150 Protesters Accuse the President of Apartheid Israel of being a "War Criminal", and of starving Gaza

"Peres. Unmoved by protest"
Photo: AP

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"UK protestors call Peres 'war criminal' "

"President's address in front of 1,000 Oxford University students interrupted by small group of demonstrators claiming Israel ethnically cleansed Palestinians, calling for end to Gaza siege.

"Peres: We don't need your permission to stay alive"

by Hagit Klaiman

Published:

11.19.08, 07:28 / Israel News

See the full article in YNet News at: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3625214,00.html LONDON – Pro-Palestinian protestors interrupted President Shimon Peres' speech Tuesday evening at Britain's Oxford University. The angry students called Peres a "war criminal" and called for an end to the Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories. Peres was expected to address the two houses of the British parliament on Wednesday.

The Israeli president spoke before some 1,000 British students at Oxford, while dozens of other students protested outside the lecture hall. They carried signs reading, "A person cannot be called 'a man of peace' if he develops nuclear weapons", and chanted "free Palestine" and "occupation is a crime".

A propaganda leaflet, titled "Peres is a war criminal", was handed out outside the hall.

The leaflet read, "In the past 60 years he contributed to and was responsible for Israeli terror and the ongoing occupation. He recruited and armed the Hagana terrorists who led the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948.

"This man is responsible for the only nuclear weapons cache in the entire Middle East. As the president of Israel, he is responsible for starving a million and a half Palestinians subject to a siege in Gaza."

Protestors inside the hall interrupted Peres' speech several times. One of them shouted at him, "I am here on behalf of a million and a half residents of Gaza who are being bombed by Israel every day. I am here in the name of 11,000 Palestinian prisoners. I am here in the name of the 800,000 refugees expelled. War criminal, you should be ashamed of yourself."

'Hitler would also remain silent'

The audience did not keep quiet in light of the ongoing attacks. When one of the demonstrators called Peres a "war criminal", most of those present booed her. She did not hesitate and replied, 'If Hitler were here now, he would remain silent as you are silent and listen to Peres' speech."

The president, who remained composed and kept his restraint, responded to one of the protestors by saying, "We have the right to stay alive. We don't need your permission."

One of the students, who claimed to be demonstrating on behalf of all of Gaza's residents, was told by Peres, "Sometimes it's not so terrible to open your eyes and ears and keep your mouth closed for a different opportunity."

At the end of the event, Peres said he was unmoved by the demonstration and would continue his PR efforts for Israel....



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"Unflappable Peres delivers consistent message"

by Anshel Pfeffer

November 19, 2008

In the "Jewish Chronicle" (London, U.K.).

See the full article at:

http://www.thejc.com/node/8339

President Shimon Peres showed grace under fire on Tuesday night when he was systematically heckled and barracked by Oxford students at the city's Sheldonian Theatre.

The trip to Oxford on Tuesday evening was always going to be the most unpredictable part of the presidential visit. On the one hand there was Mr Peres' insistence on plunging head-first into the academic boycott issue, and on the other, the preparations of various pro-Palestinian groups to protest against the visit of the man they described as a "war criminal" caused a lot of worry to the security detail.

In the event, the detail of mounted police with riot gear outside the Sheldonian Theatre, where Mr Peres was to give his lecture on "The Globalisation of Peace" was unnecessary. About 150 demonstrators gathered outside but they seemed content to chant "Free, free Palestine" and hand out leaflets detailing Mr Peres' "crimes against humanity" and blaming the Americans for 9/11. But the main concern was what was going to happen inside the splendid hall. The university had ruled that any student with a valid university card would be allowed in on a first come, first served basis- and trouble was expected. A team of bodyguards and a group of proctors were ranged around the theatre in readiness.

On arrival, Mr Peres was received with thunderous applause and no sign of any dissent. But three minutes into his lecture, when he was explaining how Barack Obama's election was the realisation of the Zionist dream of eradicating antisemitism and racism, a young man stood up and shouted: "I am here as the representative of 800,000 Palestinians ethnically cleansed by Israel."

A few people shushed him; Mr Peres continued speaking as if nothing had happened and the protestor sat down. But for the next hour, every five minutes or so, another student got up to represent a different sector of the downtrodden Palestinian people. Only once, when one actually started walking towards the president, shouting: "How dare you, leader of an apartheid state," was he bundled out of the hall by the proctors.

Throughout these disturbances, Mr Peres carried on unflappably, though towards the end he seemed to be chafing a bit. To one heckler who claimed to be representing "thousands of farmers who had their land taken away by Israeli settlers" he said: "It's not bad to open the eyes and ears and keep the mouth for a later occasion...."

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The World without Zionism

Click on poster to enlarge it.

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Boycott-Israel movement marches on...

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Apartheid Orchestra Protested

November 16, 2008

Published in "Zionists out of the Peace Movement", at:

http://zionistsout.blogspot.com/2008/11/apartheid-orchestra-protested.html


For an hour this afternoon eighteen human rights activists demonstrated, once again, that Israeli apartheid and the Egyptian and Israeli stranglehold on Gaza will not go unprotested in Ann Arbor. They bore witness that the Palestinian call for broad boycotts against Israel will not go unheeded.

Others, valuing more highly the good opinion of polite society, joined the racist, the uninformed, and the indifferent and did something else. The sin of Sodom comes to mind:

This was the guilt of your sister Sodom: she and her daughters had pride, excess of food, and prosperous ease, but did not aid the poor and needy. Ezekiel 16:49

As they walked up the steps to the Hill Auditorium, many of the concert-goers were offered a leaflet and greeted with this rap:

Please boycott racist orchestras.
God gave you a conscience--time to use it.
Children are starving in Gaza.

A few were moved, most were not. In addition to the occasional responses of "Fuck you" and "Go to hell" from the cultured, well-heeled patrons of the arts entering Hill Auditorium, a man identifying himself as a reporter from a Detroit newspaper had something to say. The man, who was not protesting, felt empowered to complain about a sign that read "Zionists are Racist Nazis" or words to that effect.

Oblivious to the very real parallels, not to mention documented collaboration, between Zionists and National Socialists, this sensitive soul was concerned that these words were 'harmful' to the cause. You are confused, my friend, no person who ever truly cared about justice or truth abandoned the struggle just because of someone else's offensive words. The people who do quit in such cases are those who are in it for some other, probably selfish, reason and not because they care about oppressed people.


I mean, for example, can you imagine a truly committed abolitionist abandoning the cause because of the words of Frederick Douglass in his great speech, "What to the Slave is the Fourth of July?" He said:

What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July? I answer: a day that reveals to him, more than all other days in the year, the gross injustice and cruelly to which he is the constant victim. To him, your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty, an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your denunciations of tyrants, brass fronted impudence; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mockery; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade, and solemnity, are, to him, mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation on the earth guilty of practices, more shocking and bloody, than are the people of these United States, at this very hour. ... You profess to believe "that, of one blood, God made all nations of men to dwell on the face of all the earth," and hath commanded all men, everywhere to love one another; yet you notoriously hate, (and glory in your hatred), all men whose skins are not colored like your own.

Douglass spoke well earlier in the same speech when he said:

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. O! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would, to-day, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be proclaimed and denounced.

One is reminded, too, of Dr. King's observation in his "Letter from a Birmingham Jail":

First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods ... " Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will. Lukewarm acceptance is much more bewildering than outright rejection.

The principle holds true today.

Sunday Protest Makes Israeli News--Boycott Israel & the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra

November 15, 2008


Published in "Zionists out of the Peace Movement", at:

http://zionistsout.blogspot.com/2008/11/sunday-protest-makes-israeli-news.html



"It is a testimony to how seriously Israelis take the international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against their apartheid country that one of the Jewish state's leading media outlets would cover the story of a protest in Ann Arbor, MI, USA that hasn't even happened yet. On Saturday, Ynet, the online version of the Yedioth Ahronoth, which has the largest circulation of any Israeli newspaper, published 'Pro-Palestinian group: Cancel Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra's Michigan concert' (see below).

"Critics of the BDS movement like to downplay its significance and 'effectiveness' but the growing significance and effectiveness of this nonviolent movement is exactly what most terrifies Zionists and their lackeys and also explains why efforts such as the one in Ann Arbor tomorrow cannot be completely ignored by the Israeli media or American Zionists. Be sure to also check out the revealing comments on the Ynet article page."


"Pro-Palestinian group: Cancel Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra's Michigan concert:

"Middle East Task Force of Ann Arbor says any attempt by University Musical Society to develop ties with Israeli orchestra amounts to 'condoning Israeli apartheid', urges condemnation of Israel's 'racist and discriminatory practices' "


Merav Yudilovitch
Published: 11.15.08, 09:03 / Israel Culture
[in Yedioth Ahronoth]


A Pro-Palestinian group has called on the University of Michigan to cancel a scheduled performance by the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (JSO), saying it would constitute a "violation of the calls for broad boycotts against Israel until it recognizes the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination and fully complies with international law."

In a letter to University Musical Society President Ken Fischer, the Middle East Task Force (METF) of Ann Arbor said "since the JSO is one of the primary promoters and exporters of Israeli cultural life, one of its functions is to boost Israel's image on the world stage. In this way, the truth about the Israeli occupation of Palestine becomes suppressed, and its institutionalized attacks on Palestinian cultural heritage are ignored. Any attempt by the US hosts of the tour to develop ties with this Orchestra, therefore, amounts to condoning Israeli apartheid.

"As such, we call upon the JSO's scheduled hosts to be mindful of the appeal issued in 2006 by Palestinian filmmakers, artists and cultural workers … to end all cooperation with Israeli art, film and cultural organizations and institutions sponsored by the Israeli government," the letter read.

"We urge the hosts to condemn Israel for its racist and discriminatory practices, rather than condoning them. Finally, we call upon all American citizens of conscience to support the call by the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions National Committee and to boycott all cultural institutions supported by the apartheid Israeli state." METF said it would hold a non-violent protest outside the Hill Auditorium on the night of the performance, scheduled for November 16...."


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Red Cross report says: Israeli siege on Gaza causes chronic malnutrition and "dramatic fall in living standards"

"Chronic malnutrition in Gaza blamed on Israel:

[Click on photo to enlarge it.]

"Donald Macintyre reveals the contents of an explosive report by the Red Cross on a humanitarian tragedy"

THE INDEPENDENT (London, U.K.)

Saturday, 15 November 2008

On the Web at:

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/chronic-malnutrition-in-gaza-blamed-on-israel-1019521.html

"The Israeli blockade of Gaza has led to a steady rise in chronic malnutrition among the 1.5 million people living in the strip, according to a leaked report from the Red Cross.

"It chronicles the 'devastating' effect of the siege that Israel imposed after Hamas seized control in June 2007 and notes that the dramatic fall in living standards has triggered a shift in diet that will damage the long-term health of those living in Gaza and has led to alarming deficiencies in iron, vitamin A and vitamin D.

"The 46-page report from the International Committee of the Red Cross – seen by The Independent – is the most authoritative yet on the impact that Israel's closure of crossings to commercial goods has had on Gazan families and their diets.

"The report says the heavy restrictions on all major sectors of Gaza's economy, compounded by a cost of living increase of at least 40 per cent, is causing 'progressive deterioration in food security for up to 70 per cent of Gaza's population'. That in turn is forcing people to cut household expenditures down to 'survival levels'.

" 'Chronic malnutrition is on a steadily rising trend and micronutrient deficiencies are of great concern,' it said.

Since last year, the report found, there had been a switch to 'low cost/high energy' cereals, sugar and oil, away from higher-cost animal products and fresh fruit and vegetables. Such a shift 'increases exposure to micronutrient deficiencies which in turn will affect their health and wellbeing in the long term....'

"...The Red Cross report says that 'the embargo has had a devastating effect for a large proportion of households who have had to make major changes on the composition of their food basket.' Households were now obtaining 80 per cent of their calories from cereals, sugar and oil.

" 'The actual food basket is considered to be insufficient from a nutritional perspective.' The report paints a bleak picture of an increasingly impoverished and indebted lower-income population. People are selling assets, slashing the quality and quantity of meals, cutting back on clothing and children's education, scavenging for discarded materials – and even grass for animal fodder – that they can sell and are depending on dwindling loans and handouts from slightly better-off relatives.

"In the urban sector, in which about 106,000 employees lost their jobs after the June 2007 shutdown, about 40 per cent are now classified as 'very poor', earning less than 500 shekels (£87) a month to provide for an average household of seven to nine people..."

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Zionism = Naziism

Photo Gallery: Israeli Occupation of Palestine

On the Web at:

http://www.ccun.org/Editorials/2007/October%20articles/Photo%20Gallery%20Israeli%20Occupation%20of%20Palestine.htm

Propaganda

Introduction

Victims

Goals

Islam & Fascism

Muslim Americans

Palestinians

Conclusion

References

Photo Gallery

Israel provoked Six-Day War and Still defies international law (imemc, 6/5/07).

Rachel Corrie, an American peace activist, who was killed by being run over by an Israeli occupation bulldozer in Rafah, on March 16, 2003, as she was protesting demolishing Palestinian homes. She was declared a Palestinian martyr by President Yasser Arafat.

Israeli occupation forces continue their military campaign against Al-Ain refugee camp, injure two in Gaza, kidnap 29 Palestinians (PIC, 9/20/07).

Israeli Occupation Forces kidnap wife of wanted Qassam activist, Omar Abu Jaber, 3 of his relatives, and 10 other minors (PIC, 9/6/07).

Israeli occupation forces admit to killing of three innocent children. Above: The blood pool of the three Abu Ghazal family children who were murdered by Israeli occupation terrorist soldiers in Beit Hanoon, on August 29, 2007 (imemc, 8/31/07).

Israeli Fuel Supplies Cut Off of Gaza Strip, as a Collective Punishment, Leaving 1.5 Million Palestinians Without Electricity (Ma'an, 8/18/07).

Palestinians crying at Jubara Israeli occupation checkpoint, Tulkarem (Ma'an, 7/7/07).

87 Palestinian Political Prisoners out of 12,000 Released from Israeli occupation Prisons! Above: A Palestinian child injured by Israeli occupation forces as he was waiting for a relative political prisoner to be released (Ma'an, 10/2/07).

Palestinian Civilians Used Again as Human Shields by Israeli Occupation Forces Invading Nablus (imemc, 10/19/07).

Palestinian Children in Israeli Occupation Telmond Prison Appeal to Abbas to Intervene for their Release. (imemc, 9/27/07).

Palestinian cameraman Imad Badran, who was shot by Israeli occupation soldiers (imemc, 10/17/07).



B'Tselem: Stripping Palestinians of their homes contravenes Palestinians human rights (imemc, 9/18/07).

Illegal Israeli settlers torch Palestinian crops (Ma'an, 7/7/07).

The new Israeli occupation roadblock in Al-Dhahiriya, near Hebron, is a site of humiliation for Palestinian workers (Ma'an, 6/20/07).

Israeli Occupation Forces Kill Two Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. Above: Kamal Sa'ad's mother and relatives grieving over his body (IPC, 6/7/07).

Details of Israeli Murder of 72-Year-Old Palestinian Yehia Al-Jabari. Above: Al-Ja'abari's relatives grieving (Al-Ayyam, 6/7/07).

Palestinian passengers in, above, and around busses waiting for Israeli permission to them in order to cross the Egyptian-Palestinian border in Rafah. Despite the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza Strip, the Israeli government still controls Palestinian travel (Alquds, 6/7/07).

www.ccun.org

10 million Palestinians, 7 millions of them refugees, 450,000 internally displaced, a new Badil report. Above: Palestinian refugees forced out of their cities and villages by Israeli forces in 1948 (imemc, 9/15/07).	Sabra and Shatila Massacre: 25 Years on By Khalid Amayreh (PIC, 9/18/07).	Israel provoked Six-Day War and Still defies international law (imemc, 6/5/07).

French court reopens investigation into the death of Mohammed Al-Durra, a Zionist attempt to discredit the original report (imemc, 9/21/07).

Israeli Occupation Forces Invade Tulkarem, Hebron, Nablus, Northern Gaza Strip, Terrorizing Communities, Kidnapping Palestinians. Above: An Israeli occupation soldier abusing a Palestinian child (PIC, 7/4/07 ).

Palestinian teenager, Mahmoud Al-Kafafi, crushed by invading Israeli bulldozer in eastern Gaza (imemc, 9/20/07).

Above: The child Ramez Helles, who was shot by Israeli occupation forces, then he died of his wounds (imemc, 9/8/07).

Three Palestinians Children and a Youngman Killed by Israeli Occupation Forces in Gaza Strip . Above: One of the victims murdered by Israeli occupation forces, Yahya Abu Ghazal (Ma'an, 8/30/07).

Family of Assassinated Palestinian Child, Mahmoud Al-Qarnawi, Reveals Barbaric Conduct of Israeli Occupation Soldiers (Ma'an, 8/26/07).

Gazans Suffer Without Electricity as EU Joins the US-Israeli Embargo on Gaza Strip (Ma'an, 8/20/07).	Israeli Occupation Government Extends Detention of Nada Al-Jayousi, a Palestinian Mother of Nine Children (PIC, 7/15/07 ).	Palestinians crying at Jubara Israeli occupation checkpoint, Tulkarem (Ma'an, 7/7/07).

War on Terror: An Israeli occupation "peaceful" armored vehicle chasing a "terrorist" Palestinian boy in the West Bank city of Jenin today (Ma'an, 10/11/07).	Invading Israeli occupation forces clash with activists near Jenin (above), Qabatiya, kidnap 11 Palestinians, demolish public facilities in Jabalia (Ma'an, 9/30/07).

Illegal Israeli settlers' attacks on Palestinians in Hebron include beatings, property damage, throwing of stones, eggs, and even bottles of urine. Above: A settler woman and a child attacking a Palestinian woman (imemc, 10/19/07).	Illegal Israeli settlers, together with Israeli occupation soldiers, attack volunteers helping Palestinian farmers pick olives. Above: Israeli settlers attacking Palestinian farmers and peace activists (Ma'an, 10/18/07).
Israeli occupation forces invade Palestinian cities, terrorizing the population, kidnapping 22 people, provoking confrontations with resistance fighters (imemc, 10/18/07).	Al-Hoqooq Center slams attacks against Palestinian detainees in Al-Ramla Israeli occupation prison (imemc, 10/1/07).
2 Palestinians Killed in Gaza, 10 Kidnapped in the West Bank by Israeli Occupation Forces (Ma'an, 10/1/07).	29 Palestinian refugees wounded in refugee camp fire on Iraqi-Syrian borders (PIC, 10/9/07).
Gaza mourns after Israeli attacks leave 11 dead, 30 injured (Ma'an, 9/28/07).	Palestinian Muslim worshippers sitting on a street near Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem after Israeli occupation forces had prevented them from reaching the mosque to perform the weekly prayer (Ma'an, 9/21/07).
Israeli forces bar movement of Palestinians between eastern and central West Bank. Above: Israeli occupation forces stopping Palestinians at a West Bank checkpoint and preventing them from traveling inside their own homeland (imemc, 9/15/07).	Israeli Occupation Forces Demolish Palestinian Homes in Bethlehem and Nablus (imemc, 7/19/07).
Israeli interrogators demand detained Palestinian Members of Parliament to resign from their posts as a condition for their release (Ma'an, 7/1/07).	Israeli occupation forces terrorize Balata (above) and Jenin refugee camps for seven hours, injuring and kidnapping Palestinians (imemc, 6/27/07).
Six Palestinians killed and four injured by Israeli occupation forces invading southern Gaza strip (Ma'an, 6/19/07).
40 Years of the Israeli Oppression and Persecution of the Palestinian People (Alhayat Aljadeeda, 6/5/07). Israel provoked Six-Day War and Still defies international law (imemc, 6/5/07).	Palestinian mother of Ra'ed Al-Nadi fighting an Israeli occupation soldier to free her teenage son, Ra'ed, who was arrested because of carrying two pipes at Huwara checkpoint, Nablus (INA, 6/6/07). Israelis persecuting Palestinians inside the Palestinian territories, not in Israel. .Israelis persecuting Palestinians inside the Palestinian territories, not in Israel. Ra'ed Al-Nadi arrested at Huwara for carrying two domestic pipes (INA, 6/6/07).