Some Thoughts on Saturday's Pro-Palestinian Rally in LA

As expected yesterday's pro-Palestinian rally at the Los Angeles Federal Building was short on logic, long on mindless chants, and long on loud intimidation of opposing voices. The first indication of that came when a lone man carrying a sign that insulted the Prophet Mohammad was swarmed by screaming people who got in his face, screamed insults at him and took away the sign. The second incident was when Steve Goldberg, head of the LA chapter of the Zionist Organization of America, and a lady appeared on the scene with an Israeli flag. Once again, they were swarmed by people screaming obscenities at them as they attempted to make their way across Wilshire Blvd where a few dozen pro-Israel folks had gathered.

On both occasions, while filming these incidents, I tried unsuccessfully to get the attention of LASD, LAPD and the Protective Services Security to alert them that violent situations were brewing. I was unsuccessful. The cops at that point were basically acting like potted plants. Most of them were trying to be unobtrusive in a parking lot across the street standing behind a hedge. In the first case it took an event organizer with a bullhorn who eventually told the crowd to leave the man with the sign alone and get back. Only then did Sheriff's deputies arrive to guard the man. In the case of Goldberg, it was only when he crossed Wilshire Blvd that deputies arrived to escort him across the street. Only then did deputies and police start doing their job protecting the Israel supporters from what was a screaming mob. Even then they did not keep the groups separate. Individual Palestinian supporters continued to cross the street to hurl insults at the few dozen Israeli supporters.  At one point, a young man was shouting, "Long live Hamas. Long live Jihad. Long live Hizbollah" in the faces of the pro-Israel supporters. I was less than 10 feet way and saw and heard it clearly.

In contrast, last July 13, when pro-Israel demonstrators had their day in front of the Federal Building, the cops kept the two groups apart.

In addition, in contrast to July 13, when we were strictly kept off the lawn of the Federal Building and had to stand on the cramped sidewalk, there was no such restriction yesterday. In fact, at one point the pro-Palestinian crowd was allowed to take over the west bound lane of Wilshire Blvd and march under the 405 freeway underpass. Wilshire Blvd and the 405 off-ramp were blocked by LAPD and the CHP as squad cars, motorcycles and helicopters escorted the procession. A presidential funeral could not have expected more.

It pains me to criticize law enforcement because I myself am retired from law enforcement, but their performance yesterday left a lot to be desired. At least three people could have been assaulted and beaten before they would have arrived to handle the situation.

In conclusion, however, the main point is that, once again, the pro-Palestinian crowd, mostly Arab-Americans, wearing all kinds of Palestinian garb, acted like a mob. This is not to cast a negative light on Arabs because immediately prior to this event, I covered a two-hour protest by Arab Christians at the same location who were protesting the genocide on-going against Christians in the Middle East. They were orderly and peaceful. There were no problems. They did not accost the pro-Palestinian people when they started to arrive. There were no confrontations. These were civilized people-unlike so many of the pro-Palestinians who screamed profanities in the faces of anybody who they disagreed with.

It was disgraceful but hardly surprising. Thank God nobody got hurt.