A Liberal Israeli Network Tries to Advance the SJP Agenda

Forward is a liberal Israeli news outlet. They have published an article on the week of events at UC Irvine last month, during which a presentation by Israeli military veterans was disrupted. The below article in Forward presents the pro-Palestinian narrative that negatively depicted the five reservists who were on the ground at UC Irvine in May to counter the anti-Israel propaganda being presented during the annual May anti-Israel program. In this article you can view a video put out by Palestine Legal. The video alleges  harassment on the part of the Israeli veterans as the Students for Justice in Palestine and the Muslim Student Union were holding their annual May week of events dedicated to delegitimizing the state of Israel.

http://forward.com/fast-forward/375251/israeli-soldiers-accused-of-harassing-activists-on-california-campus/

You will note that none of the claims of harassment or improper behavior are corroborated by the film. If anything, the film proves that SJP and others disrupted the May 10 Reservists on Duty event hosted by Students Supporting Palestin (UCI). It simply leaves out the ugliest parts. I would also add that the Palestinian student from Gaza who lectures the reservists in that video got up and left the room as soon as the reservists responded to his remarks.

But all that has already been documented by Yours Truly.

I was present at the May 10 event. When the 30-40 SJP/MSU/American Indian Student Association students entered the room, I turned on my video camera knowing that a disruption was imminent. Here it is.

http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2017/05/another-anti-israel-disruption-at-uc.html

So now, removing my own video from the conversation, we have dueling videos because Reservists on Duty have released a video showing their side of the controversy.

http://garyfouse.blogspot.com/2017/06/reservists-on-duty-at-uc-irvine.html

Here is what I observed aside from the May 10 incident. The anti-Israel week of events lasts four days, Monday-Thursday. Aside from the May 10 (Wednesday evening ) event, I was present on campus for two of the four days including Day 4 (Thursday). What I observed was the five Israeli vets standing around the SJP/MSU mock apartheid wall talking to passers-by, passing out their own pamphlets, and holding their own posters. Thursday (Day 4) was the most heated. At times, the reservists stood a few feet away from the pro-Palestinian demonstrators as the latter were shouting their words and chants into bullhorn. They followed the protesters as they marched to the Administration Building and around Ring Road. I witnessed no assaults or threats by either side. To be accurate, I add that on two of the afternoon events, I was not present. In addition, I did not witness the march around Ring Road described above.

I also point out that early in the Palestinian-promoted video they show a young American man standing at the Palestinian table and engaged in a back and forth. This young man was present the previous evening at the May 10 disruption. He sat in the back of the room, said nothing, and took no action whatsoever. The following day, he engaged in debate with the pro-Palestinian side. He alleged that while he was at the Palestinian table, one young man said to him, "Go away white man." Of course, we have no corroboration of that through any of the video tapes. The young man stated to me personally that he was not a UCI student.

I have stated this before, but I  think it is worthwhile to describe the five reservists. Two were American-born females who had immigrated to Israel. The third was an American-born man who had immigrated to Israel, The fourth was a Lebanese-born gay Christian whose family were refugees to Israel from Lebanon. The fifth was a Bedouin Muslim. To be sure, they stood their ground against the provocations of the pro-Palestinian students. Yet, I personally observed no improper behavior on their part.

A final word on these five young Israeli veterans. If you go back to the video I took of the May 10 incident, I pointedly asked the protesters how many of them had  (like the Israeli veterans) served their county in uniform. The shouted answer was "Never", and that unleashed the disruption and chanting. Very telling, indeed.