Tuesday, February 9, 2010
As Benny Morris at Cambridge, as Michael Oren at UC Irvine, so too, Danny Ayalon at Oxford: Ayalon faces hostile academic crowd in UK
Deputy foreign minister remains calm while verbally attacked by students attending London lecture
Despite securing a promise by the UK's Foreign Office that he would not be arrested upon arrival there, Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon was not exempt from the rage of pro-Palestinian demonstrators waiting for him both outside and inside a lecture hall in London.
One protestor at the Oxford University hall, where Ayalon spoke Tuesday, waved the Palestinian flag and interrupted Ayalon's lecture for several long minutes, during which he did not stop yelling at the Israeli minister and called him a "racist" and "a war criminal."
Many in the crowd cheered the interruption, and applauded the demonstrator as he was escorted out of the lecture hall by security.
The incident was the unfortunate "highlight" of an already troubled lecture: While Ayalon's address began in a rather routine fashion, about 15 minutes into the lecture, while he was reviewing the challenges of the Middle East, one of the IISS' students stood up and began reading excerpts from the Goldstone Report aloud, ignoring her fellow students' requests to stop for several minutes.
Ayalon resumed his speech, but was soon interrupted again, this time by a student who declared herself Lebanese and began yelling anti-Israeli slogans. She remained standing the entire length of the lecture, repetitively interrupting Ayalon...[More.]
Video at the link. The Oxford Union will be issuing Ayalon an apology and has issued a statement [PDF] which reads, in part:
...This morning, the Union's President launched an investigation aimed at identifying the Members who disrupted the event. The Union will be taking disciplinary action against these Members, in accordance with the Society's rules...
...The Oxford Union will be apologising to Mr Ayalon for the actions of its Members and thank him for the professional way in which he handled the situation.
[h/t: Citizen Wald]
This has been circulating around the web: They get so upset when we respond with their own tactic!
I was fortunate to attend the packed meeting on "Never Again: For Anyone" at
Parliament in Portcullis House on 27 Jan 10, on Holocaust Memorial Day. This
was one of the best meetings I have ever attended in nearly 40 years of
being an activist. I was inspired by the courage and resolve of 85 year old
Holocaust survivor, Dr Hajo Meyer.
I was moved by the Palestinian speaker, Dr Haidar Eid, who spoke live from
Gaza via telephone. The fact that he was prevented from attending this
important event was a poignant reminder of the strangulating siege imposed
by Israel. Not only did the Israeli nightly attacks on Gaza prevent him from
speaking live via video link, but the telephone line was unavailable for the
first part of the event. After a few failed attempts to connect by phone,
the speaker schedule had to be quickly rearranged. When, eventually, a phone
link was established the Boothroyd Room fell silent. I noticed the pain on
many faces, hearing Dr Haidar Eid speaking calmly about the horrific
suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza, inflicted by Israel.
Hearing other speakers gave a glimpse to understanding how other genocides
were planned, implemented and denied.
This event was by no means the only one on Holocaust Memorial Day, yet it
attracted Zionist lead figures, among them: Louise Ellman MP [Vice Chair of
Labour Friends of Israel], Jerry Lewis [Vice President, Board of Deputies]
and Jonathan Hoffman [Co-Vice Chair of the Zionist Federation]. Even
Christian Friends of Israel came to the event organised by IJAN
[International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network]. The presence of these Zionists
was a confirmation of the significance they attributed to this event.
The conduct of many of the Zionists in attendance showed their purpose was
not to learn from it, especially not from Holocaust survivor, Dr Meyer. Was
it fear from his words that drew them into the Boothroyd Room?
Most of the Zionists clearly came to silence the Holocaust survivor, Dr
Meyer. As soon as he started talking they shouted at him. The first to shout
was Jonathan Hoffman. He was also the first to be escorted out by police.
This was after Hoffman’s repeated shouting at the 85 year old Holocaust
survivor, preventing Meyer from giving his talk. The police gave him a
number of warnings. The two MPs who chaired the meeting were eventually
forced to ask for his removal.
Similarly, a bearded Zionist man repeatedly shouted at the 85 year old
Holocaust survivor. When eventually he was escorted out by police, his
conduct was most shocking. He stunned us when he made the Nazi salute and
shouted the Nazi obscenity, "sieg heil". We could only speculate on his
motives.
A couple more Zionists were eventually escorted out by police, before Dr
Meyer was able to complete his talk. There were other Zionists who also
joined in the shameful and disruptive conduct of shouting at the speaker.
They tried to silence the Holocaust survivor from speaking about his
memories and lessons from the Holocaust. Even when Dr Meyer was talking
about the extremely painful period of his life, under the anti-Semitism in
Nazi Germany and Auschwitz the shouting of obscenities at him did not
stop. Some of the shameful attacks were when Dr Meyer spoke positively about
Judaism.
I have never witnessed such contempt and disrespect to a Holocaust survivor.
It is inconceivable that such conduct would have not been labelled
anti-Semitic by the same people who were doing the attacking, had Dr Meyer
not been anti-Zionist.
It was a personal reminder of an attack on my father, who, like Dr Meyer,
grew up in Nazi Germany. My father, Michael Kahn, escaped Nazi Germany in
1937. In 1988 my father joined us at a weekly protest at Dizengoff Circle
[in Tel Aviv] against Israeli attacks on Palestinians. He was singled out by
Zionist Israelis, who told him in Hebrew: “shame the Nazis didn’t finish you
off”.
The hateful remarks and lack of compassion for the Holocaust survivor, Dr
Meyer, by the Zionists was compounded with their lack of interest in the
Holocaust itself!
Despite the obscenities shouted at Dr Meyer, by the Zionist thugs, he did
not give up delivering his talk. The 85 year old continued with his powerful
and thoughtful talk, in spite of being interrupted many times, which forced
him to stop his talk more than a dozen times. Meyer, who was a freedom
fighter against the Nazis, until he was captured and sent to Auschwitz,
demonstrated an amazing spirit. Clearly, the courage he had when joining the
resistance against the Nazis has not faded over the years, and even at 85 he
did not allow the Zionist attackers to intimidate him.
During and after the meeting Zionist thugs also singled out a Jewish Rabbi,
Jacob Weisz. They were aggressive towards the Jewish Rabbi, who was in
traditional Jewish garb and came to listen to Dr Meyer. The thugs were heard
making disrespectful comments to the Jewish Rabbi at his traditional Jewish
appearance.. . Other Jews were also attacked by Zionist thugs, including
physical threats.
That is how Western Leftwingers do it, at least since the 60s.
They call it progressive action against the fascists.