Dispute as to Bay Ridge Palestinian activist’s presence at City Hall disruption of Holocaust event and against CC members going to Israel — In any case, Sarsour’s Tweets indicate more support than criticism of disruptive demonstrators
Why it matters — Linda Sarsour is not just a local Islamist operative and general rabble-rouser, she is a Democrat active in Bay Ridge and City-wide politics
According to a report in the Daily News, “Pro-Palestinian activists disrupted a City Council meeting Thursday to protest Council members’ planned trip to Israel next month. *** Protesters in the balcony of the Council chamber unfurled a Palestinian flag and began yelling “Palestinian lives matter,” “Don’t support genocide,” and “Melissa, you’re a hypocrite,” a slam on Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito, who will lead the Israel delegation. *** Council members reacted furiously to the demonstration - especially because the disruption began as they were concluding a vote on a resolution commemorating the anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp....” (See “Pro-Palestinian activists disrupt City Council meeting” by Erin Durkin, 1/22/15, NY Daily News/ Daily Politics [http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dailypolitics/pro-palestinian-activists-disrupt-city-council-meeting-blog-entry-1.2088801]). There were similar reports of these goings-on from other news outlets.
Later, the demonstrators and some of their supporters emphasized that what was being protested was the fact that fifteen NYC Council members were planning to take a nine day trip to Israel paid for by the Jewish Community Relations Council and the UJA Federation of New York starting on February 15th.
The events at City Hall on Thursday almost immediately sparked a confrontative exchange on social media involving a leading local pro-Arab/ pro-Palestinian/ pro-Islamist activist, Linda Sarsour, whom this blog has been discussing quite a bit lately.
Among other things, some people believe that she was at the demonstrations Thursday — which is something that she denies. Also a bone of contention is whether her criticisms of those involved in the pro-Palestinian disruptions were sincere, because her earliest Tweets seemed to voice support for the exercise.
I think that her Tweets tell a tale.... [the snarkier remarks back and forth give context and flavor to what I have posted below, however time and space preclude their full reproduction in this post — more complete “conversations” are contained a Linda Sarsour’s Tweets (Linda Sarsour @lsarsour). Here are what I consider the pithier remarks from Ms. Sarsour concerning the fracas inside the CC Chamber at City Hall:
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Linda Sarsour @lsarsour Jan 22 [10:59 AM]
I commend those who stand 4 justice and a #FreePalestine amidst the villification, division tactics, attacks. You inspire me.
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Linda Sarsour @lsarsour Jan 22 [11:48 AM]
Strategy people. Strategy. Always strategy.
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Linda Sarsour @lsarsour Jan 22 [6:56 PM]
I was not involved in the events at NY City Hall today. Don't feed me something I didn't taste or cook.
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Linda Sarsour @lsarsour Jan 22 [7:01 PM]
People begging me to sue them for slander. Like actually begging me.
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Linda Sarsour @lsarsour Jan 22 [7:10 PM]
.@b_ellicott asking questions, being critical is cool, but folks putting out lies is what I don't accept. ;-)
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Linda Sarsour @lsarsour Jan 22 [10:06 PM]
If u want 2 protest against Israel & its policies - leave holocaust out of it. Freedom of speech yes, but strategy & timing is everything.
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Linda Sarsour @lsarsour Jan 22 [10:15 PM]
@NYCCouncilWatch can't speak for everyone. I wasn't there and have nothing to do with it. Clearly it was bad timing.
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Linda Sarsour @lsarsour Jan 23 [2:25 AM]
@Yidel5 @YossiGestetner I support their right 2 protest & their criticism of Israel trip but obviously not during holocaust commemoration
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Strategy and timing is everything
What is the take-away from Linda Sarsour's Tweets ?It's all about "...Strategy people. Strategy. Always strategy...." and that "...strategy and timing is everything..."
Some might say that this is merely a tempest in a tea cup — They would be wrong
These demonstrations show that local Islamists have become so emboldened that they can take a disruptive anti-Israel-pro-Palestinian demonstration right into the New York City Council Chamber. This could easily have been a tactical exercise for something more formidable in the near future [Don’t forget a not-so-long-ago murderous rampage and shoot-out that occurred in the very place of Thursday’s disruption]. Unfortunately, we are not likely to have all the necessary intelligence about any of that, or have the ability to have the best security in place against it. Thanks to the efforts of Ms. Sarsour and others of her ilk, Mayor deBlasio has directed the NYPD to cut back its surveillance of radical Islamists in many of their meeting places, including in parts of Brooklyn like Bay Ridge.Remember, it's all about "...Strategy people. Strategy. Always strategy...."
— and "...strategy and timing is everything..."
8 comments:
I found this entire incident very disturbing. It was revolting and shameful. I do not know if Sarsour and her group were a part of it but if so it should make us all be very skeptical of her motives and goals. The Daily News called anti-Semitism the old hatred - and it is. It is very important that we who are not Jewish (i.e. Catholic) speak out against such despicable anti-Semitism in our City. To think that it would be displayed at a moment when the Council was discussing a resolution commemorating the Holocaust is just so disturbing.
RESPONSE: THE "INTERESTING AFFILIATIONS" EDITION
Your line about "...Sarsour and her group..." raises an interesting issue. It's clear that Linda Sarsour has affiliations with many different groups and different kinds of groups. Some are sort of benign, or appear to be; others, not so much.
Just looking at the back and forth in Sarsour's various threads among her Tweets shows how multifaceted and interactive Ms. "...Strategy and Timing..." Sarsour can be.
If she was there, you would have seen a photo of her there.
RESPONSE: THE "IT AIN'T NECESSARILY SO..." EDITION
I looked at two sources for my post above -- The Daily News and Linda Sarsour's Twitter page. All that I know is that there is some kind of dispute as to whether she was or wasn't at the City Hall brouhaha.
There or not there, pictures or no pictures --- I can't say. However, I remember that somebody mentioned having a picture of somebody hiding behind a cell phone at the demonstration, with the implication that it was Ms. LS. Now, that ain't much.
Frankly, for now, I believe LS when she says she wasn't there. BTW, for now, I also believe Tom Brady.
I am not so sure it even matters if L. Sarsour was present. She is extremely influential via social media and the mere condoning of the act using tweets can have repercussions and encourage others to engage in the behavior. She wields a lot of influence with her followers. Hopefully, she will use that influence to better our city. I am not so sure.
I agree that it does not matter if she were present but she frightens me. For she, someone who grew up in my beloved Brooklyn, frightens me as I don't think she even has a clue about what Brooklyn is about.
I personally know many fine Christian and Muslim Arabs in our neighborhood. The Muslims I know have worked for inclusion. They, the ones I know, epitomize what Brooklyn is all about. That is, a "city" of many different sorts of people joining together.
We who grew up in Brooklyn in the old days understand that. Heck, my Sicilian godfather (I am not Sicilian) spoke Yiddish and his Jewish neighbors spoke Italian.
I have come to know my Muslim friends' families. They play Christmas carols at Christmas time and happily give to the children who trick and treat at Halloween.
I give to their children at Eid as that is their holiday for giving. If only Ms. Sarsour would look to this, rather than seemingly practicing a mantra of derision she might, just might obtain some credibility; this in my opinion.
BACKGROUND & BACKFILL: THE “BACKDROP AND BACKSTAGE AROUND THE WORLD” EDITION
IN THESE UNITED STATES, CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS AND CONSERVATIVES GENERALLY NEED TO STAY TUNED-IN WITH WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON IN THE REST OF THE WORLD
EUROPEAN CULTURE-ISTS ARE PUSHING BACK AGAINST THE RADICAL ISLAMISTS, AND RADICAL LEFTISTS AND ESTABLISHMENT LIBERALS THAT FAVOR OPEN-BORDERS AND MULTI-CULTURAL SOCIETIES — AND BOTH THE LILLY-LIVERED LIBERALS AND THE RADICAL LEFTISTS DON’T LIKE IT
AFTER MASSIVE LEIPZSIG RALLY, GROUP CALLED “PEGIDA” (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West) PLANS TO MOVE ITS MESSAGE TO BRITAIN
A recent Brietbart News feature began like this: “LEIPZIG, Germany – Wednesday night saw a flare of violence and an accompanying police operation on a scale without precedent in recent German history. A group opposing militant Islam in Europe has called a demonstration, the city is deafened by political slogans played over loudspeakers, property is vandalised, and explosives are thrown at police in colossal running battles that involve thousands of people....” ( See “German Anti-Islamisation Marches: What the Mainstream Media Doesn’t Want you to Know” by Oliver Lane, 1/24/15, Breitbart News/ London [http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2015/01/24/german-anti-islamisation-marches-what-the-mainstream-media-doesnt-want-you-to-know/]). Then the author of the piece, Oliver Lane, pointed out that “If you got your news from the mainstream media, what is increasingly known in Germany as the ‘liar press’ (Luegenpresse), the story might very well end there....” Oliver lane then makes it clear that there is no doubt about what these reports are meant to leave you thinking. This all must be some kind of racist attack against Muslims or other foreigners.
This kind of reporting has been a large part of the German establishment’s haughty dismissal of the group, Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West (PEGIDA). Both the government and their allies in the press want the world to think that those involved in PEGIDA are cold, angry racists with hatred in their hearts. They want everybody to see PEGIDA as modern-day Fascists; and that even the professionals in their ranks are nothing better than “pinstriped Nazis.” According to Oliver Lane and the European folks at Breitbart News, that’s all soft-Left and hard-Left propaganda — the real troublemakers at the Liepzig rally were hard-core radicals that came to Liepzig to stop the rally and fight with the police.
It is estimated that over 40,000 marched with PEGIDA last week in Liepzig. Wherever it goes now, in many respects PEGIDA has already served part of its purpose, in starting the debate in Germany on immigration, citizenship, and integration; since discussion of those issues has been almost non-existent for decades. Now, for the first time in their lives, many people in Germany are questioning the post-war consensus that unlimited immigration and multi-culturalism (or as it is actually practiced in Germany, ghetto-ization) is inevitable and desirable. — And that "freedom of thought" bug appears to be spreading.
PEGIDA marches have taken place as far away as Bulgaria, and similar marches are planned in other European cities.
In particular, PEGIDA has made plans to demonstrate in the United Kingdom. To be expected, some in the mainstream media have questioned whether Britain’s “Racial Tensions” would be tested by PEGIDA’s first march which will held in a yet to be arranged northern city sometime in the next few weeks.
In any case, according to Oliver Lane, if the PEGIDA movement can circumvent a German governing and media elite desperate to shut it down, and break through 50 years of silence; perhaps it could even kick-start a new era of openness and discussion of the negative aspects of immigration and Islamisation in Britain as well.
Muslim scholars teach that Muslims should generally be truthful to each other, unless the purpose of lying is to "smooth over differences."
There are two forms of lying to non-believers that are permitted under certain circumstances, taqiyya and kitman. These circumstances are typically those that advance the cause Islam - in some cases by gaining the trust of non-believers in order to draw out their vulnerability and defeat them.
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