Worldwide protests as Gaza offensive intensifies

Adiv Sterman
The Times of Israel
Fri, 18 Jul 2014 08:27 UTC

In Turkey, rioters attempt to storm Israeli consulate; Polish pro-Palestinian demonstrators assault Jewish tourists.

Thousands of protesters in numerous cities worldwide took to the streets Thursday and Friday, from Cairo to Istanbul to Washington, to demand an immediate halt of Israel's ground incursion in the Gaza Strip and call on the international community to intervene on behalf of Gazans.

In Turkey, Egypt and Jordan, rallies were held in solidarity with the Palestinian cause, some of them turning violent as demonstrators clashed with police forces and vandalized public property. There were also protests in cities including London, Madrid, New York, and Cape Town.

In Istanbul, police warded off hundreds of rioters who attempted on Thursday to storm the Israeli embassy building. Demonstrators in Ankara and Istanbul also hurled stones at several compounds where Israeli officials reside. Calls for the destruction of the Jewish state were heard in both Turkish cities. Police responded by firing tear gas canisters and water cannons at the crowds.

In Cairo, supporters of overthrown Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi, as well as members of his outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, marched in protest of "Israeli aggression," and criticized Arab governments for failing to assist the Palestinian people.

In Jordan, protesters called on the Egyptian government to open the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and the Sinai peninsula, as Hamas has demanded, in order to allow the transfer of humanitarian aid into the Strip.

On Thursday, in the Polish city of Krakow, a group of Israelis were assaulted and spat at in the city's main square by a group of pro-Palestinian protesters, Channel 2 reported.

"They approached us and hit the cameras we were holding," one of the Israelis said of the Polish demonstrators. "They shouted at us, calling us 'killers' and 'criminals'," he added. Police forces broke up the demonstration a short while later; no arrests were made.

Following a pro-Palestinian demonstration in Berlin on Thursday at which participants chanted anti-Jewish slogans, the American Jewish Committee Berlin office filed a complaint with police. According to a press statement, marchers chanted, "Jew, Jew, cowardly pig, come on out and fight."

Deidre Berger, director of the AJC's Berlin office, wrote an open letter to the members of the German Bundestag calling on them to be vigilant in protecting Jewish citizens. Police should crack down on such threats "to show that anti-Semitism has no place in our society."

The danger of uncontrolled demonstrations was made clear last week in Paris, when violent protesters trapped Jews inside a synagogue and chanted such slogans as "Hitler was right" and "Death to Jews." In Germany, such expressions are illegal and not protected by free-speech laws.

Comment: This is complete and utter BS. What actually happened in Paris is that members of the Jewish Defense League, pretending to be supporting in solidarity with Palestine, started a riot that nearly got people killed, while the police stood back to let it happen. Then the French government declared all further demonstrations in support of Palestine to be illegal.

"We're concerned that there are no more taboos against open expressions of anti-Semitism at such protests," Berger said. Reports of aggressive anti-Israel demonstrations have come in from other cities in Germany, including Frankfurt, Gelsenkirchen, Kassel and Bremen.

Another pro-Palestinian demonstration is scheduled for Saturday in Berlin. Several thousand demonstrators are expected.

Meanwhile, across the Atlantic Ocean, demonstrators gathered in Washington for a series of largely peaceful protests, in memory of four Palestinian children who were killed on a Gaza beach Wednesday, apparently by errant Israeli navy gunfire.

On Thursday, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan had intensified his fiery rhetoric against Israel over its ground invasion of Gaza and accused the country of state terrorism and genocide. Erdogan added that the two countries, whose relations soured after Israeli commandos stormed a pro-Palestinian aid ship trying to breach Israel's security blockade of Gaza, resulting in the deaths of nine Turkish citizens in 2010, will not mend ties on his watch.

"Since [Israel's creation] in 1948, we have been witnessing this attempt at systematic genocide every day and every month," Erdogan said. "But above all, we are witnessing this attempt at systematic genocide every Ramadan."

Following the protests in Turkey and Erdogan's statements, Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman on Friday instructed the family members of all diplomats serving in the country to return to Israel at once. Liberman further ordered the reduction of diplomatic representation in the state to a minimum.

"I have instructed the Foreign Ministry to clarify to the government of Turkey that Israel strongly protests the blatant violation of diplomatic guidelines, violations strongly enhanced by Turkish authorities and security forces during the demonstrations," Liberman said.

"We place the responsibility for the safety of Israeli representatives serving there on the Turkish government," he added.

Comment: The children on the Gaza beach were systematically mowed down by deliberate Israeli gunfire. There was nothing "errant" about it. They were only a few of thousands of children and civilians that have been starved, tortured, maimed and eliminated over the past few weeks, months, years, decades...

It is some comfort that protesters around the world are expressing deep indignation for the heinous conduct of the Israeli government and military. At least the message is coming through in more enlightened parts of the world. It is appalling that the United States, that rusted beacon of "human dignity and freedom," continues to blindly support Palestinian genocide and financially underwrite the Israeli military to do so. How long will it take for the U.S. to wake up and at what price?

Reader Comments

jowblow · 2014-07-20T01:20:58Z

No common sense

If Jewish people are assaulted around the world, in protest, they will just pack up and go to Israel. This will create more pressure to kick Palestinians from their homes. Thus, more conflict.

Ruth · 2014-07-20T01:58:06Z

Indeed, especially as Israel uses the Jewish religion in order to give itself and it's behaviour some legitimacy. Many 'leaders' and countries in the past have done this to their very great detriment.

Niall · 2014-07-20T07:24:22Z

Yeh but, Jewish people are NOT being "assaulted around the world". That's BS to 'show how we are victimized'.

tabitheriel · 2014-07-20T15:45:23Z

Hatred is never the answer

Sadly, many of those protesting are doing the Palestinians a disservice by using hateful antisemitic slogans, Nazi swastikas, etc. and are thereby delegitimizing their message and preventing meaning dialogue about the conflict.

In order to make peace, Israel and the Palestinians must recognize each other. There can be no peace if either side believes the other does not exist. Originally, the British mandate called for two states, an Arab state and a Jewish state. Arabs at that time rejected it, resulting in war and invasion, and since 1949, the problem of what to do with the displaced Palestinians has never been addressed.

Gaza was given in a land-for-peace swap, and this has NOT resulted in peace! Sadly, there has been no cease fire that has held. These conflicts are ALWAYS disproportionate. If you can call a war between two unmatched sides "genocide", when the side that loses refuses to make peace, then half of the world's conflicts are genocide!

Here is a link that explains the conflict's roots in a rational manner:

[Link]