My latest in PJ Media:
On Thursday, a group of pro-Palestinian activists surrounded Dexter Van Zile of the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) at a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) rally at the University of Massachusetts in Boston. The pro-jihad protesters tried to intimidate Van Zile physically, poking their fingers in his face, shouting at him, shoving him, spitting at him, and calling him a “bitch,” “Nazi,” and “f**king pig.” Then they no doubt went away believing themselves to be on the side of righteousness. It was a small incident that reveals many of the big problems facing America today, thanks to the American Left.
Just before Van Zile was surrounded and menaced, a speaker at the pro-Palestinian rally told the crowd: “Uh, Dexter Van Zile over here is in the crowd, he’s a rabid Zionist with this group called CAMERA.” After the crowd booed and hooted, the speaker went on to explain how “Zionist racist fascists… under the guise of journalism, write only to smear and muckrake on our righteous movement.” He called upon the crowd to start chanting “Zionists, go home,” which they dutifully did, turning toward Van Zile to do so. Van Zile was surrounded, abused, and reviled shortly thereafter, even as one of the pro-jihad activists repeatedly tried to convince his companions not to do so, saying over and over again: “They will use this against us. They will use this against us. They will use this against us.”
Well, yes. And here we are. Because in the first place, no one in the crowd was saying that Van Zile should be left alone for any reason other than that surrounding him, yelling at him, and spitting on him would make the demonstrators look bad. No one reminded them of the American tradition of free discourse and Voltaire’s old adage, now completely forgotten, “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.” The American Left has now replaced that idea, which is at the foundation of any free society, with “If I disapprove of what you say, I will revile you, slander you, and physically menace until you are too afraid to stand up against me.”
Antifa, Black Lives Matter, and pro-Palestinian activists generally take that principle for granted, and are so certain of their own righteousness that they apparently believe that it gives them a free pass to be as vicious and violent toward those whom they hate as they wish, because it’s all for their sacred cause. This was how Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot and the rest justified murdering millions of their own people: on their blood-soaked graves would be built the Marxist utopia of a classless society in which the workers controlled the means of production, and that justified everything.
There is more. Read the rest here.
mortimer says
The support of the Pallies in 2021 is similar to the support of the Sudetenland ethnic Germans in 1938. The idea was ‘reunite’ the Sudetenland Germans with the Vaterland, and today the idea is to reunite the Palestinian Syrians with Greater Syria or Jordan.
The plan to reunite Palestinian Arabs (south Syrians) with other Syrians in the region will produce a Greater Syrian Vaterland … oops, I mean Ummah. They will ‘exterminate’ Israel and all Jews in the region.
Do you see the similarities?
gravenimage says
Boston: Pro-Palestinian Thugs Spit at and Curse Pro-Israel Activist
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Damned thugs–a mob threatening a non-violent, elderly man. Dexter Van Zile has more dignity and courage than any of them, in addition to his stance being righeous.
More:
…one of the pro-jihad activists repeatedly tried to convince his companions not to do so, saying over and over again: “They will use this against us. They will use this against us. They will use this against us.”
Well, yes. And here we are. Because in the first place, no one in the crowd was saying that Van Zile should be left alone for any reason other than that surrounding him, yelling at him, and spitting on him would make the demonstrators look bad.
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Absolutely. Yet this was as close as we got to a voice of reason in this mob. *Ugh*.
Ray Jarman says
+1. Excellent points.
john smith says
Agreed Ray.
revereridesagain says
Boston absolutely stinks when it comes to virulent anti-Semitism in some areas. The “MetroWest” suburb of Newton has been fighting to get it out of the public schools for years. And this is certainly not the first attack on CAMERA.
Ray Jarman says
A couple of points that the media has failed to mention as these thuggish mobs riot and call Jews every filthy anti-Semitic name imaginable while I have seen not even one such group of Jews acting in like manner.
I haven’t seen any numbers lately but Jewish qualified applicants at the Ivy League and other once prestigious colleges were the most restricted enrollments because their scores were so high by so many. Now it is the Asians who are in the same boat with the Jews who are turned away in favour of lesser qualified students. Neither the Jews or the Asians have went into the streets to riot and cause havoc; they haven’t even held peaceful protests.
Johnny B says
Please arrest the white guy with the red Palestinian scarf for cultural appropriation 🙂
gravenimage says
Too funny.