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In 1986, Gore Vidal presciently described the pro-Israel lobby as a<br>Fifth Column within the United States and today we saw the faces of the<br>Fifth Columnists on PBS tonight although not a single one was identified<br>as being Jewish, nor was any connection with the Zionist think tanks,<br>JINSA, CSP, PNAC, even hinted at. Also, not a word was mentioned<br>regarding Israel's interest in fomenting a war against Iraq, and for<br>that matter, the word "oil," was not even mentioned once. Clearly, this<br>was a Zionist propaganda piece and indicates the control of even public<br>broadcasting by the pro-Israel lobby. It was one of the most dishonest<br>and disgusting pieces of reporting that I have ever seen.<br><br>When one combines what we saw tonight with (1) what Edward Said said in<br>Berkeley last night, and presumably, in Los Angeles, today, regarding<br>the role of the Jewish neo-cons in designing US Middle East policy with<br>(2) the arrest by the Ashcroft Injustice Dept. of Palestinian Prof. Sami<br>Al-Arian and others as anti-Israel "terrorists;" (3) the decision of<br>the organizers of the protests in New York and San Francisco, to exclude<br>the Israel-Palestine issue, and particularly the role of the Jewish<br>neo-cons from their role in planning for the war and when we see (4)<br>that the liberal's darling, Berkeley congresswoman, Barbara Lee, was one<br>of the 411 members of Congress who voted for the resolution praising<br>Israel's re-election of Ariel Sharon as an example of Israel's<br>commitment to "democratic ideals," a fact that has yet to be reported<br>by Pacifica's Amy Goodman or its Free Speech News (including even the<br>fact of the resolution, itself), I defy anyone to say that the Zionist<br>control of Washington and its influence down into the ranks of the<br>anti-war movement, is not a proven fact.<br><br>Jeff Blankfort<br><br>That was not the introduction that I had planned to write to the<br>commentary that I made on my radio programs yesterday, but it is<br>appropriate. Here is what I said:<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>I have a few comments about last weekend's anti-war protests. <br>Last Saturday, in over 600 cities and towns throughout the world, <br>and here in San Francisco on Sunday, we saw an unprecedented <br>demonstration of the human species' desire for peace and the <br>fears for our collective survival. <br><br>As on January 18th, Sunday's march and rally in San Francisco was <br>impressive both by its size and by the breadth of its participants <br>as those of you who were there can well attest.<br><br>At rallies and marches over the years, I have rarely carried a <br>sign. <br><br>In the Sixties I was a photographer and besides being an activist, <br>I documented the protests with my camera. Now I usually carry a <br>camera and a tape recorder.<br><br>But last Sunday when I arrived at the Embarcadero, something I saw <br>made me change my plans and the camera and the tape recorder <br>stayed in my bag. <br><br>What I saw was a stand where some young Palestinians were selling <br>posters. On the posters were grisly photos of Palestinian <br>children being abused by Israeli soldiers, a daily occurrence in <br>that occupied country.<br><br>There was one poster that had two images which would be easily <br>visible from quite a distance away. <br><br>The top photo depicted a Palestinian boy, no more than eight or <br>nine, being roughly carried by his shoulders by four Israeli <br>soldiers who had no doubt arrested him for the crime of "throwing <br>stones" at their occupying presence.<br><br>The expression on his face revealed the terror and the fear that <br>these jackbooted guardians of what their arrogant American backers <br>refer to as "the only democracy in the Middle East," had instilled <br>in him.<br><br>The lower photo showed no overt violence, but revealed the <br>pervasive sadism that is the hallmark of Israel's presence in <br>Occupied Palestine.<br><br>It showed a Palestinian family. A father and mother and between <br>them, their small son, maybe four or five years old. On the right <br>was an Israeli soldier pointing and aiming the barrel of his M-16 <br>right at the child, as his parents watched in horror.<br><br>The words on these posters, "End the Occupation," should have been <br>as much a part of Sunday's rally as was the slogan, "No War on <br>Iraq!," because what is going on in Palestine IS a war, and it has <br>been funded to the bloody hilt by American taxpayers while the <br>peace movement has been largely silent.<br><br>I bought two of those posters and held them back to back. As I <br>marched along Market Street, I saw the shock on the faces of <br>bystanders and other marchers as they looked at those photos, and <br>to see that shock is the reason I carried them.<br><br>Unfortunately, and unlike the demonstrations that took place in <br>other cities around the world, and particularly in Europe, the <br>organizers in San Francisco and New York, decided that the Israel-<br>Palestine issue was not one that the call for the march and rally <br>would address. <br><br>Rabbi Arthur Waskow, was a supporter of United for Peace and <br>Justice, one of the four groups that organized the San Francisco <br>march, and the major organization behind the New York rally. Here <br>is how he summed it up for the New York Jewish weekly, the <br>Forward. QUOTE "United for Peace and Justice has done a great <br>deal to make clear it is not involved in anti-Israel rhetoric." <br><br>"From the beginning," he said, "there was nothing in United for <br>Peace's statements that dealt at all with the Israel-Palestinian <br>issue."<br><br>And that folks, is what's wrong with the organizers of the anti-<br>war protests. But it's not the only thing.<br><br>The other thing, and it is not a small thing, is they are out of <br>touch with what is happening here in San Francisco .<br><br>Otherwise, how can one explain there giving the microphone to Amos <br>Brown, the discredited former supervisor whose only goal while in <br>office was to take the shopping carts away from the homeless, and <br>who was otherwise, nothing more than a shamelessly sycophantic <br>apparachik to Mayor Willie Brown?<br><br>They might say, he was, after all representing the San Francisco <br>chapter of the NAACP, but that organization has been almost <br>invisible in this city since 1964 when Dr. Nat Burbridge led the <br>civil rights sit-ins at the Sheraton Palace and the Cadillac <br>agency on Van Ness.<br><br>As it was, the reverend gave a rousing anti-war speech--such talk <br>is cheap after all in this town -- and received loud applause from <br>the crowd. It was clearly, a major step in resurrecting his <br>deservedly poor reputation. And for this those who selected <br>Sunday's speakers should be ashamed.<br><br> Jeffrey Blankfort, San Francisco <b off></b>
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