At what was called a “peace forum” held at the Helsinki University in Finland, one of the furthest left journalists of the far left Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Amira Hass, was invited to share her hatred for the Jewish state, and to lionize by justifying those who attack Israel. There were two other speakers, one as anti-Israel as Hass, the other, slightly less so.
The event was sponsored by the Finnish Ministry of Education and Culture, and put together by ICAHD, a virulently anti-Israel (Israeli) NGO that started as opposing the demolition of (any) Arab (but not any Jewish) homes in Israel, but now stands in opposition to the “Occupation,” which frequently is polite speak for the existence of Israel. It was held on Monday evening, Sept. 8.
Kenneth Sikorski, founder and editor of the pro-Israel blog Tundra Tabloids, was present at the event. He reported that Hass was in her usual form, excoriating Israel for existing, claiming – literally – that “every single Palestinian in the world has been victimized by Israel’s policies.” Every single one.
As Sikorski reported, Hass told the Finnish audience that Israel is “responsible for state terror, cruel policies of marginalization, departmentalization and apartheid policies that are far worse than was practices in South Africa.”
Fed up with listening to Hass – at a peace forum no less! – Sikorski stood during the Question and Answer session at the end of the forum and said for all to hear that the forum “is the anti-theses of what it supposedly promotes,” that instead of promoting peace, “it includes promoters of violence, namely Amira Hass, who stated that throwing stones is the Palestinian’s ‘birthright.'”
Several pro-Israel members of the audience were tossed out of the event for refusing to sit quietly to the blatant hostility and falsehoods hurled by the speakers at the Jewish state.
Hass was not the only over-the-top spewer of venom towards Israel. Jamal Zahalka, an elected member of the Israeli Knesset of the Arab Balad party, also was present to explain to the Finns just how awful Israel is.
Zahalka said that “Apartheid under South Africa was preferable to what Arabs are suffering under Israeli hegemony.”
Got that? One wonders whether Zahalka can name any black South Africans who were members of the South African government during the Apartheid regime? It is astounding that Arabs in the Israeli government – as did Zahalka’s predecessor, Amir Bishara (who later had to flee Israel to evade charges that, while serving in the Israeli government, he had been spying for Hezbollah) – still claim, with a straight face, that Israel is an Apartheid state.
What’s worse, perhaps, is that audiences hear these charges of Apartheid against Israel by members of the Israeli government or leading journalists, and neither convulse with laughter or demand that the speakers understand the words they use, especially when the accusers’ own pictures could be used as icons to disprove their claims.
Hass not only justified stone-throwing by Arabs at Israelis, she transformed the act into a literary performance, saying: “Throwing stones is the birthright and duty of anyone subject to foreign rule. Throwing stones is an action as well as a metaphor of resistance.”
Watch the video of the event. Try not to be distracted by the frightening hairdo of the student presenter.