Beware The Anti-Israel MacRatbags: Why we should fear a "Yes" vote in Thursday's Scottish referendum

Members of the Radical Independence Campaign standing with Gaza

The outcome of Scotland's referendum on Thursday to decide whether or not to secede from the Union with England hangs in the balance, with polls indicating that the probable result is too close to call.

A "Yes" vote leading to the breakup of the United Kingdom would be a tragedy, diminishing Britain's weight in the world.

It would also limit opportunities for Scots, people who have not, despite the nonsense pushed in some "Yes" circles, been oppressed by "the English"; indeed, in the twentieth century alone there were five British prime ministers from Scotland and others with Scottish connections, including Tony Blair.

Ratbags in Edinburgh

Scots have played a distinguished part in Britain's wars and in the development of the British Empire (the East India Company was largely dominated by Scots, something that the leftists would rather not acknowledge).

More importantly from our standpoint, Scottish independence would mean and the dominance in Scotland of the Israel-hating Left, which has to date been responsible for five Scottish councils commiting to BDS and which is thirsting to wreak more mischief of that sort.

As the Jewish Chronicle reported last week that some Jews intend to vote "Yes" despite apprehensions:

 'Scottish Jews are concerned that independence could lead to a rise in anti-Zionism but, for many, it will not stop them voting yes.

Scotland's 6,000-strong community has faced a summer of rising anti-Israel protest amid the Gaza conflict, with Glasgow and Edinburgh town halls flying the Palestinian flag and protesters boycotting stores stocking Israeli goods.

With the latest polling putting the yes and no camps at level pegging in the run-up to the vote on September 18, Jews are having to consider what affect independence could have on issues such as circumcision and kosher slaughter, and whether a new goverment would pursue a harder line on Israel.

... Paul Morron, president of the Glasgow Jewish Representative Council [is not panicking but concedes]

"An independent Scottish government will have control over foreign policy and that may take a more anti-Israel view. This could increase pressure on the community. We have seen how quickly anti-Israel feeling can turn into antisemitism.

"In the last 60 years Glasgow has not suffered this level of antisemitism so of course there is a major shockwave going through the community. ..."

....Living in England, Rabbi Alan Plancey, emeritus rabbi of Borehamwood Synagogue, cannot vote next week, but as a proud Scot he is keenly following the campaign, and is dead against independence. "Why do we have to split up everything all the time? If it works, why break it?" he said.

"There is a lot of antisemitism in Scotland - if they go on their own, it could be worse. Once they have their own fully sovereign government and parliament, God knows what they will do."'

 Note this recent press release by the Radical Independence Campaign:

“An independent Scotland could have a Palestinian embassy and support sanctions against Israel”, Radical Independence Campaign co-founder Jonathon Shafi has said, ahead of a Scotland-wide march against the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

The writing on the wall

The Radical Independence Campaign (RIC) were present at the Scotland-wide demonstration and have printed placards reading ‘Scotland’s stands with Gaza – Free Palestine’. Jonathon Shafi, who will be speaking at the demonstration, said:

‘Israel has broken the UN Human Rights Charter many times over. But we have come to come expect nothing but inaction from successive Westminster Governments. This is not the first time Israel have committed war crimes, such as collective punishment, and as long as the UK Government and the rest of the international community continue to stand in support of Israel, it won’t be the last.

An independent Scotland could follow the example of Chile, who announced this week that they were suspending trade talks with Israel and considering withdrawing its ambassador from Tel-Aviv(1).

An independent Scotland could stand with those in the international community who want to see peace and justice for the people of Palestine. It could support effective political and economic sanctions against Israel. And it could make a symbolic gesture of the legitimacy of Palestine on the international stage by having a Palestinian embassy in a newly independent Scotland.

With the full powers of independence, the Scottish Government could play a definitive and leading role in standing against Israeli occupation and the oppression of Palestinians. Contrast that with David Camerons ‘staunch support’ of Israel."

Note what Alex Salmond, leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), said on Sunday. To quote the  Jewish Chronicle:

'Scottish politician Alex Salmond appeared to compare the Islamic State terror group’s beheading of a British aid worker to the actions of the Israeli government in controversial comments on Sunday.

Speaking on the BBC’s Andrew Marr show, Mr Salmond said: “The Muslim community of Scotland isn’t responsible in any shape or form for atrocities or extremism, just like a few weeks ago the Jewish community of Scotland wasn’t responsible for the policies of the state of Israel.”

The Scottish National Party leader was commenting after Scottish aid worker David Haines was murdered by Islamic State terrorists in Iraq.'

https://www.greenleft.org.au/node/57306

Note, too, that Mick Napier, the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign chief, is as fanatical a pro-Scottish independence proponent as he is an anti-Israel one.

If Scotland does become independent, this initiative of Napier's, argued by him before the Scottish Parliament that Edward Snowden by granted asylum in Scotland, is a likely example of what the ratbags will do.

Yes, if they get independence, that is a likely example of what they will do Though they are unlikely to cite a Yiddish tale, as he does in that video. What chutzpah!


 I give several recent examples of Mr Napier's mindset below, as contained in recent messages of his on Facebook.

And cheering Scottish independence on, the Welsh Green Party's anti-Israel leader:

As well as the anti-Israel Socialist Workers mob:

Yet another ratbag for independence, in a nonsensical piece in the Guardian:

Among The Israel-Haters, Ezra The Prophet (video)

Don't let the well-modulated tones of the narrator in the following video lull or fool you.  Uploaded last month, and focusing on a bunch of five Israel-haters in Scotland who disrupted the performance of The Jerusalem Quartet and appear to be Edinburgh's answer to Melbourne's so-called "Max Brenner 19,"  it's as insidiously nasty a piece of propaganda against what's described in it as "a criminal racist state" as you're likely to find.

These people favour BDS against all Israeli goods and initiatives (though presumably, it goes without saying, not those Israeli inventions and medical breakthroughs that enhance their own lives) and they mean business.  This is no amateurish video.  It's a well-made, far-ranging piece of vilification against Israel, the only Jewish State in the world and – well, well, what a coincidence! – the only country in the world whose existence is challenged.

What these haters overlook (or maybe it doesn't matter to them) is that  the "Palestinian state" yearning to be born already has anti-Jewish apartheid as a principle in its draft constitution. See  here
(Hat tip: E.G.)

There is, however, one person featured in the video who talks sense.  He's Dr Ezra Golombok, director of the Israel Information Office in Scotland.

As outlined in The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History, Dr Golombok, a retired research chemist, is the son of Lithuanian-born Zevi (or Zvi) Golombok (1880-1954), who co-founded a Yiddish-language Zionist newspaper in Scotland as well as a Yiddish weekly, and who went on to found the English-language Glasgow Jewish Echo (ran from 1928-92), which Ezra edited from 1950.

Chants Of Hate (video)

Here's a mob screaming "Intifada, Intifada!" and other cries against the Zionist Entity at a soccer match in Edinburgh last month.

The lead-up to this hate directed at Israeli players can be viewed directly below it.

Last week, a vast throng at a Khalifah Conference in Ramallah joined in "chants of liberation"; brief footage appears below:

"The Zionist Project ... Is Going To Founder": rabble-rousing in Dundee (video)

Here's Mick Napier, of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, ranting and raving in ear-splitting tones during a recent "Justice for Palestine" festival in Dundee:

O To Be In Tel Aviv, Now That April's Here ...

No, I haven't gone bonkers, fast forwarding the calendar and mistaking the month.  But I do want to diarise Sunday 15 April. It occurs immediately after Pesach.

Be prepared, folks! That's when a new flytilla is scheduled to descend on Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion Airport.

Here's the lowdown, from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in that part of the United Kingdom where the pictured message, presumably by some antisemitic nutjob within the Scottish National Party,  was scrawled upon a wall not so long ago.

I quote from the Scottish PSC's website:

'The challenge to Israel’s illegal siege of Palestine has to move from words to deeds; a small flotilla of boats challenge the siege of Gaza by sea and the Welcome to Palestine 2012 initiative will fly in to Tel Aviv Airport on April 15th to insist on the rights of all Palestinians to freely receive visitors from abroad. Hopefully, hundreds of international visitors will celebrate with Palestinian friends on that Sunday a tiny progress towards the realisation of their full human rights.

The Israelis may, however, as in 2011, imprison air travellers without charge for trying to go openly to Palestine, but the numbers and international scope this time will make it much more difficult and politically costly for them. If, in addition, international air carriers agree to act as auxiliary prison guards for Israel’s illegal occupation by refusing boarding to some ticket-holders in our home countries, we will know how [to] deal through the courts and otherwise with this violation of our rights to travel.

As with other countries, UK involvement in WtP 2012 will be much greater than last year. Most will be participating for the first time, but some will be veterans of WtP2011. Organisers are already in place in London, the North of England, Wales, Scotland and elsewhere to be a point of recruitment, to fundraise, to set up support systems here, to liaise with Palestinian and Israeli welcomers, and to organise the groups that will fly into Tel Aviv Airport on April 15th from many airports internationally. Join us.

Read the endorsement of WtP 2012 from Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Noam Chomsky and many others:

"We, the undersigned, endorse the call from the Welcome to Palestine 2012 initiative for supporters of Palestinian human and national rights around the world to openly visit Palestine during Easter 2012.

There is no way into Palestine other than through Israeli control points. Israel has turned Palestine into a giant prison, but prisoners have a right to receive visitors.

Welcome to Palestine 2012 will again challenge Israel's policy of isolating the West Bank while the settler paramilitaries and army commit brutal crimes against a virtually defenceless Palestinian civilian population.

We call on governments to support the right of Palestinians to receive visitors and the right of their own citizens to visit Palestine openly.

The participants in Welcome to Palestine 2012 ask to be allowed to pass through Tel Aviv airport without hindrance and to proceed to the West Bank to take part in a project there for children to benefit from the right to education."

SIGNED:

Sam Bahour / Tony Benn / Noam Chomsky / Jonathan Cook / Stephane Hessel / Ronnie Kasrils / Nurit Peled / John Pilger / Nawal Al Sadaawi / Vauro Senesi / Desmond Tutu

So now we know.
Hat tip: J.S.

Scottish PSC Fights Member's Conviction

The conviction in the Cupar Sheriff Court, Fife, of St Andrews University history student Paul Donnachie, a member of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign, of a racist breach of the peace after he insulted the flag of Israel has been widely reported.

As seen in the Courier newspaper (links below) the external walls of the courthouse were plastered with repulsive posters claiming "Israel is a criminal state" and "To criticise Israel is NOT a crime - it is a duty," and in addition a Facebook page calling for Justice for Donnachie has been marred by a number of outright antisemitic comments, including the Ashkenazim-are-Khazars canard and slurs on the Talmud. The blog Harry's Place (http://hurryupharry.org/2011/08/23/drunken-thuggery-is-the-new-political-activism/) has  screenshots of some of the worst early offenders.

In March Donnachie entered the room in a hall of residence of exchange student Chanan.Reitblat, from Yeshiva University in New York, with another student, against whom a similar charge was not proven.

The Court heard that Donnachie put his hands on his private parts and then rubbed his hands on an Israeli flag belonging to Mr Reitblat.

The flag had been given to Mr Reitblat by his brother, an IDF soldier, and the incident left the Jewish student feeling "violated and devastated".

Mr Reitblat explained in Court:

"Israel is a Jewish state... You cannot separate Israel from Jewishness... Israel is a state I feel affiliated to by religion....Israel is a land for Jews... The Jewish people have a right to self-determination. That is part of my religious belief."

The Sheriff maintained that Donnachie's act was  "done because he [Reitblat] was a Jew and because of his association with Israel."  He went on:

"Saying that a state is terrorist says that everyone within the state is terrorist. He doesn't distinguish between the state and the people.

Mr Donnachie doesn't distinguish between the government of Israel and the state."

He told  Donnachie:

"This flag was his personal property. I consider that your behaviour did evince malice towards Mr Reitblat because of his presumed membership of Israel.

I hold that you said, that's a terrorist flag, Israel is a terrorist state, and you are a terrorist.

Section 50A requires malice or ill will towards a person based on their membership of an ethnic group; which includes nationality and association with that group.

It was malice and ill will because of his presumed membership of Israel."

Donnachie, who has now been expelled from the university, and on whom the Sheriff deferred sentence until 13 September, intends to appeal his conviction, which he desribed as "ridiculous ... I'm a member of anti-racism campaigns..."

He'd told the Court:

"I'm not contending that my action toward the flag was commendable or dignified, but it was a political expression."

At the verdict, the anti-racists (supposedly) of the Scottish PSC booed and shouted in the courtroom and also booed Mr Reitblat as he departed.

Said Mr Reitblat:

"My privacy was invaded in a shocking way.  I am Jewish ... and Israel is an important part of my religious belief.

They attacked my beliefs and the behaviour toward me and my property was humiliating.

I welcome today's conviction.  I want to thank the St Andrews University authorities for their support during this troubled time.

I also want to thank Fife police and officials at Cupar Sheriff Court."

Grumbles the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign:

"The sheriff ... refused to allow Paul's lawyer to call the three expert witnesses to appear. Liz Elkind and Sarah Glynn, both of Scottish Jews for a Just Peace, and SPSC chair Mick Napier were going discuss the dangers of conflating Judaism with Zionism and Israel, the history of Zionist attempts to do so, and the concepts of Israel and Israeli nationality. The sheriff considered this irrelevant because there was nothing they could teach him that common sense wouldn't provide."

Sarah Glynn, visibly upset, reportedly told the Reitblat family (Holocaust survivors who left Lithuania for America when Chanan was two):

"As Jews you should be ashamed. This is devastating."

http://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/53598/racially-abused-jewish-student-felt-unsafe-st-andrews
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/Fife/article/16740/they-attacked-my-beliefs-former-st-andrews-student-thanks-authorities-for-helping-to-secure-conviction.html
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/Fife/article/16726/st-andrews-university-expels-man-found-guilty-of-racially-abusing-jewish-student.html
http://www.thecourier.co.uk/News/Fife/article/1092/tight-security-at-israel-lecture-thwarts-protest.html
http://www.scottishpsc.org.uk/?option=com_alphacontent&sort=5&Itemid=341&limit=50&fontstyle=f-larger 

Hate with a Scottish Accent (more video footage of Ishmael Khaldi among the mob)

You may have seen the video footage of a mob at Edinburgh University preventing the Israeli diplomat Ishmael Khaldi speaking as scheduled (see http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2011/02/video-footage-of-bedouin-among.html)

Well, here’s more video footage of the event, made by the triumphalist mob responsible. It begins with a glimpse of Mr Khaldi during an interview last year with David Frost.

This video shows a very patient Mr Khaldi explaining, in writing, that “There will never be peace with this anarchy,” as an old guy in a red parka blares abuse at him and the mob chants anti-Israel slogans.  Following remarkable forbearance Mr Khaldi, whose dignity contrasts sharply with the behaviour of the mob, unplugs the old guy’s microphone...

Notice the similarities with this incident that recently took place at Hampshire College, a private liberal arts college in Massachusetts, when a talk by an IDF soldier, Sergeant Benjamin Anthony, was disrupted by the anti-Israel brigade: http://tofindtheprinciples.blogspot.com/2011/02/sound-and-fury-at-hampshire-college-as_10.html

Video footage of the Bedouin among the Bravehearts (not)

Here’s a video that gives a glimpse into the intimidatory, cowardly, fascistic behaviour of anti-Israel elements at Edinburgh University on 2 February, when a coven of flag-waving protesters screaming anti-Israel slogans disrupted a talk there by Israeli diplomat Ishmael Khaldi (who happens to be a Muslim and a Bedouin) - he'd been invited to the university by Jewish students, but found it impossible to carry on with his talk owing to these thugs.
See my post http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2011/02/from-cairo-to-ramallah-globalise.html
Update: another video, shedding more light on this shameful episode, can be seen at http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/2011/02/hate-with-scottish-accent-video.html

"From Cairo to Ramallah, globalise the Intifada" – Anti-Israel Thuggery at Edinburgh University

Edinburgh in the eighteenth century was the epicentre of the “Scottish Enlightenment” – and well-dubbed “The Athens of the North”. It’s a beautiful city that I know rather well, having spent many enjoyable trips there, to research in its historical archives.

However, it’s also become a centre of a singularly unenlightened campaign – the demonisation and delegitimisation of Israel, and I’ve seen some of the consequences myself, from teams of intimidatory BDS fanatics attempting to cajole shoppers into boycotting Marks and Spencer’s on Princes Street, to ugly marches of screaming activists with their repellent slogans. Some of the churches have driven such activity, and needless to say there is a flourishing Palestine Solidarity Campaign there as well as anti-Israel activism at the ancient university.

A couple of days ago Ishmael Khaldi (pictured), an Israeli Bedouin, Muslim, and diplomat, who had been invited by the Edinburgh University Jewish Society to speak on the topic “Is Israel a Racist State?” arrived as scheduled.

The university’s International Relations Society had refused to hold the event under its auspices – “We came to the conclusion that providing a platform for a representative of the Israeli state would be at the expense of the millions of Palestinians who live under Apartheid,” said its president, Ledys Sanjuan – and the talk went ahead at a later time than planned.

But not for long.

For there were some 40 to 70 (accounts differ) anti-Israel activists in the audience, including members of the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and local Palestinians, and no sooner had proceedings started than a member of the group Students for Justice in Palestine yelled "Where is the freedom of speech for the 1,500 massacred in Gaza? Where is the freedom of speech for the Palestinian students in Israeli dungeons?" The platform was taken over by the activists, and a cacophony of cries including "From Cairo to Ramallah, globalise the Intifada", "Boycott Israel" and "From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free" drowned out Mr Khaldi.

In the words of one of the activists: “University security soon arrived but the peaceful demonstration –  there were some 40 to 50 – continued unabated for a further 45 minutes until Khaldi finally got the message that he was not welcome and left the lecture theatre. The majority of the people present in the lecture theatre had made it clear that they were not interested in listening to Israeli propaganda.”

And said Liam O’Hare, president of the university’s Students for Justice in Palestine group – which had earlier in the day hosted (uninterrupted, naturally) a talk by the American anti-Western, anti-Israel Iraq war veteran Mike Prysner – enthused:

"We sent a clear message today that those who come to our University to represent an Apartheid state and to defend the dropping of white phosphorous on children are absolutely not welcome. Khaldi works for the openly racist Avigdor Lieberman, a man who has called for the execution of Arab members of the Knesset ... The recent leak of the 'Palestine Papers' has proven beyond any doubt that Israel does not seek peace and that it is purely a colonial settler state which seeks to indefinitely oppress the indigenous Palestinian population. We will continue to protest events where representatives of a racist state are present and fully support the global campaign of Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Apartheid Israel until it abides by international law’".

Brays the Scottish PSC on its website – note the ignorant misconceptions and distortions of history, by the way :

‘Students made it clear that with over 60 years of Israel boycotting the human and national rights of the Palestinians, Israeli apologists for murder and ethnic cleansing did not deserve the right to free speech that they denied the Palestinians.

The students pointed out that Israel wants nothing more than continued "dialogue"; the kind of dialogue that expects everything of the indigenous Palestinians, and nothing from the racist colonising state –  the Palestine Papers make this abundantly clear.

Like Mubarak, Ishmael Khaldi has had better days. After more than an hour of hiding behind his bodyguards, Khaldi gave up, leaving the room to chants of "Cheerio, cheerio, cheerio."

Israel has had its chance to "dialogue" and it abused it.

When Palestine is free, perhaps Edinburgh University's Psychology Society can invite Khaldi to explain what was going through his mind when he practiced and promoted Apartheid.

Until then, no university society should tarnish its reputation by providing a platform to Khaldi or any other ambassadors of crime.

Well done to Edinburgh University Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) for organising a fantastic protest at very short notice.’

So much for enlightenment, so much for free and reasoned debate, so much for higher learning and the mutual exchange of ideas in a respectful and tolerant atmosphere.

So much, indeed, for “The Athens of the North”.

http://scottishpsc.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3583%3Aedinburgh-students-stop-israels-racist-tours&catid=582%3Anews&Itemid=200587
http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/Israeli-minister-sparks-demo-by.6710007.jp

You can see Mr Khaldi giving a similar speech here: