Gaza Massacre is Protested: "F*** Israel"; "Boycott the Zionist State".

"Peace and Sanity in Gaza"

byEditorial Board

MICHIGAN REVIEW (At the University of Michigan)
Issue date: 1/20/09

Full article is on the Web at:

http://media.www.michiganreview.com/media/storage/paper1232/news/2009/01/20/Opinion/Peace.And.Sanity.In.Gaza-3591878.shtml


Excerpts--


"...The death toll in the conflict has been remarkably one-sided, with more than 1,200 Palestinians casualties compared to only thirteen Israeli casualties. This is largely the result of Hamas stationing themselves in civilian neighborhoods..."

"...On campus, protestors have been basking in their usual anti-Israel fervor. The Review reported on a downtown protest in which a vocal group held signs with anti-Semitic slurs such as "F*** Israel," replacing the letter "s" with a Nazi swastika. Another said, "Boycott the Zionist State." This kind of dialogue has long been a mainstay of leftist Ann Arbor political culture, and it gives a bad name to pro-Palestinian student groups such as Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) that prefer reasonable and open debate."


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"Gaza Protests Hit Ann Arbor"

by Nate Stano

MICHIGAN REVIEW (At the University of Michigan)
Issue date: 11/25/08

On the Web at:

http://media.www.michiganreview.com/media/storage/paper1232/news/2008/11/25/News/Gaza-Protests.Hit.Ann.Arbor-3582948.shtml

The recent conflict in Gaza has sparked protests by pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli groups across the world, and on January 8th, Ann Arbor was no exception. On the corners of Main and Liberty, three distinct groups stood in protest of the Israeli incursions in the Gaza strip in a protest that began around 6pm.

All corners saw those carrying signs in support of Palestine. The signs ranged from the demure, which were in short supply, to the blatantly provocative. One proclaimed Gaza was, "Warsaw Ghetto #2," another used a four letter obscenity starting with an "F" in regards to the Jewish state, replacing the "s" in Israel with a swastika, one stated, "Bombing Gaza is a crime against humanity," and another, "Arab blood is not cheap." A woman stood waving a Hamas flag while trampling an Israeli one in the dirty snow on the Main Street sidewalk. A single woman cried defiantly , "Boycott the Zionist state."

Another corner was occupied by a few committed pro-Israelis carrying signs calling Hamas a terrorist organization, decrying Palestinian mortar and rocket attacks into Israel, and waving Israeli and American flags. The stood solemnly, receiving a number of honks from passing motorists flashing thumbs ups at the committed few.

A final group, making up the vast majority of those there mostly carried only candles, carrying signs calling for a ceasefire for peace. They flashed peace signs to those who were willing to see.

Though such protests across the world have provoked violence and the kind of purely vitriolic anti-Semitism that compelled a Fort Lauderdale woman to scream to assembled pro-Israeli demonstrators, "you need a big oven, that's what you need," in a protest there about a week and a half ago, this one was fairly quiet, as both the Jewish and Palestinian communities here at Michigan, at least among students, have sought to diffuse such tension. Nevertheless, it didn't stop the man carrying the sign with the swastika, a man who mentioned to this reporter that he reads the Review on occasion, to proclaim to a passerby who questioned him about the Nazi symbol that, "Israel is a Nazi state," provoking quick and similarly vulgar response.

At around 7:10pm, the pro-Israel group left their corner of Main and Liberty, frustrated at the sheer number of those who turned out to protest the small Middle Eastern republic. The bitter cold did not convince the pro-Palestinian protesters to remain.


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