Deeply grateful and proud of Atlas readers who made it their business to attend these god awful, evil rallies against Israel, the Jews, America ………….. everything that is right with this sick world. I am proud to be in your good company and held in your regard, in this I am blessed.
MELBOURNE AUSTRALIA: Atlas reader Darrin
LOS ANGELES: Atlas reader Da wolf reports:
There were more of them than us and a few incidents
where if the LAPD had not been there, it could have become ugly. The
rhetoric of ‘Fakenstinians’ is typically ugly. They were screaming for
‘Jews and Christians to get out of Palestine’, and one Pali man in his
60s told my friend ‘Hitler Should Have Finished off the Job’. ( I won’t
tell you what she told him, but he was in shock). So many LAPD were
there, including the riot police. It’s says a lot about who they are
when most of the cops and riot people were posted on ‘their’ side.
Also, as the Pali’s rode by in their cars, they shouted ‘Fuck You, Fuck
you Jews’ (which shows their limited intelligence). Of course we were
also called ‘pigs’, ‘dogs’ accused of ‘Genocide’ (very rich coming from
them). They are just looking for a violent fight and confrontation.
Someone on our side had to call the police to come and protect us as
they tried to come over to our side and start something. Amazing, that
we as Jews are facing such vile hate in L.A. in America. Wish I had a
camcorder. Glad we went. Next time we need to be larger and louder
Los Angeles photo
TAMPA FLORIDA: Atlas reader Karen:
Thanks for the info on the planned CAIR rallies. I attended the one in Tampa, Fl this evening.
For 2 hours today, I experienced a little bit of what it is like to be Israel, surrounded by a mob who hates you.
Arriving at the site, and surveying the lay of the land, I decided to
stand with two fellows wrapped in the Jewish flag, across the street
from about 200 "anti Israel" protesters. That was it, me the two jewish
guys and one muslim on one side of the street and a whole sea of
Palestinian flags, megaphones and mania on the other side. I am a
Christian, and was warmly welcomed by my new Jewish friends, and coldly
received by the lone "anti Israel" protester on our side of Dale Mabry
highway.This guy really wanted to argue with me, which I refused to do, and I
finally shut him up when I asked him if he had been out protesting the
death of thousands of Americans on 9/12 or was he dancing in the
streets? He muttered something about "you must pay, America must pay
and the Jews must pay" and ambled away.Their side send several instigators to "our side" to try to intimidate
us. A few young men even came and swiped one of the Jewish flags right
out of the guys hands. He bravely went across the street to retrieve
it, God bless him, and finally a cop got it for him.I guess standing on the street and holding a sign wasn’t enough
"action" for these folks, so a whole "contingent" of young men and
women marched across the street towards us. Three teenage girls came
and stood right in front of me, to block my sign – I just stepped back
and held it higher. We were quickly surrounded by this mob of
protesters "for peace" – yelling and chanting at us, and telling us we
were "outnumbered" and to go home. That’s when it occurred to me that
this is EXACTLY what Israel is like – surrounded by a mob of people so
hyped up on emotion and inaction and frustration, that they have to
find someone to blame, to target, to hate. This mob decided to hate us.
This mob, holding up signs that said "honk for peace", could not stand
the fact that 3 people stood across the street from them and disagreed
with them.I heard one of the "leaders" attempt to calm this mob down and move
them back over to their side of the street to no avail – the young men,
and girls were determined to scare us away. They ignored the leader,
and even said"This is American and it’s a free country, I can stand wherever I want
to". Imagine that! One teenage girl ripped a protester sign out of his
hands, two others screamed in an older lady’s face, all the while the
entire crowed of them swarming in and around us, chanting, pounding
their fist in the air and spewing hatred.It wasn’t until Tampa’s finest (most in plain clothes) showed their
badges that the crowd began to make their way back across the street.
It wasn’t until a SHOW OF FORCE other than their own leader, who tried
in vain to calm them, broke up this mob. I would venture to say that if
the police weren’t there, we would have all been seriously beaten by
this gang of "honk if you love peace" protesters.I don’t know why I was compelled to go today, it was something that I
could not not do. Perhaps God wanted me to see what His children are
suffering with. To have so many hate you for simply being you, for
being faithful, and for standing for God.I was told point blank, that I must "pay", that America must "pay" and
that the Jews must "pay" by one of these "honk if you love peace"
protesters. I am reminded, that I am always forgiven even when I didn’t
do anything wrong.
San Francisco, Calif, Israeli Consulate: Atlas reader Jeremayakovka
TransAmerica building, SF’s signature skyscraper, w/ Hamas flag held aloft in
front
The answer my friend is blowing in the shofar
Very few surprises at tonight’s ANSWER-sponsored demonstration outside San Francisco’s Israeli consulate. The public needs to know, however, real details about the event that the mainstream media (despite their several network trucks, light poles, and cameramen) may ignore.
The Numbers Game: Pro-Israel activists, no matter how principled and committed, were heavily outnumbered by pro-Pali activists by about 4 (or 5) to 1. The Pali-crowd owned one side of the street, while the side with Israelis was about evenly divided among partisans. The radical left-wing site Indybay claimed that thousands turned out for Palestine – that’s bunk – there were hundreds, maybe 500, and maybe 100 for Israel.
The Logistics Game: Pro-Pali people had mounted speakers, bullhorns, professionally printed banners and signs (I ended up standing next to the guy who’d printed the signs – the ABC News affiliate filmed us talking to each other), flags (including a Pali flag with the al-Aqsa mosque printed on its white field) and even war drums. Pro-Israeli people had pre-printed signs, many big Israeli flags, and a shofar – all good, but the Palis had the bigger and more portentous act.
The Propaganda Game: The Palis employed all too common slander and very calculated sloganeering to manipulate their several cases. This is key: they were present not merely to protest the Israeli campaign in Gaza, but to present a public face for "FREE PALESTINE!", for "The Right of Return", to "Free The Jena 6" (which some signs described as a "Legal Lynching"). Important to note is the Palis’ sense of inevitability: "VICTORY IS OURS!" This includes their case against the US as well as against Israel. One common sign urged to "Stop the US-Israeli Genocide."
Solidarity vs. Solitary: If non-Jews came out to show solidarity with the Jewish State, they didn’t show their colors, but non-Palis visibly stepped up to the plate for their pet cause. An average-looking American carried a Hamas flag on a tall pole (he has no direct ties with Hamas – I asked him); an Episcopalian contingent draped a large banner over the police barricade; so did ANSWER. The latter two were on the Pali-owned side, which suggests pre-event planning. An hour into the rally, an aggressive spokeswoman took the bullhorn for the Pali side: she was Asian-American looking and kicked off her remarks with a shrill "Brothers and sisters!" This is par for the course in San Francisco, but anyone who considers himself pro-Israel should note that, by appearances, not one non-Jewish individual or organization dared share sidewalk space with Jews. How existential.
Small world: At one point I found myself alongside Osha Neumann. Osha’s a longtime Berkeley radical lawyer, a self-described artist, and a veteran of the 60s anarchist groupuscule, The Motherfuckers. He’s also author of the recently-published Up Against the Wall, Motherf**ker, a memoir of going from liberal Jewish kid with a graduate degree from Yale to the more daring fringes of American radicalism. in the book he renounces nothing, but he does admit some of the more bizarre and dangerous elements of modern American radicalism (e.g., willingly submitting to totalitarian organizational structures, submitting oneself to "criticism" in order to become a better radical, etc.).
Most of the Israel activists were young, under 30 & teens.
WASHINGTON DC: STATE DEPARTMENT: John L was there and posted all of his reportage here:
We were ringed by police, but we were on State Department property in downtown
DC, not everyone there was protesting. I saw at least one panhandler fleecing
the crowd.
And it was several hundred people
At five o’clock some of them prayed, but certainly a small
portion of them. I guess that’s as deep as most of them took those shouts of
“God is great” I heard.
The most important thing is to listen to the rhetoric and lies
in the videos. Notice there are very few Palestinians, very few Arabs speaking.
The Arab Community, like IVAW, like every other group of “victims” are being
used by the anti-war community to work us all up into a lather. But you can see
that for yourself.
TACOMA WASHINGTON: Atlas reader Janey Barnhart
Just got home from standing as the lonely voice for Israel at the
demonstration in Tacoma WA. We are terribly civil here in the Pacific
NW, so it was me and my large Israeli flag in uneventful, solitary
solidarity with 25-ish ‘anti-violence’ folks. Just doin’ my part as a
Christian to support Israel’s right to defend itself against slaughter.
Thanks for letting us know about these events
DEARBORN, MICHIGAN: Rick reports:
Well, we had a pro-Palestinian/anti-Zionist demonstration here in
Dearborn this afternoon. This happens every once in a while whenever
somebody other than Israel gets bombed.It was quite well attended by Palestinian supporters (who in
Dearborn are chiefly Lebanese).So I made my presence known on the other side of the street. Which
was not easy, since I was the only one over on that side.
I have to ask, where were my brothers and sisters who
believe in the peace that the gospel of Christ brings? Where were my
friends who support Israel’s right to exist?We cannot and must not be afraid to bring truth to the forefront.
NEW YORK NY: Pamela covered it beautifully (more coverage here):
To
see all the pictures click picture
We had a COUNTER at this one .
Stand With Israel did a great job!
UPDATE More reportage thoughts from San Francisco. Atlas reader 
UPDATE: Albuquerque Anti/Pro
Israel Rallies
Noticeable at these anti-Israel protests as compared with protests of earlier
years was the vocal presence of local Arabs from Israel, the many kefiyehs and
Palestinian flags, and the rowdiness of the young people and young adults.
Evidently they feel more confident now than in previous years, or have moved out
from under the council of prudence. Perhaps conditions are such that they are
moving into phase II or III of a plan. The honking of passers-by to show support
was much more frequent than in earlier years, and many of the drivers were
Muslim, but more weren’t.Anti-Israel sentiment is growing in Albuquerque in main part because it is
growing throughout the world and the US, and has become socially acceptable. To
most of the public, anti-Israel and anti-Jewish are synonyms. The bigotry has
also been growing in part because the local “pro-Palestinian” groups have been
active for years, patiently and successfully working to produce this sentiment
in schools, the university, the media, local government and the public at large.
Indeed, some synagogues and Jewish leaders have promoted this movement.[…]
At the evening protest, two passers-by joined me with my lone pro-Israel
sign, and we held up an Israeli flag and took the harrassment of the Arab young
people together, which made us stronger, even later, when there were only two
women. None of us knew each other, but the two supporters were both Messianic.
Coincidence? To us, Messianics seem strange, but many have courage and
conviction in this matter, that others lack.Because I was the only Jew with a Pro-Israel sign at the anti-Israel
protests, I got my picture taken and got interviewed three times. I doubt my
statements were aired. My statements that Israel is right to attack Gaza, and if
the Arabs of Gaza are suffering, they brought it on themselves by electing and
supporting genocidal terrorist leaders, is socially unacceptable in polite
gentile society. Indeed, it is unacceptable in polite Jewish society, but it is
true.At these protests I saw a stridency and rowdiness in the Arabs who showed up,
that was not apparent in earlier protests. I saw that the majority of passers-by
were either active supporters of their view, or non-committal. While we
pep-rallied privately in the the JCC, with security, the public was turned a
shade more against us, and we had no effective response.
UPDATE: ATLANTA, GEORGIA Orit reports:
Re: Atlanta Pro-Hamas Rally 12/30/08 (Israeli Consulate) Part 1
There were about 250 people.
Here are
some notes though:Chants:
no justice, no peace
long live
palestine
US out of the middle east
Free, free palestine
1-2-3-4 we
don’t want this racist war, 5-6-7-8 israel is a terror state
occupation is a
crime, israel out of palestine
gaza is under attack. what are we going to do?
fight back!
what do we want? Justice. When do we want it now? Now.
allah
akbar
US, israel you can’t hide, we charge you with genocide
not a penny,
not a dime, israel out of palestine
Hitler, Olmert all the same, all they
have is different names
they kill, they lie, but palestine will never
die
free, free palestine, long live palestineSigns:
gaza
solidarity
stop Israeli terrorism
sympathize with gaza t-hirt (in hebrew
and english)
stop war on iran
gaza you are not alone
stop the massacre
in gaza
stop US, israeli war crimes
I am not a terrorist (held by little
girl)
honk for gaza (MARTA — Atlanta public bus honked)
zionism equals
(sign) racismThe protest was arranged by the Atlanta International
Center. They had a permit from 4-5:30pm to demonstrate in front of the Israeli
consulate which is in midtown Atlanta. Car traffic was heavy the entire time,
and there was a constant flow of people into the demonstration. Women were
coming with their young children in strollers and older people wrapped in
kefiyahs came and set up chairs.Representatives from CAIR were there as
well as the student movements of Students for Justice in Palestine at Georgia
Tech and Emory Advocates for Justice in Palestine. At 5:30pm they made an
announcement that they must leave the premises, so they marched into the street
— walking in the opposite flow of traffic — shutting down the street entirely
and establishing themselves about 1/4 mile away.There were about 4
cops from the Atlanta police department ensuring people’s safety: staying on the
sidewalks and crossing the street. About a block away there were about a dozen
police on motorcycles. The cops I talked to said they were there in case there
was a counter protest. As I found out afterwards, there were also undercover,
plain-clothes police officers around the entire time.Local media were
there as well and there was at least one local channel (NBC affiliate) which
interviewed people for their 6pm broadcast.I have no idea why there was
no counter protest planned. I only found out about it through the Muslim Student
Association at Georgia Tech the night before, so there’s was no time to arrange
anything.There was a big press conference earlier in the day with the
ambassador and the incident involving Cynthia McKinney. But, as far as I know,
no one commented on the pro-hamas rally specifically.
UPDATE:BOSTON, MASS: BENJAMIN was out covering the action in Massachusets here – Park Plaza
BROOKLINE MASS: Benjamin has a great post here:
UPDATE: BERLIN, Germany – Gudren has this
Videos der “Gaza-Soli-Demo” in
BerlinPosted 9 videos about 2000 Hamas activists in Berlin, December
29, 2008: "Israel Murderer of Women", "Israel Murderer of Children", "Zionists
Faschists", nobody, no policeman no politician said anything against ist. More
demos to come all around Germany, Hamburg p.e., on January 2, 2009.