Hamas militiamen beat protesters

Hamas Militiamen Beat Gaza Protesters

By IBRAHIM BARZAK
The Associated Press
Monday, August 13, 2007; 9:44 AM

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip -- Hamas militiamen beat protesters with clubs and rifle butts to try to stop a demonstration by political opponents in the Gaza Strip on Monday, but hundreds chanting "We want freedom" defied the ban.

Hamas routed forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement in five days of savage fighting in Gaza in June. The Islamic militant group has tolerated no dissent since taking over the coastal strip.


After Fatah and other allied groups announced plans to stage a rally Monday, Hamas banned "all demonstrations and public gatherings" that did not have special permission.

Buses arriving at the demonstration site in a main square were halted by Hamas guards who beat protesters, driving them away and confiscating Fatah flags.

Nevertheless, about 300 protesters got past the militia cordon and demonstrated for about 20 minutes, shouting "We want to raise our voice," before dispersing.

Hamas men arrested several demonstrators and confiscated equipment from news photographers and cameramen seeking to cover the arrests, including an Associated Press camera.

The Palestinian journalists' union called on members to observe a three-day boycott of any events organized by the Hamas force to protest the treatment of the media.

Saleh Nasser, of the small, leftist, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine was at the protest and condemned Hamas' response.

"Treating people in this way when they came to raise their voice in a peaceful demonstration is something that is condemned, rejected and cannot be accepted," he said. "We are astonished by the decision to ban demonstrations."

Following the protest, Hamas squads raided Gaza offices of media organizations seeking material from the rally, eyewitnesses said. Staff at Gulf-based satellite broadcaster Al-Arabiyya said the Hamas men seized a camera, videotape and tripod from their premises.

The June infighting in Gaza, which killed about 100 people, deepened the already bitter political rivalry between Hamas and Fatah.

Following the Hamas takeover of Gaza, Abbas expelled Hamas from the Palestinian coalition government and formed a West Bank-based administration of moderates in its place.

Undeterred, deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh pledged to impose law and order on the formerly anarchic Gaza Strip. But his heavily armed police, known as the Executive Force, is gaining a reputation for being heavy-handed at best, particularly when dealing with Fatah supporters.

Don't Forget Earl Krugel!

Prejudice against or hatred of Jews - known as antisemitism - has plagued the world for more than 2,000 years. The Holocaust, the state-sponsored persecution and murder of European Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators between 1933 and 1945, is history's most extreme example of antisemitism. Yet even in the aftermath of the Holocaust, antisemitism remains a continuing threat.
Today, there are signs of increasing antisemitism across Europe and the Islamic world, including hate speech, violence targeting Jews and Jewish institutions, and denial of the Holocaust. Militant Islamic groups with political power use language suggestive of genocide regarding the State of Israel. The president of Iran recently declared the Holocaust a "myth" and called Israel "a disgraceful blot" that should be "wiped off the map." The Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas pledges in its founding covenant to "obliterate" Israel.
Many moral failures led to the Holocaust. In the aftermath of those failures, we must remain alert to the continuing threat of antisemitism and to the ultimate consequences of unchecked hatred.

Earl Krugel...Not forgotten

Dear Earl,
We could use a man like you today.
Not only to fight for the Jewish People, but to fight for all of those who are oppressed unrighteously.
G-d Bless you Earl, you are not forgotten.

Anti-Jewism Makes a comeback!

It seems to me that antisemitism is making a major resurgence these days, and even gaining some acceptance.
Not in this order but, Mel Gibson makes his anti-Jew attacks, makes a very, IMO, muffled "apology" and the whole thing is forgotten.
Disgracefully, Jimmy Carter produced one of the most virulent attacks I've heard, ever, from any politician.
He actually claimed that the "Jewish Lobby" controls American Policy.
I find this trend extremely disturbing.
About the "Jewish Lobby".
There is some truth to the old gag, "What do you get when you put two Jews in a room?"
Answer, "An argument."
There is no foreign policy consensus on the part of the "vast Jewish/Zionist lobby."
The article below takes on some of the major concerns I see developing.


Originally Posted on http://www.greenwichtime.com/news/local/scn-gt-a1adldec14,0,392072.story?coll=green-news-local-headlines
Ku Klux Klan leader and other Holocaust deniers gathering in Iran, former President Carter's controversial new book calling the situation in Palestinian territories apartheid, and a former secretary of state who says the Arab-Israel conflict is standing in the way of victory in Iraq are examples of anti-Semitism becoming more pervasive, the head of the Anti-Defamation League said last night at Temple Sholom."Anti-Semitism is today no longer a page of history, it is a history of today," said Abraham Foxman, the league's outspoken national director who Foxman has been national director since 1987 and has worked for the league since 1965.Gavriel Rosenfeld, a Fairfield University professor and chairman of the volunteer committee that helped organize the event, said, "To put it perhaps in the post-9/11 terminology, he's one of the Jewish community's most valuable first responders."Foxman was saved from the Holocaust as an infant by parents who gave him to his Polish nanny, who raised him as a Catholic. His parents survived and later reunited with him.With such a background and belief that strides have been made in combating anti-Semitism, Foxman said he has been surprised that the barrage of anti-Semitism is daily, constant and growing."Google Holocaust, log on to Holocaust and you will find 'anti-Holocaust'," he said. "Better, Google Jew and first you will find out about anti-Jews and anti-Semitism. ... The logarithm of this new invention, which is supposed to be a boon to knowledge, has an underbelly, which is a superhighway for hate."Events across the world have threatened to heighten anti-Semitism and present a threat to Jews across the world, Foxman said.Iran's president sponsored a conference in Tehran, inviting participants such as David Duke, a former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, and other people who believe the Holocaust didn't occur."Yesterday in Tehran, (Presi-dent Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad along with the conference reminded his audience that God has proclaimed that Israel has to go," Foxman said. "Just as the Soviet Union disappeared, so does the Jewish state."Foxman also repeated his public criticism of Carter's new book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid." Carter has said he wrote the book because he believes the media squashes anti-Israel discourse."It's classic anti-Semitism and it doesn't come from David Duke, it doesn't come from Pat Buchanan, it comes from this sweet, smiling peanut farmer," Foxman said.Finally, Foxman also accused the Iraq Study Group, which is headed by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, of unfairly blaming Israel and Jews for the war in Iraq. The group's report said the United States must address the Arab-Israel conflict in order to succeed in Iraq."You want peace in Iraq, you've got to resolve the Arab-Israel conflict," Foxman said. "What kind of nonsense? But it's not nonsense, we are being blamed again."Though Foxman said that he is concerned by what he sees, he has optimism in the future."As dark as the clouds get, when we look at who we are and what we believe, we shall and we will overcome," he said. "Happy Hanukkah. Thank you."