There’s a time when the operation of the machine turns into so odious, makes you so sick at coronary heart, which you could’t participate; you possibly can’t even passively participate, and also you’ve obtained to place your our bodies upon the gears and upon the wheels, upon the levers, upon all of the equipment, and also you’ve obtained to make it cease. And also you’ve obtained to point to the individuals who run it, to the individuals who personal it, that until you’re free, the machine shall be prevented from working in any respect. MARIO SAVIO – “Operation of the Machine”, YouTube
Nobody within the anti-genocide motion is looking for a common strike, a employee’s revolt or disruptive acts of civil disobedience. What they’re asking for is a ceasefire and divestment in any firm that’s making the most of Israel’s warfare in Gaza. These are affordable requests and completely applicable. The issue is that the scholars making these calls for have arrange encampments on campuses throughout the US which is step one in the direction of a extra far-reaching mobilization towards US-Israeli coverage in Gaza. That’s the reason the federal government—appearing in live performance with its legislation enforcement property within the states—has taken such a draconian and brutal strategy to the mostly-peaceful demonstrations. They see the protests because the tip of the spear, the start of a populist motion that holds the ethical high-ground and can ultimately power politicians to oppose the current coverage.
That is why the federal government has deployed its hordes of baton-wielding cops to the protester encampments at each alternative. They’re attempting to intimidate the protestors with an enormous show-of-force and unusually harsh penalties in an try to crush the motion earlier than it will get off the bottom. And given the advances in surveillance know-how and different repressive measures, they could reach that effort. We don’t know. However we do know that the protestors views on Israel’s rampage in Gaza isn’t that completely different than these of the common American. Check out this survey from Gallup:
Majority in U.S. Now Disapprove of Israeli Motion in Gaza…
Disapproval of Israel’s navy motion is analogous no matter how a lot consideration People are paying to the battle…. All three main get together teams within the U.S. have grow to be much less supportive of Israel’s actions in Gaza than they have been in November…. Democrats’ widespread opposition to Israel’s actions underscores the problem of the problem for President… Biden’s approval ranking for his dealing with of the scenario within the Center East, at 27%, is his lowest amongst 5 points examined within the survey…. Amongst Democrats, 75% of respondents “disapprove of the navy motion Israel has taken in Gaza.” Majority in U.S. Now Disapprove of Israeli Motion in Gaza, Gallup
And we see related leads to a current AP/Norc ballot:
An rising proportion of U.S. adults consider that Israel’s navy response in Gaza has “gone too far”….Amongst U.S. adults polled in January, 50% stated they believed that Israel’s actions in Gaza had “gone too far,… Solely 31% believed that Israel’s navy response has “been about proper. Half of U.S. adults consider Israel has “gone too far” in Gaza warfare: ballot, Axios
These surveys present that the pro-Palestine protestors are usually not a fringe factor parroting some arcane leftist ideology. They’re within the mainstream and their views replicate the opinions of the vast majority of People. So, why are the cops beating them with batons and dragging them off to jail? It is senseless. These college students aren’t toppling statues or burning buildings or looting malls or attacking cops like we noticed in the course of the George Floyd riots. They’re merely expressing their opposition to a scorched-earth rampage that’s morally indefensible. So why are they being persecuted? Right here’s how Norman Finkelstein solutions that query:
…One of many points of the emergence of the coed motion is that ….there may be increasingly readability that the allegation of antisemitism is solely a pretext for suppressing professional protest towards Israel’s genocidal insurance policies towards the individuals of Gaza. I also needs to add that among the many checklist of surprises is the truth that a gaggle of Jewish billionaires—so as to suppress campus criticism of Israeli genocide—at the moment are brazenly utilizing the blackmail weapon. They’re telling the colleges, the Board of Trustees, and the president—that until you repress these demonstrations, we’re going to withhold our a whole bunch of thousands and thousands of {dollars}.That is with out query, probably the most brazen assault by the personal sector on educational freedom in our nation’s historical past. And compounding that, there may be now an assault by the right-wing in our nation to exploiting the false declare of antisemitism to repress educational freedom on our campuses. So, it started with Jewish billionaires attempting to repress dissent of Israel, and now that false declare of antisemitism is being utilized by the right-wing in our nation to repress any important thought on our campuses. This isn’t simply an assault on educational freedom, nevertheless it’s additionally a prefiguration of a fascist motion among the many right-wing and supported by the billionaire class to suppress any dissent starting on school campuses however then ultimately spreading all over the place else. Norman Finkelstein on Genocide in Gaza, Mayadeen
Norman Finkelstein, political scientist and activist, discusses the systematic utilization of antisemitisim as a pretext to suppress the scholars’ protest towards the Israeli genocide in American universities.#GazaSolidarityEncampment pic.twitter.com/DAOvIY8WV9
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) Might 1, 2024
This helps to clarify the conundrum we mentioned above, that’s, why are the cops brutalizing protestors who merely replicate the views of the vast majority of People. The reply, in line with Finkelstein, is that the cops are working on behalf of particular pursuits, on this case, the pursuits of “Jewish billionaires” whose Israel-oriented agenda trumps the civil rights of American college students. Right here’s extra background from an article at The Nation:
The violence at UCLA is instructive. The professional-Israel counterprotesters have been organized by a gaggle funded by billionaire Invoice Ackman and mates, together with Jessica Seinfeld (spouse of the comic Jerry Seinfeld). Most of the employed protesters appear to have been Iranian monarchists—a gaggle that tends to be pro-Israel due to the outdated alliance between the deposed shah of Iran and Israel.As each the Los Angeles Instances and The Ahead have reported, the pro-Israel counterprotesters have been extraordinarily violent. In line with the LA Instances:
4 pupil journalists who work for the UCLA Day by day Bruin have been attacked shortly earlier than 3:30 am. Wednesday by Professional-Israel counterprotesters throughout a campus demonstration that turned violent.
Day by day Bruin information editor Catherine Hamilton, 21, instructed The Instances she acknowledged one of many counterprotesters as somebody who had beforehand verbally harassed her and brought photos of her press badge….
As she tried to interrupt free, Hamilton stated, she was punched repeatedly within the chest and higher stomach; one other pupil journalist was pushed to the bottom and overwhelmed and kicked for practically a minute. The assault was first reported within the Day by day Bruin. Eric Adams Is the Mendacity Face of the Campus Crackdown, The Nation
So, the so-called ‘counter-protestors’ have been probably not protestors in any respect. They weren’t even employed to advertise Israel’s political place, however to harass, intimidate and brutalize the individuals who they see as a possible risk to Israel’s ongoing ethnic cleaning of Gaza. These have been agitators who weren’t engaged in expressing their very own heartfelt convictions, however centered solely on suppressing the free speech of others.
And this isn’t the one instance that lends credence to Finkelstein’s claims. There’s additionally the weird case of Rebecca Weiner, the small print of that are critically creepy. That is from an article on the Grayzone:
Rebecca Weiner is a Columbia U. professor who additionally serves as intelligence director of the NYPD. Mayor Eric Adams credit her with spying on anti-genocide pupil protesters and directing the militarized raid that dislodged them from campus.The violent crackdown carried out on Columbia College college students protesting Israel’s genocidal assault on the Gaza Strip was led by a member of the college’s personal school, …
…Only a few hundred meters from the Gaza protest encampment, Weiner maintained an workplace at Columbia’s College of Worldwide and Public Affairs (SIPA). Her SIPA bio describes her as an “Adjunct Affiliate Professor of Worldwide and Public Affairs” who concurrently serves because the “civilian govt accountable for the New York Metropolis Police Division’s Intelligence & Counterterrorism Bureau.”
In that function, in line with SIPA, Weiner “develops coverage and strategic priorities for the Intelligence & Counterterrorism Bureau and publicly represents the NYPD in issues involving counterterrorism and intelligence.”
The NYPD’s Counterterrorism Bureau presently maintains an workplace in Tel Aviv, Israel, the place it coordinates with Israel’s safety equipment and maintains a division liaison. Weiner seems to function a bridge between the Bureau’s places of work in Israel and New York…. Columbia crackdown led by college prof doubling as NYPD spook, The Grayzone
There are such a lot of questions right here, it’s laborious to know the place to start.
Why is a “civilian govt accountable for the New York Metropolis Police Division’s Intelligence & Counterterrorism Bureau” masquerading as an adjunct professor at Columbia? And if, in actual fact, Weiner does “function a bridge between the (NYPD)Bureau’s places of work in Israel and New York”, then in what capability is she gathering info on American college students who’re merely exercising their constitutional rights?
The Weiner scenario casts sufficient doubt on Tel Aviv’s relationship with Washington that there ought to be a radical investigation, however that most likely received’t occur. What’s extra more likely to occur is that the collusion will deepen and grow to be extra widespread till it poses a grave risk to US nationwide safety. Are we there but?
We don’t know, however we have to know; simply as we have to know what number of “Weiners” are working in positions of authority throughout the nation. Isn’t {that a} affordable proposition?
Sadly, the one factor of which we might be sure of is that if Weiner had been Russian or Chinese language, she would have been bundled off to Gitmo pell-mell the place she would face a gentle food plan of bread crusts and waterboarding. That a lot is for certain. Right here’s extra on the Israeli hyperlink to the violence at UCLA from The Grayzone:
The Grayzone has obtained a file detailing the identities of the Zionist hooligans who assaulted UCLA anti-genocide pupil protesters… On April 30, thirty individuals have been injured when a mob of Zionist hooligans savagely assaulted the pro-Palestine UCLA encampment shortly earlier than midnight…….Los Angeles-area police have arrested droves of scholars protesting Israel’s US-backed genocide in Gaza,…. (however) up to now there have been no arrests of pro-Israel goons. (The Grayzone identifies lots of the individuals concerned.)
Aaron Cohen. Cohen is an Israeli ‘counterterrorism analyst’ who embedded with police shortly earlier than their Might 2 raid … shortly earlier than the raid, Cohen wrote on Instagram: “I simply wrapped [up] a [sic] unbiased quiet infiltration operation for @drphil tonight into the guts of the UCLA encampment. I’m now down right here with LASDs elite SRT who’s staging now and getting ready to make entry onto the professional terror antisemitic encampment.”…Additionally current within the run-up to the assault have been members of Magen Am, a Los Angeles-based Jewish personal safety agency based in 2017 by Yossi Eilfort, an MMA fighter-turned-Chabad rabbi. Magen Am, which claims to make use of 12 former Israeli and US troopers, payments itself as “the one Jewish, non-profit group licensed to supply bodily, armed safety companies on the West Coast of the US.”
Chatting with the Los Angeles Instances, Eilfort admitted coordinating with UCLA on an April 28 counter-protest geared toward antagonizing the pro-Palestine encampment.... The group maintains an in depth working relationship with native legislation enforcement…. That “partnership” seems to be paying off, with Magen Am now brazenly boasting about its potential to affect LAPD operations….
However their hyperlinks to the safety state don’t finish there. Magen Am’s official web site boasts: “We’ve direct connections on the FBI and Native legislation enforcement, together with the LAPD, Sheriff’s Division, DA’s workplace and the US Legal professional’s workplace.”…
In the meantime, at Columbia College, two former Israeli military troopers who attacked college students with poisonous chemical “skunk” fluid this January, sending at the very least 10 anti-genocide protesters to the emergency room, haven’t been expelled from campus, nor have they been arrested. “There are not any arrests, and the investigation is ongoing,” an NYPD spokesperson instructed HuffPost UCLA attackers uncovered: meet the violent Zionist agitators LA police haven’t arrested, The Grayzone
What does all of it imply? Why is an Israeli ‘counterterrorism analyst embedded with LAPD and what attainable hyperlink does which have with anti-genocide protesters at UCLA? And why are members of a “Jewish personal safety agency” engaged in provocative assaults on peaceable protestors? And what in heaven’s title are the “direct connections” that this Jewish safety agency has with “the FBI and Native legislation enforcement”?
This isn’t a trivial matter. What we’re seeing right here is the deeply-rooted affect of a overseas nation that now wields vital energy inside the federal and state legislation enforcement and Intel companies. It is a large drawback. If readers suppose I’m overstating the significance of this difficulty, then please say so. However—if even half of what Grayzone is reporting is true—we’re in a world of hassle. Right here’s extra from a Substack piece by Ken Klippenstein:
For the feds, it’s all about turning protests right into a nationwide safety disaster, with imagined overseas affect, sympathy for Hamas and different terrorist teams, and a risk to the federal government itself….whereas the scholars proceed to talk out, and so many are clearly sad with American coverage, the federal authorities has wasted no time in surging sources from all throughout the nation because it colours the scholars as threats to nationwide safety.
Listed here are simply a number of the federal companies which have now grow to be concerned:
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI),
Federal Protecting Service (FPS) – the Division of Homeland Safety legislation enforcement company that protects federal buildings and different property, and
Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI), the Division of Homeland Safety’s investigative arm….
Beneath the Biden’s administration’s 2023 Nationwide Technique to Counter Antisemitism, a gaggle of extra companies are known as upon to take motion….(together with)
The FBI
In an NBC interview final week, FBI Director Christopher Wray confirmed that “we do share intelligence about particular threats of violence” relating to the campus protests….
In March testimony to Congress, Wray warned that “we anticipate that October 7 and the battle that’s adopted will feed a pipeline of radicalization and mobilization for years to return.” …
On Wednesday, when requested in regards to the campus protests, White Home spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre stated that “the DOJ and FBI goes to proceed to supply assist to universities and schools in respect to federal legal guidelines.” …
The FBI can also be below strain from Congress to crack down on the protests…The Intercept has additionally reported on a zoom name by which representatives Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) and Mike Lawler (R-NY), together with trustees from a number of universities, mentioned what they noticed as the necessity for FBI intervention. Attending Gaza Protests? The Feds Are Watching, Ken Klippenstein, Substack
Get the image?
So, Federal legislation enforcement and the intel companies are already concerned and certain utilizing their extraordinary surveillance powers to spy on leaders within the protest motion, infiltrate their camps (with confidential informants), and implement a unclean tips technique geared toward entrapping hapless protesters by encouraging criminality or property injury. All of that is designed to discourage additional “radicalization and mobilization”, that are FBI Director Wray’s buzzwords for ‘legally petitioning the federal government to desert its assist for the genocide in Gaza’.
All the devices of state coercion at the moment are centered on a small group of principled activists who merely wish to cease their authorities from collaborating within the killing of ladies and youngsters of their historic homeland. And for that, they have to be crushed.
It jogs my memory of a speech that John F. Kennedy delivered on the White Home garden in 1962 when he stated:
Those that make peaceable revolution not possible will make violent revolution inevitable.
Amen, to that.
