Move over Peace Now. Put away your signs and water bottles,you aging hippies who have been rallying ineffectually to "give a peace a chance" for the last forty years. Now that the Annapolis photo-op is over, get ready for the face of the future
Meet your children -- the one who are still left in Israel -- the Activists!.
In a clever and well-coordinated move (what happened to the Shabak?), seventy activists panned out through Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa, and plastered 10,000 electricity cut-off notices to the residents. Of course, the cut-off notices were bogus, but they served to literally bring home to the Israelis that Gaza has been threatened by Israel with a general electricity and fuel shut-off in reprisal for shelling Sderot.
Now, the average Israeli will point out how justified Israel's actions are. I mean, let's face it, if the Israelis wanted to, they could just wipe Gaza off the face of the earth. The fact that they only hold a million human beings hostage and pressure them collectively whenever they want to (and their High Court lets them) shows how moral they are. Hell, they are the most moral country in the world. What other country would let the little b-stards lob shells into the city. I mean, Israel pulled out of their overcrowded hell-hole, didn't it? ("The better to squeeze them, my dear....")
That's what the average Israeli says, considering the responses on the websites.
Pity the average Israeli.
Read about it in Hebrew here and here and here and here and here (this has a video clip; you have to wait through a dumb commercial before you get to it, but it's worth it). And in English here
This protest action was sponsored by a coalition of lefties calling themselves, the Front for the Liberation of Gaza. They include some of the "Anarchists" who have been protesting the systematic expropriation of the lands of Bil'in every week. Lately they have also been involved in protesting the Israelis-only road 443, the most notorious of the roads of hafradah (Hebrew for "separation"; I wouldn't dignify the ideology behind it with the term "apartheid") And many other groups were involved.
Remember when Israelis justified checkpoints and closures by saying that they were "inconveniences" at worst? Well, apparently, the inconvenience of removing posters on their doors has been driving some of them nuts. Imagine what they would do if some of them had to stand in line for hours to get past a checkpoint? Of if their wives died in labor, or their children were stillborn because they did not have the right permit? Some of them would be fighting each other to sign up for the Masada suicide terrorist brigade.
Ah, ain't nothing like creative non-violent protest....And it's on the rise in Israel. From Hebron, from the Olive Harvest, from ICAHD's rebuilding demolished houses, Taayush, Mahsom Watch, Breaking the Silence, Rabbis for Human Rights, the Palestinians who protest the hafradah fence (sorry: the land grab wall) weekly....the list goes on, never enough to cover the war crimes.
My favorite response to the action, was, "Nu, higzamtem", roughly translated as "Come on guys, you exaggerated this time." They exaggerated? Israel is about to increase the pressure on an entire civilian population, and the Anarchists are the ones being accused of going overboard! Such is the moral rot in Israeli society today.
These young Israeli Gandhis can't bring peace. They can't stop the Occupation. But they can be moral witnesses. They won't have to explain themselves to their grandchildren as will we.
How appropriate that at a time when Jews are celebrating the deeds of a band of religious zealots, who fought a foreign occupying force that dimmed the lights of the Temple, a group of latter-day Maccabbees have arisen to oppose non-violently a foreign occupying force that threatens to dim the lights of Gaza.
Happy Hannukah, Activists and "Anarchists"! And Yasher Koah!
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
Mazel Tov, Activists and Anarchists -- the Latter-Day Maccabees (But with a Better Sense of Humor)
Move over Peace Now. Put away your signs and water bottles,you aging hippies who have been rallying ineffectually to "give a peace a chance" for the last forty years. Now that the Annapolis photo-op is over, get ready for the face of the future
Meet your children -- the one who are still left in Israel -- the Activists!.
In a clever and well-coordinated move (what happened to the Shabak?), seventy activists panned out through Tel-Aviv, Jerusalem, and Haifa, and plastered 10,000 electricity cut-off notices to the residents. Of course, the cut-off notices were bogus, but they served to literally bring home to the Israelis that Gaza has been threatened by Israel with a general electricity and fuel shut-off in reprisal for shelling Sderot.
Now, the average Israeli will point out how justified Israel's actions are. I mean, let's face it, if the Israelis wanted to, they could just wipe Gaza off the face of the earth. The fact that they only hold a million human beings hostage and pressure them collectively whenever they want to (and their High Court lets them) shows how moral they are. Hell, they are the most moral country in the world. What other country would let the little b-stards lob shells into the city. I mean, Israel pulled out of their overcrowded hell-hole, didn't it? ("The better to squeeze them, my dear....")
That's what the average Israeli says, considering the responses on the websites.
Pity the average Israeli.
Read about it in Hebrew here and here and here and here and here (this has a video clip; you have to wait through a dumb commercial before you get to it, but it's worth it). And in English here
This protest action was sponsored by a coalition of lefties calling themselves, the Front for the Liberation of Gaza. They include some of the "Anarchists" who have been protesting the systematic expropriation of the lands of Bil'in every week. Lately they have also been involved in protesting the Israelis-only road 443, the most notorious of the roads of hafradah (Hebrew for "separation"; I wouldn't dignify the ideology behind it with the term "apartheid") And many other groups were involved.
Remember when Israelis justified checkpoints and closures by saying that they were "inconveniences" at worst? Well, apparently, the inconvenience of removing posters on their doors has been driving some of them nuts. Imagine what they would do if some of them had to stand in line for hours to get past a checkpoint? Of if their wives died in labor, or their children were stillborn because they did not have the right permit? Some of them would be fighting each other to sign up for the Masada suicide terrorist brigade.
Ah, ain't nothing like creative non-violent protest....And it's on the rise in Israel. From Hebron, from the Olive Harvest, from ICAHD's rebuilding demolished houses, Taayush, Mahsom Watch, Breaking the Silence, Rabbis for Human Rights, the Palestinians who protest the hafradah fence (sorry: the land grab wall) weekly....the list goes on, never enough to cover the war crimes.
My favorite response to the action, was, "Nu, higzamtem", roughly translated as "Come on guys, you exaggerated this time." They exaggerated? Israel is about to increase the pressure on an entire civilian population, and the Anarchists are the ones being accused of going overboard! Such is the moral rot in Israeli society today.
These young Israeli Gandhis can't bring peace. They can't stop the Occupation. But they can be moral witnesses. They won't have to explain themselves to their grandchildren as will we.
How appropriate that at a time when Jews are celebrating the deeds of a band of religious zealots, who fought a foreign occupying force that dimmed the lights of the Temple, a group of latter-day Maccabbees have arisen to oppose non-violently a foreign occupying force that threatens to dim the lights of Gaza.
Happy Hannukah, Activists and "Anarchists"! And Yasher Koah!
This is brilliant guerilla theater. Abby Hoffman, wherever he is, is smiling down on them.
ReplyDeleteThanks so much for this post.
Jerry, Great post!
ReplyDeleteImagine what only 70 dedicated people can do. Very creative.
What is the 'shabak'? and the reference?
ellen
Ellen, thanks, you know I paused before I wrote "Shabak" but I decided to keep it in Hebrew. It is an acronym for the General Security Services (sometimes also called the Shin Bet), like our FBI. Since I always assume that there are infiltrators or moles in these organizations, I am surprised that the gang was able to pull it off with such aplomb. I guess I shouldn't tempt fate (or "open the mouth for Satan", a lovely Hebrew expression)
ReplyDeleteJerry,
ReplyDeleteWhat can I say? I agree with you. The power cutoff is a vicious, nasty, bullying, petulant, and finally fruitless display of power and pique. It hurts the little guy, and in Gaza, the little guy is little indeed.
But please, a word about the vicious, nasty, bullying, petulant, and finally fruitless display of power and pique that the "Gaza leadership" shows in shelling Sderot. Since they know that shelling Sderot only produces Israeli reactions with no tangible benefit, why do they do this?
Because, I submit, they are really screwed up people.
It's stuff like this that makes a lot of people just throw up their hands in despair and say, "let them just kill each other."
PS to the above.
ReplyDeleteI'm not saying this as an obligatory “let's criticize both sides, "they are equal opportunity offenders” and “let’s contexualize”. You don’t always have to contextualize and yes, Israel is the stronger party in this mess....
I’m saying it because it’s a fact. Shelling Sderot is flagrantly provocative. Knowing that Israelis respond as they do makes it doubly criminal.