December 31, 2013

Israeli Embassy places barrier between itself and Bethlehem Unwrapped

This has really caught me on the back foot.  There's been quite a remarkable series of events taking place in London from the opening of a replica apartheid wall at St James's Church in Piccadilly, London on 23rd December just gone and continuing up to, I suppose, the last day of Christmas.  Well, the last actual event is on 5th January 2014 and I'm guessing the wall comes down the next day.

See this youtube video about the whole thing:






 And here's how the Bethlehem Unwrapped website announces the panel discussion:

PANEL – Jan 4th 8pm: ‘Both sides of the Barrier – Separation or Security?’ – speakers include Jeff Halper, founder of the Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD),  Leila Sansour, Bethlehem resident, filmaker and founder of Open BethlehemYiftah Curiel, public affairs spokesman at Embassy of Israel, London and Alan Johnson, Britain Israel Communications and Research CentreChaired by David Loyn, BBC foreign correspondent.


Now, as you can guess, zionists weren't happy with the whole thing and many made their displeasure known on Richard Millett's blog.  Here's the man himself:

I understand that there are due to be a couple of last minute voices putting Israel’s case at the panel debate with Halper “Both sides of the Barrier: Separation or Security?” on January 4th but it is a drop in the ocean when compared to what is taking place over the entirety of the festival.

"Last minute voices"?  Now I'm not sure of Dan Judelson's status with Bethlehem Unwrapped but here is his response to Millett's post:
Richard, good to see you at the launch last night. A couple of important corrections to your piece. Far from being a last minute addition, the Israeli Embassy were one of the first people, in the person of the ambassador, to be invited to join the panel. In fact, although neither could make it, Ambassador Taub was invited before I wrote to Ambassador Hassassian. You may recall I emailed you at the beginning of December to ask for Chas Newkey-Burden’s contact details as I was very keen for him to speak.

In terms of corrections, the other point to make is that it is Lucy Winkett rather than Julie. The rain did not make for good acoustics last night I guess.

People are welcome to write whatever they like on the wall, ask whatever questions they like at the panel discussion and Q&A after the film screening. We’ve made that clear in all our invitations and discussions with, among others the Board of Deputies (though this is not to suggest they were content). I hope people will take part and listen to one another, rather than retreat into fixed positions that brook no challenge as so many of the respondents here appear to have done.
He made a couple more comments in the same thread which is well worth a look at but with 247 comments so far I won't reproduce it all here. Well, whatever it was that led to the invitation to the Israeli Embassy and whenever it was sent and accepted, the Israeli embassy has now decided to withdraw. They made their new position known by way of a tweet with a twitpic of a letter:

The letter is hardly legible in the twitpic and googling some of the words I could only find one website with the letter in a copyable format and that's the Jews Down Under website which I'd never heard of before.

Here's their intro:
The Israeli Embassy had been invited to attend a ‘debate’ on Saturday night by the organisers of ‘Bethlehem Unwrapped’ 

They were only invited after much pressure by the Board of Deputies and The Jewish Leadership Council.. Please find letter from Embassy explaining their decision to not attend, says it all really…
So the Board of Deputies of British Jews and the UK's Jewish Leadership Council got on the case to pressure Bethlehem Unwrapped to invite the Israeli embassy in London to attend a discussion?  Is that right?  Well that doesn't quite tally with what Dan Judelson said above.  Also it seems strange that the BoD, which often seems to double as an Israeli embassy in London would press an organisation into inviting the Israeli embassy only to have the Israeli embassy eventually decline but here's the Israeli embassy's letter.  See what you can make of it:
I’m writing to inform you that our embassy’s representative will not be able to participate in Saturday’s panel on the security barrier. As you know, our intention has always been to conduct an open dialogue with Church institutions, and it is rare that we turn down an invitation to participate in a church event, especially when it concerns Israel.

However, we have closely followed the unfolding of the ‘Bethlehem Unwrapped’ event this past week, and have been brought to the inescapable conclusion that this is not an event which is intended to deepen understanding, or promote reconciliation but rather is a transparent attempt to incite against Israel and Israelis.

A prominent quote on the homepage of the event states
“The most unhelpful thing you can do is be pro one side; it just adds to the  conflict”
This week’s event has proven to be exactly that, a one-sided affair that unfortunately does nothing to bring the sides together.  One of your event speakers, Jeff Halper, spoke in front of the replica will stating  it had nothing to do with security, while much of the writing on the wall, contrary to our previous understanding, is clearly political and divisive in nature

Where we feel that there is an openness to genuine discussion, we are committed to participating and engaging in genuine debate. However, to participate in an event of this nature would in our view be a disservice to the hundreds of Israelis. Jews and Christians alike, murdered in acts of suicide terrorism, which the barrier was established to prevent.

We believe that today, as Christians are being persecuted on an unprecedented scale across the Middle East, churches burned and whole communities forced to flee, to focus on a temporary defensive barrier built to prevent terror, is to do an injustice not only to Israel but to Christian communities across our region.

For these reasons, we will not be able to participate in Saturday's panel.  We will be glad to co-operate with the Church in the future on activities that truly promote understanding and foster peace building.

So all that Board of Deputies pressure came to nothing.  The main thing I don't understand is why the Israeli embassy withdrawal from the event is low key.  Israel advocates are usually quite a noisy bunch.

Aha, that reminds me. I did hear rumours that zionists are planning a picket of St James's Church in 4th Jan.  Someone told me that emails were coming out from these people, Sussex Friends of Israel summoning the faithful.  Maybe Israel's embassy staff would be embarrassed by some of the people who turn up at these things.

Anyway, happy new year to anyone reading this....

Tony Greenstein: An Apology or Mr Elf Regrets...

Tony Greenstein had a birthday bash last night. He was four bar mitzvahs and then some. Rounding up to the nearest ten that makes 60. My spies tell me that the do was well attended but unfortunately one of the invitees couldn't make it and that was me. Still, I've cleared my diary and I should make it for three score and ten.

Many happy returns Tony.


Regards

Mark Elf



PS: Here are the lyrics to a birthday song written by Deborah Maccoby and arranged and performed at the party by Deborah Fink:


THE BALLAD OF TONY GREENSTEIN
 
1ST VERSE
 
Tony Greenstein is a leftie
And one of Marx's lads;
He's fought the fascists all his life,
Those counter-revolutionary cads.
 
CHORUS
 
Those counter-revolutionary cads,
Those counter-revolutionary cads,
He's fought the fascists all his life,
Those counter-revolutionary cads.
 
2ND VERSE
 
His father was a rabbi
Who wanted him to be
A pillar of the Liverpool
Jewish community.
 
CHORUS
 
Jewish community,
Jewish community,
A pillar of the Liverpool
Jewish community.
 
3RD VERSE
 
But little Tony said:
"This plan I will resist;,
I'm an atheist, a Marxist
And an anti-Zionist."
 
CHORUS
 
An anti-Zionist,
An anti-Zionist.
He's an atheist, a Marxist
And an anti-Zionist.
 
4TH VERSE
 
With the fervour of his father
Towards the Jewish law,
Young Tony went to demonstrate
Against the Springboks' tour.
 
CHORUS
 
Against the Springboks' tour,
Against the Springboks' tour,
Young Tony went to demonstrate
Against the Springboks' tour.

5TH VERSE

But it wasn't only fascists
And fans of apartheid;
The British left found Tony
A thorn within their side.

CHORUS

A thorn within their side,
A thorn within their side;
The British left found Tony
A thorn within their side.

6TH VERSE
 
The exiled Palestinians
The left did not discern,
So Tony helped to edit
The magazine "Return".
 
CHORUS
 
The magazine "Return",
The magazine "Return",
So Tony helped to edit
The magazine "Return".

7TH VERSE

When the left regarded Israel
As a socialist country,
Young Tony with a few comrades
Co-founded PSC.
 
CHORUS
 
Co-founded PSC,
Co-founded PSC.
Young Tony and a few comrades
Co-founded PSC.
 
8TH VERSE
 
When PSC supported
The process called Oslo,
Then Tony and a few comrades
Said it was time to go.
 
CHORUS
 
Yes, it was time to go,
Yes, it was time to go,
Then Tony and a few comrades
Said it was time to go.
 
9TH VERSE
 
But later he rejoined it,
When he had been proved right;
Against the anti-Semites
He set himself to fight.
 
CHORUS
 
He set himself to fight,
He set himself to fight,
Against the anti-Semites
He set himself to fight.
 
10TH VERSE
 
Against those anti-Semites
He spoke out clear and strong;
They crawled back in the woodwork
Where all of them belong.
 
CHORUS
 
Where all of them belong,
Where all of them belong,
They crawled back in the woodwork
Where all of them belong.
 
11TH VERSE
 
For JfJfP
He didn't care a fig;
He called for total BDS
And signed up to J-BIG
 
CHORUS
 
And signed up to J-BIG,
And signed up to J-BIG;
He called for total BDS
And signed up to J-BIG
 
12TH VERSE
 
So - three cheers for Tony Greenstein!
He's sixty on this day;
May he win all his battles,
The first among the fray!
 
CHORUS
 
The first among the fray,
The first among the fray,
May he win all his battles,
The first among the fray! 
 
-----------------
The song is to the tune of Harry Pollitt by The Limeliters.

December 29, 2013

Peace of Ass?

I found this Avital Raz song on Youtube rather disturbing:




We, she and I, had a little natter about it on Twitter. Avital Raz's website is here.

I should have pointed out without prompting that the proceeds from the song are going to StopTheWall.Org as Avital Raz herself says:

Glad to see this song is shared.
A lot of the press contacted either ignored it on the grounds of it not being politically correct or Not being black & white. I think its important to support art on the subject to help make sense out of what's going on. Just wanted to add that all the earnings from the download of this song are going to Stopthewall.org an anti apartheid Palestinian organization. And I'd like to make a point that I'm an Israeli (living in the UK now) trying to raise money to stop the wall. Download here: https://avita lraz.ban dcamp.com...
Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Avital, for sharing...

December 24, 2013

The Pixies herald "better days" in Gaza

I dunno, maybe they're drawn to the raw sewage I keep hearing about in the news from Gaza these days but The Pixies cancelled an Israel gig in 2010 saying "We can only hope for better days, in which we will finally present the long awaited visit of the Pixies in Israel".  That was Ha'aretz in 2010.

This is Ha'aretz now:
Bloomfield Stadium will be hosting a new international music festival next June that will feature the first appearances in Israel of the Pixies and of Soundgarden, two 1990s bands which are very popular among Israelis.

The festival, produced by Shuki Weiss, has yet to be named.

Bringing the two bands to Israel is a dream come true, Weiss said. He promised that further details about the festival will be released early next month, but did elaborate that the festival, which will take place on June 17 and 18, will include nightly joint performances by local and international bands.

So what's improved?  What's made The Pixies change their minds?  Don't they understand that normalising dealings with the racist war criminals of The State of Israel puts "better days" on the back burner?

December 12, 2013

Sleepless in Gaza?

Who can sleep in Gaza?!

Art exhibition by the Palestinian artist Laila Kassab
!من يستطيع النوم في غزة؟ 

The Exhibition will be at:

 The INCA Italian Advice Centre

124 Canonbury Road, London N1 2UT, nearest tube, Highbury & Islington 

This weekend, Saturday 14th; Sunday 15th December, both from 10am - 10pm


Admission Free

Exhibition facebook: www.facebook.com/events/257382647752813/ 

The artist Laila Kassab created harmony, beauty, imagery and symbolism to express the harsh reality in besieged Gaza. The vivid colours of her paintings are in stark contrast to the brutal blockade imposed by Israel. But her choice of colours are also symbolic. For Kassab blue expresses loss, deep secrets, hidden feelings, weirdness and dislocation. 

The latest works Islington Friends of Yibna managed to get smuggled out of Gaza are characterised by visual metamorphosis and a flow of merging and evolving forms and structures often mixed with symbolist motifs.

Despite being locked in the tiny Gaza Strip and subjected to the savage Israeli bombardment, Laila's artwork conveys love, music, hope and motherhood, but the longing for being free of fear is an underlying thread. The tunnels which brought life saving food are intertwine with womanhood. Though Jerusalem is forbidden by the Israeli occupation it is often referred to both explicitly and implicitly. Hidden keys and keyholes symbolise the yearning to return to the homes from which Palestinians had been ethnically cleansed. 



Here are 4 photos of Laila Kassab paintings, smuggled out of Gaza for this exhibition by Islington Friends of Yibna. 











December 08, 2013

Zionists use Crystal Meth to Bust the Boycott

It's true, Zionists in the UK are trying to use the Co-Op Bank's former CEO's alleged drug abuse to get the bank to call off its boycott of goods from Jewish only settlements in Palestine.  Admittedly Marcus Dysch of the Jewish Chronicle isn't the most reliable of journos but here he is anyway:

The Co-operative movement has confirmed there are no plans to alter its policy of boycotting companies which source produce from Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Israel supporters have appealed to the organisation to revisit the issue following the resignation of Co-op chairman Len Wardle, who quit the business after revelations about the conduct of its former banking chair, Reverend Paul Flowers.

The Board of Deputies and Jewish Leadership Council this week requested a meeting with the Co-op’s new leaders to discuss the issue.

Rev Flowers, who was believed to be a key supporter of the boycott campaign, is being investigated by police over claims he bought, sold and used Class A drugs, including crystal meth and crack cocaine.

In May last year the Co-op implemented a full ban on engagement with any Israeli suppliers known to work with the settlements.

A campaign led by the We Believe group has also seen Israel supporters write to the movement’s new chair, Ursula Lidbetter, asking her to reconsider the boycott.
They seem to be suggesting that there is a link between using crack cocaine and crystal meth and supporting a boycott of the State of Israel.  Maybe they'll end up making the boycott look cool.  That's what the "just say no" campaign did for drugs.  Or maybe they're on drugs themselves.