Wishing a blessed Pesach to all of JWN’s Jewish readers. And special greetings to the wonderful group of young Jewish men and women in Boston who held this seder outside the AIPAC office there today, under the banner, “Passover Means Liberation For All”.
One participant reported,
- We repeated our Freedom Seder four times, and chanted in between. The most exciting thing that happened was the man who ran past us screaming “Race traitors!” and another man who said “Praise Jesus” The police came at the very end after we faced the building and chanted for a few minutes. Most of the people in the building escaped out the side door, but we did have the opportunity to confront a few key insiders who exited the building right in front of us.
The slanted sunlight blessed our green Justice for Palestine sign, our bitter herbs, and our salt water. It felt joyous and sacred. Look for us in the Jewish Advocate- big Boston paper!
Now we need to find some Palestinian Arabs who stand up for peace rather than blowing people up on holidays.
Ah yes. “Blessed Passover, especially to those who stick it to the Zionists!”
Helena can’t even make a simple holiday greeting without taking a political jab. What a vicious and hateful person.
Neal and Joshua sound like a couple of AIPAC hacks.
Neal your comment indicates that you think all Arabs are terrorists. You must be one of those “impartial” AIPAC hacks.
“What a vicious and hateful person.”
Joshua, you are the classic Zionist propagandist. Obfuscating the message, attacking the messenger and pretending to be an American.
Why don’t you both stop parasitizing America and fund your own occupation and oppression.
Ever notice that they accuse anyone who dares raise even reasonable criticisms of Muslim extremists or Palestinian “militants” of being an islamophobe?
It will, indeed, be a sad day when we have to rely on the likes of Helena to tell us what is the approved way of celebrating our holidays.
Hag herut sameah guys!
I’m not Helena, but I’m pretty sure she was praising one particular Passover celebration rather than condemning the others.
Joshua, I’m interested in what you write. Could you explain to me exactly what I wrote there that indicated I was a “vicious and hateful person”? I was sincerely wishing you and all other Jewish friends a blessed Passover. I still do. I hope you can enjoy it in the bosom of your family and gain sustenance and meaning from the whole ritual of the seder.
So do explain these repeated acusation of “hatefulness” that you make against me. I’m still trying to figure them out. What could I do that would be less “hateful” to you? Would you want me not to mention the Freedom Seder that the group in Boston organized? Are there aspects of their action that upset you?
Personally, I was deeply inspired by their stress on the liberationist, compassionate, and unviversal message of Pesach/Passover.
I think it would be interesting for all of us if you explained your acusations a little bit.
Meanwhile, Happy Passover.
“Now we need to find some Palestinian Arabs who stand up for peace rather than blowing people up on holidays.”
Neal, you describe yourself as an “expert”. If you were familiar with this subject you would know the Palestians have made many attempts to peacefully resolve this conflict. They are under a concerted assault by the Israelis, who initiated this conflict after all.
edq,
I do not describe myself as an expert on the Arab Israeli conflict.
However, I really do not think that the Palestinian Arabs have really attempted to settle the dispute peacefully. I think they – i.e. most of those in positions of influence and power – were looking only for an interim arrangment while a rather large percentage (and I do not know the percentage) wanted only to resolve the dispute by Jihad. So, I disagree with your assessment of the facts.
Neal, you keep harping on this Jihad business. Until recently Palestinian and Middle East politics was substantially secular. Your statement is too general.
It is very convenient for you if Palestinians can be pigeon-holed as mindless religious fanatics.
Let us not forget that for a while Israel fostered Hamas and that the U.S. has propped up and allowed to survive the extremely reactionary Gulf monarchies. Israel Shahak wrote an article a while ago about efforts by some zionists to restore the Pavlavi monarchy in Iran.
Nehru made some interesting observations about how imperial powers try to encourage the most reactionary elements in subject societies; I don’t think its fair to lay all the problems of the Middle East at the feet of the U.S. but they certainly are not a benign influence.
edq,
Let us not forget that for a while Israel fostered Hamas and that the U.S. has propped up and allowed to survive the extremely reactionary Gulf monarchies. Israel Shahak wrote an article a while ago about efforts by some zionists to restore the Pavlavi monarchy in Iran.
Interesting paragraph. Israel “fostered” Hamas at a time when that organization was not violent.
What, one might ask, is the connection with restoration of the Pahlavi monarchy? Even if we assume that Shahak got this one right and there were Zionists trying to reinstore the Pahlavis, they were, unlike Hamas, decidedly secular in their approach. In fact, as I recall one of the main beefs that Khomeini and the mullahs with the Shah was the fact that he deprived them of revenues from the awqaf. Further, if we’re talking about reactionaries, I’d say that it is the Islamic movement that controls Iran today who fit this description; not the Pahlavis.
It might be interesting for us all if you were to outline some of the more peaceful attempts made by the Palestinian leadersip over the years to resolve the conflict.
“So which side do we think has been acting in a more escalatory way?”
just ask yourself if the Qassam attacks from Gaza ceased, would the Israeli air attacks continue…and, in turn, if the Israeli air attacks ceased, would the Qassam launchings into Green Line Israel cease? That will tell which side is more invested in violence toward the other.
How did we go from Happy Passover back to Qassam rockets in Gaza?
This is really too much!
Only when you come to realize there is no contradiction between Happy Passover and Justice for the Palestinians on that land taken from them by Zionists, will those of you in the Echo Chamber learn to appreciate the wonderful silence of true peace.
Happy Passover to one and all!!
“Neal, you keep harping on this Jihad business.”
edq, Neal has shown that while he knows how to throw around a few “Islamic” words and terms he really does not understand the concepts. Typical of his narrow, extremely biased, and utterly unnuanced attitude toward Islam.
Shirin,
Prove your point.
Neal, you keep doing it for her, better than anyone else could.
John R,
Again, prove it.