Can you feel the love? Rally for Palestine and Lebanon in Washington, D.C.

Lafayette Park, Washington D.C. August 12, 2006. It was slated as a "Rally for Palestine and Lebanon."(CAIR action alerts). It felt more like a hatefest. It went far beyond policy. Words like massacre, state sponsored terrorism, war criminals, war crimes, war machine, all in reference to Israel and the United States, permeated the rhetoric. One AP article called the crowd "family friendly." I guess you could say that if you want to teach your family, and especially children, that their President is a terrorist, their country murders children, and that "capitalism is the disease and revolution is the cure."




In the video below, the National Council of Arab Americans condemns the "duplicity and complicity" of the American government in allowing the Lebonese "massacre to continue." He talks about the "Israeli war machine and Israeli war criminals". Notice throughout the video, he refers to Lebanon as home. Not America.


Next the National Council of Arab Americans states that they stand in solidarity with Hezballah and praise Hezballah as victors over Israel and freedom fighters.


In this segment, Brian Becker, National Coordinator of ANSWER, tells the crowd that the United States and Israel are "equal partners in genocide."

Below Becker refers to the long discredited Jenin massacre as though it were not discredited and lets the audience know that the Lebanese war was on behalf of Exxon, Chevron, and Citibank, who want to impose "Colonial slavery" on the people of the Middle East. Yes, he actually used the "S" word.



In the segment below, an Egyptian University Professor, representing the Egyptian Committee Against Imperialism & Zionism, salutes Hezballah from the podium, and he states emphatically that he doesn't salute any Muslims who try to stab Syria in the back. All to wild cheers from the crowd. He says Egypt will join the fight, and the crowd boos when he refers to Mubarak.



In the below video, Esam Omesh, President of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, has quite a list of demands including the release of hundreds of civilians he claims are held in "Israeli dungeons" and to "stop calling Islam Islamic fascism or a religion of extremism". He goes on to say that Israelis deliberately targeted civilians. And this was broadcast throughout the Arab world according to MAS's website (http://www.masnet.org/).



Mahdi Bray, Executive Director of the Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, has some questions on his mind. He wants to know if it was right that bombs paid with U.S. tax dollars killed a young girl's entire family on the beach in Gaza (a disputed account). And he contends that Condaleeza Rice fiddled while the Middle East burned.


Mhadi Bray continues on by telling George Bush that there is no fascism in the Koran, and maybe he should check that with "George Rumsfield" (yes, he actually said George). He states that George Bush needs to go read his Bible.



In the MSM's coverage of the D.C. rally, Reuters ran a picture of a distraught Muslim woman with the caption: "A woman shouts at anti-Muslim protesters during a rally in Washington against the Middle East conflict August 12, 2006. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst (UNITED STATES)" (I found the picture at littlegreenfootballs.com) Hmm. Anti-Muslim. How did Reuters come to that conclusion? I didn't encounter any "anti-Muslim" protesters. Counter-protesters, yes. I took the following pictures of the handful of counter-protesters that I did encounter, and while I was taking their pictures, it was the Muslim group who came from across the street to shake fists and call names. Could it be that Reuter's "anti-Muslim" caption is blatently false and biased?






Here are more stills from the rally. You can get a feel for the tone of the day.















Throughout the day, many of the speakers demanded recognition as patriotic Americans. I took pictures of every corner of the rally. How many U.S. flags were flying? It's kind of a "Where's Waldo?" situation.









The entire afternoon in Lafayette Park was a bombardment of condemnation. The irony of the day was, of course, that there was a constant flow of condemnation toward the U.S. and Israel for civilian deaths, a constant flow of Muslims professing the "sanctity of all life", and heartfelt Muslim chants of Allahu Akbar (God is great), yet not so much as a breath of condemnation against Al-Qaeda who continues daily massacres of innocent Iraqi civilians, and not a word of condemnation against the Muslims who, while chanting that same "Allahu Akbar," sawed off innocent civilian Nick Berg's head and lifted it high for the cameras. No comdemnation for scores of other atrocities.

Yet the Muslim speakers proclaim, "All life is sacred." Why should we believe you?

CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) Rally Against Israeli War on Lebanon and Palestine -a report by ciaospirit

At 3:30PM, July 28, 2006, about 75 people gathered in COLUMBUS, OHIO to protest Israel and U.S. support for Israel. There were no counterprotesters. One participant said that there was enough blame to go around on both sides, but 99% of the people there placed 100% of the blame on Israel for the current Israeli/Hizballah war. Dr. Al-Akhras, Vice Chair of CAIR-National, spoke to me and spoke several times at the rally, and twice shoved me and grabbed my camera trying to stop my filming. He also told people not to talk to me. I guess he didn't like my questions. I talked with a lot of the protesters and asked some challenging questions (which many didn’t like). You can get a feel for the anger and tone of the rally by watching the videos. By the end of the day I was called an Israeli spy, an Israeli terrorist, and told to go to hell.



CAIR Anti Israel Rally-Part One. In this segment, a protester wearing militant garb describes his version of the cause of the conflict and Dr. Al-Akhras of CAIR gets angry and shoves me and grabs my camera when I ask him if he has any words of condemnation for Hezbollah for starting the war and for killing Israeli civilians.



CAIR Anti Israel Rally-Part 2. In this segment, Dr. Al-Akhras of CAIR for the second time shoves me and my camera and then some of his protesters block me and my camera so that I can’t tape Dr. Al-Akhras’s speech. And I’m accused of being an Israeli spy.



CAIR Anti Israel Rally-Part2a. In this segment, a CAIR spokesperson (sorry didn’t get his name) appeals for aid for Lebanon and defends what he calls the “humanitarian” side of Hizballah. I asked him if it is okay to murder people as long as you also have a “humanitarian” side.



Anti Israel Rally-Part 2b. In this segment, I asked a protester if he had any condemnation for Hizballah starting the war and hiding amongst civilians. He said those are lies and Israeli propaganda.



CAIR Anti Israel Rally-Part 3. In this segment, the CAIR spokesperson refuses to answer the question “Is Hizballah a terrorist group?” He also maintains that the public fails to see the humanitarian good Hizballah does.



CAIR Anti Israel Rally-Part 4. In this segment, I walked through the crowd asking questions like, “What about Israeli children being killed?” as some protesters tried to block my path. Notice at the very beginning the woman filming me.



CAIR Anti Israel Rally-Part 6. In this segment, I do another crowd walkthrough and ask if there are any words of condemnation against Hizballah for starting this war and hiding amongst civilians, in effect, using them as shields.



CAIR Anti Israel Rally-Part 8. No condemnation of Hizballah here either.



CAIR Anti Israel Rally-Part 9. Did you know that Hizballah attacked Israel merely in response to the Israelis kidnapping of two Palestinians on June 24, 2006? So says CAIR and they cite Noam Chomsky is their source.

Special Note: In video part 2b, CAIR spokesman reads a press release asking for ALL faiths to donate supplies and aid through a group called LIFE. I went to LIFE’s website (www.lifeusa.org) and was amazed at the hypocrisy of their mission statement:"Life For Relief and Development (LIFE) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to alleviating human suffering regardless of race, color, religion or cultural background." Yet not an instance or a mention of giving any aid to Israeli civilians or Israeli children. So churches and synagogues should know that any donations they give will go only to Palestine and Lebanon (according to CAIR’s statement).

Most of the signs for the rally were provided by CAIR. As you’ll notice, many of the protesters didn’t want to be seen so they covered their faces with the signs.














When I left the rally, exhausted from the heat (both kinds), I couldn’t help but reflect on the intense emotions in play, here, thousands of miles from the actual conflict. These people say they are against terror, yet had nothing to say about militant Islamist terrorists. I wondered why they wouldn't speak out against Hizballah or homicide bombers. I imagined what it must be like in the war zone. And I prayed to God to intervene on behalf of humanity. But this hate runs so deep I think it even has God shaking His head.