Anti-Israel protester calls Zionists “scum.” Grandma responds.

There are so many issues here. The protester ought to be free to say whatever he likes, but did he cross a line from free speech to something more provocative meant to incite violence? As for Grandma, I would never counsel anyone to grab a megaphone from the hands of a foaming at the mouth nut bar, it’s not nice and it might be dangerous, but was she provoked? Finally, that line “Go fuck your camels!” might be construed as perhaps prejudiced, perpetuating the image of Arabs as savage desert dwellers who wile away sweltering days by engaging in carnal activity with their flock. That’s just wrong. But whatever… she’s an old lady, she doesn’t give a shit about political correctness. Some asshole got into her face with a megaphone and called her scum. Like I said, this sort of behavior is problematic but… come on, admit it. You kinda admire her pluck, right? Right?

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Founder and Publisher of Jewlicious, David Abitbol lives in Jerusalem with his wife, newborn daughter and toddler son. Blogging as "ck" he's been blocked on twitter by the right and the left, so he's doing something right.

35 Comments

  • LOL.. i think its funny how Judaic people can go on about their own prejudices and racist comments. YET, when someone who isn’t judaic says anything about judaic people its anti-semetic… thats unfortunate, i’m Native American, we have also been killed by the thousands and certain areas in the millions. stop acting like ya’ll are the only people who were ever persecuted for being a certain member of a RELIGIOUS GROUP!!!

    when people tell me their Jew, i respond, i’m not really Christian but i guess you can say that i am since you identified yourself as a Jew.

    only me.
    raZor!!

  • I guess I’m one of the few that thinks an Elderly Jewish Woman standing up to a threatening anti-Semitic Islamic Fundamentalist is a righteous act. At the same time, I’m certain if this anti-Semite were to hit Grandma in the face, people like David Smith would compliment her for her tact in quietly bleeding to death. I also assume that people like David think the Jews who willingly marched to the ovens without putting up a fight should be commended for “maintaining their Moral High Ground”.

  • “Laya, she could have said “Go fuck yourself” and that would have been fine. Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

    Yes TM, on rare occasions two wrongs do make a right. This was one of them.

    In addition, Grandma wasn’t asking for the impossible.

    What an entertaining post and comments. LOL.

  • Whoa, I think my brain just fried on that first paragraph.

    As to the second paragraph, if she could just get rid of the camel, she could be a fine role model. That anti-Zionist guy deserved lots of heckling.

  • Middle,

    Funny, I guess I misunderstood your comments completely, since, to my mind, your criticism contained absolutely no psychological implications whatever regarding the relative culpability of the Camel Fucking Granny and the anti-Zionist Heckler. Instead, your failure to mention the Heckler in your comments seemed to suggest nothing beyond the fact that the post read . . . . “Go Grandma!” To me, it seems abundantly clear that your response would have had an entirely different focus if, for example, the post had read “Granny Abuses Innocent Peace Activist!”

    As to Grandma herself, yes, there’s something amusingly incongruous about an old woman who lacks the tact, meekness, and inhibitions we typically associate with the elderly. The only problem with pointing it out, however, is that it encourages those who’d like to elevate her stature to that of a great role model and true national hero. What a shame she didn’t scream, “Go fuck your camel, sand-nigger;” then we’d know we’ve got a real tzaddick on our hands.

  • She didn’t call him a “fucking camel”, that would be racist. She said “Go fuck your camel”. Completely different. Not any less PC than telling a woman to “Go fuck her spin cycle”. We don’t have the whole story here anyway, you can’t see if and where he parked his camel. If it’s just out of the shot, then we’re accusing grandma of wrongs she didn’t commit. 🙂

    Furthermore, once someone insults you to your face, especially with a megaphone, while wearing a historically significant and highly insensitive “Palestinian Chic” Kafiyah, all “moral high ground” issues are moot, and justice, whether comedic or poetic, must be served. I call it “helping Karma along”.

    It seems that some of you are more worried by what others, mainly “unbiased, impartial” viewers might think of all Jews because of the actions of one. I don’t think Grandma nor anyone else verbally or physically abused by terrorist sympathisers (whom in my opinion should be beat like dogs in the streets by clubs, or slippers; the preferred method in KSA) needs to worry for a millisecond what some third party might think of their actions. If these same Muslims with the megaphones or their supporters who would call Grandma a bigot feel that Islam and the Muslim World should not be stereotyped because of the actions of a few, then us Jews shouldn’t worry how Grandma is (mis)representing us as what is good for the goose….

    Lastly, I agree with Laya and want to add that the mentality of some Jews (especially American and post-Zionist ones) to bend over backwards not to “loose the moral high ground” is very similar to Israel’s dilemma, when in reality, if every aggression is and had been met with full, unbridled vengeance, we wouldn’t have to deal with the same issues year after year, worried about being wiped off the map.

    One more thing, because this Grandma issue really fires me up: My father, a proud and brave Zionist Russian American Jew in his late sixties is starting his battle with Alzheimer’s and is fueled by conflict due to his dementia. I’ve been watching lately as his disease has emboldened him with such gusto that he has absolutely no fear. If he was in Grandma’s position (and we try to keep him away from these “protests”) I believe he would have literally shoved that megaphone up that guy’s ass, and I would have cheered out loud like I did when Israel’s Ambassador to Sweden demolished that pathetic art installation a few years ago. Sure, he is playing with fire, but he knows his life is nearing the end, and I will enjoy watching him tell people who deserve it, to “go fuck your camel”. LOL!

  • packen: I was wondering when the PETA contingent would weigh in. You took the words out of my mouth…

  • TM is right. Grandma crossed the line. A camel is a dignified, hard-working animal who deserves to be treated with respect.

  • Recently I heard an discourse between 2 arabs on the streets of Jerusalem yell “Your mother has a dog’s pussy.” Maybe fucking camels is not such a insult!

  • Way to go grandma! This women deserves an award for confronting Arab hate-mongers and telling them off. Grandma has more balls than Olmert. She should be Prime Minister of Israel. Grandma is a hero and could teach a lesson or two to all the wimpy appeasers out there.

  • Indeed, I am among the brainwashed.

    And still, one should definitely refrain from overt camel-fucking references when speaking to Arabs or Muslims in order to be fair, to refrain from bigotry and stereotyping and also because one may lose the moral high ground even at times when the other side calls Jews names.

    Suggestions that do not border on racism might include, “Go fuck your mother,” “Your sister is a whore who sleeps with unwashed, diseased men,” and the ever-pleasant and quite popular “You’re one fucking ugly intolerant bigoted motherfucker.” Notice, no camels? Hence, no bigotry.

  • Isn’t that part of the media problem we’re facing though, middle? That we have come to expect so little decency from the other side of the Israel debate that we have come to see phrases like “zionist scum” and other racist slurs against Jews as at least moderately acceptable?

    Does it not extend into politics as well? Isn’t our low expectation of the Arab world largely to blame when human rights organizations condemn Israeli attacks but not Hezbollah’s? When overly PC Leftie organizations criticize human rights abuses Palestinians endure at check points and stay silent on human rights abuses Palestinian women endure at the hands of their men every day of their lives?

    You complain about the unreasonable double standard that Israel is held to by the media and international community, but you yourself applied that same standard here.

    And that, I think, might be the real danger of the media, that it has so pervaded our thought process that even an intelligent and critical thinking man such as yourself found the presumed Zionist’s actions condemnable while the instigators actions hardly noteworthy.

  • themiddle: “So if Hizbullah targets civilians, Israel should as well?”

    Yep. Why do we still have the Hizbullah threat? Because Southern Lebanon is still there. The North wouldn’t have been in danger had it been completely wiped out, wouldn’t it?

  • Well, the thread IS about LGF. 🙂 Ok, Ok, thats the only one I like anyway. I’ll go back to my communist slurs and yiddish expressions.

  • Uh oh, on Jewlicious we cannot allow phrases like anti-id…I can’t even say it. And please let’s also refrain from moonbats and wingnuts and all this other useless terminology.

  • Common TM, you know “Go fuck yourself” isn’t as funny as what she said, nor would it even made it to a blog post. “Go fuck your camels” is similar to “Go cut your kids forehead with a knife”. Comedy witha cultural twist. I love it, and I nominate Grandma as Anti-Idiotarian of the Year!

  • Laya, she could have said “Go fuck yourself” and that would have been fine. Two wrongs don’t make a right. Also, presumably, she’s the Zionist here and he’s not and while I may expect the vile spewing of hate from him, I’m disappointed when it comes from her.

  • Also, you don’t reason with thugs like that, you fight fire with fire. What? You think if Grandma walked up and tried engaing in debate with these fools, they’d rethink they’re dogma. Common! More Jews need to get off the high horse and take the insults back to our enemies. I’ll bet you she was a Russian Jew. Having lived in the FSU with daily anti-semitism, you grow a tough skin and a set of balls. If my father and grandfather didn’t fight fire with fire there, I wouldn’t be here today. Jews have always tried to reason before fighting (especially on the world’s stage) and look how that has worked for us. Every political blog is about Israel as a Pariah State – this isn’t because of toughness, its because of weakness.

  • Sorry, but I believe Grandma was not talking about Arab and/or Muslims in general. She was addressing this specific camel/goat fucker and his organization and not Muslims or Arabs in general. And having met some ISMers, ANSWER trolls, and other anti-Israelniks personally, I can honestly say, they fuck goats AND camels. But do you know why they fuck them at the edges of cliffs?

    So they push back habibi!

  • Unless ISRAEL decides to stop being so damn prissy prim and proper she cannot defeat the enemy in the next war, genius middle.

  • umm…what? can we say apples and oranges?

    two people each said something racist and unacceptable, and you only mentioned one. That seemed odd and unbalanced.

  • Um, come on folks, other than the hilarious moment when the idiot completely loses his composure and is so surprised he hasn’t a clue how to respond, saying what that woman said is entirely unacceptable.

  • I agree that “Go fuck your camels” is predjuced. I just happened to be prejudiced about the enemies of my people. Go Grandma!

  • SPEAKING FOR GRANDMOTHERS EVERYWHERE I SAY “GO GRANDMA GO!” (arabs do fuck their camels don’t they or is it only sheep?)

  • You know, I’d like to append this comment to my last comment for Nathan. If this Grandma is a Russian Jew, based on her accent, she most likely is (sounds just like all older members of my family), then more than likely, Grandma is a George Bush supporter. Maybe you should get in Grandma’s face next time Nathan.

  • I love Grandma!!

    However, with Nathan’s comment, I’m left confused. Somehow, people who support our president should be treated the same as Islamists? And soccer moms driving Hummers are evil now as well because they don’t have to use two cars to drop off their kids AND their neighbors kids in safety? I’d like Nathan to tell me where I can get the hydrogen, ethanol, or clean burning diesel car he has, please.

  • At the pro-Israel rally in Chicago in July, the small (but obnoxiously vocal) protestors started a “racists go home” chant. In hindsight I found it (beyond personally offensive) so utterly awful for a largely white, middle class, college student crowd to chant at a largely older crowd, many of whom faced actual racism in their lives (and, dare I say, many of whom worked for equal rights in this country in the 50s and 60s).

  • I encourage all this kind of activity, confront people who step out of their cars with W stickers, ask “to what” of people wearing t-shirt with islam is the answer, give people who drive hummers the finger, ask soccer moms stepping out of them if they like being a terrorist funding source, and so on, we are WAY too passive.