Occupy Protests against Israel and Shimon Peres in SF
Shimon Peres, the President of Israel, visited the San Francisco Bay Area during the first week of March, 2012. Among his stops was a visit on March 6 to Temple Emanu-El, the largest synagogue in San Francisco.
Occupy Oakland decided to greet Peres with a protest outside the synagogue:
Occupy’s protest listing uses phrases like “Israeli apartheid regime” and “racist and colonialist legislation,” to give you an idea of where they’re coming from. Here’s a snippet:
Shimon Peres serves the wealthy colonial elite and the settler state of Israel. Peres tours the world speaking on behalf of Jewish people, co-opting the history of the Holocaust. At the same time, he has on his conscience a massive arms trade and racist laws which advance the ethnic cleansing and genocide of Palestinian peoples. His very presence at a synagogue in San Francisco normalizes settler colonialism here and in Israel, connecting two settler states in the name of Judaism and an imperial and colonial “vision of tomorrow.”
Wait — what’s this got to do with “the 99%” and bank bailouts and tax rates and “economic inequality”? Nothing. This protest is just more evidence (along with other Occupy-sponsored anti-Israel events) of the Occupy movement going off the rails and more overtly embracing the pan-leftist narrative, no longer even pretending to limit itself to fiscal policy.
Only about 100 people showed up for the protest and counter-protest, three of whom (myself, Chicken Kiev, and SFPatriot) contributed photos and videos to this report. (We were vastly outnumbered by the 2,000 Peres fans with tickets to see him give his speech.)
The SF police successfully outmaneuvered the protesters, who were not expecting the kind of high-level security accorded to a head of state like Peres. The entire neighborhood around the synagogue (the domed building visible in the background here) was blocked off, and no one was being let in from the main intersection of California and Arguello. Instead, all legitimate ticket-holders were given directions to the only entry point, quite a distance away at Clay and Cherry. This threw a monkey wrench into the protesters’ plans.
When I first got to the checkpoint, there were no protesters at all, just a bunch of police and no-nonsense Israeli security guys verifying photo IDs against the official list of ticketed attendees.
Eventually some of the anti-Israel protesters decided to just congregate at the entry point, rather than at the synagogue itself. These are the first arrivals.
As you can see already, the anti-Israel contingent was a mix of kaffiyeh- and hijab-wearing Muslims joining forces with American leftists.
But they were not to go unchallenged. Shortly afterward, pro-Israel counter-protesters began showing up as well.
The two groups quickly set up opposing protest camps on either side of the checkpoint. Game on.
Unfortunately, the anti-Israel crew had reserved the corner through which most of the arriving ticket-holders had to pass, so they decided to take advantage of their prime location by setting up a sort of ideological tunnel. Any synagogue members or pro-Peres Jews who wanted to attend the event had to pass through a gauntlet of Palestinian flags held by hostile protesters.
So, as the mostly well-to-do ticket-holders streamed up the street on foot to the checkpoint…
…they were greeted upon arrival by a confrontational scene, which made some people very nervous.
Nothing untoward happened, though, as the protesters mostly followed the strict policies set forth by the organizers to avoid “any oppressive language or behavior at the demonstration, which includes anti-Jewish racism.” Calm heads prevailed.
Well, mostly, at least. At one point, about a block away from the checkpoint, a San Francisco motorcycle cop somehow managed to get into a political discussion with some of the anti-Israel protesters. Voices were raised.
My interest was piqued when I heard the cop, who was African-American, astutely rebutting one of their points by noting that it was Muslims, and not Christians, who had started the African slave trade. Taken aback by his depth of knowledge, one of the protesters, who was a Muslim from Dagestan in southern Russia, acknowledged this historical detail, but continued the argument on a side track.
By the time I started taking a video of the incident, they were on to a different topic — only to be be interrupted by Russian-speaking Jews who happened to pass by at the exact moment that the Dagestani said he was from Russia. Here’s what happened (transcription below the video):
Dagestani Muslim: All historians, they all say that these corrupt leaders, these corrupt imams, and even a sect of Islam called Wahhabism, was created by the American and British empire, back in the 1700s.
Anti-Israel protester: Bin Laden, that’s what bin Laden do, all these guys that bomb people.
Policeman: I understand all that, but why is this still going on, if you guys have so much knowledge about each other?
Dagestani Muslim: Because you guys have a lot of money.
Anti-Israel protester: They kill us too.
Dagestani Muslim: They would kill us. In my country I would be killed just for….
Kaffiyeh-wearing protester: Everything is oil and money, that’s why.
Anti-Israel protester: They kill us too.
Policeman: [Where are you from?]
Dagestani Muslim: I’m from Russia. But I’m from the south.
[Someone says something inaudible off-camera]
Policeman: Hey hey, relax. Hey, relax! Hey hey hey, hey hey relax.
Dagestani Muslim: Lady, you wanna talk to me?
Russian-accented passerby woman: Don’t lie!
Dagestani Muslim: It’s not lie, I’m from Dagestan!
Russian Jew: [Something in Russian.]
Kaffiyeh-wearing protester: [Something in Arabic.]
Dagestani Muslim: He said bad words. [Yelling:] Hey man! [Waves hand dismissively.]
Policeman: What are you waving at? You’re not going to argue with him.
Kaffieyh-wearing protester: [Something in Arabic.]
Dagestani Muslim: [Yelling:] [Something in Russian.]
Policeman: Hey, wait a minute! Don’t do that!
(Anyone who can understand what the foreign-language words are in this video, please leave the translation in the comments section below.)
Meanwhile, back up at the protest, the San Francisco Bomb Squad stopped in front of the pro-Palestinian protesters, but then drove on after a while.
The American leftists uncorked their best arguments. (Presumably, he is condemning Israel for saber-rattling with Iran. No mention is made of Iran’s unceasing threats to “wipe Israel off the map,” language which violates the UN charter far more than Israel’s “threats.”)
I never even knew we went to war with “IRAO”!
At first there was a sort of “demilitarized zone” in between the two camps.
But soon enough the anti-Israel side spilled out into the street and the two sides began to bump into each other. With so many San Francisco police and Mossad agents standing just steps away, however, everything stayed peaceful. (Temple Emanu-El is visible in the background.)
Some anti-Zionist Jews crossed the street at one point and set up their banner facing the other protesters.
As the evening wore on, the number of Muslim protesters increased. One kid’s sign had a catchy pun: “Shimon (Shame on) you, Peres.”
Nearby, one of the Bay Area’s professional Israel-haters, who for some reason became absolutely fixated on Israel and shows up at every imaginable protest, displayed her feelings.
A woman in a hijab accused Peres of being a war criminal, and had seemed to have secret knowledge (that contradicts every poll ever taken) about what Americans and Jews think of Israel.
The counter-protesters were smaller in number, but no less enthusiastic in their beliefs. Here, a guy on the pro-Israel side blew loudly on a seashell-shofar, to drown out the anti-Israel chants.
Despite all this, things progressed pretty much without a hitch at the checkpoint; the only way you could get inside was to be on the official list of invitees, and to have photo ID, and consent to a possible search.
After a while, things became messy, as the border between the two groups disintegrated.
To calm things down again before tempers flared, the police rearranged the barricades to more crisply separate the two sides. Now the gauntlet was anti-Israel in one side, pro-Israel on the other — an improvement.
YouTube user “holseyd” showed up a bit later after nightfall and recorded this video of the anti-Israel protesters chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” which is an overt call for the elimination of Israel as a state (the area between “the river” [the River Jordan] and “the sea” [the Mediterranean Sea] encompasses all of modern-day Israel; the chant envisions a Palestinian state where Israel now exists).
UPDATE:
One of the pro-Israel counter-protesters named “Daniel” was in the thick of things all afternoon and evening and posted this five-minute video of what the action looked like from within the protest itself, including several arguments and near-scuffles with anti-Israel protesters. Pay particular attention to 4:47 – 5:01 in the video, which shows some of the anti-Israel protesters chant “Kaybar Kaybar ya Yahud…” which was used by Islamic militants during the Mavi Marmara ship-boarding incident; the chant recalls how Mohammed exterminated the Jews of Kaybar in the 7th century. In other words, it’s a coded threat of genocide.
As for other media coverage: KTVU produced a short TV report about the event, but it didn’t reveal much about the protest.
Temple Emanue-El has released a streamed video of Peres’ appearance and speech to the 2,000 congregants, for those who are interested.
And in conclusion, here’s a futuristic trance/techno music video that Peres uploaded to advertise his new Facebook page (seriously), released shortly before his appearance in San Francisco:
– taze me, Zomb, but isn’t that still Senator Feinstein’s home in the background of Temple Emanu-El?
Nah, I think she moved.
Russian translations:
The Russian Jew says “If you are from Russia, you cannot talk like that”.
The Dagestani guy yells “Hey bitch”
Thanks!
Zombie, thanks for using my video. i was wondering how that video had picked up so many new page views in the past 24 hours. then a friend of mine sent me this article. there’s another video from another friend of mine did from the event i think you’d be interested in. i had him upload it to my channel so here is the link just in case you haven’t seen it yet: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDSqNvoRZ-E
Just a heads up Oakland Occupy has a pro-palestinian/tribute to tristan anderson rally and march on tuesday 13th 4-6 starting at Frank Ogawa Plaza.
I have now added Daniel’s video to this post in an update. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Unfortunately, traffic-wise, this post is by now “old news,” so his video probably won’t get a lot of hits as a result of being posted here, but every little bit helps I guess!
what the Hell happened to my comment for Zombie last night!?
Comments posted in the middle of the night on weekends tend to spend a long time in moderation, because no editors are awake to click “OK.” Not to worry — it’s been approved now.
sorry about me having been a bit of a spaz on that last comment thanks for your understanding. it’s funny to think that i’ve probably been around you several times over the years with out knowing it was you. i’ve seen you do a lot of online video/photo essays of the same events i’ve been too as well. oak. occupy is up to some no good again tomorrow (March 13) after noon with a pro-palestinian march from Frank Ogawa Plaza to the islamic center on Madison st. it’s supposed to be some sort of tribute to tristan anderson.
1% is code word for Jew!
SFPD loves the overtime.
SF Board of supervisors will blame police overtime for another bloated budget.
Oh, so THAT’S what all that meshugga was down the street this week! Sheesh, it’s hard to keep track without a scorecard.
It’s actually just part of the background noise of San Francisco. I’ve been living here 31 years now, and no matter who is President, no matter how well or how poorly people are doing overall, there are always protests in San Francisco. It’s sort of our version of soccer hooliganism, I suppose.
classy how the dagestani’s parting words are
hey SUKA (sounds like soka, must be his accent)
literal translation as mentioned above is bitch,
but in reality it’s about the worst swaerword the russian language nows.
use this on a russian in a bad area and it just migt earn you worse than a punch to the face
here in Germany I would never use this word in an argument with a russian, way too dangerous
I learned that word when I studied Russian 35+ years ago but did not know it was that bad. One friend and I would sometimes call each other “suki syn”. I imagine most readers can figure that one out.
Let me know when there is a mass demonstration in front of some promient mosque, or outside of a Louis Farrakan revival rant. You know, when they removed Farrakan’s malignant prostate, they threw away the best part of hit. I guess I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for the tall black dudes with bowties, eh?
No real Americans left in SF with a sign that said “Thanks for bringing your old world bitches here. Hooray for immigration.”
The San Francisco of my youth was ethnic whites, chinese, a few Japanese, Hispanics, first Mexicans, then Central Americans. Then came the Vietnam Names, Filipinos, Koreans. And Russian Jews. All cool, I thought, but the hijabs are all over now. Saw a full niqab in Costco the last time I was in town.
Jews have been in San Francisco since the mid-19th century, the Gold Rush miners often buying their provisions from German Jews. Levi Strauss – another German Jew – created the blue jean around that time, and was soon manufacturing them in San Francisco.
“All cool, I thought, but the hijabs are all over now. Saw a full niqab in Costco the last time I was in town.”
I have to wonder why we’re welcoming Dagestani Muslims into the US. As to that “full niqab”, I saw one across from Washington, DC’s Union Station a few years ago. (Her companion was wearing a hijab.) That’s just a few blocks from the US Capitol.
I particularly love “the American Empire” (back in the 1700s.) I suppose some day these idiots will some day learn some history, but you WOULD expect them to know that the American Republic was founded in the 1700s and had absolutely no contact with Saudi Arabia – which did not exist at that time, either. Then they might be ready to learn that the Saudi Royals are hand-in-glove with the fanatical Wahhabis, and that’s the Devil’s Agreement which runs S.A. to this day. The Wahhabis get religion, and the Royals get the money. A very pretty picture indeed.
Al Wahab showed up around 1800 and married into the Saudi family. He sparked a jihad into southern Iraq where towns were looted and Shia shrines destroyed. However, some Gulf Shiites had treaties with the Brits and the Saudi holy warriors stayed well out of range of the Royal Navy.
It tells much that those people never moved a finger for Darfur and are up in arms for well fed people who dance in the streets when a baby has been murdered.
Yes, it tells looooooooots about them.
the russian man passing by says, (literally) “If you are from Russia, you can’t talk like this”. A more nuanced translation is, “you have no right to say this”.
In response,the Dagestani calls him “Bitch” to his back. Again, a more nuanced translation is, “Son of a bitch”.
The irony is that the Israeli “occupy” protests were a huge success and actually resulted in policy change. They had nothing to do with arab-israeli conflict and were very peaceful.
US lefties are puny wimpy losers compared to Israeli lefties.
If I remember the Israeli “occupy” movement was not exclusively “left”, was pro-construction (they wanted more housing construction), had a coherant message, and even pro-country (even if they had complaints about the current PM and Pres, they overall were not anti-government/economic system/ect). A rather big difference compared to most in the US (and European) “occu”-poopers.
True. Despite funding from Soros types, many of the young people involved had positive goals.
That wanted that because cost of housing is too high and income has not gone up even if low unemployment. Also they were complaining about income inequality as some Israelis have become very wealthy recently.
In general Israeli lefties put these clowns to shame. Probably nothing more left that the original kibbutznicks. They were actual communists. Yet they set up their kibbtzes on the edges of the country where they were always under fire and fought like tigers to defend Israel. They were tough as nails and their children provided many top leaders for the country.
Tzipi Livni is the leading liberal opposition politician in Israel. She was an IDF officer and was in the Mossad, serving in the unit responsible for the vengance after the Munich massacre. Then she left to earn a law degree. She could wipe the floor with Obama.
The Israeli “occupy” movement was idiotic. Instead of removing the scoialist barriers to housing (for example, the renter rights act that IMO make apartment housing (as opposed to condos) impossible), they wanted more socialism.
Tzippy Livni is a bigoted hypocrite whose entire “core” is that she wants to be Prime Minister.
It depends on how one defines “huge success”. Yes, it’s resulted in changing budgetary policies, but it’s hardly better if Israel’s vibrant market economy takes on more of the socialist trappings that kept that economy shackled for so many decades. And it’s hardly better if the defense budget is trimmed, in the face of so many security challenges, only so people can have “free” kindergarten and more subsidized housing.
As in the US, some of the Israeli protest leaders were spoiled rich kids – one was raised in a wealthy neighborhood of Herzliya, and her mother kindly paid for her protest tent.
Vermin.
“Nearby, one of the Bay Area’s professional Israel-haters, who for some reason became absolutely fixated on Israel and shows up at every imaginable protest, displayed her feelings.”
I agree with her basic premise, though. As long as Muslim imperialists and colonialists occupy Jewish and Christian lands (Israel, Anatolia, wherever), there’s not likely to be peace. That’s certainly been true for the past thousand plus years.
‘Wait — what’s this got to do with “the 99%” and bank bailouts and tax rates and “economic inequality”?’
They’re just supporting the imperialist and colonialist Muslims, because that’s what their fellow communists, the Soviets, used to do. It’s mostly out of force of habit.
Of course, Soviet commie support for the Muslims was 100% about power politics, and 0% about any kind of moral principle. Same for the Occu-tards.
Contrary to the statement in the story, there is a link between OWS and Israel. Considerable anti-Semitic sentiment has been documented in the OWS movement.
Andrei S. Markovits, writing in the relatively progressive magazine Dissent, said in the Winter 2005 issue, “A new European (and American) commonality for all lefts—a new litmus test of progressive politics—seems to have developed: anti-Americanism and anti-Zionism (though not anti-Semitism, at least not yet).”
In 2005 it was more possible to say “not yet.”
As Leftists themselves, the people who financially enable Occupiers demand that they show the lockstep political leanings of the Left.
When you’re trying to bring about revolution and the destruction of social stability, no dissent from the hard and fast body of dogma will be tolerated.
Occupiers are truly an army of Useful Idiots.
Being anti-Israel is de rigueur. You also have to be pro North Korean dictatorship and, generally, pro any slaughtering creep who has ever slouched around Mother Earth.
Otherwise, the honey pot dries up and you’ll have to go back to your lonely little hovel, smoking weed till your brain explodes.
The story here is that American free speech works.
There are a lot of crazies in SF but if they are non violent-
-as both side were in this matter-
-all is well.
Our concern is who pays for the security? if foreign dignitaries want to visit SF, Face Book, Google etc then their countries should pay for all security costs.
It is also a very real pain for local residents to have traffic held up by these vanity projects by foreign states-
-it is bad enough when Obama comes to the Bay Area
–but we should really not have to pay in time and money for foreigners on these vanity visits
Enough is enough
Cisco, HP etc have the technology to allow telepresence which will not inconvenience and cost local taxpayers.
“The story here is that American free speech works.”
These morons know full well that there is no free speech or press in Palestinian controlled areas. Free speech is the last thing they are supporting. BTW your beloved Turkey rates 148 out of 178 for freedom of the press. They still have the chutzpah to pretend they are a democracy as does Iran at 175. There is no democracy when the government controls the media and does not allow for protest.
Who else is in the basement? Lets see, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt, Jordon, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Yemen, Pakistan…some sort of theme here I just cant figure out the pattern.
Palestinians do have one freedom allowed by their leadership. They are free to shoot at Israeli civilians anytime they want and martyrdom is encouraged from an early age.
92 rockets today. I want to thank my fellow Americans for their support in Israeli defense. Iron Dome saved many lives today. 90% of those aimed at population centers were intercepted.
Thank you for bringing up the topic of free speech Victor. It certainly contrasts nicely with what these protesters are supporting and with your proposal.
So the result is that we punish American-freindly countries like Israel by making it expensive for them to speak, and make it easy for American-hating countries to speak, because the America-hating Left will dirve up the costs. A bit like the way Ralph Nader used lawfare to destory the American Nuclear industry.
Do you know what it costs other countries when the US President visits? American security demands are above any other country’s. When Carter was in Israel, my Dad was flying in to visit, and they turned the plane he was on back to Greece.
The police were not there to protect Peres. He has plenty of his own security for that. They were there to keep order and protect the Americans who came to hear him speak. That is what Victor is trying to prevent.
Victor tries to couch his agenda in terms he thinks conservatives will respond to. It is very easy to spot though.
What a bunch of maroons!
But in fairness, that guy’s sign does say “IRAQ”, not “IRAO” – there’s a crossmark to make a Q, though it’s very small.
It appears to have been added later, in ink.
I like the sign that says: “Jews say NO to Apartheid.” Without the comma after the word “Jews”, it’s actually a /pro/-Jewish message!
Secondly, concerning the picture of the scared Palestinian boy who peed on his pants, did you ever see the picture that was taken shortly before that one? The one where the boy was throwing a rock? You can see the picture here: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/myths3/MFmedia.html (search page for “pants”.
The professional Israel hater is a member of Berkeley Women in Black, named Marina Gutierrez- her and her husband Andrew (best known for heckling a UC Berkeley campus rally against anti-Semitism http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK4bZbMSCCY ) are indeed professional jew, er, Israel haters. They have a regular gig each Friday harrassing students at Cal
“Nothing untoward happened, though, as the protesters mostly followed the strict policies set forth by the organizers to avoid “any oppressive language or behavior at the demonstration, which includes anti-Jewish racism.” Calm heads prevailed.”
Some of the anti-Israel protesters must not have gotten the memo. One group, captured in a video available on the Israel Matzav blog, uses the same “Kaybar Kaybar ya Yahud” chant used by IHH militants on the Turkish Mavi Marmara. It reminds Jews (Yahud) of what Mohammed did to the Jews of Kaybar in Arabia so long ago, which was to wipe them out.
Ha, and the “I” actually (!) stands for “Insani” (no idea what that means in Turkish).
The Russian Jew must have been too polite to tell the Dageshtani the priceless Russian curse: “k yebyeni mat!” ([go] to your f***ed mother). This is, BTW, the origin of the common Hebrew expletive “kibinimat!” (idiomatically more like ‘dammit!’) or “lekh kibinimat” (more like “get lost”). The extreme offensiveness of the original ‘got lost’ in translation.
If your first programming language was solder then you are a really old fart.
–hat tip to Terry Pratchett
If you can’t keep track of which browser tab you’re on, then you’re a really, really old fart. Sorry, Zombie.
No problem — it’s funny, no matter which thread it’s on.