Jewish Onslaught in Seattle
As we again borrow the title of Tony Martin’s book and his accurate portrayal of attack by the Jewish community of Boston, Massachusetts, our west coast ambassador turns our attention to a similar Jewish onslaught in Seattle, Washington.
The Seattle Mideast Awareness Campaign (SMAC) had contracted with the King County Metro Transit Agency to run paid ads on a number of city buses, which read “Israeli War Crimes, Your Tax Dollars at Work”. These ads were to have been started on the second anniversary of Israel’s deadly Hanukkah Massacre in which 1,417 Palestinians were killed, a number that included 313 children.
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~hersko/Photos/Seattle%20Ad.doc
As we understand it, the contract between SMAC and Metro Transit was a done deal. But that was before the Jewish community sent its seek-and-destroy minions out there to silence this attempt to exercise SMAC’s first amendment rights. And when we say ‘Jewish community’, here’s a list of heavyweights:
The Anti-Defamation League of B’Nai Brith – Northwest office
The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle
Stand With Us
The American Jewish Committee
J-Street.
And you read that right … J-Street sheds its sheep’s clothing to stand right with rightwing Zionists to proclaim their true agenda. The infiltration of Jewish Zionists in the peace movement has long been a conversation in these pages. Jewish hawks for Israel like Pamela Geller and David Horowitz also joined in the fray.
Bottom line is that it took less than a week for King County to cave from the Jewish Onslaught; the ads were pulled. Starting with a strong expression from Metro spokesperson Linda Thielk “We can’t reject [the ad] based on any reasons that we have established over the thirty-six years we’ve been accepting advertising” to the meowing from County Executive Dow Constantine six days later: “… I have consulted with federal and local law enforcement authorities who have expressed concern, in the context of this international debate, that our public transportation system could be vulnerable to disruption.”
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friends’ weekly vigils in front of Beth Israel Congregation were legitimized by Wendy Rosen of the American Jewish Committee: “It is important to note that our community came together and spoke with one voice on this important issue”. And as they do, so will JWPF continue our stand against this powerful community in their unbridled support of Israeli crimes.
We Remember Ken Parks
AnnArbor.com remembers Ken Parks as a “Vietnam and Iraq veteran and a long-time resident”, but JWPF remembers him as a thoughtful student who attended our vigils and breakfasts after meeting us through his history teacher at a nearby community college. Ken would bring his hunting dog Shirley and both would always have a cheery smile to greet their friends on the vigil line. Ken spoke some fiery words at City Council, when some developers eyed his property for profit, not unlike the resistance of Palestinians as they protect their homeland.
Ken vigiled with us from December, 2007 through December 2009, on an irregular, but always appreciated basis. He passed away on December 8th and will be missed.
Eight Vigilers
Zionism – Kosher Apartheid
Henry Herskovitz
Jewish Witnesses for Peace and Friend
