Yesterday, along with the Mennonite Central Council and The World Council of Churches, the American Friends Service Committee held a dinner to honor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran's Jew-hating and genocide-threatening Shi'a President.

In response to the cordial invitation to Iran's gay-killing, Jew-hating, Presidential bigot, thousands of people protested the dinner across the country [Here is an excellent gallery of photos of the well attended New York event. -S]. In Cambridge, Massachusetts, home of the New England offices of the AFSC, Christians and Jews United for Israel (CJUI) demonstrated outside the offices of the Quaker organization.

An organization so quick to protest others was genuinely shocked by people having the temerity to call them on the carpet for welcoming and honoring one of the world's most vicious theo-fascists.

When you conjure up images of the American Friends Service Committee your brain returns pictures of a variety of soft and cuddly folks: Graying, pony-tailed guys involved in "Peace and Justice" studies, Vietnam-era draft dodgers (pardon me, "resisters") and the usual array of central casting, post-Woodstock extras. Many baby-boomers will wistfully recall the AFSC exchange student programs of the 1960's when third world kids broke bread at the homes of their wealthy and guilt-ridden American sponsors.

The offspring of this generation has now come of age -- they're carrying on the "internationalist" (read "socialist") tradition of their parents with a particularly nasty campaign against Israel and Jews.

For decades, the AFSC, the political arm of the Philadelphia based Quakers, has taken up the cause of Palestinian Arabs and excoriated Israel in the Middle East conflict. Their blandishments of "peacemaking," "humanitarian aid," "love," "truth," "compassion," "care" (enough already! -- and I'm quoting from their mission statement), melt away when you drill down into their real agenda:

"the conditions of genuine peace are based upon the preservation of basic human rights and the restoration of justice." (my italics)

You don't have to be a prophet to understand that the last phrase means an unlimited "right of return" for Arabs and the dissolution of Israel as a Jewish state. Once you insert the word "justice," you provide a convenient justification for any and all terrorism.

And there's the difference between the Quakers of 40 years ago and the political extremists that they have morphed into. For starters, In the AFSC's official timeline of the Middle East Conflict we are told that, regrettably, the Fourth Aliyah (1924-1928 [actually 1924-1929]) included "fewer socialists." Middle class Jews fleeing rampant pogroms, it would seem, were less worthy of sanctuary than their socialist brothers and sisters. Similarly, we read that "U.N. General Assembly Resolution 181 calls for Palestine to be divided into a Jewish state (57% of Palestine), an Arab state (43% of Palestine)" without mention of the fact that the Arabs totally rejected the deal and commenced slaughtering their Jewish neighbors. In addition, the AFSC redactor refers to "Palestine," utilizing the current parlance that connotes any reference to something called "Palestine" as aboriginal Arab land. Oh so clever these "internationals" are.

Under pressure, the AFSC General Secretary , Mary Ellen McNish (I wonder how coincidental is the nomenclature -- note that Stalin created this position for himself in 1922 ("General Secretary of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks") begins her explanation:

"Dear Friends,

This Thursday, September 25, 2008, the American Friends Service Committee is co-sponsoring an event that's getting international attention. I want to ensure that you know about it."

You can see where her letter is going: "Building bridges, promoting understanding, frank and honest exchange of views"...ho hum. But if you really want to know about it, read the actual invitation to Ahmadinejad:

Res ipsa loquitor.

Sam Diener, the editor of the AFSC magazine, Peaceworks, told me that he had not seen the actual invitation to Ahmadinejad, but that he would disagree with the letter if it had indeed appeared to "honor" him. Peaceworks is a fine example of Quaker apologetics for Palestinian terror:

In its February, 2008 issue, we read that the deadly rockets fired at Sderot and other Israeli cities are not so much weapons of aggression but rather, "frantic pleas to the world to see and respond to the crisis in Gaza."

Well, Sam, read the invitation and weep. We expect you to register your objections to Ms. McNish. For that matter, please publish your objections in Peaceworks.

As to the AFSC argument that dialogue was the primary reason for the dinner, I inquired about the dinners hosted by them for Ariel Sharon or any other Israeli government leader. Guess what the response was. And of course, we all remember the AFSC dinners for Augusto Pinochet or Margaret Thatcher.

It would seem that to break bread with the Quakers, you have to promise to break Jewish (and Christian and Baha'i and Zoroastrian and gay and lesbian and adulterous and feminist and ...) heads.

Here are some photos of the protest:

Credit: Rotem Brayer

Credit: Rotem Brayer

Credit: Rotem Brayer

Credit: Rotem Brayer

Credit: Rotem Brayer

Credit: Rotem Brayer

Credit: Rotem Brayer