Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Gaza Protest set for Wednesday in New Haven

Former Rep. Cynthia McKinney says the aid ship she was on was rammed by an Israeli warship, an allegation Israel denies. Video from CNN.com.


Groups to Protest Gaza Massacre, New Haven, Wed. 12/31, Noon

Contact: Stan Hellar, Middle East Crisis Committee
Political Interest. Interview/Photo Opportunity.

Several human rights and political groups will be holding a demonstration at 12 noon on Wednesday, December 31 in front of the Federal Courthouse building in New Haven (141 Church St. opposite the Green) to protest the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip.

After speeches there will be march in the downtown area.

Sponsoring organizations include the Middle East Crisis Committee, A.N.S.W.E.R. CT, the American Friends Service Committee (CT), People of Faith CT and Socialist Action. Other groups are expected to participate.

Stanley Heller, MECC Chairperson said, "Demonstrations against Israel's attack are occurring worldwide. Over 350 lives have been extinguished. At the demonstration we will call for Connecticut's Congressional delegation to speak out now against the killing. The violence is being described in the media as a 'war', but the Israelis so overpower the Palestinians in the means of violence and the number killed that the event has to be described as a massacre. The world in 1937 was shocked and revolted by the Nazi air force attack on the city of Guernica in the Basque country of Spain. The Israeli attacks with American made F-16's and Apaches should bring about similar horror. We will be calling on President-Elect Obama to break his silence about the Israeli attack. He is not reluctant to speak now about the economy. He shouldn't hesitate to speak out in view of this obvious human rights emergency."

People of Faith is an interfaith organization that works in collaboration with faith communities, organizations and people of goodwill to articulate faith-based values as a foundation for progressive politics and to mobilize constituents for social justice and peace activism.

22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Perhaps they would be better served calling on hamas to stop the rockets. No rockets no retaliation. And don't try the proportional crap, it's time to destroy hamas once and for all. No half way measures. As a sidenote perhaps heller could ask hamas to stop hiding in civilian areas.

CT Bob said...

If the rockets stopped today, Israel would still blockade the area. There is much more to this problem than some rockets being lobbed into Israel.

I don't claim to understand this conflict fully, but I do believe the Israelis are behaving contrary to accepted international law. They need to step back and look at solutions rather then reprisals.

Anonymous said...

Sorry Bob but when a country has missles daily shot into it's terrrotory it has a moral and leagal right to self defense. If the cowardly hamas killers want to hide amongst women and children then the blood is on their hands. I suggest you do research the situation fully and not rely on info fed from pro palestinian lapdog sources. One clear and totally irreutable fact is this HAMAS HAS NEVER AND SAYS IT WILL NEVER ALLOW ISRAEL TO SURVIVE. I also believe that to get a full picture of the pro palestinian side you should read fully the bigotry, hatred and lies that these groups hurl at Israel. Ms McKinneys father has a history of anti jewish ranting including a case on live television blaming her loss to Diane Majette On them jews. McKinney herself never repudiated the remarks. And by the way if a rocket took out your loved ones, I doubt you would consider it as a case of just a few rockets not worth responding to.

CT Bob said...

So, you're saying if you're pro-Israel, you are by default pro-killing innocent civilians. You're not at all interested in finding any sort of compromise or working on the peace process. Just kill all them terr'ists.

You, sir, are an ass...

...and an anonymous coward to boot.

Authentic Connecticut Republican said...

>>but I do believe the Israelis are behaving contrary to accepted international law.


Uh...no.

Hamas is a terrorist group that intentionally kills civilians for the shock impact.
Hamas leaders intentionally conceal themselves within groups of civilians.

Israel is a sovereign nation that has every right to defend it's population.

CT Bob said...

So following your logic ACR, should they bomb Gaza and every single person living there into obliteration? There are ways they can deal with this that don't involve killing hundreds of innocents.

Why are so many people making excuses for Israel's apparent excesses here? Deliberately ramming a boat on a humanitarian peace mission in international waters might be considered an act of war.

Anonymous said...

http://www.terrorismawareness.org/what-really-happened/
^Take a look at this video, and learn the facts.

Hamas is a terrorist organization. They don't care about land, they want to finish what hitler started and they're open about that. The jewish people deserve a land they can call their own after years of persecution and they have every right to defend their citizens and land. The majority of you have no idea what the hell you're talking about. It's terrible for innocent people to die- no matter what religion, ethnicity, etc. It is truly tragic, and that is exactly why Hamas sends the rockets from civilian homes and neighborhoods. They care about the destruction of the jews-and actually all infidels (non muslims). Israel aims for the terrorists, Hamas aims for the civilians (rockets going into neighborhoods, blowing themselves up in highly populated areas, etc) As golda Meir sid- "When they love their children more than they hate ares, there will be peace."
Even during the cease fire Hamas was sending missles into Israel. Once the cease fire ended (which they wanted) they started sending numerous missles into Israel & reaching even further locations. No country would tolerate this.

What kind of people instil such values, morals, and ideals into their youth??
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJDNXztFmS0&feature=related

Authentic Connecticut Republican said...

Deliberately ramming a boat on a humanitarian peace mission in international waters might be considered an act of war.


Nope.

However; delivering goods to a terrorist group that's already attacking your civilian population would be an act of war.
No two ways about it.

She's lucky she's still alive.

Authentic Connecticut Republican said...

CTBob said:
I don't claim to understand this conflict fully,

You will!

Seriously; this is both interesting and well done.

Bob, take a few minutes - it's not a slew of opinion crap; straight facts and well documented.
Not some propaganda piece.

(That *is* the real problem by the way; for reasons I can't grasp a group of terrorists has a lot of the US press buying into their nonsense.)

Horowitz is considered "to the right"; however I've never seen anyone question on his facts. He's generally held in fairly high regard by those in academia.

It'll be illuminating for you and I'd bet a lot of others as well.

What really happened

Anonymous said...

While you may think I am an ass, I pretty much am comfortable having the facts on my side. To further illuminate the situation go to your leftist blogs, read the anti Israeli posts, then come and TRY to tell me that the hatred they feel towards a country defending it's people isn't grounded in hatred of jews. Reading some of the crap on supposed liberal sites pretty much shows there isn't a whole hell of a difference between the kkk & a lot of so called liberal bloggers. Why do you turn a blind eye to McKinneys hatred of jews? do you think I made uop the quotes from her father? check out the views of some of those who were her inner circle when she ran her bogus green party run. You rightly condemned the republicans attempts at race baiting, yet like many liberals who i'm sure aren't bigoted towards jews you appear to be fallng into the moral equivilency trap in which the right to defend becomes more evil then the actions which caused the response. One other point to be made is many apologists of palestinian terror claim that economic desperation drives them to kill Israeli civilians, however left out of the equation is one simple point and question. Over 50 years the world has pumped billions in aid to the palestinians, why did the leaders not use it for their people? Simple answer, it's easy to convince a young palestinian to strap on a bomb and kill civilian Israelis if he thinks no relief is coming. Arafat died a rich man, may he burn in hell.

CT Bob said...

I simply don't understand the mindset that insists Israel can do no wrong in it's fight against Hamas. It's the old "extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice" argument that Goldwater was so fond of.

ACR: "delivering goods to a terrorist group that's already attacking your civilian population would be an act of war"

That's wrong on several counts. The boat wasn't delivering goods to terrorists, unless you consider every single person living in in Gaza to be a terrorist. Which is painting a lot of innocents with the same brush that George Bush uses.

And they were delivering medical and humanitarian supplies to hospitals. Which have been damaged by bombings and are running short of supplies.

Look, I'm not defending Hamas in the least here. Get that fact straight. But I do see evidence of excesses in Israel's response to the rocket attacks, and I'm talking about it. If you guys want to believe that Israel can do no wrong, then fine, that's your right. I'm just calling attention to the situation.

At least Israel is talking about maybe having a cease-fire, but I'm not very optimistic. Where the fuck is Bush on this crisis, anyway? Jesus, talk about a complete lack of leadership.

Authentic Connecticut Republican said...

>>The boat wasn't delivering goods to terrorists, unless you consider every single person living in in Gaza to be a terrorist

Doesn't wash
The same could be said about anyone delivering goods to Nazi Germany.

It isn't Bush's or our job at all; Israel isn't some two-bit colony.

Here ya go; see what a fellow leftist has to say on this very topic today:
Much of the world's response is a false moral equivalence that simply encourages the terrorists

CT Bob said...

Oh fer Christ's sakes ACR, didja have to go and "Godwin" the goddamn argument? We were having such a good discussion, too!

Authentic Connecticut Republican said...

>> didja have to go and "Godwin" the goddamn argument?

It's legit.

Hamas has repeatedly called for the annihilation of Israel and all her citizens, as has Abdu Imanutjob (whatever) from Iran, and it's Iran that's bringing in the missiles.

Hamas needs to stop shooting missiles and there will be an immediate cease fire.

CT Bob said...

Hamas ISN'T the innocent civilians who are suffering! Out of 400 dead and thousands injured in Gaza, how many do you think were actually involved in firing the missiles? I'd bet a Palestinian could count them on one hand, provided none of his fingers had been blown off by an errant Israeli bomb!

And please drop the argument that rhetoric is a reason to bomb! Don't you get that they're playing to their audience? Kind of like when funnyman John McCain sang that cute ditty about bombing Iran. Both those guys were playing to their base.

Authentic Connecticut Republican said...

>>drop the argument that rhetoric is a reason to bomb

This is not rhetoric.

Throughout the day Hamas fired Iranian rockets at targets farther east and north of Gaza than it had ever hit previously, including the town of Yavne on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.

Anonymous said...

"If the rockets stopped today, Israel would still blockade the area. There is much more to this problem than some rockets being lobbed into Israel." This comment demonstrates a naivete that exposes your lack understanding of this situation.

How dare you categorize the almost daily bombardment of Israel's citizens as "some rockets being lobbed into Israel"

Hamas and that is who we are talking about here has stated and it is in their charter, that they wish to destroy Israel. The vast majority of the so called victims of Israels assault are Hamas members or supporters.
In the case of innocents killed, Israel deeply regrets those losses and does everything in its power to avoid them while Hamas seeks to kill the innocent.

Get your head out of your posterior Bob . There is no proportionality to be discussed when murderous Hamas thugs are trying to kill you everyday.

CT Bob said...

Do the math, Factfind. FOUR Israelis dead vs. over 400 dead Palestinians. I guess one Israeli is worth a hundred non-Israelis in your world.

I'm getting very tired of repeating myself here, when people seem to not want to hear what I'm saying. Israel can do no wrong in your eyes, apparently. Forgive me for doubting that.

Anonymous said...

Bob, with respect, (Great web blog by the way) Israel is far from a perfect neighbor, but is under existential threat and has been for many years.Clearly this colors their heavy handedness with the Palestinians who have been so badly manipulated by their own leadership.(Remember the bus bombings?) The period of calm that Israel had hoped for was abrogated by these daily missile firings from Hamas. If Israel did not act now then they would be giving Hamas, an intractable enemy, an opportunity to arm themselves with more powerful missiles with longer range. Then the equation would be reversed. Did you know that yesterday a missile landed in a schoolroom? Had that Israeli schoolroom been occupied the body count on Israel's side would have been much greater. Would more dead Israelis have made anyone feel better about the fight? How about the hundreds of thousands of dead Germans that resulted from the firebombings in Dresden and Hamburg Germany in WW2? Was that proportional? Unfortunately it was necessary.
Israel wants to live in peace, nothing more. Hamas refuses. If you have a better suggestion for Israel to live in peace than I am sure they would like to hear it.

Keep up the good work and discussion and best wishes for a peaceful 2009 for all.
FF

CT Bob said...

We must agree to disagree then. Which is fine, and I welcome the discussion.

And I'm willing to give you a bit of latitude since it appears that you're a sailor, too; which means you can't be ALL bad!

Only 18 weeks 'til I'm back on the water! Check out my Full Tilt Sailing Team blog. In the meantime, I gotta go shovel my mother-in-law's driveway.

Anonymous said...

Not to derail this important thread but I had to laugh when I saw your sailing photos. I know those waters well. I suggest we sail together sometime and I will give you another perspective on the mideast situation..as long as you agree not to push me overboard .
FF

CT Bob said...

Sailing knows no party other than our boat against all the other boats in the race. You're welcome to join us on a Thursday night race, but with the understand that political talk is absolutely verboten while sailing! No exceptions.

Get in touch towards late May if you want, and I'm sure we'll find room for you.