Monday, June 24, 2024

Pro-Hamas



This is a reasonable question.

In a fairly thorough article, the writer at CNN made the same mistake in the first two paragraphs

A pro-Palestinian protest held outside a Los Angeles synagogue devolved into chaotic street violence with pro-Israel counter-protesters on Sunday in an incident that several officials, including President Joe Biden, criticized as antisemitic.

The Los Angeles Police Department said it responded to two protests Sunday in the predominantly Jewish neighborhood of Pico Robertson, just south of Beverly Hills. Videos taken at the scene show police pushing pro-Palestinian protesters away from the entrance of the Adas Torah temple, an Orthodox synagogue.

 This was not a "pro-Palestinian" protest by Palestinians because

Chants of “Free, free Palestine - from the river to the sea,” and “long live intifada,” could be heard from among the pro-Palestinian protesters. Participants blocked traffic, and video from the scene shows multiple altercations broke out in the middle of the street and on sidewalks.

There are an estimated 2.4 million Palestinian refugees, enjoying less freedom than do Palestinian Arabs in Israel proper, in Jordan and elsewhere in the Middle East. But there is no demonstration on their behalf, not one. "Palestine" is an area encompassing more than from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea- and yet protestors are concerned only with that area, and only with the Muslims in that area. That is because it is Israel. 

So the protest is not about "Palestinians" and is not a "pro-Palestinian" action. CNN noted

“I’m appalled by the scenes outside of Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles. Intimidating Jewish congregants is dangerous, unconscionable, antisemitic, and un-American,” Biden said on X. “Americans have a right to peaceful protest. But blocking access to a house of worship – and engaging in violence – is never acceptable.”

 “(Sunday’s) violence in the Pico-Robertson neighborhood today was abhorrent, and blocking access to a place of worship is unacceptable,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. “I’ve called on LAPD to provide additional patrols in the Pico-Robertson community as well as outside of houses of worship throughout the city. I’ll be meeting with Chief (Dominic) Choi tomorrow to further discuss the safety of Angelenos.”

 “I want to be clear that Los Angeles will not be a harbor for antisemitism and violence. Those responsible for either will be found and held accountable,” she added.

“The violent clashes outside the Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles are appalling,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said on X. “There is no excuse for targeting a house of worship. Such antisemitic hatred has no place in California.”

That's 3 for 3. However, someone did not get the memo as

“Targeting a synagogue, or targeting the members of a synagogue, is anti-Semitic,” US Rep. Ted Lieu of California said on X. “I strongly condemn the Pro-Palestinian demonstrators who engaged in anti-Semitism by targeting Adas Torah Synagogue and/or its congregants. Anyone who engaged in violence should be prosecuted.”

Sorry, congressman, but no. When demonstrators chant "from the river to the sea," they are not "pro-Palestinian demonstrators." They are not advocating for the Jewish residents living in the land of Palestine, a portion of which is Israel itself. They are pro-Hamas demonstrators. Lieu need not identify them as "pro-Hamas" and offend those of his constituency who are anti-Israel or anti-Jewish. 

Nonetheless, imagining them as "pro-Palestinian" is inaccurate. Even Newsom, Bass, and Biden took the easy way out, condemning only the venue- outside of a synagogue- of the protests without acknowledging that the message itself is a call for genocide. But Newsom and Bass are Californians, and President Biden is not anxious to lose the state of Michigan to Donald Trump in November. Therefore, it would be unrealistic to expect them to see things as clearly as a former US Representative and Tea Partier turned anti-Trump warrior:

 

 



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