Eretz Israel is our unforgettable historic homeland...The Jews who will it shall achieve their State...And whatever we attempt there for our own benefit will redound mightily and beneficially to the good of all mankind.(Theodor Herzl, DerJudenstaat, 1896)
We offer peace and amity to all the neighbouring states and their peoples, and invite them to cooperate with the independent Jewish nation for the common good of all. The State of Israel is ready to contribute its full share to the peaceful progress and development of the Middle East.(From Proclamation of the State of Israel, 5 Iyar 5708; 14 May 1948) With a liberal democratic political system operating under the rule of law, a flourishing market economy producing technological innovation to the benefit of the wider world, and a population as educated and cultured as anywhere in Europe or North America, Israel is a normal Western country with a right to be treated as such in the community of nations.... For the global jihad, Israel may be the first objective. But it will not be the last.(Friends of Israel Initiative)
Showing posts with label BDS Movement in Britain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label BDS Movement in Britain. Show all posts
On Saturday, outside the Goethe Institute in London, a small group of Israel-haters representing the Islamic-run group Inminds express their hate for both Germany and the Jewish State.
With their ludicrous mind- and ear-assaulting delivery who do these fanatics expect to convert to their repellent cause?
Their warped arguments ate well-glimpsed in Alex Seymour/Seymour Alexander's introduction to his footage:
'Germany has yet again been cowered by intense pressure from Tel-Aviv and Washington into joining the Zionist campaign against BDS and into believing (or pretending to believe) the lie that it is somehow anti-Jewish to support the Palestinians' demand for freedom and the return of their land and resources, stolen by the fascist State of Israel. Germany's latest contemptible act of submission to the Zionist diktat is to withdraw the 'Nelly Sachs' literary prize, awarded to the renowned Pakistani/British author Kamila Shamsie, on the grounds that she is a supporter of the BDS movement. Shame on Germany. By sucking up to an evil Zionist regime in occupied Palestine today, Berlin thinks we will forget about what Germany did to the Jews between 1933 and 1945.'
On 15 February outside the Puma Store, in accordance with this particular facet of the anti-Israel movement, devotees of the Islamic-led Inminds organisation (including a "Kick Israel Out of FIFA" campaigner of Jewish origin, who's here exchanged her familiar baseball cap and togs in the Palestinian Arab colours for a woollen beanie and winter gear) spew their usual scripted slurs. (Don't give up the day jobs, duckies!)
Puma, the leading international sponsor of the Israel Football Association, is the latest brand targetted by the BDS movement, and yesterday, 6 October, Inminds staged a demo outside the Puma store on Carnaby Street, which didn't go quite according to plan.
For there to wave the Israeli flag and denounce the "monstrous lies" emanating from the hate-mongers, was a small contingent of Zionist activists, including the stalwart Jonathan Hoffman.
At one point Mr Plod approaches one of the pro-Israel counter-protesters, and seems to remonstrate with him.
But then, just as Sandra Watfa (David Collier's take on her below) launches into her customary Israel-denouncing rant, she is suddenly surrounded by the Zionists, who virtually drown her out with repetitive cries of "Terrorist supporters off our streets!"
Fangs as sharp as any puma's are bared on both sides, Ms Watfa's script flies from her hand, Mr Hoffman is manhandled, a burly security guy speaks to him sharply and is told "She hit me first!" and later "She's an anti-Jewish racist!"
A far cry from the groovy image of Carnaby Street back in the flower power "Make Love Not War" era of the 1960s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lFGIroxHQc
Kudos to the Zionists for deciding not to let the Israel-demonisers have the pavement all to themselves!
An interesting article's just appeared by an Arab supporter of Israel regarding the moral bankruptcy of BDS and how it is damaging the Palestinian people.
It's by Fred Maroun, who was born and grew up in Lebanon, left that country in 1984, and now lives in Canada.
It's a real disturbing eye-opener regarding what's going on across British campuses.
And as Mr Collier has remarked today on social media:
Can we now put the question "is BDS antisemitic?" to bed please. I've been to scores of events on campus, and yes, I have heard plenty of rabid antisemitism. But that was always just my experience, my opinion. Until yesterday. We have a few things to build on. We know that without the Palestinian and Islamic societies BDS wouldn't get any airtime at all. We know that standing for positions with the student unions is being used as a way of pushing the BDS cause. We know that on many campuses, especially in the south, events that BDS hold have a mainly Muslim audience. During Apartheid week, in the count for the events I attended, it was always above 70%.
So what do we know now. We know that many of these people in the BDS audience, supporting Apartheid week, think adultery is a crime worth stoning. We know that there is huge support for Sharia law implementation amongst them (rather than democracy), we know that they do not on the whole support freedom of speech, that they have a real problem with gays and of course, that there is a problem with antisemitism.
Which means that in the BDS room.... in the room that just coincidentally happens to have a problem with the Jewish state, there are gay hating, Jew hating, freedom hating, liberty hating people pretending to support a humanitarian cause, just so another one of their pet hates gets fed. And we also now know we are not talking about just a 'tiny minority of them'. It is done now, the argument is over. Whatever BDS inside a book (in theory) might be, we know that in practice much of the crowd is antisemitic. The university has to recognise this and end the practice on campus. BDS is a wagon of antisemitsm.. It is time to force the people off the bus.
And more essential if depressing reading.
'For at least twenty years, the British Jewish community has been out in front when it comes to interfaith work. As Britain’s Muslim population has grown, British Jews assumed that interfaith models that led to huge advances in relations with British Christians, could apply just as well to relations with British Muslims. Indeed building bridges with British Muslims has become the focus of outreach work by British Jews.
Today, our analysis of the ICM survey of British Muslims for Channel 4 and Juniper Television shows that the gradual buildup of understanding and friendship between Britain’s Jews and Muslims has been utterly eclipsed by growing antisemitism amongst British Muslims.
On every single count, British Muslims were more likely by far than the general British population to hold deeply antisemitic views. It is clear that many British Muslims reserve a special hatred for British Jews, rating Jews much less favourably than people of other religions or no religion, yet astonishingly British Muslims largely do not recognise antisemitism as a major problem.
It has long been suspected that sections of the British Muslim population harboured hatred towards British Jews. This survey goes some way to identifying pockets of prejudice, but it also shows that the prejudice is horrifyingly widespread.
From the ICM survey data made available by Channel 4 and Juniper Television, we have been able to identify some of the worst pockets of prejudice. Antisemitic British Muslims are more likely to be men, to be older than 35, to be social renters, to be in employment, to have been born outside Britain, to live south of the Midlands in England, or in Scotland, and they are overwhelmingly likely to sympathise with terrorism, violence and extremism.
The data is frustratingly limited in one [sic] some respects, and one in particular: it does not delve into the various political and religious movements that comprise the British Muslim population.This data shows that Jews remain the "canary in the coal mine", as they have been throughout history: those who harbour hatred of Jews also hate British society and sympathise with our most deadly enemies. Britain must confront rampant antisemitism within its Muslim population, but also amongst the general population, whose shocking views should be no less concerning simply because the views of British Muslims are worse.'
See the results of the survey with analysis and full report here
Another county heard from: arch-secularist Keith Porteous Wood:
Ever wondered what rain in London looks like? Well, here's your chance to find out. Courtesy of virulent anti-Israel stalwart Alex Seymour aka Seymour Alexander, footage of umbrellas, wet "Boycott Israel" banners, and pedestrians in raincoats and plastic macs scurrying by.
The most interesting part of this footage? Right at the end, when a rather handsome older gentleman hoves into view. If only we could hear what he's saying to the assembled little group of (very familiar) Israel-haters.
According to Mr Seymour's intemperate introduction on YouTube:
"The shadowy guy at the end of the video was insistent that we were in
league with terrorists but from his Israeli accent I would guess that
he was probably in much closer contact with terror gangs ( of the IDF
death squad variety ) than we were ever likely to be."
(Some people tell me Seymour's Jewish, btw.)
I intend no ingratitude to Seymour, whose videos I confess I'm drawn to like a moth to a flame, when I say that antipodean readers may find the most interesting bit of this video to be the very very end, when we meet two Australian BDSers from Adelaide who've come along to show solidarity with the ubiquitous Sandra, her equally ubiquitous grey-haired offsider (did you spot her helping to support a banner at the "Al Quds Day" footage I posted recently?), and the rest of the gang:
Meanwhile, from nuts to NUT.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIwfWfp8v4I
At its annual conference in April last year, Britain's Left-dominated National Union of Teachers, the aptly abbreviated NUT, passed the following motion:
“Conference instructs the Executive to:
support TUC policy, to “boycott the goods of, companies who profit from illegal settlements, the Occupation and the construction of the Wall”; pressure the UK Government to call on the Israeli Government to comply with international law and human rights treaties; work to win the backing of Education International and the ETUC(E) for these policies and to seek to collaborate with like-minded unions internationally; convey these views to the Israeli Teachers Union; express our solidarity with the GUPT for its objectives for education and discuss with them ways to develop this solidarity; all for an end to the discrimination against Palestinian students and teachers within Israel; encourage divisions to make links with Palestinian teachers and schools including organising delegation exchanges; encourage Associations, Schools and Divisions to publicise the report of the delegation to members; invite speakers to their meetings and encourage active membership participation in work on this issue; organise a special meeting for Division representatives and International Solidarity Officers to present the report, explain Union policy, outlining ways to develop the work and incorporate regular updates in Divisional Secretaries briefings and school representatives training; and continue to campaign for the rights of Palestinian children including child prisoners and work to engage all members in this campaign encouraging individual membership of and affiliation to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign and support for Action for Palestinian Children Prisoners; educate the membership through publications, divisions and international solidarity officers of the ‘Pinkwashing’ propaganda used by Israel to make their citizens and the wider world believe that they are progressive in respect of LGBT rights, while distracting attention away from the human rights abuses they have instigated by their occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.”
How outrageous that British children's education is in such hands!
'.... Delegates ... raised concerns about the move to require schools to promote fundamental British values as well as the Government's Prevent strategy, which is aimed at tackling extremism.
The strategy suggests school staff can help to identify and refer youngsters whose behaviour suggests that they are being drawn into extremism or terrorism.
Alex Kenny, of the union's executive, described Prevent as a 'blunt instrument that will do damage and inhibit debate in schools', adding that Ofsted should be allowed 'nowhere near these issues'.
Ofsted now checks that schools are actively promoting British values like tolerance and democracy as part of regular inspections.
Mr Kenny said: 'We live in a damaged and volatile world, and like us, young people are trying to make sense of it, like us, they're trying to come to conclusions about cause, effect and solutions, and like us they want a space to discuss it.
"Schools are places where that discussion, on ethical and political issues should take place, in an environment of enquiry, and it may be an environment where young people say things we don't like, or say things that concern us that we want to address with them, that we want to discuss with them.
But Prevent conflates a notion of British values and an elastic notion of non-violent extremism that is shutting down that debate." ...'
(More on the NUT's 2015 conference and anti-Israel activity here)
Hah! I'd have thought that the NUT's adoption of BDS against the world's only Jewish State is also shutting down debate.
"Zionism's Got To Go!": Al Quds Day, London, 2015
But that's Leftist double standards and hypocrisy for you, to put it no stronger
This week, the NUT and its attitude towards Israel and Prevent has been in the news again, with Al Jazeera alleging:
'School children in the UK who express support for Palestine face being questioned by police and referred to a counter-radicalisation programme for youngsters deemed at risk of being drawn into terrorism under new laws requiring teachers to monitor students for extremism.
One schoolboy told Al Jazeera he was accused of holding "terrorist-like" views by a police officer who questioned him for taking leaflets [produced by Friends of al-Aqsa] into school promoting a boycott of Israel.
The case reflects concerns raised about the expansion of the government's Preventcounter-extremism strategy into schools, with critics complaining that teachers are being expected to act as the "eyes and ears of the state".
Since the beginning of July, teachers have had a statutory duty to monitor and report children who they believe may be susceptible to radicalisation, although Prevent engagement officers, who are usually also police officers, have long been active in schools in areas with significant Muslim populations.
The boy, who was then 15 and attending school in a southern English town, said he was also told that "Free Palestine" badges that he wore were "extremist". Al Jazeera is not naming the student or the school to protect his identity.
"He asked me what I thought of the leaflet," the boy said, describing how a police officer told him he had been brought into the school to "deal with this sort of extremism".
"I explained to him my views about freedom and justice and that I supported Palestine. I said I thought Israel should have tough sanctions put upon it and he said these could be radical beliefs," the boy said.
"He said these are terrorist-like beliefs that you have. He explicitly said you cannot speak about this conflict at school with your friends," the boy said....
The boy said he had subsequently had numerous run-ins with teachers and with the officer, who had an office in the school.
"I asked my form tutor about Prevent and whether he would act as an informant if I said anything, and he said, 'I am uncomfortable with that but that is what I have to do,'" the boy said.
On other occasions, a dinner lady reported him to teachers for inquiring whether any food in the canteen was produced in Israel. A teacher also spoke to his 14-year-old brother, who attended the same school and was told, "Your brother has radical ideas. You advise your brother to stop or we will report him to the intelligence agencies."
Al Quds Day, London, 2015
Al Jazeera has identified other examples suggesting that Palestine-related activism is something that teachers and public officials are being encouraged to look out for as part of their Prevent duties....
"We've heard of the police going into schools to talk about Prevent to teachers and saying things like, 'If a kid thinks the West is at war with Islam it might be a cause for concern.' Or if a child goes on a demonstration against the bombing of Gaza, 'Keep an eye on him,'" Alex Kenny of the National Union of Teachers told Al Jazeera .....
Ismail Patel, chairman of Friends of al-Aqsa, dismissed allegations that the organisation's leaflets were extremist and accused the government of "veering towards totalitarianism".
"People are scared to talk about Palestine. A lot of mosques now will not put posters up. There is fear in the community so there is self-censorship and self-policing," said Patel. "That really feeds the process of radicalisation because they are not allowing individuals to express their grievances."...'[Emphasis added]
I must say, to judge from the truly horrible chanting in London on Al Quds Day, that hardly seems to be the case.
I posted footage here of Al Quds Day marches this year, but, in summary, to quote well-known London-based blogger Richard Millett:
'[P]lacards that have appeared at Al Quds Day demonstrations include: “Israel is a disease, We are the cure“, “Listen Israel, Leave!!!”, “For world peace Israel must be destroyed“, “Israel your days are numbered”, “Death to Israel”, “The world stopped Nazism…the world must stop Zionism”.'
Below is an example of the leftist hypocrisy that Pat Condell pans in the video that comprises the previous post.
These Israel-haters (including the fragrant Yvonne Ridley) rant and rave against Israel, yet think nothing of appearing on the propaganda satellite channel of the odious, persecutory, and murderous Iranian regime.
Background to the above, quoting the Jewish Chronicle (read more here):
'Protesters shut down four factories in a co-ordinated move against Israeli drone manufacturer Elbit Systems.
Up on the roof
Three British factories, owned by Instro Precision, a subsidiary of Elbit, were forced to suspend operations after sit-ins by pro-Palestinian activists.
A factory in Melbourne, Australia, was also targeted.
Camera systems similar to those made by Instro Precision are used in Israeli drones supplied by Elbit to survey the West Bank security fence.
Groups including London Palestine Action, War on Want and the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign took part in the “Block the Factory” protest, the third of its kind in the last year.
Banners proclaiming “Elbit Drones Murder,” “Stop Arming Israel” and “Elbit Kills Kids For Profit” were displayed and slogans spray-painted on walls.
Block the Factory spokesperson Alex Levan reported that “at least 10, and up to 20” of the group’s demonstrators at the Shenstone factory in Staffordshire had been arrested....'
My previous post shows Professor William Jacobson analysing the Academic Boycott. In this video we see a mob of BDSers in London demonstrating against the forthcoming performance in Israel of the Brazilian singers Caetano Veloso and Gilberto Gil.
I nearly entitled this "Girls in their summer dresses" because that's what it appears to show at first, Londoners and visitors to London strolling in their warm weather finery.
But in the background a familiar group of Israel-haters are erecting their propaganda posters, and at 3:24 a familiar plummy voice begins with the usual "We are here today ..."
It's the voice of the woman who had a habit of boarding Tube trains and reciting anti-Israel "poetry" to the trapped commuters.
Please don't miss David Singer's latest article (the post before this), regarding BDS and a Harvard student who went to Israel with the intention of hating that country but instead, once there, had the scales fall from his eyes.
And don't miss Professor Denis MacEoin's marvellous indictment of student BDS and the topsy turvy outlook and breath-taking hypocrisy that surrounds it, as exemplified by the attitude of the National Union of Students in Britain.
'The world you live in us upside down: you claim to act in defense of human rights, but your motions do not reflect this. You give free passage to the worst abusers of human rights -- countries that persecute religious minorities, suppress and kill women, throw homosexuals from high roofs, execute hundreds of dissidents every year, and imprison, torture and slaughter -- without rebuke. Yet you fulminate against Israel, which does none of these things. It does not use torture; it does not execute anyone -- not even Palestinian terrorists who have committed mass murder against innocent civilians and children.
Neither the great many supporters of Israel whom I know personally nor I want anything but the best possible future for the Palestinians.
No one I know hates the Palestinians. What we do hate are the organizations that exploit and dominate the Palestinian people, that deny them the right to vote for new governments, the culture of hatred in Palestinian mosques, schools, and political speeches, and the acts of terror and war that have been directed at Jewish, Muslim and Christian Arab Israelis for many decades.
It is the hatred and the violence we deplore, knowing as we do that this hurts not only Israelis, but that, since 1948, it has been blocking Palestinians from achieving their true potential.
We believe sincerely that boycotting, sanctioning and divesting from Israel will not bring peace so long as the Palestinian leaderships in Gaza and the West Bank insist that they intend to destroy Israel and take control of its entire territory.....'
Meanwhile, in London, here's the ubiquitous Sandra at the mike.
Great to see that she and the other anti-Israel demonstrators in London on Thursday outside the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), protesting against BAFTA's decision to host the Israeli-funded Seret film
festival, encountered some backtalk from a number of, er, Zionists:
More videos of the anti-Israel protesters hereand here
What the heck? Let's have a look at the hardcore anti-Israel fanatics (all baker's dozen of 'em at a generous estimate) who came out onto the pavement outside the Park Plaza Hotel on 12 May to harangue delegates to a Hewlett Packet Conference regarding the company's "support" for da Zionist Entity.
Much of Alex Seymour's video consists of the trials and tribulations of trying to hoist Israel-demonising placards on a squally day, with hotel security personnel interfering in the grand design.
(No wonder Alex resorts to a musical soundtrack for much of the video, but of course it's not Bach or Beethoven or the Dionne Warwick or the Rolling Stones which fills the void.)
I guess the true amusement in watching this footage is to be had by guesstimating just how many Israel-haters showed up. There's the ubiquitous ranter-in-chief, of course, chomping at the bit to get started (which she eventually dies at approximately 10:15), there's that ever-present spear carrier, or rather placard carrier, the plummy-voiced woman with long grey hair who's prone to hop onto Tube trains to spew anti-Israel venom in the form of "poetry", there's the bloke who accompanies her on such capers, there's an Irish bloke (Sean Clinton, I think), and there's Alex behind the camera. How many's that, then? Did they get a quorum?
Of course, those being ranted at are ensconced inside the hotel, and, very wisely, most people on the tape besides the hardcore anti-Israel fanatics are cops, security personnel, or bemused passers-by giving the rally a wide berth.
The University of Sussex is a seat of learning founded as the forerunner of several "new universities" in the 1960s. It managed to poach famous scholars from other universities and to say it was "flavour of the month" is to make an understatement.
Then, it seemed, anyone who was anyone wanted to go there, perhaps even in preference to Oxbridge, and certainly as a consolation for failing to gain admittance to either Oxford or Cambridge.
It was notoriously difficult to even secure an interview for admission, owing to the vast numbers of applicants.
Its initial intake of undergraduates included the famous "Jay Twins", daughters of the Labour Cabinet minister Douglas Jay, and that enhanced the publicity surrounding it.
It was once known (rightly or wrongly) for the numbers of Jews on campus as both academics and students.
And for the number of trendy lefties in its ranks.
It is now, according to a recent Jewish student there writing in Ha'aretzlast year:
'a famously anti-Israel campus ... [T]he atmosphere is definitely very anti-Israel'.
Now, this campus near Brighton has joined the ranks of the BDSers.
Consequent upon a vote taken last week, its students' union is pledged to eschew all Israeli products, cultural and academic institutions, to lobbying the university to avoid cooperation with Israeli companies, and to abandon all investments in Israel.
Update Breaking News:
To the signatories of the Zionist Federation's petition on Change.org:
Southampton Uni's Kangaroo Court Cancelled?
ZF UK
31 Mar 2015 — After weeks of pressure, this morning the organisers of Southampton University's anti-Israel conference released an astounding statement:
"It is with extreme astonishment and sadness that we have to inform you that the University of Southampton has told us earlier yesterday (Monday 30 March 2015) that it intends to withdraw its permission to hold the academic conference on International Law and the State of Israel."
As of yet, Southampton University have not released an statement on the matter, with the conference still officially being under review. If the event is cancelled, it will be a huge victory for all the thousands who have campaigned against this bigoted event.
But we're not finished yet. Over 6000 people have signed this petition, agreeing that it's not right or fair for Israel to be singled out in this way. It's not right or fair for the Jewish state to be found guilty of the "crime" of existing. And it's certainly not right or fair for extremists like Richard Falk, who peddle conspiracy theories and antisemitism, to welcome on campus.
That's why we're asking you for what we hope will be one last push, to show Southampton University how many people agree that this anti-Israel kangaroo court shouldn't go ahead.
So please, let's make sure this is the last time we ask: Share this petition!
This is how some London Israel-haters have spent part of this weekend.
I wonder how many, if any, are from the toxic BDS-voting SOAS (see my previous post).
After such a "knees up" let's hope the oldies among them aren't feeling too stiff in the joints today:
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vl9QZjfvDKA)
Meanwhile, further north in the British Isles, Scottish PSC chief Mick and his retainers have been quick with some tosh re one Josh:
'A former friend of the terrorist, who met him in 1999 when they
both attended Quintin Kynaston Community Academy in St John's Wood,
North London, said he found out Emwazi was a Nazi sympathiser during a
Year 9 lesson.
The 27-year-old told the Daily Mirror: 'The teacher told us the Nazis drew up plans to get rid of all the Jews.
'I
heard Mohammed mutter "Good, they deserved it". I thought he was joking
but later he told me that he hated all Jews and blamed them for the
plight of Muslims.'
The school friend said that if they
ever walked past a house in Golders Green that Emwazi knew was owned by a
Jew, he would shout obscenities such as 'f***king pigs'.'
The Scottish city of Dundee has the distinction of being Gorgeous George's birthplace and cradle, and it was under Gorgeous George's influence that, getting on for 40 years ago, its council chamber became the first in all of (post-)Christendom to fly the Palestinian flag. And not long afterwards the city twinned with Nablus.
Anyway, remember Gorgeous George's bombastic declaration last August that the Yorkshire city of Bradford is and must be an Israel-free zone, sans Israeli goods, sans Israeli academics, sans Israeli tourists, sans Israeli everything?
Well, how pleasing to learn on the grapevine (hat tip: reader P) that Israeli peppers are doing a brisk trade in Bradford, as, it seems, elsewhere.
Yep, this is a pack of three – one red, one orange, and one green – at Morrison's:
And not surprisingly the usual suspects are getting all – well –peppery over it.
Morrison's, they're moaning to each other, is (shock, horror) selling Israeli avocados as well!
Sainsburys,
they're complaining between themselves, is stocking lots of Israeli
goods, and so is bargain-price supermarket chain Lidl.
Waitrose, too, is not to be trusted. A veteran Israel-hater from London declares:
"I am tired of turning over the boxes to find out where stuff is from, it
should be clearly labelled, I am not popular in my local Waitrose .. but I
will not stop"
Notes another veteran Israel-hater, darkly:
"Our supermarkets like to con us into buying what they want to sell
rather than what we want to buy. Managers know that if it is good for
Israel it is good for their career prospects."
Grumbles another:
"Those long red peppers nearly always come from Israel and I have plenty Muslim friends who buy them without a care."
(And why not, indeed? For very nice indeed those peppers taste. Too bad that, as a result of the Coop caving in to the BDSers some time ago, its customers can no longer enjoy them too.)
From the online Yorkshire Standard (founder and editor Hasan Faridi) a triumphalist welcome to the New Year:
Why the celebratory mood?
It's because anti-Israel elements in the West Riding city, traditionally a centre of England's woollen industry, have just chalked up 150 days of protesting outside a McDonald's restaurant there.
Here's local Respect MP Gorgeous George, waxing enthusiastic about the "Brothers – and Sisters" in November, four days before the 100th day anniversary of the protest.
Notes George, in upbeat tones:
"They've had a fantastic success rate. Police have to be here 24 hours a day ... costing the taxpayer a right few good quid ..."
The restaurant management and staff can be forgiven for seeing things rather differently. Back in August, the Bradford Telegraph & Argusreported:
'.... Duncan Taylor, who has the
franchise for the McDonald's at Thornbury, says the flag and
banner-waving protests have hit the store hard but it is not just the
tills that have been affected.
Mr Taylor, who also has
the McDonald's at Kirkgate and Forster Square as well as two in
Sheffield, said demonstrators have been outside the Thornbury business
everyday since August 1 "unfairly targetting" it.
He
says takings are down considerably and he is having to cut workers'
hours meaning they take less home for their families although he is
trying to find them more work at his other branches.
Mr
Taylor has met the protesters to explain he is an independent business
and the UK franchises deal with McDonald's UK arm and have no contact
whatsoever with the US parent company.
He said:
"I just
want business as usual. I'm being unfairly targeted, it's been a
nightmare. We've explained this to them, we've had a meeting. We are
being caught up in the crossfire so to speak.
"I feel
really sorry for my staff who are losing hours because of this, it's
hard on them and their families. They are also being abused by the
protesters,they've had eggs thrown at them.
"Some
of the protesters have also been shouting at customers and jumping in
front of cars to stop people from coming in. I have reported this to the
police who do come up. I don't want to make any of this worse but I
wanted to put the record straight." [Emphasis added]
Mr Taylor said his McDonald's franchise is a major sponsor of Bradford City's Disabled Football Team.
"We
work very hard with the community, from sponsorship of a local football
team to helping with litter-picks and cleaning up graffiti."
He
said his Forster Square branch was also feeling the pinch with a
noticeable reduction in the number of Asian [sic; he was probably not referring to Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and persons from SE Asia] customers visiting it, there
have also been protests outside the McDonald's in Ingleby Road,
Girlington.
A McDonald's UK spokesman said:
“As a
company that operates in more than 1,200 communities in the UK, we
respect employees and customers from all backgrounds.
"McDonald’s
UK does not donate to the Jewish United Fund or any political
organisations and refutes any suggestion that we have taken a position
related to ongoing political or religious conflicts.” ...'
The paper added:
'The
Bradford protesters have not just been targetting McDonald's in the
city, they have also gathered outside Tesco and Sainsbury's stores.
In
one protest outside Tesco Express in Otley Road, Undercliffe, earlier
this month about 30 men, women and children gathered outside for about
six-hours with banners and leaflets denouncing Israel and the
supermarket giant, earlier they had been at the Tesco in Canal Road
urging people to sound their car horns in support of forcing the store
chain to take Israeli goods off its shelves. [Emphasis added]
Despite protests it seems supermarkets in Bradford are standing firm and are are not giving in to demonstrators....
A
Tesco spokesman said: “Like all major UK retailers, we sell some
products that are sourced from Israel. We do this in line with the
Government position on trade with Israel, and we mark all products
clearly with the country of origin, so customers can make informed
choices about what to buy.”....
[A Sainsbury's] spokesman said: "As a non-political organisation,
Sainsbury's would never take such a decision on grounds other than
ensuring the quality or safety of our
'.... Dozens
have been gathering on a daily basis outside the eatery on Thornbury
Road to “educate people about companies that support, fund or trade with
Israel”.
Spokesperson for the protesters, Faisal Mohammed, said:
“In 150 days, we’ve seen a minimum of 4,000 people turn away. A lot of
regulars who used to come don’t come anymore and we’re seeing mainly new
faces.
“It feels good to have got to this stage. We came
together as individuals who barely knew each other but now it has
progressed a lot more.
“We can’t see any breaks coming to the train of the boycott campaign and I can only see it bigger.” ....
A
spokesperson from McDonald’s said: “We respect the right to protest
outside our restaurants, but we ask that this is carried out peacefully
and is not disruptive to our customers and employees.
“The safety
and security of our customers and employees is our top priority and we
will continue to work with the local police and community to ensure that
any protests are conducted in a safe and peaceful manner.”
Like its counterpart across the Irish Sea, the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign exhibits an especially virulent strain of the antisemitic anti-Zionism virus.
This weekend, like the anti-Israel movement in English cities (take a look here) as well as here (some familiar as-a-Jews and others in this Alex Seymour/Seymour Alexander video, where the "apartheid" slur is freely made, and in which the London constabulary breaks up the party in the end)
it's been staging anti-Israel marches in s number of Scottish localities, as seen, for instance, in these sample photographs:
We all know what that so-called "right of return"demanded on this banner held by allied marchers would entail for Israel (and just look at that logo), while the stupid analogy with events in Ferguson has been imported from leftist ratbags across the Herring Pond, and has been further inspired, it seems, by the following cartoon that the Scottish PSC posted on social media:
On hand as usual in Brighton to counter the Israel-haters there was Jill the Poster Girl from Sussex Friends of Israel.
It seems Jill is really getting under the haters' skin. Certainly, they are unable to refute the good sense contained in Jill's that they've photoshopped it with a pathetic hate-motivated message of their own.
"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery", as the old saying goes.
And, as a certain Home Guard corporal used to say in a certain British sit com: "They don't like it up 'em!"
Carry on, Jill!
As a reviewer of an important new book entitled The Case Against Academic Boycotts of Israel remarks, inter alia, in his review here,
"[T]o single out the Jewish state for boycotting, while ignoring every other state on the planet engaged in human rights violations generally far, far worse than those allegedly committed by Israel – many of them Islamic states – is antisemitism in the nastiest, most odious, most deplorable sense of the term. No amount of disingenuous obfuscation will change this fact. On the contrary, most advocates of BDS are virtually apologists for the incalculably greater record of human rights violations carried out in the Third World, and especially in the Islamic world...."
Update: Jill's famous! The Israel-haters have also got a spoof site about our heroine, here (Hat tip: Shirlee) Oh, how well you're doing, Jill, to have such an impact upon their tiny hate-filled minds.
Here's a spectacle horrible to behold. It took place in London on 6 November in protest at the British Film Institute's hosting of the Israeli Film Festival.
It's reminiscent of hyenas crazed with hunger tearing at a carcase.
A Jewish soprano warbles her party piece, anti-Israel lyrics set to Beethoven's "Ode to Joy".
A black women, who should know better, leads the chanting "Israel is an apartheid state! Israel is a racist state!"
A male voice shouts out claims of "genocide" and "genocidal maniacs' ...
"Jew Haters!" "Antisemites!" "Nazis"! A lone man does his best to
confront these noisome, noisy, noxious ferals with their despicable
tropes against Israel, and towards the end of the video we glimpse a trio of counter-demonstrators with Israeli flags.
And here's an earlier (5 November) display of recent anti-Israel hatred also filmed by the fervently anti-Israel activist Alex Seymour, aka Seymour Alexander, to whom, much as I deplore and detest his views, I'm certainly grateful for recording these and other glimpses into anti-Israel demonology in Britain.
This one's of a demo outside the London hotlel where a conference of representatives of Hewlett Packard, which supplies the IDF and the Israeli Ministry of Defence, was taking place.
One speaker is the woman with long grey hair who, with a male companion, has in recent months pursued the gimmicky habit of reciting anti-Israel "poetry" on London Tube trains, haranguing a hapless captive audience with their ludicrous propaganda.
Another speaker (from 6:59) is a strident-voiced child, a rabble-rouser of tender years whose indoctrinated hatred of Israel is quite instructive.
This obnoxious youngster alleges the "devious little Zionist plan of world domination" (which antisemite taught him that, I wonder?) and shrieks:
"Israel is a lunatic state!" "Israel is a Zionist state!" (Doh!) "Israel is an illegal state!" "Palestine will rise ... Israel will fall! ..."
At the prospect of the fall of Israel there are cries of "Yes!" and robust cheers from the haters present.
No prizes for guessing their ultimate goal, then.
Update: See more viciousness here, which took place yesterday in London; see hysterical harpies harassing Film Festival-goers.
David Semple is a Canadian film maker, who, in addition to current film projects relating to Israel, is writing a book
called Jerusalem in the Age of Imperialism.
He has newly posted a pertinent commentary on this year's anti-Israel activity in Manchester, (more here), the British city which, of course, once played a seminal role in the Zionist movement in Britain (think Sieff, think Weizmann).
Writes Semple, inter alia:
'Who are these people who march through our cities, shouting “Palestine will be free; from the river to the sea”? For a start, most of them have no connection with Gaza, east Jerusalem or the so-called West Bank. No, they are a rag-bag of Marxists, anarchists, professional protesters, converts to Islam, third-generation British Muslims, and immigrants from north Africa and southwest Asia.
They have taken on the cause of Palestinianism not because they care about Palestinian Arabs, but because it is the frontline of an Arab-Muslim supremacy movement that detests both Israel and the Western world. In other words, these people are the “third intifadists” – delinquents who want to “shake off” Judeo-Christian culture and bring down liberal democracy.
In 2014, the city of Manchester in England became the focal point of the third intifadists who clashed with the police and the local Jewish population.
Anti-Semitism is now a significant problem for the Manchester Jewish community, which has faced an unprecedented wave of abuse and intimidation. I have lived in a number of English-speaking countries but never have I witnessed a spectacle as shameful as the mass invasion of Manchester by boycotts, divestments and sanctions (BDS) campaigners....
Weekdays in King Street saw twenty to thirty people on each side, holding up Israeli and Palestinian flags while debating each other across the picket line. Sometimes this was peaceful and civilised. Sometimes it exploded into anger. The BDS mob pretended not to be anti-Jewish but then poured out thousands of conspiracy theories about Jews and Israel, reminiscent of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Jews were called Nazis; they were called dirty pigs; they were called murderers; they were even called Christ killers.
On weekends, hundreds of Jews gathered to defend Kedem from much larger crowds of BDS people, who took over one of Manchester’s main thoroughfares, Deansgate, and invaded dozens of other streets in the city centre. The loud speakers came out. Third intifadists chanted mantras like “We love Hamas” and “Free free Palestine”. Nothing from their side was original. Our side, the Friends of Israel, gave passionate and reasoned speeches in defence of Israel and Kedem. We sang songs. They chanted hate. Manchester Jews sang “Hatikva” and “God Save The Queen.”. Third Intifadists continued to chant slogans like “Brick by brick, wall by wall, Israeli apartheid’s going to fall.”
The BDS crowd kept shouting “Free Hamas” in between incidents of physical abuse and the occasional Hitler salute. One Muslim protester foolishly declared on camera that he loved Hitler. Another gleefully said that Israeli Jews should go back to Poland and Hitler “where maybe they’ll find another Hitler.”....'
(Photo credits: 1-4, Manchester Evening News; 5, Joel Goodman for ibid.)
Be sure to read the whole of David Semple's post, here
No, this is not George Galloway on a bad whisker day. It's North Wales farmer Owain Williams, who according to Wikipedia
'is a fervent nationalist committed to an independent Wales. In the
1960s he was imprisoned for bombing the site of the future Llyn Celyn
reservoir but later turned to the democratic route being the chairman of
the Independent Wales Party as well as a member of, at different times,
both the Welsh Labour Party and Plaid Cymru. In May 2008 he was elected
chairman of Llais Gwynedd after their emergence following the 2008
Welsh Local Elections....''
Ten days ago, Councillor Williams had better luck with a flock of live sheep, for a BDS motion
he introduced at the Gwynned council was passed by a whopping 42 votes to three, with six abstentions.
'Gwynned Councillors have agreed not to conduct future trade with Israel in the wake of the recent conflict in the Gaza Strip.
In a full council meeting last week, councillor Owen [sic] Williams proposed a motion condemning Israel for the bombardment and ground invasion of the Palestinian territory.
He said:
“Following the latest attacks by the Israeli State on the territory of Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, this council calls for the suspension of trading with Israel and condemns the over-reaction and savageness used.
Furthermore, we confirm and underline this Council’s decision not to invest in Israel or that country’s establishments.
We believe that if Gwynedd leads the way that there is hope that other councils in Wales and beyond will follow our example.” ...'
The local member, Plaid Cymru MP Hywell Williams, was suitably impressed with this ground-breaking move. He was able to boast during last week's Commons debate regarding recognition of a Palestinian state:
"My local authority, Gwynedd, has taken a lead in condemning the Israeli Government for the indiscriminate violence used in the recent attacks in Gaza and will not invest in or trade with Israel."
Heady stuff, for a council whose normal agenda is concerned with such business as:
But there's no bite in these sheep, bleating about a trade embargo on a plucky little country that's just the size of theirs, for Gwynned council does no business with Israel in the first place.
Furthermore, to compound the absurdity of the situation, Gwynned council is in deep dreck.
"People living in Gwynedd have the opportunity to have their say on what the Council’s priorities should be as it tackles the £50 million budget deficit between now and 2017/18....
The Council wants to hear the priorities of individuals, families, communities and businesses ..."
It seems a safe bet that passing motions advocating BDS is not a priority of anybody in the county except Owain and his flock.
Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Greens, they are the main demonisers of Israel in the Land of Song; here's a message from the latters' leader:
Incidentally, the next British council that will debate a BDS motion will be Fife's, in Scotland, early next month.
Meanwhile, Australian academic Associate Professor Philip Mendes has just written, from his standpoint as a moderare leftist, another article arguing the follies and flaws of the BDS movement.
He concludes:
'Oslo and Geneva remain the benchmarks of any Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Both Israelis and Palestinians have legitimate national rights. There is no alternative to difficult mutual concessions and compromise. There is no alternative to a two-state solution which upsets both Greater Israel extremists who want to hang on to all West Bank settlements, and equally Greater Palestine extremists who hope to eliminate Israel. Neither Israeli Jews nor Palestinian Arabs are going to suddenly disappear. They will still be living side by side in 100 years time.
Progressive intellectuals on both sides have an obligation to meet and talk and debate until they find common ground that will provide a pathway to peace and reconciliation. Instead, the BDS movement proposes a ban on any dialogue that doesn't explicitly contribute to the end of Israel's existence. They eschew contact with those Israeli academics and intellectuals who are mostly likely to recognize Palestinian rights, and progress two states. And they do nothing to confront Palestinian reactionaries and religious fundamentalists such as Hamas.
Their activities will only lead to an ongoing nightmare for Palestinians and Israelis alike.'
