than a racist, insane asylum with lynch mobs running around persecuting folks for absolutely nothing?

[Guido]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-Tel-Aviv.html

The predominately black neighbourhood of Hatikva was ransacked by groups of nationalist protesters who had attended a demonstration on Wednesday night against illegal African migrants.


The protesters claim the Africans are responsible for a rise in crime, bearing signs saying "This is not Africa" and "Stop talking, start expelling".


"Blacks out!" shouted demonstrators in the crowd, while others yelled "Send the Sudanese back to Sudan", as other protesters derided the "bleeding-heart leftists" working to help them.


The mob set cans of rubbish on fire, smashed the windows of shops owned by Eritrean migrants and beat up Africans walking through the streets.


TJ, a 29-year-old migrant from Nigeria, watched the violent chaos from his rooftop having been chased and pelted with rocks when he attempted to leave his house.

"There were protesters everywhere smashing shop and car windows," he said. "A group of about 10 or 15 boys stopped one black kid cycling on his bike. They pulled him off and were punching and kicking him in his head. The police just stood and watched until it got really out of control."

Other witnesses described a gang assaulting a mother carrying a young baby so violently that she was forced to drop her child. Others stopped shuttle buses to search for migrant workers among their passengers.

The Israeli police confirmed they had arrested 17 suspects involved in "a protest against illegal African immigrants". Extra police units were positioned to prevent further violence in the area last night.

Peace Now, an Israeli human rights organisation, is calling for an investigation into whether the speakers at Wednesday night's rally, including Knesset ministers Miri Regev, Danny Danon, Yari Levin and Michael Ben-Ari, are guilty of incitement.

During her address, Ms Regev described illegal immigrants as a "cancer in our society".

Danny Danon, a member of Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party, wrote in a Facebook status later the same evening: "Israel is at war. An enemy state of infiltrators was established in Israel, and its capital is south Tel Aviv."

According to Israeli government figures, there are currently 60,000 African asylum seekers in Israel. The vast majority come from Eritrea and Sudan and were smuggled into the country by foot through Israel's southern border with Egypt, many having been beaten and tortured by their smugglers in camps in the Sinai en route.

Israel terms any illegal immigrant through this border an 'infiltrator' and estimate 90 per cent are economic migrants coming to Israel to look for work – a stark contrast to the figures in England and Canada, where 66 per cent and 96 per cent of Eritreans who arrive illegally are granted refugee status.

The Israeli government currently does not deport Eritreans or Sudanese however Yehuda Weinstein, Israel's attorney general, will appear before the Jerusalem District Court next week to argue that there is no longer a legal obstacle to expelling 700 Southern Sudanese refugees. If approved, Israel will be the first country to have reached this decision.

Defending her position on Thursday, Ms Regev insisted that while she does not condone violence, African immigrants pose a grave demographic threat to Israel. "Israel should adopt the US protocol of returning infiltrators to the border within 72 hours ... Jews and Israelis are scared of living in their country," she said.

Mr Danon's proposition to prevent further violence was to deport the city's African residents " to detention facilities and remove Africans from population centres".

Bracing themselves for a second round of nationalist protests on Thursday evening, the residents of Hatikva are struggling to resume normal life.

'TJ' says he is among the few who has left his home following the violence: "Black people have been too afraid to leave their homes to go to work today. Racism in Tel Aviv is not only getting worse it's getting out of hand and the police are no help. We are terrified."

[Malcolm Wright]

I recall Ganja claiming Israel is less racist than 95% of all nations on earth... by his rough guesstimate. I think he really believed that, but it goes to show how little one can know one's own people if one doesn't want to see the ugly.

M.

[Cyclone Ranger]

It means that your posts are so longwinded and boring - usually, from highly dubious sources as well - that I just don't bother.

At least Capricorn is brief