Jewish Voices (JVSA) have boastingly sent out an e-mail detailing the support they have received from one Richard Kuper - head honcho of Jews for Justice for Palestinians (JFJFP). (This post is long and has many images, so be sure to click on the "continue reading" link to see it all.)
Jews for Justice for Palestinians regard it as very important that Jewish organisations are in the forefront of the struggle, with others, for a just solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. We are thus delighted to learn of your call for a broad coalition to protest against the so-called `security' wall on 24th August in Johannesburg.We wish you every success on the day in question, and in general in working with a wide range of groups in civil society. We hope it will be the first of many actions organised along such lines, taking up the whole range of issues that Israel's continued occupation
Praises.
Richard Kuper
Chair, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, UK
Just what type of an organisation does Mr Kuper chair - and who does he hang out with?
Richard Kuper recently spoke at the 55th anniversary of the Nakba where thousands of British people converged on Trafalgar Square in London. The rally called for an end to the Zionist occupation of all of Palestine. The rally was organised by the Palestinian Solidarity Campaign. The first guest speaker was none other than John Pilger. He started by saying
The bad news is that never has the evil doers been as evil as they are today, never has some cynical leaders been as cynical as they are today conspiring against the most just cause of the 20th century and perhaps the 21st century
At the rally Kuper said that he wants Israel to be judged the same way as all other nations are judged. If only!"...As Jews we are all too aware of how Israeli actions are often presented as being done on behalf of all Jews worldwide, and how the the holocaust is used as a moral shield to dismiss any criticism of Israel as automatically anti-Semitic. It is precisely because we remember the holocaust that Jews in 'Jews for justice for Palestinians' reject this and insist that Israel be judged by the same criteria as any other state!..."
The posters at the rally reveal just what type of ideology JFJFP & JVSA support. Swastikas on Israeli flags were prominent. Flags of Palestinian terrorist group Hezbollah soared proudly alongside Palestinian flags. Worst of all, and I'm sure that JFJFP & JVSA would harp on about how this is not anti-Semitic - there were posters that accused the Jews of occupying Britain! Alleging that the Jews are so powerful that they are controlling Britain!
Click on the "continue reading" link to see more about this monstrous hateful event.
Most speakers called for a boycott on Israel and echoed the views that "Al Nakba - May 15 1948, will never be forgotten by the Palestinian people as they were to witness the horrors and flight from their homeland. The world was to witness the creation of the state of Israel which established itself on the homes and land of the Palestinian people, leading to the [creation] of over 750,000 refugees..."
In other words, the rally was supporting the Palestinian claim that all of historical Palestine is theirs. Posters at the rally showed a map of Israel where the entire map was marked as Palestinian territory occupied in 1948. The Palestinians refusal to accept two states living side by side in 1947/48 is precisely the reason why the Palestinians face so many hardships. JFJFP are therefore not supporting two states living side by side - they are supporting the replacement of all of Israel with another Arab state. By so boastingly advertising the support from Kuper, Jewish Voices SA must hold the same views.
More moonbattery at the rally:
Azzam Tamimi, Muslim Association of Britain. Co-sponsoring Lobby of Parliament 25 June with PSC, and one of main sponsors of this rally. He doesn't want peace.
For 55 years they have asked us to wait. For 55 years our people have been rotting in the camps. The world never cared simply because we are weak. You step on us we utter no word. You kill us we die in peace, and that's the peace they want a road map for! I tell you I don't want peace, I tell you I don't want peace - I want justice - I want justice!
The sheer gall of this lady is amazing. Her placard shows Goya's famous painting of "Saturn Devouring His Children". This refers to a political cartoon by Dave Brown in which Sharon plays the devouring Saturn, that appeared in the Independent newspaper on 27 January 2003. And JFJFP were there - trying their darndest to lend credibility to the rally. Playing the role of the "cool" Jews.
Obviously Kuper does not care about the truth. He has no problem with being affiliated with the Palestine Solidarity Campagin who claim on their website that the security barrier juts into 45% of the West Bank. This despite the changes to the route of the barrier which mean that it will at most jut into 4-8% of the West Bank.
Of course, to complete the rally, they had people dressing up in Rabbinical attire. I'm not sure why these people would be wearing a Tallit (the white sheet with black stripes over their shoulders.) The Tallit is usually only worn in a Shul. And what is with those stocking type socks?
Finally, ending on a happy note, someone upstairs didn't approve of this rally. And so the heavens opened up and rained down on this lovely event...
Outrageous. To be fair...the only reason why Palestinians dont support the Jewish side so openly is because Jews dont issue Fatwas.
Posted by: Harambe | August 25, 2004 at 22:46
Sadly people seem to have completely forgotten the reason for the establishment of the state of Israel in the first place, and people also seem to have forgotton that Jews have as much claim to the land and heritage there as the Palestinians. This is an important point that has become completely lost and needs to be raised.
But what is the solution?
Posted by: Bronwyn | August 26, 2004 at 11:19
Hey Bronwyn, thanks for stopping by :)
To me the worst part of it is that the over zealous anti-Israel protagonists make it more difficult for me to sympathise with the Palestinians. By taking a side and supporting it so blindly - they only further polarise the Israelis and the Palestinians and make the situation worse.
On SAFM yesterday, the guy standing in for Vuyo Mbuli called it a beatiful thing to see Jewish and Muslims marching together. But what was beautiful? They were all supporting one side and condemning the other! To call it beautiful is to blatantly say that Israel is indeed all evil and the Palestinians pure. That is a problem. Had they marched together and voiced neutral ideas and condemned both sides equally...then maybe SAFm could have called it beautiful.
But just because its Jews marching with Muslims it is called beautiful - never mind what they are marching for.
Being Jewish does not make a persons opinion of the conflict more or less important! I think that support of Israel has alot more to do with being conservative or being a lebertarian than with being Jewish.
Posted by: Steve | August 26, 2004 at 15:27
*Vomit*
Posted by: Ryan | August 27, 2004 at 16:18
The sheer naivety of these people scares me. Jewish Voices do not speak for the SA Jews. Rubbish people.
Posted by: Anti-UN | August 29, 2004 at 11:02
Who do these people think they are. Marching with people whose ideological breathren would commit the most grievous of attacks against fellow Jews.
Jewish Voices should know one thing. Despite their contemporary views they would nevertheless still have been gassed by hitler.
Posted by: Jodi | August 30, 2004 at 19:56