De Pro-Israel Lobby 21

De pro-Israel lobby in de Verenigde Staten krijgt steeds meer steeds meer kritiek te verduren.

'Zionists Vs Truth -The Wheels of Justice Battle for Andover.

By Joe Carr.
http://lovinrevolution.org/beta/?q=node/36

Last night was one of the most contentions events I’ve ever done. Whoever
thought that a simple talk in the library of Andover High School in a small
suburb of Massachusetts would make so many headlines.

It all started last October, when six social studies teachers invited the
Wheels of Justice Bus Tour to talk to a couple classes. The Wheels of
Justice Tour (http://www.justicewheels.org/) brings eyewitness accounts of
war and occupation in Iraq and Palestine to communities across the US,
including hundreds of high schools. I was on it for several weeks at the end
of October.

Despite the tour’s well-regarded reputation for supporting nonviolence and
human rights, a group of parents and influential community members pressured
the school’s principal, Peter Anderson, to cancel our visit, claiming that
we are “anti-Israel” and “support terrorists”, even going so far as to call
us a “hate group”. Late the night before we were supposed to speak,
Principal Anderson called one of the teachers and told him the talks were
off.

We drove the bus to the school the next morning anyway, hoping that the
principal could be convinced that this was an unfair violation of the
teachers’ rights. But we were unsuccessful, and Principal Anderson, backed
up by an Andover Police Officer, asked us to leave.

The teachers’ immediately began organizing, starting with a protest in front
of the school that day. The students followed suit with a petition demanding
we be allowed to speak. They had 200 signatures by lunch time. Local Zionist
groups issued press releases taking credit for blocking us, though Principal
Anderson insists that it was his decision.

The teachers union joined with the ACLU and threatened to file a lawsuit
against the school district if they didn’t allow us to come back. The
school’s lawyers admitted that our case was strong and it could end up
costing the district a lot of money if he didn’t bring us back. Anderson
caved and bought me a plane ticket.

Zionist forces continued to try and apply pressure behind the scenes. They
attempted a court injunction, tried to insist students have permission slips
in order to attend, and threatened to hold a picket outside the school. All
of these failed, and we had an excellent day of classes.

Because of all the publicity, many more teachers were interested in hearing
us speak, so several talks took place in the library with combined classes.
All in all, we spoke to over 200 kids in four sessions. The students were
very respectful, and asked thoughtful and challenging questions. They seemed
to especially like my hip-hop song about Rachel Corrie. Though one student
did tape a sign made from notebook paper to an upper-level window that read
“YOU SUPPORT TERRISM”.

Because some parents demanded to know what we had said to their kids, the
principal agreed to host an evening event that would be open to the public.
He clearly had no idea what he was getting into.

By 7pm, Over 300 people were crammed into the library, standing room only,
shoulder to shoulder. I counted about 100 Wheels of Justice supporters, 120
Zionists, 80 high school students, nearly all of the administration, three
armed Andover police, two TV news cameras, and several photojournalists. You
could cut the tension with a knife.

Principal Anderson opened with a call for respect and civility, threatening
to cancel the event if there was any disruption. Mazin Qumsiyeh, a prominent
Palestinian-American activist, began his talk on Palestinian history. Within
5 minutes, Zionists began screaming at him and calling him a liar. Others
yelled at them to be quiet and let Mazin speak. Anderson got up and again
threatened to cancel the event, but one of the Zionist leaders took the mic
and encouraged her supporters to behave, or otherwise they’d never know what
we told their kids.

The event continued with frequent disruption, including threats of violence
and other missives. Anderson never removed anyone, even though there were
clearly individual provocateurs. Dr Hassan Fouda, an Egyptian-American
activist spoke next about his experiences with nonviolent resistance in
Palestine. Then I talked about my trip to Iraq, and ended with my song about
Rachel Corrie.

The opposition was a little less disruptive during my talk, perhaps because
it was on Iraq, perhaps because I’m not Arab-American. Though several people
in the back tried to distract me during my song about Rachel by making faces
and waving their arms. “These are adults?” I thought.'

Lees verder: http://lovinrevolution.org/beta/?q=node/36 En ook:
http://www.qumsiyeh.org/andoverhighschool/