Posted: Mon Jun 21, 2004 12:15 am Post subject: International Solidarity - a Terrorist Protection Movement
The International Solidarity Movement was founded in the spring of 2001 by George Rishmawi, George Qassis, Adam Shapiro, and Huwaida Arraf. Rishmawi and Qassis, who are Palestinian Christians, were persuaded that "Israeli soldiers will hesitate to shoot Americans and Europeans protesting at checkpoints, lying in front of tanks, or removing roadblocks." They were impressed that "Three Bethlehem refugee camps hosting foreigners escaped Israeli incursions." They had a vision. With the help of two aggressively anti-Israel Americans, Shapiro and Arraf, they hoped to persuade thousands of Europeans and Americans to enter the West Bank territories in order to block Israeli troops from entering refugee camps to search for weapons and arrest suspected terrorists; to prevent demolition of houses on the Egyptian border being used to conceal arms-smuggling tunnels; and to dismantle IDF road blocks in order to make it more difficult for the IDF to stop and search suspicious vehicles. "Imagine if we had thousands, what we could do." ("Non-Violent Activists: A Challenge to the Israeli Occupation." Report from a Palestine Center briefing by George Rishmawi and George Qassis. This information first appeared in "For the Record" No. 115, 6 June 2002, Center for Policy Analysis in Palestine [Ref1])
Although thousands of volunteers did not materialize, dozens of IMF volunteers came to Israel in the summer of 2001, and scores more came in the summers of 2002 and 2003, with smaller numbers in the winter months. The volunteers stay for as little as a week, although some stay for many months. They travel in groups, stay in the houses scheduled for demolition, dismantle roadblocks, stand in crowds of Palestinians lobbing rocks and Molotov cocktails at Israeli troops, and organize demonstrations jointly with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The immediate goal of the ISM is to hamper the ability of the IDF to prevent terrorist attacks on civilians. The ultimate goal is to eliminate the State of Israel. The ISM is "opposed to the existence of the apartheid colonial settler state of Israel" [Ref2]. It not only seeks to destroy the State of Israel, it endorses the "right" of Palestinian Arabs to work to eliminate the Jewish State "by any means necessary." (Huwaida Arraf [ Ref3])
The ISM sees itself as working in tandem with the terrorist organizations: Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and Al Aksa Martyrs Brigade. Those organizations use violent means, while the ISM undertakes such aggressive non-violent actions as blocking the progress of Israeli soldiers on their way to arrest terrorists. The intention of the ISM in these actions is to protect terrorists from interference by the IDF. As Arraf and Shapiro have repeatedly stated, "we accept that Palestinians have a right to resist with arms, as they are an occupied people upon whom force and violence is being used." (Why Nonviolent Resistance is Important for the Palestinian Intifada: A Response to Ramzy Baroud, By Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro [ Ref4, Ref5].
The International Solidarity Movement was founded a decade after Oslo and nearly a year after the Palestinian Authority was offered statehood in the summer of 2000. This armed struggle is not intended to create a Palestinian State side by side with the State of Israel, or to force Israel to withdraw from the disputed territories. The ISM endorses an armed struggle intended to eliminate the state of Israel and to replace it with a Palestinian State. The ISM has not endorsed the Road Map. It continues its aggressive struggle against the IDF even as the government of Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas cooperates with the government of Israel to arrest terrorists and prevent terror attacks. [ Ref6, Ref7, Ref8]
The role of the ISM as a partner with terrorist organizations in the struggle to annihilate Israel has been laid out by the Movement's co-founders, Arraf and Shapiro. "The Palestinian resistance must take on a variety of characteristics, both non-violent and violent. But most importantly it must develop a strategy involving both aspects." (Adam Shapiro and Huwaida Arraf, Palestine Chronicle, January 2002) The ISM does not see itself as a non-violent alternative to such terrorist organizations as Hamas and Islamic Jihad. It is a complementary part of the "resistance." Not surprisingly, given that the leadership both endorses terrorism and views the terrorism of Hamas and the non-violence of the ISM as two sides of the same campaign to destroy Israel, ISM volunteers appear to work closely with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The ISM is surprisingly explicit in its instructions to volunteers on their way to "occupied Palestine," aka, Israel. They are to contact Mr. Rishmawi on arrival, and they are told to follow the instructions that they will receive even though the ISM is "not affiliated with or taking orders from any one political party in Palestine," In other words, instead of taking orders from "any one" terrorist organization, the ISM volunteers take orders from several of them. "As an ISM volunteer we expect you to be in contact with local activists and leadership and to respect the guidance of those around you. Respect for their views and guidance should be your highest priority." (International Solidarity Movement Information Pack. These statements are found on p. 29 of this 44-page document intended as a handbook giving advice on everything from what to pack to how to speak to the media, i.e., "when violence is mentioned say 'resistance to injustice'" The meaning of these instructions is plain. The ISM volunteers in Israel are "expected" to make it their "highest priority" to follow the orders of the Palestinian "activists" with whom Mr. Rishmawi puts them in contact.)
It is possible that some volunteers remain ignorant of the affiliations of the "local activists and leadership" from whom they are instructed to take orders. But at least one, Susan Barclay, has boasted that she was aware that the men whose "guidance" she was instructed to follow represented the terrorist organizations Islamic Jihad and Hamas. Other volunteers may or may not have been aware of the affiliations of the "local activists and leadership." If, however, there are "local activists and leadership" that actively "resist" Israeli "occupation" by means other than terrorism in the camps and villages of the disputed territories, their existence is unknown to Western and Israeli observers.
A recent demonstration serves as an example of the close cooperation between the ISM and the terrorist groups. The announcement read "Join the ISM, the Palestinian National and Islamic Forces and the Apartheid Wall Defense Committee on Thursday July 3 to block construction of the Apartheid Wall that will completely isolate three villages in the Tulkarem region: Nazlit Issa, Baqa Sharqiya, and Nazlit Abu Nar from the rest of the Palestinian villages." [ Ref9] The Palestinian National and Islamic Forces is a coalition, or an umbrella organization, that includes an long list of terrorist organizations, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad. (Palestinian National Liberation Movement {Fateh}; Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine {PFLP}; Islamic Resistance Movement {Hamas}; Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine {DFLP}; Palestinian People's Party {PPP}; Palestinian Democratic Union {FIDA}; Palestinian Popular Struggle Front; Palestinian Liberation Front; Islamic Jihad Movement; Arab Liberation Front; Palestinian Arab Front; Popular Front-General Command; Islamic National Salvation Party; and Popular Liberation War Pioneers. [ Ref10]).
The Committee of Palestinian National and Islamic Forces joined the International Solidarity Movement in calling for an April 5, 2002, worldwide Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. (Israel Sows Death and Destruction in Palestine: Call for International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People on Friday, 5 April 2002 Update: Bethlehem, 3 April 2002 (3/22/2002) BADIL Resource Center, For Immediate Release, 3 April 2002)
In May 2002, Palestinian propagandists boasted about the International Solidarity Movement personnel acting as human shields for murderers in Ramallah.
Presidential Compound -- On 21 April, Israeli forces redeployed from areas in Ramallah but maintained their tight besiegement of the presidential compound and the surrounding neighborhoods, which comprise much of El Bireh. Inside the compound, Arafat was confined to less than one building in the compound and was surrounded by security personnel, top advisors, a handful of international solidarity movement personnel, as well as the "Ze'evi Five" (those accused of being involved in the assassination of Israeli Minister of Tourism, Rehav'am Ze'evi on 18 September 2001). (Operation Devastation, compiled by Between the Lines, May 2002, Ref11)
In the strategy laid out by Rishmawi, Qassis, Shapiro, and Arraf, the presence of ISM volunteers will block IDF bulldozers sent to demolish houses in Rafah that conceal tunnels used to smuggle explosives and ammunition from Egypt and prevent the IDF from entering neighborhoods and buildings that harbor terrorists and bomb-making operations. The assumption is that if hundreds or even thousands of international volunteers could be induced to link arms and block the roads leading into Jenin or Tulkarem, the IDF would be prevented from entering these camps to arrest the Hamas and Islamic Jihad cells operating there. The ISM further assumes that if enough people can be found like the tragically misguided Rachel Corrie who are willing to stand in front of houses in Rafah that conceal arms-smuggling tunnels, the IDF will be forced to abandon its efforts to destroy those tunnels. The international reaction to the death of Rachel Corrie appears to bolster this assumption. The story was reported as a tragedy and even as an atrocity, despite the fact that the house in front of which this misguided young woman was standing was concealing the entrance to a tunnel used to smuggle explosives to terrorists. And despite the fact that a careful investigation determined that the operator of the bulldozer could not see her from his place behind the wheel.
The ISM is a terrorist protection organization. The goal of the ISM is not to plant bombs and murder civilians. The ISM aims to protect the terrorists who plant bombs and murder civilians. The ISM hopes to keep the IDF out of Palestinian neighborhoods so that terrorists will be free to manufacture explosives, train suicide bombers, smuggle weapons, arm snipers, and fire rockets at residential neighborhoods without interference from the IDF. The ISM calls itself non-violent, and many supporters of the organization in the U.S. may actually believe that this is a non-violent movement following the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. The leadership, however, is using the rhetoric of non-violence in a calculated effort to mask the true nature of the ISM, which is organized for the protection of terrorists. Although the statements made by volunteers while in Israel appear to be carefully phrased so as to omit any mention of cooperation with terrorist organizations listed by the State Department, upon return to the United States they can be startlingly frank about the ISM's cooperation with terrorist organizations.
Susan Barclay, the ISM organizer deported by Israel after she hid Islamic Jihad terrorist Shadi Sukiya in the ISM office in Jenin, told the Seattle Post Intelligencer that, "she knowingly worked with representatives from Hamas and Islamic Jihad -- terrorist groups that sponsor suicide bombings and exist, according to their charters, to demolish the Jewish state entirely." (Seattle Post Intelligencer, Thursday March 20, 2003, Activist's death focuses spotlight on Mideast struggle, By Sam Skolnik, Seattle Post-Intelligencer reporter [ Ref12])
When ISM leaders say "any means necessary," as they repeatedly do, they mean to endorse terror attacks on civilians. In a July 2003 interview, Adam Shapiro "justifies the Palestinian armed resistance against Israel as long as it is targeting Israeli soldiers and Jewish settlers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip." (July 06, 2003, 10:15 AM, By Ghassan Joha, Star Staff Writer, The Star, Amman, Jordan [ Ref13])
Despite Shapiro's careful endorsement of the suicide bombing of civilians only in territory that was part of Jordan before Jordan invaded Israel in 1967, whenever a suicide bombing takes place inside pre-1967 Israel, ISM volunteers rush to the house of the suicide bomber, whom they describe as a martyr or shahid. They express solidarity with the suicide bombers and attempt by their presence to prevent the demolition of the houses of suicide bombers, a penalty imposed on terrorists by Israel. The ISM's official statements endorse terrorist murder of civilians by using coded language, i.e., "by any means necessary" and by referring to the right of "armed resistance." In case anyone has missed the point that this is code for endorsement of suicide bombings, for package bombings of civilians, and for the random murder of civilians by terror snipers, the ISM sometimes underlines its approval with the word "unconditionally," as in "We unconditionally support Palestinians' human right to resist occupation and oppression by any means necessary." [ Ref14])
ISM organizers, however, occasionally forget to speak in code and actually say precisely what they mean. Charlotte Kates, leader of the New Jersey chapter of the ISM and organizer of the ISM's third National Convention, scheduled to take place on the Rutgers campus from October 10-12, explained that the ISM supports suicide bombing. "We support Palestinians' right to resist occupation and oppression, and do not feel that it is our place as a solidarity movement to dictate tactics of resistance to the Palestinian people. Why is there something particularly horrible about 'suicide bombing' - except for the extreme dedication conveyed in the resistance fighter's willingness to use his or her own body to fight?" (2003 by MidEastWeb and Ami Isseroff)
It is possible that the ISM has at times given more than verbal support to suicide bombers. The ISM acknowledges that the two British Muslims who blew up the Mike's Place restaurant in Tel Aviv in April 2003 leaving 3 dead and 50 wounded had attended a meeting of International Solidarity Movement activists in Israel prior to carrying out their suicide bombing. While the nature of their connection with the ISM is unclear, it has been suggested that the ISM may have helped them to enter Israel. What is not disputed is that the ISM offers extensive training to volunteers on their way to Israel, coaching them carefully in ways to lie to Israeli passport control about the nature of their visit. (Associated Press, "Foreign 'Peace Activists' had tea with Tel Aviv bombers" [ Ref15])
Meeting the day after the bombing at Mike's Place, Israeli officials decided to instruct border control officers at Ben-Gurion Airport and at land crossings from Jordan and Egypt to bar suspicious foreign activists from entering the country. Activists already in the territories who interfered with the army's work would be deported; and all foreign nationals seeking to enter Gaza would have to sign a form swearing they were not members of the ISM, and absolving Israel of responsibility should they be killed or injured in what the army defines as a "war zone." The ISM is the only organization specifically mentioned on the waiver form, and the army insists that the measures are not aimed against foreign activists as such. "We have nothing against the internationals," says a senior IDF officer. "But, as far as we are concerned, ISM is not an international organization or a peace organization. It's a pro-Palestinian organization, set up by Palestinians, funded by Palestinians, and linked to Palestinian terror." (Israeli Defense Forces vs. the International Solidarity Movement, FrontPageMagazine.com, Friday, June 13, 2003, By Leslie Susser [ Ref16])
The facts of the March 27, 2003, incident during which ISM coordinator Susan Barclay attempted to bar the entrance of the ISM offices in Jenin to the IDF in order to prevent the arrest of Islamic Jihad terrorist Shadi Sukiya are not in dispute [ Ref17]. Nevertheless, the incident, in which a self-styled 'peace activist' attempted to prevent the arrest of a known terrorist, may puzzle those who take the ISM at its word and believe that it is committed to non-violence. In reality, Ms. Barclay's actions serve as a paradigm for the ISM, an organization that seeks to protect the activities of terrorists by the use of such apparently non-violent means as standing in front of a locked door. As a loyal member of the ISM standing between an officer of the law bent on arresting a terrorist and a known member of Islamic Jihad, Ms. Barclay was simply doing the job that she had been brought to Israel to do.
The ISM Summer Volunteer Program :
The "International Solidarity Movement" With the PLO
First Hand Reportage: From Northern California and From Jerusalem
by David Bedein and Lee Kaplan
Being a neutral observer in a war zone is a difficult one. But when these observers are actually partisans masquerading as objective "monitors" of the treatment of civilians, then the images of the conflict broadcast to the world can be skewed beyond recognition.
Such is the case with the International Solidarity Movement, the ISM, which this week launches its third summer in a row in which it dispatches its members to demonstrate against Israel.
This week, as final deliberations take place in the International Court of Justice in the Hague concerning Israel's construction of a security fence, PLO leader Yassir Arafat met with the ISM and other protest groups to urge them to mount vocal protests against the security fence.
The ISM is often referred to in the media as a "peace movement." Its spokespersons are assumed to provide objective daily updates for foreign consuls and the foreign press based in the Middle East. For this, the group has been nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.
Yet there is a flip side to the portrait the ISM presents of itself. In practice, it is nothing less than a revolutionary movement that fights in support of a violent struggle. Indeed, it defines itself as anything but neutral observers of the conflict between Israelis and the Palestinians.
Until very recently, the opening paragraph on its own Web site www.palsolidarity.org, bodly stated the ISM supports the Palestinian "armed struggle" against the "occupation" and in favor of the "relevant U.N. resolutions."
Writing in the Jerusalem Post on August 6, 2003, one of the ISM founders, Huwaida Arraf, wrote that "Palestinians have the right to resist occupation via "legitimate armed struggle," peaceful actions, or a combination of the two".
ISM spokesman Raphael Cohen was asked how his group defines the "occupation." His definition? "The Zionist presence in Palestine" - that is, all of the country including Israel within its pre-1967 borders.
Cohen went on to say that the ISM view of peace would be a "one-state solution," which means no Israel at all. ISM spokesperson Huwaida Araf confirmed that ISM supports the Palestinian "right of return," which is tantamount to calling for the end of the Jewish state.
ISM claims that it uses nonviolent means in support of that struggle. But as in any paramilitary operation, there are combat units and support units. In the ongoing fighting between Palestinian terrorists and Israel's army, the ISM chooses to play the role of a support unit for the Palestinians.
While it invokes the memory of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Ghandi in its approach, the ISM rejects the nonviolent vision of both men by working in alliance with those who choose to kill people in order to advance their goals. By definition, a movement that endorses the "armed struggle" of a terrorist organization should itself be considered a terrorist organization.
The group freely admits to:
* Spotting and reporting IDF troops in military operations and reporting their whereabouts to armed Palestinian units. Since ISM members are not Arabs and unarmed, they can provide reports on troop movements to terrorists that take refuge in population centers.
* Intervening with IDF troops at checkpoints in order to facilitate movement of Palestinians between cities. Who knows how many terrorists have been able to infiltrate into Israel with the help of this group?
* Preventing Israel from monitoring and closing off the tunnels that Palestinian terror groups have dug along the border with Egypt. When Rachel Corrie was killed, she was trying to block an IDF tractor that was carving a path in the direction of these underground tunnels. She was not shielding a house.
ISM has now recruited hundreds of volunteers to come to Israel this summer in the guise of unassuming tourists. The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) is currently in the process of coordinating a new program for the summer of 2004 called "The Freedom Summer Campaign." The program will run for 56 days to symbolize the 56 years of occupation in the territories by Israel. Over 800 volunteers are expected to arrive in the upcoming weeks to participate in this program. Participants represent the international community with 55% of those participating being American citizens. Of the 55% of American participants, incredibly 60% of these participants are of Jewish ancestry.
On the ISM Web site, www.palsolidarity.org, it advises ISM volunteers to "have a really good story about why you are coming and not to mention anything about ISM, or knowing, liking or planning to visit Palestinians. You must play it as though your visit is for other, Israel-based reasons, like tourism, religion, visiting an Israeli friend, etc."
ISM spokespeople announced at their national convention held last November in Columbus, Ohio that it would encourage future ISM participants to apply to the "Birthright" program to come to Israel for free, using Jewish public funds to finance their trip. At the time, Birthright spokespeople issued a statement that they would be careful to avoid such people who might exploit them for the ticket and stay on in Israel to work for the ISM. Yet this summer, at least five of the ISM have identified themselves as coming over on Birthright. The most blatant among them is Jessica Rutter, who has been involved in high level pro-PLO activity on her campus for the past four years. A quick glance on her high profile activities on the web would have revealed that. Rutter says that she was glad that the Birthright interviewers did not bother to check her out on the internet.
ISM Training Session in California
Three days before the actual training session an ISM "Orientation Lecture" was held on June 9th 2004 at the New College at 741 Valencia Street in San Francisco given by an Arab-American "doctor" named Jess Ghannum.
Ghannum began his lecture by stating that "Palestine" was "colonized by White European settlers" in an attempt to drive out the "native indigenous people." He made a comparison to South Africa. Then he accused these "white" invaders of trying to "wipe out Arabic culture." He claimed that 97% of the land that was Palestine was owned by Christian and Muslim Arabs and only 3% by the Jews. He stated it was not a religious conflict at all, and that Muslim Arabs love the Jews.
He maintained that the creation of Israel was an effort of white-skinned people to subjugate a dark-skinned people to create a "deeply racist society." He bemoaned the
"Zionist dream of a purely Jewish state" and demanded how would the audience feel if they lived in a purely Christian state without freedom of religion. He claimed 800,000
Palestinians were "removed" by the Jews in 1948, implying their homes were taken over by Jews. He claimed the British were on the side of the Jews and gave them weapons to conquer the "indigenous people." He bemoaned how the Jews had driven Palestinians
to other Arab countries and "into the sea." He claimed Palestinians were used as "slave labor" by the Jews. He claimed Israelis make $20 an hour while Palestinians only make $2 an hour. He had to acknowledge Israel was a democracy because his audience wasn't totally ignorant, so he claimed that Israel's Arabs are treated like "third class citizens."
He claimed there are Jewish only neighborhoods where Christians and Muslims cannot live, nor can they buy land. Then he claimed such segregation was ten times worse than that practiced in the U.S. South during segregation and of "Jews only hotels" similar to hotels that restricted blacks before the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Finally, he spoke of bands of Jewish terrorists who preyed on innocent Arabs in their villages prior to 1948.
Sounds pretty awful doesn't it? Especially if you are a 19 year-old college kid who wants to be a revolutionary and make the world a better place.
There's just one problem: every word was a lie.
Ghannum concluded his lecture by telling a story about an Israeli soldier who asked him for his ID card at a checkpoint. The soldier noticed that Ghannum was from the San Francisco Bay Area and the young soldier, being friendly, mentioned he'd gone to Mt. Tamalpais High School near Ghannum's home in the San Francisco Bay Area.
"Imagine!" Ghannam said about this soldier, a Jew born in the United States, "He had the nerve to ask me for my ID on my land." It apparently escaped the attention of the audience that Ghannum had stated at the beginning of the lecture that he, too, was born in the United States and not in the Holy Land.
On June 12th, 2004, the actual ISM orientation took place at 2263 Mission Street in San Francisco, a small storefront community theater in a rundown area of the city with a folding grid gate barring the entrance.
There were about a dozen people in the first session, counting both "volunteers" and trainers. They were forced to go through a simulated "interrogation by an Israeli border guard" portrayed by Jamie, an overweight woman in her thirties. Jamie is a social worker for the city of San Francisco. She said that she had been on an ISM trip two years earlier as a member of San Francisco's Jews For Free Palestine (JFFP) and would be going again this summer.
Jamie went through the belongings of each participant and, on finding notes from the ISM orientation lecture from three days earlier in the handbag of one of the people there , she asked why the Arabic name of Jess Ghannum, the lecturer, appeared on a piece of paper and acted as if Israeli security guards would not have appreciated seeing notes from an Arab in the hand bag of anybody trying to enter Israel even under legitimate means.
The group was then organized into a circle where they discussed the "border checkpoint" we'd just been through.
Trainees were furnished with ISM training manuals, big thick white notebooks with eight sections. The opening page of the ISM training manual said it all, accusing the Israeli army of oppressing the Palestinian people because of "occasional Palestinian violence". Also in the ISM manual were articles from groups like the War Resisters League, Act Up, Direct Action and a myriad number of other anti-globalist groups along with some internal ISM documents. This manual was to be the guide, a corporate-style guidebook for wannabe revolutionaries, as it also contained valuable information in how to disrupt the Israeli authorities as much as possible.
Jamie began the session by asking the participants to introduce themselves. The first up was Mahera, a Palestinian-American woman in her late twenties who would also be an ISM trainer that day (see photo). Mahera told everyone that she works for the San Francisco office of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). This is significant. Many Americans are unfamiliar with the ADC, and its communications director, the Jabba-the-Hut look-a-like Hussein Ibish, who frequently appears on television in the United States. Ibish always promotes the ADC as strictly a civil rights organization for Muslim-Americans and always claims that in no way is the ADC involved with aiding worldwide terrorism. However, here was a young woman from the ADC office who was training volunteers to go to Israel to break the law and interfere with Israeli army anti-terrorist operations and to attack a security fence designed to keep out suicide bombers. One wonders what Americans would think of a non-profit "civil-rights group" that was encouraging lawbreaking overseas against a U.S. democratic ally?
Meanwhile, Jamie admonished participants , "You see what it might be like when you try to enter Israel. Don't bring your manuals with you!"
ISM trainees were told that the ISM is a Palestinian-led movement and that they were under the leadership of the Palestinians who had professional handlers to oversee what the ISM would be doing. Once in the West Bank, there would be long term ISM leaders there to guide things, but that the Palestinian handlers had ultimate control.
Each participant introduce him or herself within a circle. The first woman identified herself as Barbara Miles, who said that her maiden name was Zakasia and that she was Lebanese-American. Barbara described how she had visited Syria in support of the regime there. She asked if having "Syria" stamped in her passport would prevent her getting into Israel. "Get a new passport," Jamie shot back. "It's easy."
Next came Ian Trenallio from Lake Tahoe, who wore a T-shirt that said "anti-hate, anti-capitalist and anti-Zionist.". A 40 year-old machinist who formerly lived in San Pablo near Berkeley, California, Trenallio told us how he'd been to Tijuana to protest economic globalization and now he wanted to "help the Palestinians."
"Don't say to the border guard you are there to help the Palestinians!" Jamie admonished.
"The goal is to have the Israeli guards think you are a tourist." The Israeli economy was hurting because the war has killed tourism and we wanted to take advantage of that.
Next up was Christina Cruz. Christina, a student in the U.S., and an Argentine national, she was going into debt to spend this summer in the Middle East working for free for the ISM. She expressed concern that she was going into debt to pay for her own trip. She wanted to "help" people and further the cause of human rights. Beyond the rhetoric though, I could never understand how she equated aiding terrorists with human rights.
The next "volunteer,"Scott, provided a real life example of how indoctrination works. Scott, who said that he was Jewish and even has family in Israel, explained that he used to support Israel until he took some classes in Middle East Studies at Stanford. "I used to support Israel until I took some classes with Joel Beinin who set me straight," he volunteered.
Dr. Daniel Pipes and Martin Kramer have both written a lot about Beinin whose teachings rail against the "Zionist lobby" in America and how 9/11 was really America's fault. Under Beinin's influence, Scott now wanted to see Israel dismantled like everyone else that day. If anything provided proof of a threat the US educational system when the indoctrination techniques used in totalitarian countries becomes the norm, Scott was that proof.
Next up came Jeff, a tall strapping blonde who said he'd been to Israel in the 1970's but was now going to work with the ISM to stir things up. He'd been involved in activism in the Bay Area before. This was to be a summer vacation of more activism.
After Jeff came Ken, a semi-retired consultant for the food and drug administration who introduced himself as someone who was sick and tired of what the "Zionists" (Jews) had been doing and wasn't afraid to do something about it "even if the CIA is after me."
Nui, a small, Asian-looking girl introduced herself by explaining she was part Lebanese and part Thai-Chinese. She was going to help the Palestinians and "find her roots." I wondered why finding her roots in Thailand or China wasn't preferable to Arafat's Palestine Authority. Even Lebanon might have made sense.
Arlene, a 62 year-old Jewish woman from Oakland, California, told us how she had a lifetime of activism and how during the Vietnam War she "went to visit and support the 'comrades' who told her to go back home and fight the war against America for them." She described how she was estranged from her parents and how she had used the excuse of their funeral to get into Israel last time she was there. Despite her age, and having two grown sons, she was the most supportive of doing things to attack the Israeli soldiers such as throwing tear gas canisters back at them during riots and putting sugar in the gas tanks of their security vehicles. She lamented a loose bladder due to her age but vowed it would not stop her from "helping" the Palestinians with all the other ISM volunteers. "We're going to win," she said, meaning by destroying Israel. "Like Dr.Ghannum said at the lecture the other day, the demographics are on our side."
"Make a reservation in a hotel in Israel even if you don't use it," Jamie advised. "And bring guidebooks for Israel that look dog eared. Give them the name of a hostel if you are young enough, these will fool the border guards."
She continued, "If you use a name of someone in Israel as being the reason for your visit, they will call that person. Make certain you have a story thought out who that person is."
Mary Erwin, another trainer from Oakland, then pointed out how allies from the Israeli anarchist or Israeli communist party would lie to the border guards who called them on the phone in order to get the ISM volunteers into Israel. "If they (the border guards) become suspicious, an Israeli contact will be set up to lie and say you are visiting them," said Mary. The left wing Israeli human rights group B'tselem was mentioned as providing such contact people.
ISM trainees were told that once inside Israel they could then make our ways to the West Bank even though they were also informed that to go there is illegal, which it is not, unless the area is a closed military zone, for whatever reason. Jamie advised us to email ourselves instructions so that we would not need our manuals. They were assured that the "ISM corps" was working on legal proposals to challenge the Israeli government at every turn if as illegal entrants we were found out. They were asking also if people are willing to resist if they are caught and told they will be deported.
A check with Israeli security soruces showed that entry into the west bank is not illegal for a foreign national - only for Israeli citizens
The ISM trainees were also told of alternative ways to get into Israel besides Ben Gurion airport. "You can take a taxi from Amman in Jordan to the Allenby Bridge (Jordan's border entry). Even if you are turned back from that entry, you can go to the other border crossing because they usually don't know you were turned away from another one first," Jamie counseled.
"Rehearse your story," she continued. "They will interrogate you also when you leave. If they interrogate you, you can miss your plane. Don't buy anything because it will give them things to look through."
As for luggage, the trainers advised that the volunteers should do everything possible to look like students, and suggested to use just use a backpack. "A duffel bag on wheels does well at the airport. Remember that Israel needs tourists. Their economy is in a shambles and they are anxious for tourism. And they are not organized."
"Most of all, be patient. If they ask you questions such as 'What are you doing here? Don't you know there's a war?,' you should reply, 'I thought it was better now.' Or say, 'I had my ticket for a long time and my Israeli friends said I should come.' If you are Jewish, know your Hebrew name if they ask you what it is. Know your story. Wear your Star of David especially if you are Jewish."
Jamie advised that she would be in Israel for three weeks during the last half of July. Once the group was there, they were to attend another mandatory two-day training session where we would be assigned to "affinity groups." She then began making a bulletin board of how to function by setting up rules. The first one was "Confidentiality." Volunteers would be assigned to unknown affinity groups where they would function as teams to disrupt the Israel soldiers in military zones. Those are the same Israeli soldiers who are on the lookout for suicide bombers and other terrorists that kill Israelis.
ISM trainees were given rhetoric to memorize and say to the media: "We support the Palestinian right to resist the occupation provided by international law."
No one said what international law they were referring to.
Still more rhetoric: "We call for an immediate end to occupation and immediate compliance and implementation of all relevant UN resolutions."
Constant references to law and legality for the ISM do not apply to demanding the Palestinians arrest suicide bombers and terrorists instead of lauding them in order to create a viable peace plan. The manuals to used the euphemism "legitimate resistance" when referring to such attacks on Israelis.
Asked if ISM volunteers favored a two state solution for peace in the Middle East, Brian Malovany, another senior ISM trainer from Oakland chimed in, "The idea of a two state solution is pretty much dead. There can only be one state called Palestine. And the Right of Return is non-negotiable. If people ask you about a two state solution just tell them it's a human rights issue. Whatever you do though, do not dictate to the Palestinians what they should not do."
In other words, ISM trainees were instructed by word and in our manuals that if the Palestinians shoot at Israeli soldiers, or throw molotov cocktails at cars with children in them, or even blow up buses, to never tell the Palestinians it is wrong to do so.
The question was then asked, "But what if we see kids throwing stones at tanks or putting themselves in danger. Shouldn't we tell them not to and urge them to stay away?"
Brian Malovany shot back by saying that : "We can't tell kids not to throw stones!" He continued, "It's not our place to tell them what to do." Obviously that applies to suicide bombers also as we were advised that they could be placed as human shields inside houses slated for demolition by the Israeli army after being used by terrorists for bpmb making factories.
In the ISM manual itself, under "Methods of Nonviolent Protest and Persuasion" was listed "Destruction of property." And later this quote: "Some pacifists are uncomfortable with property damage". But then the manual went on to describe such destruction as "a useful tool."
Under "Civil Disobedience and Riots," another article in the ISM manual states that civil disobedience allows some to "settle for tactical nonviolence, but given the right historical circumstance, armed struggle would be justified . . . " Perhaps this is a reference to terrorists shooting at Israeli soldiers from behind "non-violent" ISM volunteers? Or why terrorists in the past were allowed to use ISM offices?
Everything in the ISM manual was designed to couch the issues in the Middle East in such a manner as to prevent any peace from occurring short of the destruction of the state of Israel. And lessons in doublespeak were plentiful:
"When VIOLENCE is mentioned, say RESISTANCE or RESISTANCE TO INJUSTICE."
"When TERRORISM is mentioned, emphasize STATE TERRORISM."
"Instead of OCCUPATION say MILITARY OCCUPATION to make people think the occupation is a MILITARY DICTATORSHIP." (The only military dictator in Israel and the West bank is Yasser Arafat). The page this appeared on was supplied by the Muslim Public Affairs Council, yet another Muslim "civil rights group" with offices in California like the ADC.
One obvious obfuscation of the manual is the last chapter by ISM Northern California leader Paul LaRudee which says, "you may well hear Palestinians talking 'about the Jews' when they really mean 'Israelis' or 'the Israeli army' or the 'Israeli government.'
It is useful to remember the context; talk about 'the Jews' is not the indication of bigotry that it would be in the United States or Europe."
LaRudee, also gave advice to "queer" activists who want to go on the Freedom Summer tour: "Palestinian society is as diverse in attitudes about gender and sexuality as is U.S. society," he answered. Homosexuals from the PA often take refuge in Israel for fear of being killed. Apparently the ISM doesn't care, so long as they get anyone over there to make trouble.
Delving even further, under the ISM manual's 14 Points About ISM Strategy by ISM activist Kate Rafael, Point #9 stood out:
"Work we cannot do without being killed is work we cannot do."
In the training session, ISM participants were instructed how to deal with Israeli soldiers. If advised to leave an area designated a closed military zone where the IDF is fighting terrorists, they were told to demand their orders in writing. "The soldiers can only detain you. They have to call the border police to arrest you," advised Jamie. A whole list of instructions were given on how to deal with arrests because we would be doing everything possible to break the law.
"Carry only a photocopy of your passport if they ask to see yours. If they hold it, you have to remain like they tell you. But if it's a photocopy you can escape while they are busy handling other demonstrators." If the soldiers tell you to back up ten feet, back up only five." Anything and everything to interfere with the soldiers trying to do their jobs was to be our goal.
The day concluded as Jamie discussed being prepared to deal with long term trauma once we returned to the Bay Area. "Be ready for lots of violence," she said.
ISM Training in Jerusalem
On June 14th, Hisham Jam Joun, the ISM media coordinator at the Faisel Hostel near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem gathered about 40 ISM volunteers who had already arrived for their first orientation with four of his ISM staffers.
Hisham Jam Joun, said that the first week will entail actions to protest what the ISM considers to be an ongoing war. The second week will focus on the liberation of Jerusalem, the third week on the liberation of Palestinian prisoners, the fourth week on the dismantling of Israeli road blocks, and finally the fifth week will focus on settlements. The entire program will be concluded with a 14 day long march from Jenin to Jerusalem that will be organized by the ISM. All members of the ISM are expected to participate. The ISM will also attempt to rally many Palestinians to join during their march through 46 different Palestinian villages that the march passes through.
Jam Joun introduced himself as someone who had participated in the ISM after he was injured during his participation fightiing with the PFLP, a group even the US State Department has declared an illegal terrorist group in the United States. An active fighter
in Lebanon where he was badly wounded, Hisham walks with a limp and has speech problems due to his injuries. The Israeli government also continues to classify the PFLP as an active terrorist organization.
Hisham Jam Joun discussed the main aims of the ISM as well as some logistics to his "trainees" that the ultimate goal of the ISM since its start is to end the
Israeli occupation of Palestine. He stressed that ISM's main goal is to use international citizens against the Israeli army. Hisham Jam Joun said that all participants are aware of the fact that they could be detained and exiled from Israel. He also said that members of the ISM who are exiled often reenter Israel to rejoin the organization through the use of fraudulent passports and names. Hisham said if a member gets deported and wishes to return, which many long time members do return, it is possible to arrange ways of entry. Hisham stressed that violent action by the Israeli army and militant groups in Palestinian areas is extremely discouraged in the case of internationals and does not occur often.
Hisham said that the safety of ISM members is always a main concern of the organization. Safety for participants is secured by making sure all operations and movements of participants are done in groups of three to four people. When asked of how safety is secured for participants from Palestinian militant members and how these Palestinian militants distinguish ISM participants from other westerners who could be a threat, Hisham responded that the ISM has many contacts throughout the territories and contacts in every village that inform various groups operating or living in those areas of the ISM presence and its members. Hisham continued to explain that the organization does not participate or interfere with the actions of militant groups; however, he did state that occasionally a militant will pass by meetings or outposts of the ISM and ISM members are instructed to be courteous and exchange greetings so as to upkeep a manner of politeness.
Hisham stressed that The ISM only allows Palestinian leadership because its goal is to teach the Palestinian people how to help themselves. All operations of the ISM are only done at the request of the Palestinian civilians that live in the areas and cities that the ISM operates.
Hisham explained briefly what a participant of the ISM does by volunteering. He told me that every week there is at least one large scale demonstration. The ISM has media contacts and makes use of other resources such as civilian contacts in various villages to monitor the territories and be aware of what is happening all the time. By doing so, Hisham told me that the ISM is always prepared to immediately send participants to areas of conflict when they are needed. The decision to go to any area of conflict or any city is always the decision of the volunteer, Hisham said.
Hisham stressed three principles of the ISM:
* Non-violent, Palestinian-led, and Consensus-based decisions.
"The local Palestinian community decides what kind of actions are appropriate for them. ISM's role is to assist, not to direct. ISM members work in groups and make decisions that everyone in the group can live with." Hisham went on to say that trainers can refuse ISM membership to anyone who can't go by the three principles or who can't respect the local culture.
* Hisham and the trainers gave information on local Palestinian culture. For example, indirect confrontation is common here, as are rumors and exaggerations. Don't make any distinctions between Christians and Muslims, never say anything negative about rock throwing (this was emphasized). Wear modest clothing, no drinking, don't point the bottom of your foot at anyone (an insult in the Arab world) and don't vocalize your support for any particular political/military faction over another. If you see a fighter (anyone with a weapon) don't take pictures, just say hi and move on.
Everyone must agree to group decisions (or at least be able to live with the decision if not in support of it). Everyone gets a chance to express his opinions and concerns before a decision is reached. Techniques for consensus decision-making were taught and practiced with a fake scenario: At 11 p.m. you hear the army has come and is planning to blow up the house of a suicide bomber in half an hour. What do you do? One group decides to go, ask the family what they want done, make sure media has been contacted and do their own media work, negotiate with the soldiers, and call human rights groups. Another group decides to do the same thing and to enter the house and stand on the roof to show their presence while others help the family to move out.
The trainers reminded thr ISM to ask the family if they want to move out or to negotiate with the soldiers, since many do neither, in protest.
Trainers advised the group to bring cameras whenever out at night or on an actions, so that if something bad happens, there will be evidence.
ISM trainers stressed that ISM members were asked not to carry any weapon and nothing that can be construed to be a weapon , such as sticks or Swiss army knives. The exception would be to cut the separation fence when they can carry wire cutters.
ISM trainers stressed that the Palestinian right to resist occupation within the lines of the fourth Geneva convention, and that ISM neither approves nor condemns suicide bombings. If Palestinians at a protest choose to throw rocks or tear gas, etc., they can stay but not join in. If they use live fire, ISM policy is to leave, ISMers may not hit soldiers even if the soldiers hit them. If settlers hit them, they may use "some violence" but only in self-defense, and if possible they should leave instead of fighting.
Hisham presented ISM volunteers with the ISM Steering Committee, a core Group made up of representatives from each region, both internationals and Palestinians, along with representatives from other committees. Anyone who stays long term (three months or more) is automatically allowed to attend Core Group meetings. The Core Group meets every three months and reports to the Steering Committee, which has ultimate decision- making power. The Regional Committees each have two local coordinators and one or two international coordinators. The other Committees are: Legal, Media, Training, Financial, and Problem Solving/Evaluation. The RC membership varies, the Core Group is usually 30 or 40 members. Each committee has both men and women, and both internationals and Palestinians.
Huweida Arraf, one of the founders of the ISM, gave a lecture to the ISM volunteers on the "history of non-violence" and stressed that their role is "not to teach non-violence but rather to join existing non-violent resistance." Most of the lecture was focused on techniques used in the first Intifada, such as strikes, burning ID cards, holding classes in prisons and private homes, etc. Huweida emphasized that "the most important work starts when you go back home," i.e., media advocacy. She gave four ways to help: Protective accompaniment, a visible international presence makes the army careful, and we can help Palestinians to move more freely. Media-work to get media coverage of the struggle. Advocacy- do our own media work, spread the word among our family and friends- to provide moral support, and to encourage Palestinians under "occupation."
In Huwaida's view, "The ISM protects Israelis by working against the occupation, which is the root of all violence here. Settlements are considered paramilitary communities, children there should not be targeted but settlers are not considered civilians." In other words, it's all right to kill them.
The next lecture by Huwaida dealt with the media. ISM has media offices and volunteers for international exposure. Volunteers should contact their local/student newspapers
in their home countries and try to get their stories published. Palsolidarity.org (a yahoo group) sends information to activists, for example, stories and action alerts. It has about 3,600 subscribers, and palmediaalert@yahoogroups.com is the list for media. It has about 1,600 subscribers. On this list are press releases, media alerts/advisories, reports, and journals. Media alerts are to tell media about something happening that they should cover, and advisory is to invite the media to a future event. Reports provide reporters who weren't at an event with pictures, information, and contacts. Journals and other personal information is usually put on the regular list but sometimes on the media list. Journals and reports should be sent to info@palsolidarity.org and ism-alert@palsolidarity.org. Huwaida pointed out that journals are important and some of ISM's best publicity came from Rachel Corrie's journals and letters home. Writings should be neutral (for example, say Israeli Army not Israeli Occupying Army as so many do ). Give eyewitness accounts and accurate information, not hearsay. Anything supporting violence or racism won't be published. Take lots of pictures. If soldiers don't want taping, there are ways (ex. covering the red light of the camera, cutting a hole in the camera bag) to keep taping while pretending not to. Make copies of footage at the media office. Sensitive information should be emailed to oneself, not carried through airports. ISMers should learn responses to commonly asked questions. No making statements on behalf of the ISM. Think before an interview about what points you want to make and keep making them no matter what the reporter asks. Ask Palestinians for permission before taking their photos, some are afraid to be targeted by the army.
The next lecture was with a group of Palestinian and Israeli lawyers. They opened their discussion with illustrated instructions as to how to recognize regular soldiers, border police, police, and special forces. Only border police can arrest internationals and Israelis. The usual charge is being in a closed military zone. Always ask to see the paperwork declaring the region a CMZ. If arrested, you won't be strip searched, so it may be possible to sneak in cell phones. In case it isn't, get a phone card. You can ask to have the list of confiscated possessions translated into your native language, this can get you time. So can asking for a translator during interrogation. The stranger the language, the better the chances that they'll just let you go. Be cooperative but say nothing, don't answer questions. Just insist on speaking to your lawyer or embassy first. Usually you won't be deported on a first arrest. If they decide to deport you, you can fight in court for a compromise/reduced punishment. Anyone on a hunger strike can't be deported by plane, also making trouble on the plane can get you kicked off the plane. Even if you are successfully deported you can change your name and come back. You will be deported the way you came, so it's good to fly in through Switzerland, since they don't accept deportees. If you aren't deported usually you have temporary travel restrictions. Don't tell officials that you're with ISM.
The final sessions dealt with effective role-play, with ISM trainers stressing that " Before an action, decide on the message, your goals, who should participate, what media to invite". The group was advised to split up important roles like photographer, media contact, legal observer, negotiator, and medic, and to let people know your emergency contacts and blood type before an action, and to carry a copy of your passport.
The most important piece of advice given to the group was to "decide who can be arrested and who can't be, and to make sure to keep non-arrestables are safe"
Pages were distributed to stress the concept of "arrestables and non-arrestables", with clear instructions that an Arab who throws stones or molotov cocktails is an arrestable who needs to be paired with a non-arrestable.
The ISM volunteers was also introduced to two ISM founders who offered to be at the beck and call of the ISM for any emergency that may crop up - Ghassan Andoni and Netta Golan . While Andoni is a Palestinian Arab who lives in Beit Sachour, Neta Golan is an Israeli woman who has married a Palestinian Arab man who lives in Nablus who now works for the Arab cause.
ISM trainers provided practical information on various army techniques with protests. How to recognize and deal with tear gas, sound bombs, rubber bullets, and live fire. A practice demo was held with trainers who played soldiers who use tear gas on the demonstrators and try to arrest them. Techniques were rehearsed on how to nonviolently resist arrest, and how to hide video footage.
Overall, the emphasis of the ISM training in Jerusalem was definitely on media. The ISM was constantly reminded to have media at every event, to carry cameras, to protect coverage from the army, to contact media abroad, etc. While ISMs policy is nonviolence, there is clearly sympathy with certain violent acts and refusal to condemn even suicide bombings and killing of children. Also, while ISMers can't participate in violence, they can act as human shields for those who do.
On June 15th, the ISM training seminar in Jerusalem dealt with the following subjects:
Getting into the West Bank/Gaza:
Groups of ISMers, if asked, should claim to be Christian tour groups on peace missions or something similar. Participants should travel in small groups (3-4 per service taxi) and they will not be questioned. However, some participants are officially barred from entering the territories, and have more problems with travel. They either: 1. take a private cab together with a driver who knows how to avoid checkpoints (arranged by Hisham, Huwaida, or other coordinators) 2. take a service cab but with another participant traveling ahead to warn of any unexpected roadblocks/ID checks, or 3. take a service cab and walk around the checkpoints, with another one or two ISMers (with permission to travel) going through the checkpoint and coordinating the meeting at the other side.
The third method is easiest, however, the service cab has to go through the checkpoint half-full and then wait on the other side, both of which can arouse suspicion. So the first method is most popular.
ISMers also often travel with members of other groups after meeting at the Faisal Hostel. For example, if Hisham knows that a single ISM member and two European journalists are all going to Jenin, he'll put them in contact so that they can travel together.
A cover for the ISM volunteer to gain access and make trouble.
Leaving Israel:
In order to make the "Christian tourists" line as believable as possible, ISMers will usually break into small groups and spend a day or so actually touring (usually the Muslim and Christian Quarters of Jerusalem's old city), making sure to take lots of pictures and buy lots of cheap souvenirs. In a more devious method, ISMers will share memorabilia, so that one ISMer's trip to Eilat or the Israel Museum will provide several ISMers with postcards, maps, brochures, etc. All this is to make the inevitable questioning at the airport go more smoothly. . Most ISMers aren't questioned directly about what they did or where they went.
Activities of ISM in Jenin: Roadblock Removal
ISM members will help to dig out piles of rocks and dirt that the IDF uses as roadblocks. Occasionally by hand, but the local coordinators usually try to arrange for a bulldozer when possible. Who decides what roadblocks will be removed was unclear to me. ISM works with local Palestinian or without them. Local participation consists almost entirely of the Shabab, which is the term used for the organized PLO youth gang of rockthrowers.
Watching Checkpoints
On days with no scheduled protest/action, groups of 3-4 ISMers often go to observe a checkpoint of their choosing. They don't do much more than occasionally hassle the soldiers (who are bored enough that they seem glad for the diversion anyway) and try to talk to Palestinians there to see if they have any complaints about the checkpoints or the IDF in general.
During curfews, the checkpoint watch gets more heated as ISMers argue with soldiers in an attempt to get Palestinians through. Since that never works, they usually decide to move on and act as human shields for Palestinians who sneak around the checkpoint.
Human Shields
ISM members will join Palestinians in sneaking around checkpoints, breaking curfew, and protests. The point is that soldiers will be less likely to shoot or use violence when Westerners are present. Usually they also carry a camera or video camera, because filming soldiers often makes them leave.
Media
ISM action is meant to draw or create media coverage. Many group members do independent art or video projects during their stay, and many more are active in spreading anti-Israel propaganda when they reach home. This is highly encouraged and we were given tips on how to write effective letters to the editor or articles for local papers. Some ISM members volunteer at the IMEMC (www.imemc.org) offices in Beit Lechem, or more commonly at the ISM media office in Beit Sahour. Some protests would be staged as photo ops.
Observers
This is tied in closely with media. ISMers are encouraged to observe the conflict. This can be anything from arranged meetings with Palestinian families (who have stories of arrested sons, stolen olive trees, etc.) to following the Shebob to taking pictures of the armed conflict. They also collect information for future campaigns; for example, finding out which communities would be interested in ISM coming to protest the wall or do their Olive Harvest campaigns.
In Nablus
Particularly in Nablus ISM members will stay in houses of families of terrorists, or any house scheduled for destruction, as human shields.
Preparing for demonstrations and possible arrest
During Arrest: it's helpful to have discussed in advance whether to go limp/sit or walk with police to the van. ISM trainers gave the following advice: Whatever you do, saying loudly "I am nonviolent" or "I am not resisting arrest" is helpful both for the police to know and for the media to pick up. We have found it useful to hold our hands out from our bodies as we are being arrested to show how nonviolent (yet purposeful) we are. Another helpful phrase during arrest is "I'm going to remain silent. I want my lawyer."
Arrest Support
Those who are arrested can receive emotional and physical support from those who are "outside". People outside can publicize the situation, let loved ones know what's happening, arrange for lawyers, show up at hearings (a good time to pass messages), and try to get care packages into the jail. This is known as Arrest Support. Here are some roles for Arrest Supporters:
Vital Information Support: One non-arrestable member of each affinity group should have a list with the following information on it:
Name Cell/mobile phone number Age Address Medical needs Dietery Needs Jail solidarity emergency contact people-personal and media Passport Language (for court interpretation) Legal information for lawyer (prior arrests in Israel/Palestine?
ISM internal media memo distributed at the training session in Jerusalem:
Date: June 2004
Language
Suggestions for phrases we can use CONSISTENTLY to combat current media stereotypes and false images, and to set new images in the minds of the public:
Instead of HUMAN SHIELDS, we refer to ourselves as HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS or INTERNATIONAL OBSERVERS or PEACE ACTIVISTS/WORKERS
When VIOLENCE is mentioned, say RESISTANCE or RESISTANCE TO INJUSTICE
When there is injustice, there will be resistance. Where injustice is maintained by force, there will be resistance by force. Also emphasize "popular uprising" and "national liberation struggle".
When TERRORISM is mentioned, emphasize STATE TERRORISM
Instead of APARTHEID, say ISRAELI APARTHEID
Note that many people no longer know what apartheid means.
Instead of OCCUPATION say MILITARY OCCUPATION to make people realize that the Occupation is a military dictatorship.
Avoid the term ISRAELI ARAB
(This term, coined by the Israeli government, obscures the fact that they are Palestinians.) Instead, use PALESTINIAN LIVING IN ISRAEL or PALESTINIAN ISRAELI or Israeli Palestinian. And we should start saying JEWISH ISRAELI or Israeli Jew, since 20% of Israelis are Palestinian or other, not Jewish.
Say INTERNATIONAL CONSENSUS to remind US audiences that the overwhelming majority of world opinion is at odds with that of the US government on the issues of Palestinians and Palestine.
Instead of INTERNATIONAL LAW (which may have negative connotations to some Americans), say GENEVA CONVENTIONS. The Geneva Conventions were signed in 1949, partially in response to Nazi war crimes, and refer to the illegality of settlements, prolonged occupation, use of poison gas, and other relevant issues. Israel and the US have both signed the Geneva Conventions.
Instead of SETTLEMENTS, say ILLEGAL SETTLEMENTS (4th Geneva Convention). Also suggested: "colonial outposts", to indicate their true function and violent nature.
When possible say ETHNIC CLEANSING. This can be used to refer to the expulsion of Palestinians from historic Palestine in 1948 as well as he current situation.
Instead of FASCIST, say POLICE STATE "Fascist" has meanings that don't precisely apply to Israel.
Instead of ISRAELI DEMOCRACY, stress that it is a DEMOCRACY FOR JEWISH ISRAELIs ONLY. Do not say JEWISH LOBBY or ISRAELI LOBBY in the US. The lobbies are not solely Jewish, they don't represent all Jews, they are not made up of Israelis. Instead, say PRO-ISRAEL LOBBY
Instead of JEWS, talk about the ISRAELI GOVERNMENT, the ISRAELI ARMY, ISRAELI SOLDIERS or SETTLERS.
Israelis are a small subgroup of world Jewry, and the Israeli government does not represent all Jews, in spite of Israeli government claims. Also, not all Israelis support the Occupation, and in fact many are working to end it.
Always emphasize HUMAN RIGHTS and emphasize BASIC or FUNDAMENTAL rights: civil, economic, political, social and cultural.
Instead of VIABLE STATE ("viable" is not specific) say INDEPENDENCE or INDEPENDENT NATION which sums up the various aspects, including control of borders, resources, (water, land, etc.), laws, roads, airspace, etc.
Instead of IDF (Israeli Defense Force) with its connotations of "defense" say ISRAELI ARMY or ISRAELI MILITARY
Avoid LAND FOR PEACE; emphasize that peace will come from JUSTICE
When ANTI-SEMITIC is mentioned, emphasize:
Criticism of Israel/Israeli policy/Israeli nationalism is NOT the same as criticism of Jews.
Israel is a state like any other and must be held to the same standards as any other state.
Anti-Semitism against Arab Semites is rampant in US and Israeli media.
Also, when SELF-HATING JEWS are mentioned, emphasize all of the above, plus:
Israeli policy/nationalism goes against the teachings of Judaism, and supporting the teachings of Judaism is not self-hating.
When JUDEA AND SAMARIA are mentioned, emphasize that these Biblical names have no contemporary meaning except as TERMINOLOGY OF THE MILITARY OCCUPATION
Always clarify that THE WEST BANK INCLUDES EAST JERUSALEM (and beware that the term "West Bank" is a term from the Jordanian military occupation).
When RELIGIOUS or TRIBAL or ANCIENT CONFLICTS are mentioned, emphasize that this is not a religious issue, not an ancient conflict. It is about JUSTICE, and one people denying the human rights of another.
Instead of MYTHOLOGY or LIES, say INVESTED HISTORY, referring both to the exaggerated claims for Zionist and Israeli achievements and for the erasure of Palestinian heritage and history
When SECURITY is mentioned, emphasize:
* Security does not justify group punishment, torture, and oppression.
* Palestinians deserve security also.
Where there is no justice, there can be no security for anybody.
The International Solidarity Movement and the Palestinian Solidarity Movement: Who They Are And What They Stand For
Introduction
The International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and the Palestinian Solidarity Movement (PSM) are related and interconnected organizations that have one goal: the destruction of the Jewish state of Israel. PSM is the student arm of the ISM. Both organizations are apologists for, and enablers of, terrorism against the people of Israel. A number of members of the ISM and PSM have contact and dealings with terrorists, and a number of guest speakers for these organizations have direct ties to terrorist organizations. Some have tried to dissociate the ISM and PSM, but netWMD has proved that the two groups are indeed linked together. From here on, when reference is made to both organizations at the same time, ISM/PSM will be used.
What is the ISM and PSM?
The ISM and PSM are political and activist organizations, claiming to work on behalf of the Palestinian people. The organizations' rhetoric cloaks itself in the hallowed memory of the American civil rights movement under the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. PSM's New Jersey division website asserts in its mission statement, [a]s a movement, we are committed to standing firmly against racism and all forms of oppression. . . . In light of its other rhetoric and activities, however, this assertion is window-dressing.
In the same mission statement the PSM also asserts [w]e are opposed to the existence of the apartheid colonial settler state of Israel... and we stand for the total liberation of all of historic Palestine. That statement does not allude only to the occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. "Historic Palestine" is a thinly disguised code-term for all of the land on which Israel exists. Ohio's PSM branch website calls for . . . the full decolonization of all Palestinian land. . ., which means all of Israel. The Ohio website also demands . . . the recognition and implementation of the right of return and repatriation for all Palestinian refugees to their original homes and properties. Allowing 3.5 million Palestinians into Israel—a tiny sliver of land with 6.5 million residents, occupying 1/6 of 1% of the geographic area of the Middle East, would destroy Israel. "Liberation" of "historic Palestine" can only mean one thing: the destruction of Israel, which would require a war of annihilation, not the exercise of peaceful activism toward the positive goal of a two-state solution. In essence, ISM's mission statement is a justification for the murder of Israelis. (See ISM Is Rewriting History below.)
ISM's public statements fondly quote Martin Luther King, but they also quote Malcolm X in support of his idea of struggle by any means necessary (see archive). PSM's New Jersey website states in its own words, [w]e unconditionally support Palestinians' human right to resist occupation and oppression by any means necessary. (see archive) Ohio's PSM site states, [a]s a solidarity movement, it is not our place to dictate the strategies or tactics adopted by the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation. New Jersey PSM leader Charlotte Kates stated, I personally support Palestinian resistance in all its forms, from armed struggle to mass protest. In the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict these are ominous words as those means have included terrorist attacks against Israelis. If the ISM truly supported King's vision it would speak out against all terrorist attacks against innocent people as Rev. King certainly would have.
The founders of ISM, Adam Shapiro and Huwaida Arraf, have explicitly stated their admiration for terrorist bombers: Hamas claims it has many men ready to be suicide bombers – we advocate that these men offer themselves as martyrs by standing on a settler road and blocking it from traffic. This is no less of a jihad. This is no less noble than carrying out a suicide operation. (emphasis added)
But it is not only through words that ISM betrays what kind of organization it is. Though ISM activism does include non-violent resistance, it has had contact with terrorists. ISM activist, Susan Barcley, refused to allow Israeli soldiers to examine an ISM office in Jenin, the West Bank. When the soldiers forcibly entered the office, they found Shadi Sukia, a leading member of the terrorist group Islamic Jihad, whom Ms. Barcley was harboring. Both Barcley and Sukia were arrested. In another incident, ISM activists attempted to prevent Israeli soldiers from blowing up an explosives lab containing an 80 kilo bomb, fertilizers, other bomb-making materials and two rockets.
Terrorists have sought out the company of the ISM as cover for their murderous activities. Omar Khan Sharif and Asif Mohammed Hanif arrived at the offices of ISM in Rafah, the West Bank, and made contact with its members just days before Omar Khan Sharif detonated himself in a homicide bombing which left three dead and dozens injured in Israel in April, 2003.
Guest speakers for, as well as organizers of, PSM conferences are known to have ties to terrorist organizations. Former professor of University of South Florida, Sami al Arian, was invited to speak at a PSM conference held at the University of Michigan. Mr. Al Arian was arrested in February, 2003 on charges of being a leader in the American branch of the terrorist group, Islamic Jihad. Fayyub Sbaihat, who attends the University of Wisconsin, was one of the main organizers of the PSM conference held at The Ohio State University in November, 2003. Sbaihat is a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Sbaihat has two brothers who are also members of the PFLP in the West Bank. The PFLP was behind the murder of the Israeli Tourism Minister, Rahbaa'm Zevi. The group has also been responsible for terrorist attacks against innocent Israelis.
Other speakers at PSM conferences have included Mahdi Bray of Muslim Public Affairs. In 1998 at a rally held in Washington, Bray led a crowd of 2,000 people who cried out, [L]et's all go into jihad, and throw stones at the face of the Jews. Vernonn Bellecourt, a guest speaker at the PSM conference held at The Ohio State University, bemoaned the killing of Hussein's sons as "an assassination" carried out by the U.S. government. "Imagine," he bellowed, "if someone had killed President Bush's daughters in a similar way!". Clearly, many of the speakers and participants at these conferences have no sense of moral proportion. It is also clear which side they take in the war against terrorism.
The same hatred exhibited by Bray and Bellecourt was also on display at the PSM's University of Michigan conference. In a signed affidavit, an eyewitness who attended the conference states that a number of participants shouted Kill the Jews! in Arabic (see also). At another PSM conference held at Berkeley in February, 2002, an eyewitness observed that [t]he anti-Jewish rhetoric of the conference inspired the participants to leave the conference and intimidate some identifiable Jews on campus.
The PSM is not interested in the free exchange of ideas or civil discourse, a sine qua non of academic life and the democratic values that support it. At the University of Toronto in November, 2003, participants at a PSM conference to be held there were required to sign the Basis of Unity, a set of principles to which all attendees had to agree as a pre-condition to attend the conference. Robert Birgeneau, President of the University of Toronto, issued a statement explaining why the conference had to be cancelled, stating that the Basis of Unity was in violation of the University's Policy on Recognition of Student Groups, which, among other things, confirms that "the essential value of the University must remain that of preservation of freedom of enquiry and association".
Consistent with their utter disregard for free inquiry, exchange of ideas, and democratic principles, members of the ISM/PSM have also committed acts of violence and physical destruction on a university campus. In September, 2002, the ISM/PSM held a conference at Concordia University in Montreal, where a riot erupted in opposition to Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the university. [A] group of 150 demonstrators entered the Main Building of the downtown campus through a side door that was overlooked in the University's security arrangements for that day. The resulting riot left vandalism in its wake and required the police to take action. Netanyahu's visit had to be cancelled.
ISM/PSM is also seeking to have corporations and universities divest from Israel, thereby undermining an ally of the United States. Israel is a democracy whose Muslim population lives more freely than in any part of the Muslim world. There are Arab-Israeli citizens who are members of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. Israel showed good faith in seeking the nationhood of the Palestinian people at Camp David 2000. Israel is not at all the apartheid state that the ISM/PSM claims it is. The ISM/PSM entirely misrepresents Israel—the only thriving democracy in the Middle East—to justify the divestment campaign in imitation of the one that was righteously fought in South Africa. Lawrence Summers, president of Harvard University, refused to have that university become the object of divestment activism against Israel. Yet the PSM has successfully pressed upon Wayne State University and the University of Wisconsin to divest and pass resolutions condemning Israel.
Despite its rhetoric about non-violent protest, ISM/PSM is a radical group whose activism directly and indirectly allies itself with terrorists who attack Israel. Whatever its individual members believe, ISM is dangerously aligned with terrorists, in sync with the rhetoric of violent extremism. The claim by ISM/PSM of being the political and moral inheritance of Martin Luther King's model of non-violent resistance is not only ungrounded but a disgrace to the memory of such a great man.
ISM Is Rewriting History
Has ISM/PSM forgotten the Biblical and archeological evidence for the Jews' historic ties to Israel, like the Dead Sea Scrolls or the remnants of King Solomon's temple in Jerusalem? Would ISM/PSM deny that Jesus, a Jew by birth, lived in ancient Israel? The father of the Jews, Abraham, was Ibrahim, the father of the Arabs—one and the same man. Jews have lived in "Palestine" both before and after the brutal Roman-engineered Diaspora. Has ISM forgotten that many Arabs immigrated to Palestine in the early 20th century? [1] Has the ISM forgotten that the Israel was created under a United Nations (UN) mandate? Their websites make no mention of the fact that, before the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza began in 1967, those two territories were controlled by Jordan and Egypt, respectively. Neither of these Arab nations granted statehood to the Palestinians. Israel has been singled out for condemnation as the sole originator of a problem that pre-dates the occupation. At the same time, terrorist violence against Jews occurred long before the occupation. How could Israel's occupation of the territories in 1967 have caused all the Arab terrorist attacks against Jews that occurred from 1900 [1] through 1966? And what about more recent history? What does the ISM have to say about Kuwait's expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees after the Gulf war in 1991?
http://netwmd.com/anti-ism/ _________________ He who is merciful with the cruel, will end-up being cruel to the merciful
- Kohelet Rabba 7:16
This June I attended a “training session” of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), an organization of volunteers whose purpose is to obstruct Israeli defense forces attempting to protect the civilian population from terrorist acts. The ISM was set up by the Palestinians after Arafat broke off the Oslo peace talks and launched the second intifada. Its organizers were Ghassan Andoni, a physics professor from Bir Zeit University in the West Bank, and Palestinian activists George Rishmawi and George Qassis. The idea was to bring in international volunteers, mostly radical students from the United States, Canada and Europe, as “nonviolent peace activists” who would interfere with the Israeli army’s anti-terrorist operations. If the volunteers were injured or arrested, the international repercussions would be detrimental to Israel, a propaganda win for the PLO. The operation costs the Palestine Authority very little since many of the radical volunteers pay their own transportation costs and live in the homes of Palestinians during their stays in the Middle East.
The ISM made international headlines when one of its activists, Rachel Corrie, a college radical from Olympia, Washington, was killed while attempting to block an Israeli bulldozer. The bulldozer was attempting to destroy tunnels from the Gaza strip through which the terrorists imported weapons and explosives. Corrie became a martyr to the cause, and inspiration to other radicals to follow.
The most visible American figure in the International Solidarity Movement is Adam Shapiro, a Brooklyn Jew and college radical,who became a human shield for Yasser Arafat when the Israeli army surrounded Arafat’s Ramallah compound following the massacre of 30 Israelis – some of them Holocaust survivors -- at a Passover seder, shortly after the Intifada was launched. When I interviewed him last year, Shapiro told me point blank that he does not consider himself a Jew. He is married to Huwaida Arraf, a Palestinian-American activist from Michigan whose father holds Israeli citizenship. They have become the spokespeople for the ISM in the United States. In articles on the ISM website where they discuss their goals of dismantling Israel by supporting Palestinian terrorists they use euphemisms such as “legitimate resistance” or support for “legitimate armed struggle” while claiming that they are nonviolent. The ISM uses as its motto “by any means necessary.”
Such means include the hiding of terrorists like Shadi Sukiya, who was arrested in an ISM office in the West Bank. An arms cache was also found in an ISM office. Two suicide bombers gained entry for their murderous agendas under the auspices of the ISM. These Pakistani Muslims from Great Britain entered Israel through Jordan as clients of the Alternative Tourism Group, an operation set up by Andoni to aid ISM volunteers coming to Israel. They then met with the ISM at their offices for an entire day in Gaza before proceeding on to Tel Aviv where they bombed a popular beach bar, Mike’s Place, killing three people.
In the last three years the ISM has developed an extensive presence in the United States, while operating under several organizational names to avoid unwanted scrutiny of its operations. One of these entities, Al Awda (the Return in Arabic), is also known as the Palestine Right to Return to Return Coalition (PRRC). It is led by Mazen Qumsiyeh, a Yale geneticist. There are Al Awda chapters all over the United States, particularly in the vicinities of U.S. college campuses. Other ISM groups under the name SUSTAIN (Stop U.S. Taxpayer Assistance to Israel Now) operate in Los Angeles and New York. In New Jersey, the ISM supporters call themselves Palsolidarity. When the volunteers go to the Middle East to aid the PLO they go under the umbrella name of the International Solidarity Movement. When they hold events in the U.S. and Canada they call themselves the Palestine Solidarity Movement.
The party line, however, is always the same. The right of so-called Palestinian refugees to return to Israel is “unconditional” and Israel itself must become “Palestine.” The number of actual refugees from that part of the former Ottoman empire where Israel was established in 1948 was 600,000, most of whom are no longer alive. The number of refugees the Palestine Authority now recognizes is close to 5 million. The population of Israel is 6 million, including 1 million Israeli Arabs. The math is simple and the desired result: the liquidation of the Jewish state.
At the Palestine Solidarity Conference held at Ohio State last year, Adam Shapiro told me that the ISM has Palestinian “handlers,” or undercover supervisors at all demonstrations against Israel. These supervisors direct attacks against the separation fence that is being built to keep suicide bombers and armed terrorists from infiltrating into Israel and other targets. One of the handlers leading the current attacks on the security fence at the start of this summer’s campaign is a veteran of the Marxist terrorist group PLFP named Hisham Jam Joun. The ISM website, www.palsolidarity.org , openly proclaims that the organization is “Palestinian-led.”
I signed up for the ISM training session, after seeing their Internet announcement calling for volunteers for their new campaign, which they called “Freedom Summer 2004,” after the nonviolent campaign of the civil rights movement in the American south in the 1960’s. There were similar announcements on local websites run by the ISM all over the United States.
The phone number I dialed put me in touch with Paul LaRudee, a 68 year-old retired Berkeley professor who, along with his Lebanese wife, has been a leader of the ISM movement in the Bay Area. LaRudee assured me that they welcomed everybody, no matter how old or inexperienced. “Most of our volunteers are in their sixties,” he said. I was advised if I wanted to train with the ISM I needed to attend an orientation lecture at The New College of San Francisco which was being given by an Arab-American named Jess Ghannam, a psychoanalyst and professor at the University of California Medical School.
Ghannam’s lecture was a two hour diatribe, reviewing the history of the Middle East. It was so pathologically anti-Israel that it even reversed the famous slogan of the PLO, originating with Arafat’s uncle the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem that the goal of Palestinian liberation was to “drive the Jews into the sea.” In Ghannam’s version it was the Jews who intended to drive the Arabs into the sea, though how this could be done with 200 million people he failed to explain.
Ghannam concluded his lecture by telling a story about an Israeli soldier who asked him for his ID card when he was at a checkpoint in the West Bank. The young soldier noticed that Ghannam was from the San Francisco Bay Area and, being friendly, mentioned he’d gone to Mt.Tamalpais High School near Ghannam’s home. “Imagine!” Ghannam said indignantly, “This soldier, a Jew born in the United States, had the nerve to ask me for my ID on my land!” Yet Ghannam had told us in the beginning of the lecture that he was also born in the United States.
The following Saturday morning, June 12th, I arrived for my actual training. The session was held at 2263 Mission Street in San Francisco, a ratty storefront theater in a rundown area of the city that had a folding grid gate barring the entrance from the public.
About ten of us showed up, counting both volunteers and trainers. Before we were allowed to enter the storefront, however, we had to go through a simulated interrogation by an “Israeli border guard” impersonated by a woman named Jamie, who was a social worker for the city of San Francisco.
Jamie took her role very seriously. We learned later that she was an ISM veteran, having been a volunteer in Israel two years earlier as a member of San Francisco’s Jews For A Free Palestine (JFFP) and would be going again this summer.
Jamie went through my belongings and, on finding my notes from the ISM orientation lecture, asked me why I an Arabic name like Jess Ghannam appeared in my notebook.. Playing the game, I replied that I thought Jess was a Christian name and that I had no idea that Ghannam was an Arab. She asked me what hotel I was staying at in Israel, to which I replied the Sheraton. She allowed me to pass inside, and then turned to the next signup.
After everyone passed through the interrogation ritual, the gate was secured with a big padlock so nobody could get in or out. We were told we were in there for the entire day with just a brief break for lunch, a potluck meal which we had all been asked to contribute to.
Now that we had entered “Israel,” Jamie continued with the instruction. She had us form a circle and then led a discussion of the “border checkpoint” we’d just been through. I was told I did the right thing to get past the guard by lying that I had not realized Ghannam was an Arabic name and making up the hotel, since I would be actually staying with Palestinians. In other words, the ISM training session began with the idea of breaking the law to enter a democratic country by deceiving its border guards. In fact, everything we were instructed to do in the course of our training while we were in Israel would involve some form of breaking Israeli law.
Jamie then handed out ISM training manuals, big thick white notebooks containing eight sections, a text designed for would be infiltrators and subversives. Inside were articles authored by radical groups like the War Resisters League, Act Up, Direct Action and a several “anti-global” organizations. There were also internal ISM documents. They contained valuable information on how to disrupt the Israeli law enforcement and defense officials as effectively as possible. Jamie admonished us, “You see what it might be like when you try to enter Israel. Don’t bring your manuals with you!”
We then introduced ourselves. The first in the circle to do so was Mahera, a Palestinian-American woman in her late twenties who we were told would also be training us.
Mahera told everyone she works for the San Francisco office of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). I learned later that our orientation lecturer, Jess Ghannam, was on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco chapter of the same organization, which bills itself as a non-profit civil rights advocacy group for Muslims and Arab-Americans. Glancing through my manual I noticed it referred us to “the ADC reader.”
Many will be familiar with the ADC through its communications director, Hussein Ibish, who frequently appears on television talk shows, and promotes the ADC as a civil rights organization for Muslim-Americans in no way involved with aiding Middle East terrorism.
As Adam Shapiro had informed me earlier, the group was told that the ISM is a Palestinian-led movement and that we were under the leadership of the Palestinians who had professional handlers to oversee what we would be doing. Once we were in the West Bank there would be veteran ISM leaders to guide us, but that the Palestinian handlers had ultimate control.
The first woman in the circle identified herself as Barbara Miles, who said her maiden name was Zakasia and that she was Lebanese-American. Barbara described how she had visited Syria to support of the regime there. She asked if having “Syria” stamped on her passport would prevent her from getting into Israel. “Get a new passport,” Jamie advised. “It’s easy.”
The next to introduce himself was Ian Trenallio who was from Lake Tahoe and wore a T-shirt that said “anti-hate, anti-capitalist, anti-Zionist.” Ian told us he formerly had lived in San Pablo, a suburb of Berkeley. He had recently been to Tijuana, he said, to protest economic globalization and now he wanted to “help the Palestinians.” “Don’t say to the border guard you are there to help the Palestinians!” Jamie interjected. “The goal is to have the Israeli guards think you are a tourist. The Israeli economy is hurting because the war has killed tourism and we want to take advantage of that.”
Next to contribute was Christina Cruz, an Argentine national who was a student in the U.S. She expressed concern that she would have to go into to debt to join “Freedom Summer.” She wanted to “help” people and further the cause of human rights. It was still hard for me to understand the equation – helping terrorists and human rights.
Because of my interest in pro-Palestinian bias of university faculties, I was especially interested in the next volunteer. Scott identified himself as Jewish and even claimed to have family in Israel. He said he was a supporter of Israel until he attended classes in Middle East Studies at Stanford University. “I used to support Israel until I took some classes with Joel Beinin who set me straight,” he volunteered. Beinin is a former president of the Middle East Studies Association and a self-proclaimed Marxist and supporter of the Palestinian struggle to liberate Israel by dismantling the Jewish state.
The next speaker was Jeff who said he’d been to Israel before but was now looking forward to go there to “stir things up.” He was a Bay Area radical involved in environmental issues. He was followed by Ken, a semi-retired consultant for the Food and Drug Administration who introduced himself as someone who was sick and tired of what the “Zionists” had been doing and wasn’t afraid to do something about it “even if the CIA is after me.”
Nui introduced herself by explaining she was part Lebanese and part Thai-Chinese. She was going to help the Palestinians and “find her roots.” No one asked her to explain this.
Next came Meredith, who said she was going to Palestine to assert herself as “a queer Jewish woman.” She quickly explained that she was really only half-Jewish, and that by helping the Palestinians she was asserting her identity. She was evidently oblivious to fate of gays living in the Moslem world.
Arlene, a 62 year-old Jewish woman from Oakland, was more vocal than the others. She told us that she had a lifetime of activism. “During the Vietnam War I went to visit and support the ‘comrades’ who told me to go back home and fight the war against America from here for them.” She told us that she was estranged from her parents and had used the excuse of their funeral to get into Israel the last time she was there. Despite her age she was ready to do things to attack the Israeli soldiers such as throwing tear gas canisters back at them during riots and putting sugar in the gas tanks of their security vehicles. She lamented a loose bladder due to her age but vowed it would not stop her from “helping” the Palestinians with all the other ISM volunteers. She also expressed grief for the Israeli execution of Sheik Yassin, the former head of Hamas who was responsible for the murders of over 350 people inside Israel including some American citizens. “We’re going to win,” she glowed. “Like Dr. Ghannam said at the lecture the other day, the demographics are on our side.”
Once the introductions were complete, Jamie shared with us the experiences and methods used by previous ISM volunteers to fool the Israeli border police. “Make a reservation in a hotel in Israel even if you don’t use it.” “Bring guidebooks for Israel that look dog eared.” “Give them the name of a hostel if you are young enough, these will fool the border guards.”
She continued, “If you use the name of someone in Israel as being the reason for your visit, they will call that person. Make certain you have a story thought out who that person is.” If that person were an Israeli leftist, the task was a lot easier. Mary Erwin, another trainer from Oakland, interjected at this point that our allies from the Israeli anarchist and communist movements were ready to lie to the border guards when called on the phone. They were available to verify false stories given to the border guards in order to get the ISM volunteers into Israel. She offered to provide us with the names and numbers of leftists in Israel who would say they knew us.
“If the border guards become suspicious, an Israeli contact will be set up to lie and say you are visiting them,” Mary summarized. She mentioned the leftist Israeli group B’tselem as providing such false witnesses. B’tselem is one of the most active leftist groups in Israel working to aid the PLO. Among its leaders is Anat Biletzski, the former head of Israel’s Communist Party.
Once we were inside Israel we were told we could make our way to the West Bank even though we were also informed that to go there is illegal. Jamie told us to email ourselves instructions so we would not need our manuals. We were assured the “ISM corps” was working on legal proposals to challenge the Israeli government at every turn if illegal entrants were discovered. “We are asking also if people are willing to resist if they are caught and told they will be deported.” Anything to be a nuisance and break the law was the goal.
We were also given alternative ways to get into Israel besides through Ben Gurion Airport. “You can take a taxi from Amman in Jordan to the Allenby Bridge (Jordan’s border entry). Even if you are turned back from that entry, you can go to the other border crossing because they usually don’t know you were turned away from another one first,” Jamie counseled. “Rehearse your story,” she continued. “They will interrogate you also when you leave. If they interrogate you, you can miss your plane. Don’t buy anything because it will give them things to look through.”
As for luggage, she told us if could pass as students we should just use a backpack. “A duffel bag on wheels does well at the airport. Remember that Israel needs tourists. Their economy is in shambles and they are anxious for tourism. And they are not organized.”
“Most of all, be patient. If they ask you questions such as ‘What are you doing here? Don’t you know there’s a war?’ you should reply, ‘I thought it was better now.’ Or say, ‘I had my ticket for a long time and my Israeli friends said I should come.’ If you are Jewish, know your Hebrew name if they ask you what it is. Know your story. Wear your Star of David especially if you are Jewish.”
We were told once we were on the West Bank and under the Palestine Authority we were to attend another mandatory two-day training session where we would be assigned to “affinity groups.” She then began making a bulletin board of how we were to function by setting up rules. The first rule was “Confidentiality.” Volunteers would be assigned to unknown affinity groups where they would function as teams to disrupt the Israel soldiers in military zones.
We were then instructed to say to the media if we were interviewed: “We support the Palestinian right to resist the occupation provided by international law.” If the interview were more extensive, we were told to say: “We call for an immediate end to occupation and immediate compliance and implementation of all relevant UN resolutions.” Apparently to the ISM, international law is whatever they want it to be, since their agenda is to break laws to enter a democratic country in order to further violate its laws.
When one of the trainees asked if we as ISM volunteers favored a two-state solution to secure peace, Brian Malovany, another senior trainer from Oakland who had just joined us explained, “The idea of a two-state solution is pretty much dead.” This was an interesting dismissal of all the peace plans ever proposed by the United Nations, the United States, or the official negotiating parties of the Palestinians themselves. “There can only be one state called Palestine,” explained Molvany echoing the line of Hamas and other terrorist organizations. “And the Right of Return is non-negotiable. If people ask you about a two-state solution just tell them it’s a human rights issue. Whatever you do though, do not dictate to the Palestinians what they should not do.”
In other words, if the Palestinians shoot at Israeli soldiers don’t tell them it is wrong to do so. Apparently being non-violent peace activists only applies to the end of dismantling Israel and providing cover for the people who will commit the violent acts.
I asked Molvany, “But what if we see kids throwing stones at tanks or putting themselves in danger. Shouldn’t we tell them not to and urge them to stay away?”
Brian Malovany responded: “We can’t tell kids not to throw stones! It’s not our place to tell them what to do.” Obviously the same rule applied to suicide bombers as we were advised that we might be used as human shields inside houses slated for demolition by the Israeli army because they were used as bomb making factories.
During the lunch break I looked at my manual and found this ISM wisdom:
“Some pacifists are uncomfortable with property damage. For myself...I see it as a great tool.”
“[Some] settle for tactical nonviolence, but given the right historical circumstance, armed struggle would be justified...”
“When VIOLENCE is mentioned, say RESISTANCE or RESISTANCE TO INJUSTICE.”
“When TERRORISM is mentioned, emphasize STATE TERRORISM.”
“Instead of OCCUPATION say MILITARY OCCUPATION to make people think the occupation is a MILITARY DICTATORSHIP.” The only military dictator in Israel and the West Bank is Yasser Arafat. The page this appeared on was supplied by the Muslim Public Affairs Council, yet another purportedly Muslim “civil rights group” like the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee.
The most cynical section of the manual was the last chapter written by Paul LaRudee, the Northern California ISM leader who provided my first contact over the phone: “You may well hear Palestinians talking ‘about the Jews’ when they really mean ‘Israelis’ or ‘the Israeli army’ or the ‘Israeli government.’ It is useful to remember the context; talk about “the Jews” is not the indication of bigotry that it would be in the United States or Europe.”
LaRudee also provided this whopper for “queer activists” who want to go on the Freedom Summer 2004 tour: “Palestinian society is as diverse in attitudes about gender and sexuality as is U.S. society.” In fact, over 100 homosexuals who had lived under the Palestine Authority recently took refuge in Israel for fear of being killed.
Apparently the ISM doesn’t care what they say as long as they get anyone over there to make trouble and risk their lives for the cause. Now I understood the recruitment of Meredith. To these radicals the strategy is to tie any cause, any idea, any gender, environmental or social issue to the destruction of Israel.
After lunch, we were given the activities schedule for the “Freedom Summer” anti-Israel campaign (see the ISM website for details). It included marching onto an Israeli army base to free captured terrorists and trying to tear down the security fence. Violent attacks by the “nonviolent” ISM had already begun when we met. Every member of our group knew that what they were really being asked to do was illegal. They just didn’t care.
Or perhaps it’s that radicals don’t fear the Israeli police in the same way they don’t fear the police in the U.S. because they know in a democracy they will be treated fairly. That might explain why they weren’t training for sit-ins in Tiananmen Square or in Teheran where the authorities might kill them. As if conceding the point, the ISM manual stressed that the volunteers were not in any real danger from Israeli security forces and advised them to inconvenience and disobey them in every way possible. The manual also advised those who were arrested to contact the Bay Area chapter of the National Lawyer’s Guild, an organization created by the American Communist Party with a half century of legal experience in supporting Communist and totalitarian causes.
After the break we were told how to deal with Israeli soldiers. If advised to leave an area designated a closed military zone where the IDF is fighting terrorists, we were told to demand their orders in writing. “The soldiers can only detain you. They have to call the border police to arrest you,” counseled Jamie.
A list of instructions was given on how to deal with possible arrests since we would be doing our best to break the law. If a Palestinian was arrested for something serious like throwing a Molotov cocktail, we were told to show “prison solidarity” with him. We were told that international demonstrators usually get released quickly by the police once they reach the police station. But if we refused to leave without our Palestinian companion, the police might release him also just to get rid of all of us.
“Carry only a photocopy of your passport if they ask to see yours. If they hold it, you have to remain like they tell you. But if it’s a photocopy you can escape while they are busy handling other demonstrators. If the soldiers tell you to back up ten feet, back up only five.” Anything and everything to interfere with the soldiers trying to do their jobs was our goal.
Jamie told us a story of how 100 “internationals” had surrounded six Israeli soldiers and besieged them at a roadblock set up to prevent suicide bombers from getting into Israel. The soldiers, all young boys and conscripts in the Israeli army, tried to control the mob until they ran out of non-lethal weapons and were forced to withdraw. The trainers all snickered at the story.
Not once all day, in any way, did members of our group – trainers or trainees – express a negative word about suicide bombings, or the shooting of women and children by Palestinian terrorists. But we were told repeatedly not to tell the Palestinians how to “resist.”
At the conclusion of our session, Jamie used her training as a social worker to prepare us to deal with long term trauma once we returned to the Bay Area. I thought it was an interesting lesson for people going to the Middle East to engage in “nonviolent” activities for peace. “Be ready for lots of violence,” she said.
I am not sure that organisations such as the Jewish Action Task Force are likely to give an accurate analysis of the ISM and the PSM. I myself know of hundreds of Brits who contribute to both of these organisations, which regualarly stage rallies in London, usually culminating in Trafalgar Square where eminent speakers freely give their views on the Israeli Occupation. I myself have attended such rallies, as I have attended peace rallies in Israel. The organisations certainly do not call for the destruction of the state of Israel - they call for an end to the Occuaption and the injustices caused to the Palestinians by it. This week Beit Hanoun has been under strict closure for over 2 weeks. Children without food or water have been brought out by the Red Cross. The Rafah checkpoint with Egypt has been closed for over 2 weeks also, and hundreds of Gazans who went to Egypt for medical treatment, are trapped on the other side. Not a word of this in the world press, which is too concerned with Mr Kerry.
The ISM members come to monitor these situations and report them to the outside world. We are constantly complaining that nobody is listening to the people of Dafur (true!) but neither is anyone listening to them.
ISM members also monitor checkpoints, where notoriously harsh treatment is metred out to Palestinians. Israelis also monitor the checkpoints for the same reason. This week a Palestinian student was chased and shot by an Israeli soldier who lost his cool and had to be restrained by his fellow solidiers. The incident was filmed and reported by a Israeli female member of the Mahsoum Watch, - an Israeli human rights organisation which does pretty much the same things as the ISM.
What is dangerous to Israel about the ISM is its membership. Not thugs or extremists - ordinary academic, middle class Christians from America, Europe and Scandinavia. They are vocal, rational, usually left wing, and advocates of peace, not the destruction of the Jewish state. They are indeed spread amongst the Palestinians located in places where their lives are constantly interrupted by the Israeli occupaton. Anything wrong with that?
Israel had better get used to the idea that there is a new, educated, academic Palestinian society emerging which is sidelining the terror groups and dealing not with extremists abroad, but with rational academics abroad who are ripe for dealing with the disenfranchized around the world, of which the Palestinians are the most long suffering.
Jackie - there's no excuse to be made for the ISM now - there's been filming done in their training camps... and the exposes have proved that they're just another terror-enabling organisation... with their own "militant" brach! _________________ He who is merciful with the cruel, will end-up being cruel to the merciful
- Kohelet Rabba 7:16
Speakers at a controversial Duke University Palestinian solidarity conference, which concluded yesterday, recruited students to join a terrorist-harboring organization, WorldNetDaily has learned.
The Palestinian Solidarity Movement, which reportedly works closely with the International Solidarity Movement, an organization outlawed in Israel, held its fourth annual conference to "put pressure on the Israeli government, partly by urging universities to sell their stock in companies with military ties to Israel," WorldNetDaily previously reported.
Most of the conference events were closed to the media.
Duke has been justifying its hosting of the conference, in part, by claiming the Palestinian Solidarity Movement is "separate and distinct" from the International Solidarity Movement, which openly supports Hamas, calls for the destruction of Israel, held activities in which several men who later became suicide bombers participated, and has been caught harboring known terrorists in its Mideast office – including members of Islamic Jihad.
But many documented International Solidarity Movement speakers or workshop leaders participated in this week's Duke conference, including ISM's co-founder Huweida Arraf, who tried to recruit students to join her group.
Arraf led a workshop yesterday titled "Volunteering in Palestine: Role and Value of International Activists." Arraf handed out brochures for the ISM and urged students to join the terror-supporting group, members of Duke's Conservative Union who attended the workshop told WorldNetDaily. They asked that their names be withheld from publication.
Arraf, together with seven other self-declared International Solidarity Movement members who would not state their last names, screened a slide show about ISM activism, detailed the group's two-day training session and fielded questions about the logistics of traveling to "Palestine," explaining how to fool Israeli border control since ISM members are denied entry.
Arraf also told students the ISM "happily works with Hamas and Islamic Jihad," said one Conservative Union member who attended the talk.
"This workshop, just as its title suggests, functioned as a recruiting session for the ISM, and ISM brochures and materials were distributed there," the Conservative Union member told WorldNetDaily. He pointed out that although Duke officials were present at other PSM conference sessions, no Duke administrator attended the Arraf talk.
The workshop and Arraf's presence constituted a last-minute addition that was not listed on the PSM's original schedule.
When confronted with evidence that ISM speakers were invited to the conference and that the Palestinian Solidarity Movement is connected to the ISM, Duke's vice president for public affairs and government relations, John Burness, who previously told WorldNetDaily the two groups weren't connected, stated, "Well, I don't know what [the PSM] is a part of."
But Burness later changed his tone, telling WorldNetDaily, "The fact that [a co-founder of the ISM] was here and did speak does not diminish the fact that [the PSM and ISM] are distinct and separate. Does someone who supports or belongs to the American Jewish Committee and the Simon Wiesenthal Center mean that they are one and the same?"
Also yesterday, the PSM announced at Duke the results of a Saturday "Resolution Meeting" at which it was decided PSM would again not condemn terrorism. The group had drawn criticism last year after it refused to sign a letter stating it does not agree with terror tactics.
"We don't see it as very useful for us as a solidarity movement to condemn violence," Ron Bar-On, who is also an ISM member and organized this year's conference, told The Herald-Sun last month.
A statement on the matter, the groups "fifth guiding principle," has been posted on the PSM website since last year: "As a solidarity movement, it is not our place to dictate the strategies or tactics adopted by the Palestinian people in their struggle for liberation."
Some PSM members at this year's conference suggested the group should change its public stance toward terrorism. Two motions regarding the "fifth guiding principle" were put to vote Saturday – one to alter the principle, another to remove it altogether. Both motions were voted down, with the PSM still officially refusing to condemn terrorism.
The delegates erupted in cheers when the vote's results were announced yesterday, attendees told WorldNetDaily.
The conference at Duke was PSM's fourth national gathering, following previous events at Berkeley, Michigan and Ohio State. Some PSM critics have charged that those earlier events were hotbeds of anti-Semitism, with some attendees shouting, "Kill the Jews," and "Death to Israel!"
As WorldNetDaily reported, this year's conference featured a host of other speakers who publicly support suicide bombings, including Fadi Kiblawi, who advocates killing Jews everywhere. He wrote in a University of Michigan publication of his desire to "strap a bomb to one's chest and kill those racists ... The enemy is not just overseas. The enemy is also amongst us."
Duke University President Richard Brodhead said neither he nor Duke endorses the content of the conference anymore than any other conference or speaker who comes to the university.
"You understand that I can't make certain public statements," said Brodhead, adding that he felt doing so could have a chilling effect on the willingness of others at Duke to take positions.
The ISM is a perfectly respectable body, and its members are largely practising/believing Christians. They are not left wing students or neo-Nazi's - many are middle aged members of the staid old Church of England. The West Bank is full of them at the moment. Olive Picking, a centuries old season in Palestine, has become a political issue - can you believe that? Why? Because Jewish Settlers habitually attempt to destroy the olive harvests and harrass the villagers. The IDF's response is to prevent the villagers from getting to their land - in order to keep the peace! Members of the ISM now come annually to help the Palestinians pick their olives - also members of Israeli left wing groups.
This year the ISM are also focusing on the Wall - which surrounds them wherever they are working in the West Bank. So more bad press. If the Settlers had not set out to harrass the villagers the ISM would not be here, reporting all they see.
Read all the articles... the ISM is the PSM... and they're terror enablers! _________________ He who is merciful with the cruel, will end-up being cruel to the merciful
- Kohelet Rabba 7:16
In 2003 I began writing exposes on the International Solidarity Movement (ISM). The ISM was originally set up by leadership of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the primarily Christian Arab and communist wing of the PLO, with Yasser Arafat’s blessing in 2002. It was designed to ally with foreign anarchist and anti-capitalist groups in the West in a common goal of making worldwide revolution that would include the dismantling of the Jewish state of Israel as a top priority. George Rishmawi, one of the ISM founders, felt that exposing foreign nationals to Israeli counter terrorism forces along with any injuries that might occur would make the world “sit up and take notice” of the Palestinian cause of destroying Israel and replacing it with an Arab dominated state.
The ISM began a campaign of trying to aid PLO terrorist groups and eliciting support abroad by claiming they are a “peace group.” Privately, their message was always different: support revolution and act as human shields for terrorist groups opposed to the existence of Israel. In the US, the ISM developed a presence in almost every major city usually working in conjunction with campus Palestinian groups supported by the Muslim Students Association. The ISM has no centralized leadership or location, following past revolutionary movements by having multiple cells and entities so that if one is closed down the others can continue to operate. In so doing, the ISM has become a cult, where the word “peace” in the Middle East is merely a code word for promoting worldwide anarchy and revolution, the end of Israel and the goals of terrorist groups.
I started an organization called Stop the ISM after I attended undercover some ISM national conferences. In doing so, I and many volunteers all began exposing the ISM for what it really is: a terrorist protection movement bent on first the destruction of Israel and then the United States and a propaganda arm of terrorist groups on US college campuses. To date our activities have managed to get over 200 ISM troublemakers deported from the West Bank, and just recently the main money laundering arm of the ISM came under scrutiny of the IRS so they had to stop collecting donations tax free that were costing the US government a fortune in lost tax revenue and ultimately went to organizations associated with Hamas.
If anyone doubts the definition of the ISM as a cult, they have only to read a letter that follows from a parent of an ISM activist, Brian Malovany. Brian is high up on the ISM food chain. He was discussed extensively in my article about how the ISM trains human shields to aid terrorists in the West Bank. A year ago, Brian Malovany’s father contacted me through the Stop the ISM website and asked if there was any way I could keep his son from the West Bank. Being concerned parents they were worried he might be killed to become a propaganda tool like Rachel Corrie and Tom Hurndall. The parents of Rachel Corrie and of Tom Hurndall instead of warning other parents to discourage their children from acting as human shields for Arab terrorist groups but instead became mouthpieces for them. Had they been decent parents they would not have allowed their children, anarchists by their own definitions, to go and act as human shields in combat zones for the likes of Yasser Arafat and Saddam Hussein. But Brian Malovany’s parents are good and loving parents, they recognize that the ISM is a cult now, a cult that promotes terrorism and unending war against Israel and the United States.
I was asked last year by Brian Malovany’s father if there was any way I could help keep their son out of the West Bank. I replied back then that it was a daunting task for anyone to stop a 36 year-old man from doing anything, but I was moved by Brian’s father’s distress over his son and what he was doing with his life. I sent a photograph to the Israeli police authorities with a copy of my article in which I exposed him as an ISM trainer. I told how he directed ISM volunteers to not stop Palestinian children from throwing stones even thought we were allegedly “peace activists” and how if we encountered armed terrorist groups we would have nothing to fear because the ISM worked with such groups and the word would be put out in advance not to harm us.. I was advised by the Israeli authorities that his picture was in a computer used at border entries along with his name to prevent him from getting into the West Bank. I also made an agreement with Brian Malovany’s father: I would keep our correspondence confidential. I understood the anguish of a father who wanted to keep his son out of harm’s way but did not want to seem to be against him.
Now, a year later, much to my surprise, I received another letter from Brian Malovany’s father. It seems Brian had managed to get into Israel yet again and had been running around with the ISM on the West Bank for the last six months. How could that be? Was Israeli security so lax? His father explained that Brian has an Irish passport, besides his American one, with which he might have fooled the Israeli border control.
Brian Malovany is currently living with Paul LaRudee, the Northern California head of the ISM about whom I’ve also written extensively, another player and trainer high up on the ISM food chain. LaRudee once boasted about sleeping in the bed of a suicide bomber in the West Bank.
The letter below from Robert Malovany, Brian Malovany’s father, illustrates how the ISM is not just a political movement, but a nihilistic cult that destroys families and seeks to also destroy civilized society while telling everyone it’s a “peace group.” Brian Malovany is a prize cow in the ISM also because he’s of Jewish descent but works to aid the ISM in its work to aid those who murder Jews in the Middle East. Read on:
Lee Kaplan,
I thought I would give you an update on our situation with our son Brian. As you might have expected, our relationship has gone from bad to worse. We had hoped that we would have some warning when he was going to go back to the West Bank with the ISM. It didn't work out that way. Before he left, he quit his job and went on a 6 month trip with his girlfriend. He was following her around helping her to write a book about red state America. They were trying to figure out why the rest of America felt so differently about things than people in the Bay Area. To make a long story short, as soon as he got back to SF, he took off for Israel and stayed there for 4 or 5 months doing the kind of mischief the ISM is famous for.
While there, our communications got steadily worse. He kept sending us political B.S. He knew we didn't want this stuff but he sent it anyway. Interestingly, we stayed in contact with his girlfriend. She tried to be understanding, but clearly she felt abandoned when he took off for the West Bank. Israel/Palestine is not her cause. Gradually she realized that he had become absorbed in a cult (ISM). Their relationship foundered and he continues to blame us for this. This is particularly sad as she is a nice person. But he really did abandon her choosing anti-Israel activism over their relationship. The ISM cult really has a hold on him. She decided wisely to leave him and get on with her life.
While in Israel, he pulled another typical ISM maneuver. He visited a cousin of ours on her Kibbutz. He stayed with her and her family for a few days, took advantage of her hospitality, and then went back to his friends on the West Bank. Clearly he used his family relationship to extend his visa in Israel. So there he was being all charming and friendly with our cousin and using her hospitality in order to extend his stay in Israel while working with an organization which is committed to the annihilation of her country. Nice!
Now he is back in the Bay area and apparently staying with Paul LaRudee, not one of your favorite people. He bypassed us on his way back and we have had very little contact with him since. He knows we aren't pleased with his current activities and life choices. He probably thinks we are evil fascist racist Zionists. What else is new?
It appears less and less likely that we will ever again have a civil relationship with our son. He really needs help. Deprogramming might not even be enough. He has cut himself off from anyone who ever really cared about him, his family, his girlfriend, and he has made his obsession with ISM politics the centerpiece of his life. He has no real job or any prospects. My guess is that as soon has he can, he will go back to the West Bank. All that he needs is someone to bankroll him and people are continuing to give these useful idiots money. Be that as it may, he is putting his life in danger. He may not realize it, but to his Palestinian handlers, he is worth more dead than alive. He is valuable to the ISM in that with his Jewish background he can pretend to be Jewish so they can pretend not to be anti-Semites. But over there, a nice dead white American martyr would be great P.R.
So yes, we think he is eager to go back there. In his crazy obsessed state, his activities on behalf of the 'poor oppressed Palestinians' give meaning for all he has sacrificed. We are trying to think of some way we can stop him from going back. The problem is we don't know anyone. Clearly he has done enough mischief over there to get on a do not admit list. I get the feeling that Israel doesn't much care to keep these so called peace activists out. Do you have anyone we could speak to in order to keep him from getting a visa? Is there a security apparatus in existence which is collecting names of undesirables to keep out of Israel? If so, wouldn't active ISM members be logical candidates to keep out?
To make a long story short, is there any way you can help us? We know that trying to keep him from going back to the West Bank will not help our relationship with our son, but it might save his life.
As with our previous communications, I would hope that you keep this totally confidential. I know you are eager for us to go public with our problem, but my wife and I are not ready for that. As unrealistic as it might seem, we still have some hope of someday again having a relationship with our son. It may be hard to believe, but he was once a really nice guy.
Can you help us?
Anything you can do will be appreciated.
Yours,
Robert Malovany
Robert Malovany asked me last time to keep his correspondence concerning his son confidential and I did. But I explained to him this time that what the ISM really does is help keep the war against the Jews and Israel roiling endlessly in the Middle East with no end in sight. Brian Malovany has no job to speak of but travels internationally for the ISM and works with these subversive groups. His activities hurt people and do not help them and the Malovanys are in fact good parents because they recognize their son is part of a cult, a movement that will never bring peace to the Middle East, only suffering and more endless war.
Maybe now Israel will make an earnest effort to keep him out of the West Bank and the public-at-large here in America will understand the ISM is just another dangerous cult led by Palestinian terrorists and their leaders. _________________ He who is merciful with the cruel, will end-up being cruel to the merciful
- Kohelet Rabba 7:16
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