Protestors, many clad in orange T-shirts stamped with the word \”Shalom,\” cheered speakers who alternately pled for the center\’s survival and criticized The Federation and the Jewish Community Centers of Greater Los Angeles (JCCGLA) for failing to do more to save it.
Altogether, approximately 700 pro-Israel demonstrators from around the world gathered in the Dutch capital to bear witness and protest the travesty of justice taking place.
Local activists protesting Israeli policies have expanded this month at various events that have attracted a range of pro-Palestinian activists, scholars and clergy from across Southern California.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) took its campaign equating factory-farm animals to Holocaust victims to the streets of Los Angeles this week with a protest in front of the Simon Wiesenthal Center Tuesday at noon (see story on page 12).
Yuri Gottesman is a member of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), a motley group of activists from around the world that converge in the West Bank and Gaza ostensibly to encourage the Palestinians to engage in nonviolent resistance against the Israelis.
Amit Duvshani, who is completing his master\’s degree in molecular biology at the University of Tel Aviv, e-mailed Andrew Wilkie, a geneticist at Oxford University, asking to work in Wilkie\’s lab to continue his research into HIV.\n\nWilkie\’s e-mailed response has since seen the world via the Internet. He rejected Duvshani\’s request on the grounds that the young man served in the \”oppressive\” Israeli army, as is compulsory for all Jewish Israeli men.
\”While we all hope for freedom in Iran, we perceive this as an Iranian, rather than a Jewish, issue,\” one source said. \”On a practical level, if Iran were to become a democracy, many expatriate Muslims would probably go back but very few Jews.\”
Even though he promises to be a kinder, gentler version of himself, his raspy growl is — and will be — unmistakably unchanged.
More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.