Yesterday there was a march in honour of the victims of hate.

It was a pretty standard turn out for the March we were a little less than 100 people, made up of Trans folk and their Cissy Allies (hello there).
The march was set to start on the street of the shooting in August, which made the whole situation a whole lot more loaded emotionally of course.

The way to the march was a bloody disaster, you see, there was a different demonstration happening along the same main streets and we had to wait for it to pass.
The police was all set for that demonstration and basically decided that they would use the same personnel and the same garrisons for both marches.

One march was for Trans awareness, basically.
The other was for protesting the cut of the Disability Pension for IDF Veterans.

Yeah.
Talk about a "clash of civilisations" - one portion of the population that isn't drafted and another that pays the price for it.
*sigh*

As I said, getting to our march was a bloody disaster because the police garrisoned a bunch of main streets which we had to drive through, we also had to drive through the stragglers of the disabled vets march.

We drove through the entirety of central Tel Aviv on the busiest evening of the week, on the evening of a demo that nobody gave a shit about.
Two demos that nobody gave a shit about.

I didn't see anything other than Updates (as in not actual reporting) on the online mainstream news websites.

Of course, once we got to the Gay Community centre the police told us to go through the back so that we don't disturb the other demo.
Even when they're being fucked over by because they're disabled, there's still a hierarchy.

Both population are silenced and made invisible.
Both population intersect - I wouldn't be surprised if there were vets there who were Trans and there was certainly more than one marcher with us who had mechanic (crutches, wheelchair) aid.

Both populations are fucked over.

Still, it was obvious who were more respected by the police - the Disabled Vets didn't "chose" to be freaks and they're "genuinely" screwed over by the government.
Of course.

Sometimes I really feel the people in power just look down on us, eat and throw the crumbs down to see the fights brew.
It's depressing.

Last night I nearly had an argument with my parents, in which I was almost accused, again, of hating Israel.

Why?

Because I don't consider Iran to be an existential thread upon me or my nation.

Why?

Iran has bigger problems, like a civil uprising that's barely being reported now a days - unless it's a foreign national caught in the local politics. The fact that Iran is surrounded by American (and other Western) troops, in Iraq and Afghanistan - Yesterday was Armistice Day and I didn't mention it, because it's not a day commemorated here. We didn't "exist" during the Great War or the Second World War and we have our own military memorial days.
Not to mention Pakistan which really does have nuclear capabilities and appears to have a happy trigger finger.

Ahmadinejad finds Israel, like many other Muslim and Arab nations, an easy Scapegoat - it's part of our Status as Jews, I suppose.

I asked my parental units if they thought Iran was a big cohesive homogeneous nation? The answer was "Yes".
I called Bullshit and they knew that what they had said was not true, but the argument of "Iranian Aggression" doesn't fly when all of the above in taken into account.

I sincerely hope that not everyone thinks Israel is a bunch of Avigdor Liberman's (our Foreign Minister) and Bibi Netanyahu's (our Prime Minister).
Iran is too used as a scapegoat in order to deflect from our own huge problems - like the fact that 1 in 4 Israelis lives in poverty. That public housing is denied to mixed families. That the Settlements are a criminal issue and not just a "National" one.
Just to mention a few of Israel's "Problems".

But that's all small potatoes when we, Israel, an allegedly nuclear nation the tiny nation surrounded by enemies (with whom we are thinking about "peace agreements"... sorta) is being threatened by a politically unstable, non-nuclear and already sanctioned country.

Yeah, I'm feeling safe with Big Brother in this oh so tolerant and enlightened Jewish-Democracy.

I'm so glad I don't need to go out and do things today.
It is miserable out there; thunder and lighting, all very very frightening.

Two things happened on yesterday's Israeli News circuit and I think it show cases the different treatment given to Jews and Palestinians.

The first thing I heard about is that Member of Knesset Mohammed Barakeh was going to be indited for assaulting a police officer during a demonstration in Bil'in.
I've been hearing about this possibility for three years now and I knew it would be just a matter of time.
I'm not keen on calling out unfair treatment, but the fact remains that witnesses have said that if Barakeh touched a police officer it was in defence, because friends... you do not want to get into it with Israeli police officers, especially not the Special Patrol Unit - basically the riot police - who have no qualms about picking people up and throwing them into a crowd - I speak as someone who cushioned someone's landing.

Point being, I've been trying to find more info about the story, because Dudes, inditing an MK for assault is no small thing.

The other News story is the arrest of one Yaakov "Jack" Teitel (an American Jew who immigrated to Israel and has been living in Shvut Rachel - a West Bank settelment - since 2000) who has been titled as The Jewish Terrorist, under his belt are, allegedly: the murder of two Palestinians (a Shepard and a taxi driver), rigging a package bomb that was aimed at and wounded a family of Messianic Jews, the attempted murder of Prof. Ze'ev Sternhell (prominent Left-Wing thinker) and for committing a series of warning attacks against the police at the times of the LGBTQ Pride Parades.

He has confessed to almost all the charges and said he came to Israel in 1997 to carry out attacks on Palestinians as revenge for the terrorist attacks and suicide bombings.

Yeah. ( Click for more )

I've been trying to write about the Goldstone Report and what it's actually doing to the discourse regarding Israel internationally and domestically.
I suppose anyone who is a regular News reader known that the UN Human Rights Council has endorsed the report.

Obviously, Israel is crying "No Fair!".

Israel's reactionary response couldn't have been more predictable. Instead of co-operating and trying to own the story, Hasbarah has gone out of its way to convince the world that the report is "false, distorted and promotes terror".

Personally speaking, I think it's about time we took some responsibility for the fact that, indeed yes, we are not the Good Guys. That there are no Good Guys, and that crimes committed against people cannot be condoned.
( this is quite long, so I've cut it )

I was going to write about the Goldstone Report and how Israel, once again, managed to avoid any kind of accountability for their actions in Gaza.
This UN fact finding mission had strong words about Hamas' conduct as well, calling the firing of Qassam rockets war-crimes.
This is something that is often omitted, mainly because Goldstone puts the onus onto Israel, seeing as Israel did kill 1,500 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians.

The main conclusion I've come to in this whole affair is that the UN, once again, proved itself to be the most redundant and irrelevant organisation in the world.

So much potential UN, your execution of anything leaves much to be desired. You're good at reporting things and writing them down, but acting upon it.
Not so much.

Can't help that the US pretty much bullies you into submission time and time again when it comes to Israel.
Israel, of course, also bullied Mahmoud Abbas into deferring talks about the report, thus turning the President of the PA and head of Fatah into a collaborator.

Strong words, but that's the way he is viewed at the moment, at least, that's the only way I can think the Palestinians would view him at the moment.
There are demands that he quit. There is of course backtracking, much backtracking.
The people are feeling the leadership.
Not really, no.
I have to say, even at my most cynical, because I think the PA is as corrupt as any other government only doesn't have the power or money to cover it up, I didn't expect this.
Goldstone was the PA's golden ticket at getting something, world recognition.
Israel blew it too, by not co-operating and using the power of the all-mighty Hasbarah to discredit Justice Goldstone; our own reactionary and paranoiac response to to the fact finding mission, headed by a self-identified Zionist, a man who has headed numerous Israeli academic boards and has Israeli family, has driven the report out of Israel's (or Palestine's) control.
Because now Lybia is taking the task of holding talks about the report.

Who said Israel and Palestine deserved each other?

It is worth mentioning that this month is the anniversary of the October 2000 Events. There are currently riots in Jerusalem (I'm happy the J-Lem contingent of my family is not there at the 'mo) hence keeping out Sheikh Ra'ad Salah for the month.
September-October are always tense due to the High Holidays and the intensifying security forces around the Western Wall and the Al-Aqsa mosque.
It doesn't help that said security forces are racist and not shy about it.
That U.S Jews feel they have the right to Jerusalem more than any other religion that holds it holy, because yeah, that's what's happening at the moment too.
"It's mine!", "No, It's mine!!"
If there was going to be a massive earthquake, let it be there.

Regardless of who is to blame, this is just a taste of things to come.
The Palestinians will have Intifada vs 0.3, the IDF will once again head into the depth of the West Bank, probably "re-conquer" the Gaza Strip, while feeding us (Israelis) the tripe of "they brought on themselves", "we have no choice", etc. etc.

Same ole tune, shiny new instruments.

More on this and digression thereof in a little while. This should give you all something to chew on for a bit.

Wow, do I have some stuff to share.

Okay so I don't want to make this a huge links post and rant but damn! The weekend was just non-stop with the amount of WTF's that seemed to bleed into the News and I can't not share it with you dear readers.

I hope those of you who are more than just interested in the Occupation and Israeli policy in Palestine did not miss Professor Neve Gordon's Op-Ed in the LA Times: Boycott Israel: An Israeli comes to the painful conclusion that it's the only way to save his country, which came online on Thursday the 20th of August.

It's a whopper and a very important read.

However, it wouldn't be a News day if someone didn't condemn those filthy dirty anti-Zionist Jews with self-hate.
Have you ever notice that only other Zionists accuse us of hating ourselves. What's up with that?

On Friday, the Los Angeles Jewish Community began to mull over boycotting Ben-Gurion University is Israel, which is the Uni in which Prof. Gordon teaches Poli-Sci. Funny Diaspora reaction aside the really special moment and quote comes from the LA Israeli Consulate Mr. Yaakov (Yaki) Dayan:

"I believe that the definitive answer to anti-Zionist lecturers like Gordon is to set up a center for Zionist studies, which unfortunately does not exist in Israeli academia," [Dayan] continued. "This center would help dispel the lies disseminated by Gordon in the name of your university."

Oh my God, my eyes could not have rolled farther into my skull without giving me brain damage.
I just... *sigh*.
As I said, a very special moment.

That's not all. Oh no, not even close. There is more Israeli craziness in store.

Who hasn't heard of the controversial Swedish newspaper article accusing the IDF of murdering Palestinians in order to harvest their organs.
I gotta say, it smacks of hyperbole, but that's not my point.
As controversial as the article may be, I think the Israeli Government's reaction was just beyond out of proportion.
And defensive of course.
PM Netanyahu is set to request, nay, demand that the Swedish government condemn the article.

After the article was published, it would appear Israel did not appreciate the Swedish government's reaction... which was to be quiet about it.

On Friday, the Israeli Ambassador to Sweden Benny Dagan met with Deputy Foreign Minister of the Scandinavian country and urged his government to issue a denunciation of the article. Deputy Foreign Minister Frank Belfrage emphasized his country's freedom of speech and how it limits the ability of the government to respond to articles in the media.
[...]
A Netanyahu aide said that "Israel does not wish to infringe upon the freedom of the press in Sweden. However, as much as the Swedish press is entitled to freedom, the Swedish government should enjoy the freedom of denouncing such reports."

The desk is well acquainted with my head, because really, of a government is nosing into the media, it's no longer a free press.

The Swedish Jewish Community's reaction to this is pretty interesting; one of the head's of the community, Lena Posner, says that until Israel got involved, it was a non-issue:

Posner told Ynet, "The article was published here on Monday, but no one paid any attention to it. It wasn't a news report and was buried in the back pages of a tabloid. The writer is known to many of us as anti-Israel, and so it the entire paper. This is why no one took it seriously – until Israel got involved."

Read this one, it's pretty good and manages to show Lieberman as the paranoid maniac that he is because beyond accusing Sweden of Antisemitism and saying that this silence over the matter is equivalent to their silence during the Holocaust (Godwin! Hello!) - he's gone on to accuse Norway of promoting Antisemitism, here's why:

"I remember that in the Durban-II conference," Lieberman said, referring to last April's UN anti-racism summit which was criticized as allegedly biased against Israel. "The Norwegian representatives were among the few who didn't walk out, and today I realize it's not a coincidence. How low can you go?"

How low indeed.

So... anybody got any good jokes?

*Claps Enthusiastically*

Look! See here!

There's a New US Plan calling for a Palestinian State.

A demilitarised state.

Oh, bravo! Well done! That's the ticket, because nothing says autonomy like a double standard (no, Israel will not be giving up it's planes, tanks, M-16's, cluster bombs or any other bomb).

I'm feeling the fair play here. The impression of justice and political self-actualisation.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and U.S. President Barack Obama will discuss on Tuesday a new initiative which would see a demilitarized Palestinian state set within amended 1967 borders and Jerusalem as its shared capital with Israel, according to the London-based Al-Quds al-Arabi.

The initiative, which was reportedly raised by past U.S. president Jimmy Carter, former secretary of state James Baker and former national security adviser Brent Scowcroft, would also have Palestinians concede on their demand for the right of return, in exchange for compensation.

Oh, did I not mention that this was the Egyptian government presuming to speak for the Palestinian Authority.
Ostensibly reiterating Israeli policy.

Yeah.

This is going to end well.

I think I may be able to write coherently about what happened.

First of all, thanks you everyone who commented on my previous post, sent me an sms, an email, a phone call, all that.

I was safe and snug at home away from Tel-Aviv.

I didn't go to the impromptu Pride March that took place in the vicinity, nor will I be able to go to any vigil today (possibly tomorrow). I am going to go to the big demo that's going to happen in Rabin Square on Tuesday.

The number of injured rose to 15, at least 7 of them went into surgery during the night. Almost all the injured are minors (i.e. under the age of 18).
The death toll remains two, though over the night there were reports that a third had died but that turned out to be a mistake.
The murder victims are a 16 year old woman/girl and a 26 year old boy/man.

The girl (and all the other minors) went to this little underground floor which for nearly 20 years has acted as the headquarters of the LGBT Rights Association, colloquially known as The Aguda. The place has acted as a place of gathering for various queer groups, including this youth support group. There was no security guard, because this place for more than a decade, has been considered a "safe space" smack in the middle of Midtown Tel Aviv.
Talk about Queer central.

That dead man/boy acted as a councillor to these kids, many of them (if not most) closeted. This was where they came to be themselves, to vent, to get support, to be with others who are like them.
Like us.

During the months leading up to Pride (Fuck, just a month ago!) and during June Pride month, I wrote a bit about various homophobic incidences that happened over the country and one of them was a "random" would-be gay bashing in Tel Aviv, simply because two guys were kissing in the street.

There can really be no doubt that this was anything other than a homophobia motivated attack. Anyone trying to think of alternative scenarios is fooling themselves, or trying to. That little corner in the middle of the alley streets of central Tel Aviv was a known venue. Even if the little piece of shit didn't know it was going to be Teens and Young Adults there last night, the shooter knew damn well that there were going to be queer people there.

The recent entry written at the Israel Left blogging website begins like this:

Something happened in Tel-Aviv tonight, a milestone in the delicate relationship between minority and majority, left and right, and whatever other classifications you may wish to use here.

Honestly, I do not think so.
This is perhaps that most violent incident in scale, and it is overwhelming when an incident like this happens in the supposed cosmopolitan metropolis of "the only Democracy in the Middle East", however, we do not know how many queers do not report incidences of violence against them all year 'round. The statistics of this are very, very iffy. Queer people exist in every single intersecting demography. A large portion of them are closeted.
Just like these kids.

I think it is incredibly naive to believe that this is a milestone in anything. This is a flare of a disease, an acute symptom of a social disfigurement. The violence in which it was committed is alarming and may indicate that the pressure in the melting pot is reaching critical, but homophobia has been and is alive and kicking and only the incredibly clueless would thing otherwise, yes, even in liberal Tel Aviv.

Just last week [Southern!Girl] and I went to a Butch/Femme event, she was the Butch and I was the Femme and it was such a clear dyke event, that just walking in the street we both felt exposed but at the event itself in the Rogatka bar it felt so incredibly safe and good and fucking fun.
I did mention that if we were a little bit more on the South end of Tel Aviv I don't know how safe I would have felt walking down the street in my fancy dress and her in a fancy suit.

That centre is just a few kilometres South-West of where were.

I'm feeling kind of queasy.

The police's response to this was to close down the other LGBT clubs and meeting spaces because the gunman is still at large.
Seriously?
That's your immediate answer? To try and police our movements even more, especially when Queers are fucking everywhere in Tel Aviv and the majority are really not going to be "hanging out" at the community gathering centres unless there is an event.
And that's the point.
We go to the same cafe's as straight people, the same movie theatres, the same bloody streets okay!
This attack was deliberate and for our safety you're telling us you're closing down our other (what we believed) were safe spaces.

Last night I was in shock. Today I'm fucking pissed.
You can follow my Twitter which I used last night to disseminate information.

In relation to my two previous posts about the death of Bassem Ibrahim Abu-Rahma, the video below is seven and a half minutes of the events leading to his injury and death.

Two words are repeated over and over in the language that I speak. They are "Regah" and "Katzin".
"Regah" means "Moment" and colloquially means "Wait".
"Katzin" means "Officer".

Over and over they are saying "Wait, Officer!".

Warning, this is a very violent and triggering video, it is in Arabic and Hebrew with no subtitles.

When I saw this video, I was shocked at the amount of utter badness one managed to condense into one minute and 8 seconds.



There's your Beauty Myth ideology at the basis of the video.
The beautification of bodily mutilation.
Big, huge, honking amounts of racism ("Big Bushes" for the Black girl, tiny "Bonsai" bushes for the Asian girl).
Oh and good ole' female objectification with the comparison of bushes to... well... you get the picture.

A chain saw?
For reals?!

Ever since (in)famous(?) Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zaidi threw his shoe at Former (hooray!) President Bush, there have been a number of copy cats.

A shoe was thrown at the Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao on Monday at his talk in Cambridge University. Unlike Mr. al-Zaidi, this protester did not manage to aim quite so squarely at Mr. Wen.

And just today a shoe and two books were thrown at Israel Ambassador Mr. Benny Dagan in Sweden.
The shoe and two books were thrown by two protesters at the University of Stockholm where Mr. Dagan was giving a talk about the upcoming elections.
I can only assume that the items were thrown in protest to the violence in Gaza.

Or Antisemitism.

Who can tell.

Although, it would appear that unlike the shoes thrown at Bush and Wen, these ones actually hit their target.

Here is a short video of the incident:


And on a more ludicrous note: books! They threw books?! Dude, shoes is one thing - it's dirty and out right disrespectful, but books! That's just disrespecting yourself.

Last night Israel declared a unilateral cease fire.
Today Hamas declared a unilateral cease fire (for a week so that the IDF can withdraw).
Which, I'm surprised to say, they are.

I doubt, though, that something will last more than a week.

The last three weeks have been hellish.

Understatement, I know.

As stated, I'm not optimistic.
This has happened before.
I don't think Israel or Hamas will be ceasing fire for long.

One thing that really hasn't been spoken about at all, either in the Israeli media or International is the actual political aspect of this all.
As I'm sure some of you are aware, Israel is entering general elections next month. Just so you know, Kadimah and Avodah, according to the poles, are doing very, very well.
Yeah.
Conclusion may be drawn without much trouble.
But let me not speak treason.

The Palestinian doctor who lost three of his daughters in the the fighting - video of the interview on Israeli television - has been just one of many such stories out of Gaza, only it is one of the few that has seen full coverage in Israeli media.

In Israel three civilians were killed and 10 soldiers died in combat.

All personal tragedies are terrible and unthinkable and traumatic.

But 1,300 dead people in Gaza, over 400 of them children, most of them civilians.
Even if more Hamas combatants died in the fighting, was it really worth it?

Are we even able to comprehend the fact that each and every one of dead has a name? A family that will miss them... maybe even an entire family that dies with them (in Gaza only at this point, seeing as no Israeli family has been wiped out by rockets)?

Hoy... I'm tired.
Tomorrow is another day.

That's all folks.
At least for now.

I'm quite speechless.
Really I am.
I'm quite sure there are rules about this sort of thing!

Okay, so there is a cease-fire.
And yes, okay, It's unilateral, for all the new kids that means it is one sided. Which means that one party made a decision which does not include the opposition.
Israel, has a history of this these kinds of moves.
Suffice to say, Hamas has not signed any cease fire agreement.

At two am (my local time) the cease fire should come into effect.

But if Hamas chooses to continues to fight and fire rockets... the IDF will respond only if they are fired upon and maybe even broaden the operation.

The fighting will continue until peace is restored.

Good night folks.
For News coverage that actually makes sense and logic I leave you with: