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	<title>FrontPage Magazine &#187; Danielle Avel</title>
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		<title>ISIS Calls for Poisoning and Running Down Westerners</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/danielle-avel/isis-calls-for-poisoning-and-running-down-westerners/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=isis-calls-for-poisoning-and-running-down-westerners</link>
		<comments>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/danielle-avel/isis-calls-for-poisoning-and-running-down-westerners/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 27 Nov 2014 05:52:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Danielle Avel]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[car]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[France]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[ISIS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[poison]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[run down]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Terrorism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[threat]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=246044</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Terrorist group calls on Muslims in the West to do their duty. ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/isis.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-246076" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/isis-450x253.jpg" alt="isis" width="304" height="171" /></a>In a new video, ISIS threatens to murder Westerners through a wide range of new means, including poisoning of food and drink and hit-and-run attacks.  This marks an increase in ambitious threats as ISIS (also known as Islamic State, ISIL, and Daesh) calls on Muslims to wage “jihad in the path of Allah” using easily accessible weapons.</p>
<p>The seven-minute video, entitled, <i>What Are You Waiting For</i>, opens with a group of Francophone ISIS fighters denouncing the West and throwing their French passports into campfire. French is the spoken language in the video, which also contains Arabic and English subtitles.  One jihadi known as Abu Osama Al-Faranci, states: “This is a message from your French brothers who have made Hijra, to the Muslims who are still living in the land of Kufr.”  In other words, it is an appeal by ISIS fighters who have emigrated to lands controlled by the Islamic State to Muslims living in the land of the infidelity.</p>
<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/unnamed1.jpg"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-246046" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/unnamed1-450x293.jpg" alt="unnamed" width="413" height="269" /></a>Though the fighters in the video mostly speak to Muslims living in France, they also have a broader audience in mind; for instance, Abu Maryam al-Franci addresses “those Muslims in France and elsewhere.”</p>
<p>The jihadis featured in the video implore Muslims to make “Hijra” and emigrate to lands controlled by the Islamic State. But if Muslims do not emigrate, Abu Maryam (holding a machine gun and a machete) reminds them, “Indeed you have been ordered to fight the Kafir [unbeliever/non-Muslim] wherever you find him” and encourages Muslims in the West to attack civilians in their home countries.</p>
<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/unnamed2.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-246049" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/unnamed2-450x293.jpg" alt="unnamed2" width="450" height="293" /></a>Abu Salman al-Faranci introduces new methods to entice potential terrorists living in the West to commit murder in France, telling them to “terrorize them and do not allow them to sleep due to fear and horror.” Abu Salman continues, “There are weapons and cars available and targets ready to be hit… Kill them [infidels] and spit in their faces and run over them with your cars.” He goes on: “Even poison is available, so poison the water and food of at least one of the enemies of Allah.”  Abu Maryam hopes that infidels “will even fear travelling to the market.”</p>
<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/unnamed3.jpg"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-246051" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/unnamed3-450x293.jpg" alt="unnamed3" width="450" height="293" /></a>ISIS has proven itself successful at recruiting thousands of fighters from Western countries to join its ranks.  Should this resonance continue and jihadis living in the West heed the new ISIS call, it would have dire consequences for non-jihadi Muslims; any driver, waiter, or grocery clerk could be perceived as a terrorist in waiting.  For all of us, ISIS’ latest message hopes to turn a stroll down the street into a walk of terror and to turn our food and drinks into recipes for murder.</p>
<p><i>Danielle Avel is an investigative researcher and photojournalist. She can be reached through her </i><a href="http://danielleavel.com/"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i>website</i></span></a><i>, on </i><a href="https://twitter.com/DanielleAvel"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i>Twitter</i></span></a><i> @DanielleAvel and on </i><a href="https://www.facebook.com/Avel.Danielle"><span style="color: #0433ff;"><i>Facebook</i></span></a><i>.</i></p>
<p><b>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: </b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a><b>. </b></p>
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		<title>House of Worship or Palestinian Arsenal?</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/danielle-avel/house-of-worship-or-palestinian-arsenal/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=house-of-worship-or-palestinian-arsenal</link>
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		<pubDate>Fri, 25 Jul 2014 04:47:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Danielle Avel]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Farouq Mosque]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Gaza]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[palestinians]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.frontpagemag.com/?p=237035</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Who is interested in what was found inside the Al-Farouq Mosque in Gaza?]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/lor.jpg"><img class="alignleft  wp-image-237088" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/lor-450x252.jpg" alt="lor" width="318" height="178" /></a>While salvaging Qurans from the rubble of the Al-Farouq Mosque in Gaza, junior imam Muhammad Hamad told the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/13/world/middleeast/israel-gaza-strip.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">New York Times</span></a>, ‘This is a house of God” – as though this proved the mosque is a peaceful place of worship.  He said this after Al-Farouq had been targeted by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) on July 12.  According to IDF spokesperson, Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, intelligence indicated the mosque was used as “a Hamas rocket cache and gathering point for militants.” According to Hamad, “That charge is baseless.”</p>
<p>This debate conjures striking visuals – the military against the mosque, the Qurans amidst the rubble, and the young imam invoking the term “house of God.”  Media outlets eagerly perpetuate this narrative however incomplete or inaccurate.  The problem, however, starts at the very root of the story, with the mosque.  Let’s explore what a “house of God” might look like to an average person living in a Palestinian-controlled neighborhood.</p>
<div id="attachment_237036" style="width: 241px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1-Caliph-Abu-Bakr-Mosque.jpg"><img class="wp-image-237036 size-medium" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/1-Caliph-Abu-Bakr-Mosque-231x350.jpg" alt="Caliph Abu Bakr Mosque in Aida.  Photo credit: Danielle Avel" width="231" height="350" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Caliph Abu Bakr Mosque in Aida. Photo credit: Danielle Avel</p></div>
<p>The above picture shows the Caliph Abu Bakr Mosque in Aida in “Area A” on the West Bank. Area A means Israel maintains control over external security, so Palestinians there are limited in the weapons they can amass, unlike in Hamas-controlled Gaza where Israel relinquished control of the border.  Though Israel prevents missiles from entering the West Bank, Area A is otherwise similar to Gaza in that Palestinians are responsible for their own neighborhoods – central to those neighborhoods are mosques.</p>
<p>The Aida mosque entryway is festooned with violent messaging that celebrates terrorists, that show all of Israel gone from the map, and advertisements for conferences that promote the caliphate (i.e., radical Islam taking over the world).</p>
<div id="attachment_237037" style="width: 460px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Screen-Shot-2014-07-24-at-2.09.29-PM.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-237037" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Screen-Shot-2014-07-24-at-2.09.29-PM-450x300.png" alt="Caliph Abu Bakr Mosque main entrance in Aida.  Photo credit: Danielle Avel" width="450" height="300" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Caliph Abu Bakr Mosque main entrance in Aida.  Photo credit: Danielle Avel</p></div>
<p>Note at least 7 specific examples of politicized imagery in the above photo:</p>
<p>1. Drawing of the word “Fatah,” the quasi-political party that rules the Palestinian Authority</p>
<p>2. Stylized drawing in Arabic depicting a map of Israel as “Palestine” as the final letter</p>
<p>3. “Fatah” graffiti</p>
<p>4. Remnants of an advertisement for the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir’s 2012 Caliphate Conference</p>
<p>5. Poster celebrating a released terrorist with common Palestinian imagery featuring a map of Israel as “Palestine”</p>
<p>6. Remnants of a poster celebrating a terrorist</p>
<p>7. Poster advertising the 2013 Hizb ut-Tahrir of Palestine Caliphate Conference</p>
<div id="attachment_237040" style="width: 457px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Screen-Shot-2014-07-24-at-2.11.56-PM.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-237040" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Screen-Shot-2014-07-24-at-2.11.56-PM-447x350.png" alt="Aida mosque side entrance.  Photo credit: Danielle Avel" width="447" height="350" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Aida mosque side entrance. Photo credit: Danielle Avel</p></div>
<p>The photo above shows a child walking by the side entrance of the same mosque.  Directly above his head is a poster celebrating 2 terrorists with a common slogan “throw off your chains.”  On either side of the terrorist poster are advertisements for a caliphate conference.  The wall is splattered with graffiti: “Fatah” appears frequently alongside the terms “struggle” and “Phalanxes of Martyrdom” which are calls to war.</p>
<p>Mosques like Aida’s are commonplace in Palestinian-controlled neighborhoods of Gaza and the West Bank: radical Islam is the norm, terrorists are celebrated, and the messaging reiterates the goal of destroying the Jewish State.</p>
<p>These messages, openly celebrated even on the exterior walls of “houses of God” make it is easy to comprehend how Palestinian mosques become part of their terrorist infrastructure.</p>
<p>Further, Palestinians have a documented history of using mosques as bases for terrorism.  A few examples:</p>
<p>•In <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2736283.stm"><span style="color: #0433ff;">2003</span></a>, Israeli police thwarted a suicide attack and located the explosives belt in a mosque in Taibeh.</p>
<p>•In <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/israel/1432360/Mosque-football-team-was-terrorists-cover.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">2003</span></a>, Hamas terrorists in Hebron used their mosque’s football team as cover while they carried out a series of suicide attacks that killed 34 Israelis.</p>
<p>•In <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/08/19/otsc.kessel/index.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">2003</span></a>, Ra’ed Misk, an imam of a mosque in Hebron, carried out a suicide attack that killed 23 civilians.  He was dressed in the explosives belt at a mosque in eastern Jerusalem.</p>
<p>•In <a href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3648349,00.html"><span style="color: #0433ff;">2008</span></a>, the IDF bombed a mosque in Gaza City that was used to store missiles and explosives and was used as a launching ground for rocket attacks.</p>
<p>•In <a href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/data/pdf/PDF_09_072_2.pdf"><span style="color: #0433ff;">2009</span></a>, during Operation Cast Lead, IDF forces uncovered weapons caches in mosques throughout Gaza including ones in Jabaliya, Al-Atatra, and the Zeitun neighborhood of Gaza City.</p>
<p>As for the Al-Farouq Mosque recently targeted in Gaza for being a “rocket cache” and meeting place for terrorists, it broadcasts publicly its affiliation with Hamas and its promotion of jihad on the mosque’s <a href="http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/Data/articles/Art_20672/E_113_14_1401598645.pdf"><span style="color: #0433ff;">Facebook</span></a> page.</p>
<div id="attachment_237041" style="width: 320px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/4-meir-amit-screenshot.png"><img class="size-medium wp-image-237041" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/4-meir-amit-screenshot-310x350.png" alt="Screenshots from the Al-Farouq mosque Facebook page.  Credit: The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center. " width="310" height="350" /></a><p class="wp-caption-text">Screenshots from the Al-Farouq mosque Facebook page. Credit: The Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center.</p></div>
<p>As the IDF targets terrorist sites in the Gaza Strip, more mosques will likely be destroyed.   Waiting near the rubble will be Palestinians claiming these are merely “houses of God.”  It is clear that as long as it is beneficial to use mosques as bases of terrorism, Palestinians will continue to do so – and to lie about it.  Media outlets may continue to gloss over this reality, but how long will their audiences be fooled?</p>
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		<title>Calling for Intifada on the Streets of Washington</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2013/danielle-avel/calling-for-intifada-on-the-streets-of-washington/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=calling-for-intifada-on-the-streets-of-washington</link>
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		<pubDate>Mon, 11 Mar 2013 04:10:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Danielle Avel]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual Policy Conference]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[CODEPINK]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[intifada]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Islam]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Left]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Washington]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://frontpagemag.com/?p=180730</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[CODEPINK comes out of the Jihadist closet.  ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2013/danielle-avel/calling-for-intifada-on-the-streets-of-washington/dd/" rel="attachment wp-att-180732"><img class=" wp-image-180732 alignleft" title="dd" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/dd.jpg" alt="" width="320" height="183" /></a>On March 3, 2013 a group of “pro-peace” agitators organized by CODEPINK Women for Peace and Interfaith Peace-Builders made noise outside the Washington, D.C. Convention Center to harass the 12,000+ participants attending the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual Policy Conference.  Its activities were characterized by angry screaming and chants for a violent uprising: “Long live the intifada… intifada, intifada!”</p>
<p><iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/z_ApKGtKd2k" frameborder="0" width="425" height="325"></iframe></p>
<p>Some background: The Palestinians initiated their first uprising, or “intifada,” against Israel in 1987 and ended in 1993.  It was marked by violence from the beginning; however, at the time Palestinians had limited access to heavy artillery and resorted to using rocks, Molotov cocktails, and guns to target Israelis.  By the time it concluded, over 170 Israelis had been killed.</p>
<p>The second intifada lasted from 2000 to 2005 and noted a significant escalation in violence thanks in great part to the Oslo Accords – an agreement meant to bring “peace” but ultimately brought easier Palestinian access to dangerous weapons.  During this uprising, Palestinians used guns, bombs, and suicide vests to target Israelis, killing over 1,000.</p>
<p>Anti-Israel groups often use terms such as “justice” and “pro-peace” to hide their true agenda which, as the video shows, is really “intifada.”  There is a new push to claim that a new “intifada” may be non-violent, but history suggests otherwise.</p>
<p>Israelis are all too familiar with the Palestinian calls for violence and death; the call for an “intifada” has now reached the streets of Washington, D.C. and is being openly celebrated.</p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank">Click here</a>.  </strong></p>
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		<title>Anti-Zionists Stage Trial Farce</title>
		<link>http://www.frontpagemag.com/2012/danielle-avel/anti-zionists-stage-trial-farce/?utm_source=rss&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=anti-zionists-stage-trial-farce</link>
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		<pubDate>Tue, 23 Oct 2012 04:44:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Danielle Avel]]></dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Daily Mailer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FrontPage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anti-Semitism]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Anti-Zionists]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Israel]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jew-Hate]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Russell Tribunal]]></category>

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		<description><![CDATA[The Jew-Hating Left begins its proceedings at the "Russell Tribunal on Palestine." ]]></description>
				<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/danielle-avel/anti-zionists-stage-trial-farce/avel5-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-149192"><img class="wp-image-149192 alignleft" title="avel5" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/avel51-450x299.jpg" alt="" width="315" height="209" /></a>A gaggle of approximately eight-hundred “anti-Israel” activists, anti-Semites rebranded as “anti-Israel” activists, international socialists, and radical feminists descended upon New York City’s historic Cooper Union on October 6-7, 2012 to attend something called the Russell Tribunal on Palestine or RToP.  This RToP circus has been conducted in 4 sessions in 4 cities over the past 2 years.  They will meet again to present their final “conclusions” in February 2013.  If gavels, white wigs, and black robes were absent, keffiyehs and anti-Israel T-shirts took their place. Other highlights of the event included flowers on the stage worthy of a funeral.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/danielle-avel/anti-zionists-stage-trial-farce/flowers/" rel="attachment wp-att-149128"><img class="wp-image-149128 aligncenter" title="flowers" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/flowers-450x299.jpg" alt="" width="405" height="269" /></a><strong>Flowers fit for a funeral</strong></p>
<p>This throng of wild-eyed leftists was intent on conducting a “trial” to consider “US complicity and UN failings in dealing with Israel’s violations of international law towards the Palestinian people.”  Note that the session automatically assumed Israel’s guilt for alleged “crimes.”  Even so hostile a personage as Judge Richard Goldstone <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/opinion/israel-and-the-apartheid-slander.html?_r=0">wrote</a> of the conference in 2011: “It is not a ‘tribunal.’ The ‘evidence’ is going to be one-sided and the members of the ‘jury’ are critics whose harsh views of Israel are well known.”  NGO Monitor correctly calls the event “a legal farce and a total failure.”</p>
<p>The event derives from an initiative by British philosopher Bertrand Russell who in 1966 decided he had the moral authority to create his own personal knockoff of the Nuremburg Trials, which he dubbed the “International War Crimes Tribunal”.  Lord Russell, born into British aristocracy, became a vehement critic of the United States, to the point that fellow philosopher Sidney Hook <a href="http://www.rand.org/pubs/papers/2008/P3561.pdf">referred</a> to Russell as possessed by an “almost pathological anti-Americanism.” That tribunal lambasted US military action in Vietnam in a one-sided pseudo-investigation which historian Gunter Lewy dismissed as a “veritable industry publicizing alleged war crimes”.</p>
<p><strong>October 6, 2012: Russell Tribunal Day One—Day of the Grandiose Egos</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/danielle-avel/anti-zionists-stage-trial-farce/avel2/" rel="attachment wp-att-149130"><img class=" wp-image-149130 aligncenter" title="avel2" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/avel2-450x223.jpg" alt="" width="405" height="201" /></a> <strong>Caption: RToP audience listens to “testimony.”</strong></p>
<p>Day one started very late (as did day two, as well as the press conference near the UN on day three). Pierre Galland, the master of ceremonies, kicked off the “tribunal” by offering introductory remarks in French, leaving the overwhelming majority of the American audience looking bewilderedly at each other, wondering what was going on.  Only after completing his remarks did Galland switch to English and inform the audience that translation headsets were available.  He went on grandiloquently to demand complete silence from the audience, which he instructed to stand on the arrival and departure of the “jury,” to show it proper respect.  And so began the so-called “tribunal,” not with any grand purpose, but with plenty of grandiose egos.  Some of those egos:</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/danielle-avel/anti-zionists-stage-trial-farce/avel3/" rel="attachment wp-att-149132"><img class="size-medium wp-image-149132 aligncenter" title="avel3" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/avel3-428x350.jpg" alt="" width="428" height="350" /></a><strong>The Mayor of Geneva, Rémy Pagani, lauded for donating 50,000 Swiss Francs to help fund the RToP NYC session.<br />
</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Writer Ben White gave “testimony” on the topic of “Israeli Policies since 1948.” Not surprisingly for someone known for saying “I am not an anti-Semite, yet I can also understand why some are,” he promoted the Palestinian concept of <em>nakba</em> (“catastrophe”) in referring to the creation of the Jewish State.  He expanded on the idea, calling the situation “an ongoing <em>nakba</em> that didn’t finish in ‘49 or ‘50 or even ‘67 but is carried on today.  And it carries on in both Israel proper and inside the occupied territories.” <strong><br />
</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/danielle-avel/anti-zionists-stage-trial-farce/avel4/" rel="attachment wp-att-149133"><img class=" wp-image-149133 aligncenter" title="avel4" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/avel4.jpg" alt="" width="432" height="432" /></a><strong>“Witness” Ben White, The Tweet, and “Howard Jacobson’s face” (the StandWithUS photo linked to by White in his post).</strong></p>
<p>Seems in White’s mind, the very existence of a Jewish State is a catastrophe.  Then again, this is same man who just last May, decided that a valid reason to <a href="http://blogs.jpost.com/content/bigoted-double-standards-ben-white-hits-rock-bottom-bds">boycott</a> Israeli Jewish actors is because of the face of an English Jewish writer since they have so much in common—being Jewish.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/danielle-avel/anti-zionists-stage-trial-farce/avel5/" rel="attachment wp-att-149135"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-149135" title="avel5" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/avel5-450x299.jpg" alt="" width="405" height="269" /></a><strong>Harry Belafonte and “juror” Dennis Banks sharing some laughs at the anti-Israel/anti-US fest.</strong></p>
<p>Other highlights of Day 1 included a sighting of actor/singer Harry Belafonte, famous in leftist circles for heading a delegation to meet with Hugo Chavez and for calling George W. Bush “the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world.”  His comments on Jews, however, made Belafonte a rich addition to the RToP audience: in 2005 he first stated that “Hitler had a lot of Jews high up in the hierarchy of the Third Reich” and then compounded the insult in his retraction by saying that “Sometimes, the Jewish people have laid claim to such a high and pure morality.”</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/danielle-avel/anti-zionists-stage-trial-farce/wally-shawn/" rel="attachment wp-att-149136"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-149136" title="wally-shawn" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/wally-shawn-450x280.jpg" alt="" width="405" height="252" /></a><strong>Actor Wally Shawn is all smiles at the RToP.</strong></p>
<p>Actor Wally Shawn turned up in the audience and the mere presence of a celebrity in the building caused RToP fans to gush about his appearance in virtually every write-up of the event.  Although he did not address the crowd, his previously-recorded endorsement of the tribunal called it “an investigation of the crimes of the State of Israel against the Palestinian people.”  Gee, that sounds like a fair “trial.”  His personal writings tout the anti-Israel propaganda that the Jewish State was formed after World War II because, “the world felt it owed the Jews something–but then showed its lack of true regard for the tormented group by ‘giving’ them a piece of land populated and surrounded by another people.”  Apparently, Wally is under the <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQcQdWBqt14">Helen Thomas</a> perception that Jews are a European invention whose presence in Israel is just recent, ignoring a continuous Jewish presence since Biblical times.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/danielle-avel/anti-zionists-stage-trial-farce/stephane-hessel/" rel="attachment wp-att-149138"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-149138" title="stephane-hessel" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/stephane-hessel.jpg" alt="" width="426" height="342" /></a> <strong>The ultra-animated Stéphane Hessel.</strong></p>
<p>The star of the show, however, was the dynamic 94-year-old Stéphane Hessel, French “ambassador for life” and author of the best-selling essay <em>Indignez-vouz</em>.  In spite of appearing and sounding absolutely adorable, Hessel carries the same venom for Israel as the rest of “tribunal” characters.   He perpetuates the idea that Palestinians are consummate victims and completely ignores the terrorism directed at Israel since its inception.  He recently <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/160615#.UHYWSrSsdUQ">told</a> the German paper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that the Nazi occupation was “relatively harmless” compared to the “Israeli occupation of Palestine.”  With his overt contempt for Israel, Hessel as &#8220;honorary president&#8221; of RToP made a perfect godfather for the clan.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/danielle-avel/anti-zionists-stage-trial-farce/roger-waters/" rel="attachment wp-att-149139"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-149139" title="roger-waters" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/roger-waters-450x280.jpg" alt="" width="405" height="252" /></a><strong>Pink Floyd member, Roger Waters contemplates the &#8220;evidence.&#8221;</strong></p>
<p>The pseudo-trial continued in its unabashed demonization of Israel and the US interrupted only periodically by Pierre Galland’s admonishments against applause.   The most platitudinous moment of the day went to Roger Waters, “it’s hard to sit here and ignore the elephant in the room [dramatic pause] this elephant being the unfathomable influence in the corridors of power of the Israeli and Jewish lobbies.”</p>
<p><strong>October 7, 2012: Russell Tribunal Day 2 &#8211; Day of the Conspiracy Theory</strong></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/51610423" frameborder="0" width="425" height="300"></iframe><strong>Caption: “Juror” Dennis and the mythical “pledge.”</strong></p>
<p>With “the elephant in the room” exposed, the “jury” members on Day 2 became far more animated, openly conspiratorial, and completely outshined their “witnesses.”  Native American leader Dennis Banks asked a bizarre question about some “pledge” he had heard about whereby members of Congress sign to get “cash” or “some financial, something financial” if they agree to support Israel.  His question later prompted a four-minute diatribe by former Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney who implied Congressional votes are purchased.</p>
<p>Palestinian attorney and “witness” Diana Buttu gave the sense that Israel controls the US and said this of the US-Israel relationship: “Israel is not a democracy, it stands against the principles of what the United States purportedly stands for and it just simply doesn’t make sense.”  Propagating conspiracy theories, however, apparently makes perfect sense.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/danielle-avel/anti-zionists-stage-trial-farce/angela-davis-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-149146"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-149146" title="angela-davis" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/angela-davis-450x300.jpg" alt="" width="405" height="270" /></a><strong>“Jury” member Angela Davis.</strong></p>
<p>Former Communist party member and onetime Black Panther member Angela Davis demonstrated that even positive aspects of Israel must be condemned: “Particularly when it comes to issues like women’s rights, LGBT rights, there’s this whole ‘pinkwashing’ process that persuades people somehow that this most undemocratic country is so profoundly democratic.”  In other words, Davis is promoting the anti-Zionist propaganda that the only reason why Israel has such a great record on gay and women’s rights is to divert attention away from the Palestinians.  Because everything is always about the Palestinians when you&#8217;re far-left Israel basher &#8212; even when the Palestinians living in the Middle East seem more <a href="http://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Opinion/Article.aspx?id=288015">focused</a> on their own corrupt leaders than they are on demonizing Israel.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/danielle-avel/anti-zionists-stage-trial-farce/noam-chomsky-2/" rel="attachment wp-att-149147"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-149147" title="noam-chomsky" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/noam-chomsky-450x285.png" alt="" width="405" height="257" /></a><strong>The Dark Mass aka Noam Chomsky</strong></p>
<p>The most amusing moment of the day went to “witness” Noam Chomsky who appeared as a dark mass in a dark room on a video feed.  He politely apologized for his technical incapacities but remained a brooding mass throughout his entire “testimony.”</p>
<p>Day 2 also was the day of Cynthia McKinney, who managed to tie every topic to her failed congressional re-election campaign of 2002, not-so-subtly masking it in statements as, “We know the fate that is visited upon people who take a courageous position in opposition to power and what happens to them.”</p>
<p>During the session on “The US’s Role in Palestine &amp; the Middle East,” McKinney reiterated details of her political downfall, one she blames on – of course &#8211; the Israel lobby:  The end of her tirade sums up her conspiracy theorist imaginations: “When every vote is counted and processed in a way and monitored so that you can get 29 ovations when Benjamin Netanyahu comes to speak before the Congress, a joint session, more than even the President gets there’s a reason for that and we shouldn’t ignore it.”</p>
<p>On the topic of &#8220;Christian Zionism and the Israel Lobby,&#8221; it became pretty clear that if it is possible for the far left to loathe a group more than the Israelis, that group would be the Christian Zionists.   McKinney let her green-eyed monster peek through in discussing the head of Christians United For Israel: “John Hagee is one of the most prominent Christian Zionists and John Hagee is extremely wealthy.  He reaps a reward unlike people who give, like the sisters on this panel who give and give and give.”</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/danielle-avel/anti-zionists-stage-trial-farce/mairead-maguire/" rel="attachment wp-att-149144"><img class="aligncenter size-medium wp-image-149144" title="mairead-maguire" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/mairead-maguire-450x293.jpg" alt="" width="450" height="293" /></a><strong>Mairead Maguire on the topic of Christian Zionists.</strong></p>
<p>“Peace activist” Mairead Maguire pontificated about “the Christian Church hierarchy” and that “at the heart of the Christian faith today there is a lie.” She also offered this gem, “The prophet Muhammad, peace be with him, was a prophet of peace and nonviolence.”  It’s not clear how Maguire reached this conclusion, since religious texts indicate Muhammad was a warlord, but hey, this is far-left logic at its best and of course no one at RToP argued with her.</p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://frontpagemag.com/2012/danielle-avel/anti-zionists-stage-trial-farce/keffiyeh-montage/" rel="attachment wp-att-149142"><img class="aligncenter  wp-image-149142" title="keffiyeh-montage" src="http://cdn.frontpagemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/keffiyeh-montage.jpg" alt="" width="437" height="437" /></a></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Keffiyeh montage from the Russell Tribunal on Palestine NYC.</strong></p>
<p>And so concluded Day 2.  The “jury” went off to deliberate, and the audience went home eagerly awaiting the “verdict”  &#8211; needles to say, a total lack of suspense filled the air.</p>
<p><strong>October 8, 2012 &#8212; The “Verdict,” Press Conference, and Applause (because clapping is a normal, usual occurrence at press conferences)</strong></p>
<p>On the third day of theatrics, we convened at the United Nations Church Center in order to hear the &#8220;verdict.&#8221;  Surprise—the US is guilty!  Recall, Israel was already assumed guilty.  Also decided:  the UN is guilty for not punishing Israel and the US adequately.</p>
<p>Highlight of the press conference was Cynthia McKinney hijacking a question about “Palestinian leadership” and in doing so, showed her love for Hamas and contempt for the Palestinian Authority without mentioning either group by name.  Her <em>billet doux</em> was rewarded with warm applause from the audience.</p>
<p><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/51302826" frameborder="0" width="425" height="300"></iframe></p>
<p style="text-align: center;"><strong>Caption: Cynthia McKinney at the RToP press conference.</strong></p>
<p>And so wrapped the Russell Tribunal on Palestine.  What with two days of non-stop anti-Israel/anti-US rhetoric the whole “tribunal” theatre could have been foregone and simply replaced with pseudo-impartial “juror” Alice Walker’s 2011 statement, “I think Israel is the greatest terrorist in that part of the world. And I think in general, the United States and Israel are great terrorist organizations themselves.”</p>
<p>What did it all amount to? The far-left creates events like the RToP because it seeks public fora to spread its conspiracy theories, lies, and venom, hoping its message will thereby seep out into the mainstream.  Sometimes it succeeds and garners attention as with the provocation flotilla to Hamas-controlled Gaza.  But the RToP’s best efforts to gain attention went nowhere, as the “trial” barely registered in the mainstream press.  Its most prominent mention in the US was a criticism in the <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444024204578044213457310392.html">Wall Street Journal</a>  by Sohrab Amari.  In the end, the usual flock of socialists, über-leftists, radical feminists, “anti-Israel” obsessives, and anti-Semites pretended to be judge, jury and witness, and preached to their own pathetic choir.</p>
<p><em>Danielle Avel is an analyst formerly affiliated with the Investigative Project on Terrorism.  She can be reached through her website </em><a href="http://www.DanielleAvel.com" target="_blank"><em>www.DanielleAvel.com</em></a><em> and on </em><a href="http://www.twitter.com/danielleavel" target="_blank"><em>Twitter</em></a><em>.<br />
</em></p>
<p><strong>Freedom Center pamphlets now available on Kindle: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/ref%3dnb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-text&amp;field-keywords=david+horowitz&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;ajr=0#/ref=sr_st?keywords=david+horowitz&amp;qid=1316459840&amp;rh=n:133140011%2ck:david+horowitz&amp;sort=daterank" target="_blank">Click here</a>.  </strong></p>
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