Protester’s scuffle briefly at showing of blown up bus
Holy cow. Will you look at that guy’s face there in the corner? He looks like he’d eat the Jewish dude if he could. This photo, taken by Liz Mangelsdorf of the San Francisco Chronicle, shows Daniel Neves, on the left and Shakir Wahhad, on the right, being seperated as they confront each other at at a rally in Berkeley last Sunday which featured the remnants of a bombed Israeli bus on Sunday, Jan. 16, 2005. Police eventually separated the two groups of supporters. Over 500 people attending the rally were heckled by 200 Palestinian supporters, and the groups had to be separated by baton wielding police. The bus in question was blown up by a suicide bomber last January in Jerusalem.
Coincidentally, on that bus was a former room mate who lived with me and Grandmuffti. He had been seriously injured in the bombing and it took him several months to recover. This dude was a total dick, and despite the fact that he was a victim of a suicide bomber, he’s still a dick. See, if I start being kind and solicitous to him now, well, the terrorists will have already won.
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I dont get why israel people get so caught up in these things? Its impossible to convince anyone of anything in that type of atmosphere, the best thing for the guy on the left would be to shut up and stick his tongue out. theres nothing more frustrating than having someone who you’re trying to convince just simply keeping quiet. just give the arab the middle finger salute, and keep ure mouth closed. It will also help u keep ure blood pressure down.
Muffti agrees w/ck for once. Dude was sorta funny in his own way, but a total dick. Take that, terroristos.
I was at this rally, and it was quite an experience. For the first few hours it was a “normal,” civil Bay Area rally. We were in the park with various speakers of different faiths, hearing stories about the people who were on the bus, we had a moment of silence, said prayers, etc, while across the street the anti-anti-terror protestors were shouting, honking horns, blocking traffic and making as much noise as possible. Among other things, they were shouting “2-4-6-8 We are martyrs we can’t wait”. Nice.
There were also silent protestors across the way (Women in Black, etc) who didn’t cause any trouble, although occasionally someone would wander through our rally with a “zionism is ethnic cleansing” sign or something similar. They’d quickly be escorted away by security when they were causing trouble. One that really stood out to me was an arab family, with 3 kids maybe 5-9 years old holding these *really* gruesome signs of body parts with slogans like “Palestinian kid vs F16” and “I used to be a woman”. I was sickened that their parents were using them like this (those kids were nowhere near old enough to understand what they were doing), but that’s another story.
Anyway, towards the end, after one of the speakers finished (I believe he called “our friends across the street” cowards for not standing up to terrorists and supporting the killing of innocents), a big group of arab protestors came charging over, marching right past the bus on their way. As they approached they were met by a large number of people from the rally and that confrontation is the one that made the news. All of the camera crews that were there recording the rally charged into the fray (of course) while the MC called for the police to step in. That’s when the police put on the riot helmets and stepped in to break things up.
I was on the far side of the rally at the time and stayed clear of the scuffle, although I did walk over afterwards to listen to a little bit of the heated “discussion” between a few of the parties. I agree with elder punk of zion, it’s not worth trying to debate someone who isn’t listening.
Why do you feel it’s so important to state that this flatmate was a dick? Is he a regular poster on the board and you’re talking dick in cheek?
No. I felt it was important to point out that we will not be cowed by the terrorists. I will not be nice to someone by mere dint of the fact that he was in close proximity to a cowardly suicide bomber, who subsequently exploded. In much the same way that I will continue to ride on busses in Israel, and walk wherever the hell I please, I will also to continue to consider our former flatmate a dick. Because if I were to do otherwise, the terrorists will have already won.
Decency dictates that I ignore your analogy. The dick flatmate has no idea grandmuffti and I write for this blog.
But ck, since we didn’t know he was a dick, we wouldn’t know you were being nice by not mentioning it just because he was a victim of a terrorist bombing.
Davidw, thanks for the report.
Unfortunately I was not in Berkeley (where I live) this week. I would have liked to have gone to the rally, although I’m not a big fan of all of the people on the list of speakers and supporting groups.
I was also injured in a bombing a number of years ago, and I know what you mean by people acting differently. There were a number of people from my past who popped out of the woodwork as soon as I was injured. Some of them were perfectly nice people with whom I had simply fallen out of touch, former clients and the like. Others were people with whom I had not been particularly close or even friendly and who had made no attempt to contact me when I made aliyah. Of course, once I was a Sad Victim of Terror instead of, well, me, they called me right up. I managed to avoid them, and they went away. Like, I didn’t suffer enough with the bombing–I have to suffer more from the company of people I never liked in the first place?
Actually, what was really funny (well, okay, twisted) was the reaction of some people in the community. A lot of people pitched in to help me out, which was lovely. And a lot of people invited me for Shabbat. Also lovely. Until I got there, and I was introduced as “This is X. X was injured in the bombing at Y”. And from that point on, I was not a person, I was X, The Victim of Terror. As soon as I had healed enough that it was not immeidately obvious that something had happened, I got into the habit of telling such people (when I was invited over, of course) “please don’t mention that I was injured”. MAN! Did those invites dry up fast.
I still have people today (did I mention that it has been years) who say they would be HONORED to have me for Shabbat b/c I was injured. Their eyes generally have a glazed, awestruck expression when they say this. I avoid these people. These people are unlikely to be any fun. If you talk to your former roommate the dick, tell him to avoid them too.
Jenny, based upon that post, I’d be
honoredglad if you would join us for dinner.So Jenny, would you say our attitude to our former room mate is crass and insensitive or like… the right way to be?
I mean obviously, despite his being a dick, I don’t wish him ill, and I’m sorry about the pain that he went through. If I could do anything to be of assistance to him, I would because I did live with him after all, and he is a fellow Jew, and its pretty cool that he made aliyah at such a difficult time for Israel.
But still, what a dick he was.
I’ll be in Israel … tomorrow. I’d be honored to buy you a beer. Not because of what happenned to you, but because you shared with us a perspective that we rarely hear about. You can email me at ck [at] jewlicious dot com.
MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
TOMORROW THE SITE BECOMES MINE! ALL MINE!
TM… sounded a bit..um… villianous arnt we?
Uh… we have Internet in Israel ya know … in fact, Jerusalem has free WiFi and I have a WiFi enabled laptop. Also, given the recent sniping between you and muffti …. finally. Laya finished her trip and is at home now, with full Internet access. Sorry bud.
*sigh*
Regarding how to treat old flatemate…aka the dick, I think your take is on target. If he needs help, you would give it to him, but you won’t start liking him *because* he went through the bombing. What is wrong with that? I swear I ended up slightly paranoid; you never know if people actually like you or like your status. And pity just sucks. As do people telling you that you are a hero and or brave blah blah blah. For the love of G-d, all I wanted to do was go shopping. Bad luck, but it all worked out so no matter.
As for the beer–sounds lovely and I would be honored (watch the eyes get nice and wierd and glassy) to meet one of the Jewlicious people. 🙂 You have my email address. Alternatively, a friend and I are doing chili for Shabbat lunch; you are welcome to join us. Kosher basari with extra basari and extra chili b/c who wants wimpy chili.
I was a that Rally too .
Has anyone here ever been passionate about something here or are we just to afraid to take a stand for something we would be willing to die for .I heard someone say once , You really cant live until you are willing to die for something.
Those terrorists in the middle east and those in america today have passion for what they come to believe through experience or passed down from relatives or victims being an Arab.
Nevawitz
PS I wish I could convey better what I am trying to say…
The fat Jewish guy with his high blood pressure rising I have seen him before in the East Bay and He is construction worker / injured but some type of toxic chemicals …
So gotta hand it to him for even coming down there that day . I couldnt believe it was him.
He went to the same High School as me too.
PS … Theres gotta be something we would stand for ?
Not sure what cause it sure sounds like you wanna live right ?
Anyone live in Chico Ca. going to school, but just moved up here , where some good places up are ?
Thank you for every other informative blog.