"End stealing land. End oppression."
A handful of people stood in front of the Israeli consulate in Toronto for about an hour last evening to protest against Israel. What was it about this time? Let's see: they're against the Dead Sea Scrolls, they're for the BDS* (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) Movement, and someone named Mohammad Othman is supposedly in prison in Israel merely for speaking out against "Israeli apartheid". That's all he's done, really.
A young man handing out flyers told me that something like 200 innocent Palestinians have been imprisoned in Israel for the sole act of speaking out. I said, "They'll be putting Richard Goldstone in jail next," and he answered seriously that he doubted it but if Goldstone were Palestinian, then for sure he'd be jailed. I asked the young man how he knew for certain about Mohammad Othman and he said he'd read it on a website.
I'm in a hurry this morning but the only results I get from a quick internet search are blog posts on anti-Israel blogs. I'll look later for real documentation on this person. Suffice it to say that I highly doubt that anyone has been imprisoned in Israel merely for speaking publicly against the country.
*Am I the only person who remembers when BDS stood for Bush Derangement Syndrome?
Update: From the comments:
"The young man handing out flyers (me) told you about around 500 (not 200) administrative detainees (including women and children) who are held in Israeli jails indefinitely and without charge. Mohammad Othman was put in administrative detention after returning from Europe where he was speaking about BDS."
5 comments:
Ah, Josephine, what we need are debates about land - especially in Universities. What constitutes ownership of land? Politics? We know the Turks ruled Palestine, before it was conquered by the Brits. Ownership? We know that a lot of the West Bank and Israel was owned by absentee Syrian and Turk landlords. Living on the land? Why should that give eternal rights of governance? It certainly didn't in the new world nor in places like Bosnia.
As always, very impressed with your work and your stamina.
The young man handing out flyers (me) told you about around 500 (not 200) administrative detainees (including women and children) who are held in Israeli jails indefinitely and without charge. Mohammad Othman was put in administrative detention after returning from Europe where he was speaking about BDS. So much for your supposed bastion of free speech in the Middle East.
http://www.btselem.org/English/Administrative_Detention/
Thanks for the pictures :) I'll be posting them with pride on my respective site.
How's the hate mongering working out for you? Sleeping OK?
Jonathan - Good points.
Vardit - Thank you.
Facade Fail - Thank you for the clarification. Do you remember that I asked you to write down the website name for me? It's because my memory is not what it used to be.
P.S. to Facade Fail: Why no link to your own site?
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