Thursday, July 24, 2014

July 22, 2014 anti-Israel demonstration in Boston

On Tuesday, July 22, 2014, there was an anti-Israel demonstration in Boston, co-sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace, among other groups. Some of the signs that were displayed cause me to question why JVP would participate in a demonstration with the people carrying them.

Several of the photos below are screen caps of parts of photographs taken by Chris Faraone, a writer for the Boston Phoenix.  For the originals, go to http://ow.ly/user/Fara1?t=photo.

Why would the progressive rabbis who form JVP's "rabbinic cabinet" want to be associated with the Neturei Karta "rabbis" and supporters pictured below? Neturei Karta is a fundamentalist Jewish sect that is opposed to the existence of Israel. 972mag.com has an interesting article about them and why they should not be regarded as valuable allies for the Palestinian cause.

This lovely poster below equates Zionism with Nazism. Notice the cute touch - in the middle of the 6-pointed star on the Israeli flag is a swastika.


This was the big banner carried by the protestors.


The sign below is the only one I saw that explicitly referenced JVP (among the photos taken by Chris Faraone).






An interesting collection of slogans. "Stop the genocide!" I've seen this one in a number of places. Israel is not committing genocide in Gaza. Then "From the River to the Sea Palestine will be free." This slogan denies that Jews have any right to a state in mandatory Palestine, and demands that the state of Israel be replaced by the state of Palestine. One wonders what the person holding the sign thinks should happen to the Jews who now live in Israel. Then "Jews say no bombing in our name." Which Jews? Isn't it presumptuous to speak for all Jews? And then, "Boston stands with Palestine." What about all the people in Boston who don't care about either Palestine or Israel?

The demonstrator below seems kind of displaced. He supports Bashar Assad's campaign of mass murder of the citizens of Syria. I had thought this was supposed to be an anti-war demonstration. I guess it's really an "against some wars" demonstration.
From - https://twitter.com/jaclynmdiaz/status/491723492618805248/photo/1
I would love to read something written by a spokesperson for JVP which would explain why they feel comfortable demonstrating with the people who hold these signs.

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