This just in from Providence RI: Molotovs thrown into the home of a Hillel Israel Fellow. Local police are as usual unsure if this is a hate crime. “At this point, we just don’t know whether to call this a hate crime because we don’t know the motivation,†Deputy Police Chief Paul J. Kennedy said yesterday. Yeh I imagine they were just trying to share some good times with the official rep of the State of Israel.
By Anshel Pfeffer, Haaretz Correspondent
Two Molotov cocktails were thrown at the home of the Jewish Agency’s representative at Brown University in the United States on Saturday, causing no injuries. The motive behind the attack is not yet known.
The two explosives were hurled into the Hillel delegate’s home in Providence, Rhode Island. One landed in the living room without exploding and was taken for fingerprint analysis. The second hit an external wall, igniting a fire in the yard.
Federal Bureau of Investigation detectives and local police were investigating the incident.
Amos Hermon, head of the Jewish Agency task force on anti-Semitism stressed that while authorities had not yet reached a conclusion on the attack’s motives, radical left-wing groups were increasing anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian activity on U.S. campuses.
After posting this story to NYC Indymedia, it caused a firestorm of rapid responses “explaining” that the target was not Jews, but rather “Zionazis” and “Zioracists”.
Comments objecting to such support for the molotov attack were quickly deleted. Asking why they’ve been deleted, we were told that such comments were “racist” and “hatemongering.”
Asking precisely how such comments were “racist,” the moderators backtracked, telling us it’s “It is not the article per se. It is the follow up that is of concern.” This despite the fact that there was no “follow-up” because the moderators wouldn’t allow it.
The intention of the posting of the article, we were told, “is not to inform but [to] distract and divert.” Because attacks on Jews is not something to be concerned about?
If you’d like to read more about the ordeal, and very similar experiences with the UK Indymedia, check out the post: http://contested-terrain.net/?p=90
Checking out the victim’s address, a bit north of campus and east of Hope St., it’s not the safest neighborhood in the city, that’s for sure.
This being Little Rhody, you figure it could’ve been a mob hit gone wrong– maybe they were aiming for the house next door…
Brown’s a pretty sleepy campus. It would surprise me if this turned out to be a politically-motivated attack, but we shall see.
In which part of his comment?
i assume tom’s being ironic?
The town’s claim to fame is a weekly fire in river…should we be surprised?
Seriously though, when are Molotov Cocktails thrown without intent? Is it ever a random act?
Sorry this happened in yours truly’s native town. If it’s any comfort, people bomb each other all the time down there, so let’s not form conclusions just yet.
Ouch…