queer-j brad | 21.07.2006 06:54

Following abductions of one Israeli soldier on the Gaza/Israel border on June 25 and two Israeli soldiers on the Lebanon/Israel border on July 12, Israel has engaged in massively destructive attacks on both Gaza and Lebanon, resulting in over 90 Palestinian deaths and over 325 Lebanese deaths to date, along with mass arrests of Palestinian elected officials, widespread destruction of crucial infrastructure in Lebanon and looming humanitarian crises in both Gaza and Lebanon. These war crimes have prompted protests around the globe, including a demonstration of about 200 people in downtown San Diego in front of Horton Plaza on Thursday.

Video interviews with protesters reveal information and opinions that are not appearing in the corporate media, including:
"... the overwhelming might of the Israeli army, the fourth largest army in the world, essentially means that Israel can continue to act with impunity, and that the Arabs are left to fight back or retaliate with very limited means and when they do we can see that Israel has no regard for international law, no regard for humanity, no regard for civilian life, no regard for anything except apparently for the master plan of destroying the whole region and being the sole power in the region."
"... Israel has 10,000 prisoners of war, meaning Palestinian or Lebanese, and ... on almost a daily basis kidnaps fighters from the opposite side. These fighters are held in long-term detention, they are tortured.."
"We want to ask our government to not support Israel, to not send our tax dollars to Israel, to spend it on education and not on war."
"... to sit home and just watch the news, which is so nauseatingly one sided, is very frustrating, it's very difficult for us to listen to the essentially Israeli line on CNN, MSNBC, FOX and all the other news stations..."
"This is the place where decisions come from, they come from the streets..."
"They had one civil war, which they rebuilt and now all of that is gone in a matter of nine days! It seems like people just have callous hearts. And we're trying to say, please wake up, people are dying! ... Hopefully this will get to someone, it will move someone to action."

video interviews, 14:38, 17.5MBytes -

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Excerpts from the interviews:

"We are here are to protest against the Israeli occupation of Palestine and Lebanon..."

"The people are suffering, the civilians are getting killed. They are destroying the bridges, the buildings that have civilians in them."

"Buildings have been razed to the ground, they have been leveled. The international community either are not listening to the news or they are not moved for one reason or another, it seems that human life is not equally precious... People deserve the chance to live a normal life."

"Unfortunately, for us, ... the overwhelming might of the Israeli army, the fourth largest army in the world, essentially means that Israel can continue to act with impunity, and that the Arabs are left to fight back or retaliate with very limited means and when they do we can see that Israel has no regard for international law, no regard for humanity, no regard for civilian life, no regard for anything except apparently for the master plan of destroying the whole region and being the sole power in the region."

"What is not being mentioned in the US media is that Israel has 10,000 prisoners of war, meaning Palestinian or Lebanese, and that Israel on almost a daily basis kidnaps fighters from the opposite side. These fighters are held in long-term detention, they are tortured. In fact under Israeli law, torture is legal... The fact that they are Arab, they are no less worthy of being treated fairly than their Israeli counterparts."

"... to sit home and just watch the news, which is so nauseatingly one sided, is very frustrating, it's very difficult for us to listen to the essentially Israeli line on CNN, MSNBC, FOX and all the other news stations..."

"This is the place where decisions come from, they come from the streets... Change does not happen through politicians being altruistic. Change happens because people step out into the streets, they go to jail, they go to prison, they die for their beliefs, and because they scream as loud as they can... The only thing that changes what [ politicians ] do is fear... And we scare the crap out of them when we are out here."

"The United States is not a monolith and there are people who are speaking out against this unlawful war..."

"...the Council on American-Islamic Relations stands in solidarity with other organizations, religious and secular, on the issue of the genocide that is occurring in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. We are asking the United States government, because they are a powerful broker in this conflict, to convince Israel to stop the aggression against Lebanon and Gaza, and to send humanitarian help to the people who are suffering in those areas."

"We want to ask our government to not support Israel, to not send our tax dollars to Israel, to spend it on education and not on war."

"I hope [the demonstration] will add pressure to our administration and our local representatives to speak out... Something needs to be done, we can't just speak about it, but we actually need to turn it into a reality, it needs to materialize... We don't have the power to stop, but our officials do and they represent us, and its high time that they stop these massacres..."

"The more important aspect is to catch these people who are going home now, yes we know you are busy, we know you are rushing off to soccer practice or whatever it may be, but there is a whole country that is being destroyed with your tax dollars, with the weaponry that you provided to a terrorist state, the state of Israel, and that hopefully some of these people will stop and think that maybe there is something we as Americans can do..."

"They had one civil war, which they rebuilt and now all of that is gone in a matter of nine days! It seems like people just have callous hearts. And we're trying to say, please wake up, people are dying! ... Hopefully this will get to someone, it will move someone to action."

"...Che Guevara talked about love, the greatest revolutionary carries love in her or his heart. And that's what these sisters or brothers have in their hearts."

Article comparing payments for Iraq occupation to costs to the people of the US: http://www.counterpunch.org/murtha07132006.html

e-mail:: queer-j-brad@riseup.net

audio from the interviews 21.07.2006 07:09 audio interviews, 14:38, 8.3MBytes - . queer-j brad damn you're fast 21.07.2006 11:12 awesome! I saw some coverage on fox news last night that was disgusting. thank you so much for getting this up so fast! when's the next demo? sd@narchist what can we do to stop the war? 23.07.2006 09:17 what steps can we take to stop the Israeli invasion of Lebanon Ruben Rangel e-mail:: bronxraven2@yahoo.com more than state sanctioned protests needed 24.07.2006 15:03 Am sending a message of appreciation for all the pro-Palestinian and pro-peace activists who have organized countless protests since the pre-invasion of Iraq to show their opposition to US/Israeli militarism, apartheid, genocide, corporate theft of resources, etc.. However, more action may be needed besides the usual sign waving protests where everyone drives home afterwards. Nobody likes being critisized on their tactics, sure protesting beats doing nothing other than typing on computers.. Having remembered the book by Ward Churchill "Pacisfism as Pathology" and increasing curiousity to learn about militants in British occupied India who secretly destroyed British munitions outposts in the countryside has led me to question the mainstream peace movement's button sales and permitted banner marches.. "Churchill rightly points out that several peaceful movements which pacifists use as examples of the effectiveness of their strategies were successful only because of the violence inflicted on the system by those outside the nonviolent movement. For example, Gandhi's allegedly peaceful triumph in the struggle for the independence of India was overshadowed at that time by nationalist and religious violence which made the country ungovernable both during British colonial rule and afterwards." more on Churchill's book @;  http://www.spiritoffreedom.org.uk/profiles/rob/pacifismaspathreview.html Ward's main position in this book is that concerned people will need to give up their comfort zones and directly engage the military/industrial complex of the US corporate government.. "The insistence of non-violent resistance and symbolic civil disobedience as the only acceptable forms of protest by North Americans is certainly one of the ideological areas which needs to be explored, challenged and debated." stop US/Israeli aggression