Israel

September 24, 2011October 25, 2023

A Study in Hypocrisy – Political Censorship at MOCHA

James Brandt from the JDEF makes it clear that the zionist lobby had a political agenda when censoring the “Child’s View from Gaza” exhibit scheduled months ago to be held at MOCHA.

Upon hearing about the exhibit, Jewish community representatives met with MOCHA staff to voice our concerns. First, the exhibit’s violent, even gory images are wholly inappropriate to be viewed by young children. Second, the exhibit and its associated programming were designed to further MECA’s well-documented agenda to delegitimize Israel.

But violent images of Israeli suffering are OK.

Certainly, an appropriate context could be created for MECA’s exhibit. Professionals could determine the appropriate minimum age for visitors. Images could be added to present a balanced context.

These would depict the shelling of Israeli schools, Israeli families praying for the return of kidnapped soldiers and Israeli children grieving for parents killed in terrorist attacks.

Got that? images of violence of Palestinians GOOD, images of Israeli violence BAD.

The Museum of Tolerance held a workshop for children to respond to drawings of children from Darfur of the genocide which they witnessed. These drawings are being used as evidence of war crimes by the Sudanese government in the International Criminal Court. Are Israel’s defenders worried that Gazan children’s drawings may be used similarly? Regardless, the Israel lobby’s double standards on violence and children are shockingly apparent.

Brandt originally accused the exhibit tellingly.

This exhibit constitutes propaganda aimed at indoctrinating our children under the guise of art. There is no context given to understand the complex issues facing Israel and the Palestinians.

Brand Israel bullies children. Palestinian children endure apartheid, occupation and oppression, and their art is deemed unacceptable because it challenges the monopoly on victimhood held by Brand Israel. The obsessive need to control the narrative of oppression was a striking characteristic of the apartheid South African regime also.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which appealed against the ban on Route 443, dared suggest the word apartheid and was reprimanded for it. In her ruling, Supreme Court President Dorit Beinisch wrote that “the great difference between the security means adopted by the State of Israel for defense against terrorist attacks and the unacceptable practices of the policy of apartheid requires that any comparison or use of this grave term be avoided.”

Today, a demonstration of many community groups concerned about the political censorship of Gazan children’s art was held in Oakland outside MOCHA. Here’s an account of the protest and related events on the MOCHA facebook page:

Mocha partially changed its opinion half an hour before the demo after it saw the public and many artists rally behind the exhibit and also after realizing that MECA found a place nearby to show the kids’ drawings. Many Mocha staff members are outraged by the decision of the board and many Mocha members ended their membership after walking into the museum and throwing a fit because of the shameful behavior of Mocha. There were many angry emails and phone calls too. The presence of the media today also compelled Mocha to reconsider. Mocha’s scandal grew every day and public scorn grew with it too.

Mocha missed the Thursday deadline that was given to it by MECA and today, it was too late. Mocha realized that it made a big mistake and MECA was not going to save its ass from public scorn. Besides, Mocha refused to show all the drawings and wanted to pick and choose and that is still censorship. So yes, it’s still about censoring the artwork of the Palestinian children.

The BDS agenda Some of the advocates for censorship of the exhibition also revealed an underlying motivation to attack BDS, unstated elsewhere publicly.

David Marshak: We are trying to respond to the BDS campaign, which is very well-funded and organised. We can’t match the funding and numbers but we can improve our ability to respond to attacks like these. We have a lot of work to do. JVP is very good.

Crayons of mass creation speak truth to power. The Israel lobby art censors quiver and quake at their impact, and struggle to suppress images and language which attest to Israel’s war crimes and collective punishment perpetrated against the civilian population in Gaza subject to Israel’s oppression – apartheid, occupation and siege. Yet since Israel’s survival apparently depends on censoring children’s drawings of its crimes, Israel has surely doomed itself.

More of the exhibition

UPDATE 24/9/11

Disputed Palestinian children’s art exhibit shown near Oakland children’s museum:

An exhibit of controversial drawings and paintings by Palestinian children was shown in a downtown Oakland museum’s courtyard Saturday, after the Museum of Children’s Art canceled the display three weeks ago.

After criticism from exhibit founder Middle East Children’s Alliance, the museum made a late offer Friday to reschedule the event at a later time, but the organizers said they had already found their own space.
…
The Alliance’s executive director, Barbara Lubin, said she received a call Friday afternoon from a museum representative asking to meet with her group to discuss rescheduling the exhibit.

“I just laughed,” she said. “I said, ‘You must be crazy; we have spent the last three weeks looking for a place to display (the artwork.) … I
can’t believe you have the chutzpah (audacity) to call me at this late date.’ I have just signed a lease on a space for (an exhibit) for the next two months.”
…
On Saturday afternoon, a band played while people held up the drawings in the courtyard, and patrons filed into the Museum of Children’s Art.

The museum’s interim executive director, Masako Kalbach, was sympathetic to the views of museum critics.

“We do understand their feelings about our offer of being too late,” she said. “We would really like to talk to them.”

Also at the showing Saturday were about a dozen people from StandWithUs/San Francisco Voice for Israel.

“I think an exhibition that also shows the suffering of children of Southern Israel who have had (thousands) of rockets aimed directly at them could be a much more balanced exhibit,” said group spokesman Mike Harris.
The museum’s decision to cancel the exhibit triggered an outcry against what critics called censorship of Palestinian children’s art, especially since the museum has presented similar wartime artwork, including an exhibit of Iraqi children’s drawings depicting the U.S. war in Iraq.

A museum representative originally said the art was “not appropriate for an open gallery accessible by all children.” But late Friday, museum board member Randolph Belle issued a statement.

“When we canceled the exhibit ‘A Child’s View from Gaza’ earlier this month, we did so both because we lacked a formal policy for sensitive content, and because we were not confident that we had the resources to deal with the numerous concerns we received regarding the exhibit. In response to input from the community and careful consideration by our board of directors and staff, the Museum of Children’s Art has developed a new policy governing the exhibition of items with sensitive content,” the statement said.

Belle’s statement said the Middle East Children’s Alliance has been invited to reschedule the exhibit in keeping with the new policy.

Lubin said she had not seen Belle’s statement Saturday.

She is traveling to Gaza next month to collect new artwork from the children based on how they feel about having their exhibit banned from the museum.

Lubin said she will consider working with the museum to show this set of artwork as long as they do not censor the show.

UPDATE 26/9/11

Oakland Museum of Children’s Art stumbles into Middle East fray

Board member Randolph Belle said the decision was based on the violent nature of some of the work in the show. “Basically we got some [calls from] concerned parents, the Jewish Federation and MOCHA community members,” Belle said, “stating that they didn’t feel that children should be exposed to these images in a public space.”

On Friday, dozens of protestors in front of MOCHA, organized in part by the San Francisco-based Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC), shouted “Shame!” and accused the museum’s board of censorship. “It is very hurtful,” said AROC Youth Program Coordinator Lubna Morrar, who spoke at the protest. “We had been working with [MOCHA] for so long, and if they felt like they didn’t want to take on this project then they shouldn’t have even implemented it to begin with.”

Ziad Abbas, associate director of the Berkeley-based Middle East Children’s Alliance (MECA), said that during the six months of preparing for the exhibit, which was to include various workshops, “the staff was very supportive, very helpful.” But just two weeks ago, Abbas said, MECA was informed that the event would not take place.

He said the MOCHA representative who called him did not explain in detail—”just that it is an internal issue they are having,” Abbas said. “But we know, we understand that the moment you talk about Palestine, or mention Palestine, you will find the pro-Israeli groups try to put the pressure to silence or to shut you down.”

Abbas said he understands MOCHA was under pressure from various groups. “That is what we saw on the Internet later,” he said. “Many people supporting Israel were congratulating each other after the museum cancelled the exhibition.” Specifically, Abbas and his associates point to both the Jewish Community Relations Council and the Jewish Federation of the East Bay as playing a role in the exhibit’s cancellation.

Faith Metlzer, of San Francisco Voice for Israel, said she was relieved the exhibit would not be shown at the museum. “The art has anti-Semitic, as well as anti-American, symbolism,” she said. “To me, things like this—bombs with Jewish stars on them—it’s just a way of demonizing our people and our religion.”

Metlzer said she worried about how the exhibit would have affected Jewish children in Oakland. “How would you go around with a Jewish star on a T-shirt or on a chain, when the symbol of your people and of your religion has become a hate symbol?” she asked.

In addition to complaints about the violent imagery included in the show, Belle acknowledges that MOCHA did receive calls from people worried that the exhibit was “painting the Jews in a negative light.” But he says the cancellation was not political, and was instead done to protect children from inappropriate, graphic images.

“We are being painted as censors, we’ve been portrayed as having caved in,” Belle said. “We’ve been portrayed a lot of different ways that are just not accurate. We would never have taken the show had we ascribed to any kind of censorship.”

Belle describes MOCHA as a small organization that was caught off-guard and overwhelmed by the emotional reaction the exhibit generated. “We probably did not diligently look at the implications of having this show,” he said. “I don’t know if it was naïveté or just a misjudgment, but there were some mistakes made, and we are paying for them right now.”

Before this controversy, MOCHA had no official exhibition policy, and the “Child’s View of Gaza” exhibit was accepted with a simple up-and-down vote by the board. “In retrospect,” Belle said, “we should have done things differently.”

While “no one threatened to pull [MOCHA] funding or anything else like that,” Belle said, the burden placed on the organization by a controversial exhibit was just too great a risk. “We can make a statement, or we can serve our constituencies,” he said.

In the past, MOCHA has featured work by children of Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as a WWII exhibit. “Those exhibits did not generate the kinds of passionate responses that this one did,” Belle said.

Abbas also points to those exhibits in questioning MOCHA’s actions. “Why is Palestine different?” he asked. “Children paint what they see in the street. They paint what the Israeli army did. They try to reflect the reality of where they live.”

The Middle East Children’s Alliance received a call from MOCHA on Friday afternoon proposing an alternate exhibit. “They used the terminology ‘modified some pictures,’” Abbas said, which he described as another form of censorship. “We told them ‘Shame on you…it is too late.’”

…
‘Eleanor Levine, a member of the non-violence advocacy group Code Pink, said Friday, “This is not about religion, it is about a very powerful lobby, the Zionist lobby, that exerts a tremendous amount of power. And they are simply not interested in having the Palestinian voice heard.” Levine called the conflict “a great shame and pity,” and said she hopes MOCHA has “the opportunity to show different cultural art and values” to the people of Oakland.’

Oakland Tribune editorial/slideshow: A cowardly decision by Oakland Museum of Children’s Art

Pro-Israel lobbying groups claimed that the Gaza exhibit was anti-Israel and fought to kill it. They asserted that the art could not possibly have been created by children.

Museum officials insisted that their abrupt about-face had nothing to do with pressure from the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay and other pro-Israel Jewish groups that threatened to withhold funding if the museum went ahead with the exhibit. But these same groups gloated on the Internet about getting the exhibit canceled.

Instead, museum officials asserted that their decision to pull the plug on the exhibit less than two weeks before its scheduled opening last Saturday stemmed from concerns from parents, educators and other community members over the violent war images and their appropriateness for young children.

But past exhibits belie that rationale. In 2009, MOCHA held an exhibit of children’s art from the war in Bosnia and Iraq. It also depicted graphic images created by children who had been witnesses to war and was, as one might expect, difficult to view.

Indeed, the curator for that exhibit, Joan Miro, says she is “appalled and mystified” by MOCHA’s decision to cancel the Gaza exhibit.

The museum’s actions have drawn justifiable condemnations from critics, including progressive Jewish groups who have demanded the museum reverse itself and allow the art work to be shown.

The entire event is troubling that certain individuals have prevented the public from viewing art they don’t want us to see. What’s to stop other organizations from using the same strong-arm tactics to silence opposing viewpoints?

The Middle East Children’s Alliance in Berkeley, which organized the exhibit, showed the artwork Saturday — in the courtyard in front of MOCHA. Museum officials have only themselves to blame for this public relations fiasco.

Oakland Tribune My Word: Censorship was wrong, but exhibit will be seen

We understand the enormous pressure the museum faced — including funding threats. But the decision is a violation of MOCHA’s own mission to give a platform to children’s expression from around the world.

Shamefully, pro-Israel groups have long strategized to silence Palestinian voices and those in solidarity. For 23 years, MECA has challenged such censorship and fought to raise the voices of Palestine, especially those of children.

In 1991, when we invited Professor Noam Chomsky for a speaking engagement, 19 professors from
UC Berkeley signed a letter to bookstores selling tickets to the event. The professors threatened to picket their stores, but the owners refused to be censored.

In December 2005, MECA, in collaboration with Alliance Graphics and the Berkeley Arts Center, presented Justice Matters: Artists Consider Palestine, an exhibit displaying the artwork of 14 Palestinian and North American artists. Fourteen rabbis visited Mayor Tom Bates of Berkeley demanding that he cancel the show. They further insisted that the city withdraw funding to the Berkeley Arts Center and to be given the right to inspect any future art exhibit. Despite the rabbis’ objections to the art, the mayor rejected censorship and the show opened to a huge crowd of supporters.

MECA has always respected and loved MOCHA, and continues to support the museum and those who work there. Our support for the museum has not ceased — rather, our anger and our frustration is directed at the board of directors for lacking the courage to withstand bullying and intimidation.

What is so frightening to these pro-Israel forces that they are willing to put millions of dollars into a campaign to shut down protests on campuses, muzzle speakers who advocate for human rights for all, and even silence the voices of children by censoring their art?

WRITE! for Justice, Human Rights, and International Law in Palestine

UPDATE 28/9/11

Exhibition Opening Speeches

Successful opening of ‘A Child’s View From Gaza’ exhibition despite efforts to suppress it
Bay Area Jewish Groups Celebrate Shutting Palestinian Art Exhibit – accentuating the despicable gloating of the Brand Israel lobby.
MECA Opens “A Child’s View From Gaza” Exhibit on Schedule at New Venue in Oakland: photos & video

UPDATE 30/9/11

Could censorship of children’s art prove a turning point?

Outraged activists spread the story far and wide via listservs, Twitter, Facebook, etc., and MOCHA’s e-mail account and Facebook page (apparently now closed down) were barraged with indignant messages.

The ADL was also active in promoting censorship of the exhibition: ADL Joins Local Jewish Agencies in Successfully Urging Oakland’s Museum of Children’s Art to Cancel Controversial Exhibit of Art by Gaza Children
ADL Supports Censorship. Crayonophobia?
Photos of the crowd at the opening of MECA’s ‘A Child’s view from Gaza’ Exhibit
Palestinian Children’s Art Exhibit Canceled – Radio interviews with Lubin, Kahn and Belle.

‘Since March 2009, various organizations, including Amnesty International,1 Human Rights Watch and the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission2 have produced reports on the entire operation or specific aspects of it. In addition, Israeli human rights organizations, both in joint statements3 and in individual publications such as those by B’Tselem4 and Gisha5, have also related in a critical manner to the IDF’s (Israeli
Defense Forces) actions during the operation. All these publications have arrived at the general conclusion that was expressed in one report:

“Much of the destruction was wanton and resulted from direct attacks on civilian objects as well as indiscriminate attacks that failed to distinguish between legitimate military targets and civilian objects. Such attacks violated fundamental provisions of international humanitarian law, notably the prohibition on direct attacks on civilians and civilian objects (the principle of
distinction), the prohibition on indiscriminate or disproportionate attacks, and the prohibition on collective punishment.”6’

The No-Risk Policy

‘Kasher’s argument is that in an area such as the Gaza Strip in which the IDF does not have effective control the overriding principle guiding the commanders is achieving their military objectives. Next in priority is protecting soldiers’ lives, followed by avoiding injury to enemy civilians.

“Sending a soldier there to fight terrorists is justified, but why should I force him to endanger himself much more than that so that the terrorist’s neighbour isn’t killed? I don’t have an answer for that. From the standpoint of the state of Israel, the neighbour is much less important. I owe the soldier more. If it’s
between the soldier and the terrorist’s neighbour, the priority is the soldier”.25″

The Dahiye Doctrine

Two years later, in the beginning of October 2008, the Commanding Officer of the IDF’s Northern Command, Maj. General Gadi Eisenkott, gave an interview to Yedioth
Ahronoth newspaper, in which he unveiled what he called the “Dahiye Doctrine”:
“What happened in the Dahiye Quarter of Beirut in 2006, will happen in every village from which shots are fired on Israel. We will use disproportionate force against it and we will cause immense damage and destruction. From our point
of view these are not civilian villages but military bases.

This is not a recommendation, this is the plan, and it has already been authorized.”46

Palestine / Israel Links

Full transcript of Abbas speech at UN General Assembly
PM Netanyahu: “President Abbas, I extend my hand – the hand of Israel – in peace.”

September 24, 2011December 11, 2020

Zdob si Zdub: Don’t Play in Apartheid Israel

Lately some musical artists have voiced that they had not heard of the cultural boycott of Israel, or they would have never scheduled to play in Israel. Tuba Skinny, of New Orleans was due to play for the Israeli Red Sea Jazz Festival, and just days before, they cancelled [2] after being informed of the boycott by humanitarians. Denise Jannah and Ramon Valle (of the Netherlands) became aware of the the boycott two days prior to their three scheduled concerts in Israel, they played in Israel anyway. Denise’s experience in Israel, and correspondence with BDS volunteers, evidently created in her great regret that she had played for the apartheid regime, and she has written a letter stating she now supports BDS, where she states:

Please let me start by telling you this: of a cultural BDS boycott Ramon and I had NO knowledge, none at all. This is where the problem started, for had I known I would have done things differently: the reasons for this boycott are valid.[1]

Vintage punker Jello Biafara and advocate of the (USA) Green Party was also scheduled to play Israel, he also cancelled his performance. He was also unaware that his actions would be interpretated as showing support for Israeli apartheid. He thought he would be letting his Israeli fans down if he cancelled, and that his Israeli fans were all anti-zionist and against apartheid. He cancelled after Punks Against Apatheid [3] launched an extensive education campaign making him more aware of the PACBI’s call for a cultural boycott of Israel. [4]

Now Moldavian punkers Zdob si Zdub have announced on their “gigs” page that they will be in Tel Aviv at the Barby on 5 November. [5]

The chances are high that when they contracted to play in Israel, they were not informed of the boycott. Usually, the only way bands can often be contacted are through their booking agents or management. Punk bands are noted for making stands against government oppression. Punk bands are not known for breeching boycotts or crossing picket lines that exist for causes like human rights and justice. It can only be assumed that these punkers from Moldavia are not aware of the boycott because they have not been contacted. The BDS movement has not taken hold in Moldavia or Russia, and apparently it needs much wider exposure in the Netherlands and the USA.

As of this publishing, the contacts we have for these Moldavian punkers, who participated in the Eurovision Song 2011 Contest in Dusseldorf (and placed 12th) are:

on Facebook see http://www.facebook.com/zdobsizdub?sk=wall

myspace comments page for Zdob si Zdub

on twitter @zdobsizdub (tweet to them about the boycott, ask them to cancel their 5 Nov concert in Israel)

emails for the band booking/management:

Please participate in letting this band know what they are probably unaware of, that there is a cultural boycott on now of Israel. They they are being asked to respect this global call.

Zdob si Zdub, performing in Israel is a clear violation of support for human rights and justice. Punk music and apartheid don’t belong together.

SOURCE

[1] See Jazz artist Denise Jannah’s full letter here https://www.kadaitcha.com/2011/09/18/denise-jannah-and-ramon-valles-now-support-bds/

[2] See letter from tuba Skinny on their cancellation here http://electronicintifada.net/blog/adri-nieuwhof/tuba-skinny-speaks-out-cancellation-show-red-sea-festival

[3] See http://punksagainstapartheid.com/ and http://punksagainstapartheid.com/2011/07/its-bigger-than-jello/

[4] See http://www.pacbi.org/etemplate.php?id=869

[5] See http://www.zdob-si-zdub.com/eng/concerts/index.html

September 18, 2011December 11, 2020

Denise Jannah Expresses Support for BDS

EXTRACTS from Denise Jannah statement [for full statement see link below]

September 10, 2011.

Please let me start by telling you this: of a cultural BDS boycott Ramon and I had NO knowledge, none at all. This is where the problem started, for had I known I would have done things differently: the reasons for this boycott are valid. Saying this I do acknowledge all those in Israel who do want Peace and are equally tired of the whole situation. I too detest what is happening in Gaza and the way the Israeli government is going about, it’s all absolutely horrendous! And this is the same reason why Ramón and I have sincerely supported “Music For Gaza” in Rotterdam, September last year. This had not been my first time supporting the Palestine case, by the way, I once did through Amnesty International as well. To be accused of violating this boycott is extra painful to us. The boycott is supposedly a worldwide one, known also in all Europe. I hereby respectfully suggest to the BSDI to make sure that this becomes a 100% reality indeed. Because unless I seriously missed something I had never heard about it in the Dutch Jazz scene, and I am still to hear from any of my Dutch colleagues what they know about it; nor have I received word from any musical organization here in the Netherlands so far about this boycott, I’m sorry to say.

And then we are being urged -understandably so!- to cancel our concerts, just 2 days before. I have no objections against the open letter sent to us. I respect its writers, its contents, and agree with them/it too. But any serious working professional would know that breach of contracts will have legal consequences. Unfortunately no one of those pleading with us or downright accusing us have come forward with any idea whatsoever for a possible legal solution in this matter. In this light all we can do is stick to our sincere intention that we’ve had in the first place: to work through our Music with the talent that we’ve been blessed with to help spread Love, preach Peace, talk to people’s hearts and point out to everyone in our audience that we ALL have a responsibility to help make this world a better one, be it on a smaller or very big scale. And with all this in our hearts it’s extremely painful to have been accused of all we have been accused for and to have been called all that we were called unto this day.

The accusation that we work/have worked (in our case as musicians, work=to perform) for the Israeli government is very far from the truth and I strongly object and resent it. Maybe people don’t know this, but performing in a certain venue doesn’t automatically mean that one has been hired by that venue itself or whoever is behind it, as other musicians will also know. The agency that booked us for a few concerts is privately owned, besides: Jazz is considered commercial music and therefore doesn’t get any government support in Israel anyway. Anyone thinking that I would willingly perform for the Israeli state doesn’t know me at all. But I can’t blame anyone either. I’ll have to be content with knowing that they who really know me, will also know that I have never shied away from taking a stand, be it political or otherwise. Again I regret to not have known about the BDS boycott, and I also wish that Ramon and I, especially after “Music For Gaza”, had been informed personally, be it as a follow up, together with all the others that were involved that evening (or maybe they have been? I don’t know.) With better international information by BDS/BDSI, Ramón and I wouldn’t have to feel as if we’re standing trial today.

The Palestine people simply deserve their Freedom, their Justice, their Land, and I pray for Peace for the whole region.

In spite of everything I want to thank everyone who has reacted towards me/us this past week, no matter how harsh and painful it has been for me/us to swallow sometimes. I can still say thanks because I believe in the Divine who knows my heart, and I know too well that every experience is a learning one and that everything happens for a reason. No, my conscience has not been blinded (another one of the accusations), quite the contrary. The talks and encounters I’ve had while in Israel: I’m grateful for these chances of direct communication and enlightenment. The talks were with Israeli and non-Israeli who oppose their government/the Israeli regime and have dedicated themselves to the Palestine cause. We talked about me returning and crossing the border with them into Gaza. I have been on the Israeli radio in a live interview that was to be about my music, where I openly talked about me and Ramon performing for the children of Gaza at the event “Music for Gaza”, last year September, and what moved us to do so. And in that same live interview I also mentioned and talked about the BDS movement and its boycott: that I hadn’t known about it beforehand but that I fully agree with the reasons that have originated this boycott. I knew beforehand that I wouldn’t leave our strive for Peace and Justice untouched during our concerts, and I haven’t. Music is our art, and also our tool.

The BDS boycott and movement is a legitimate way to raise public awareness and a nonviolent way of resistance.

Please know that our strive for World Peace, which I think we all share has only gotten stronger since last week’s experience. And to use our talent as artists to keep giving our efforts accordingly, will be the only way, in moving forward from here on, to make up to everyone we have made feel let down.
Peace and Blessings,

Denise Jannah

FULL VERSION BELOW THE FOLD

Continue reading “Denise Jannah Expresses Support for BDS”

September 16, 2011December 11, 2020

Open Letter to Roxette : Don’t Play Apartheid Israel

Dear Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle of Roxette,

It came to our attention recently that you had recorded a video, for Israeli press “Ynet” stating that you “just want to say ‘hi’ to all your fans in Israel, see you very soon in Tel Aviv.”

We know that you are aware that Shuki Weiss works tirelessly to promote musical events in Israel. Shuki has also persuaded Marianne Faithfull to record a video similar to yours. In fact, there are at least seven artists who appear to have been willing to vocalize, in videos, that they indeed WILL play in Israel.[1]

In one sense, we are pleased to see that cultural boycott campaigns are recognized as potentially effective in getting artists such as yourself to cancel. We have never seen any other nation except Israel, persuade artists to record videos such as these, and for good reason. No other nation has seen so many artists cancel their concerts, as a response to the rational and humanitarian call for a cultural boycott.

But, on the other hand, we want to remind you both, Marie and Per, that you each still possess the right to refrain playing in Israel. If even one of your duo feels that playing in Israel is indeed the wrong thing, then we urge that one to have the courage to refrain.

Please know that you are planning to play in Israel in violation of a boycott called for in 2005. This boycott was further intensified in 2009, after Israel’s many violations of international law and documented war crimes in Gaza. [2]

IDF Attack — 19-year old Swedish human rights worker Tove Johansson had her cheekbone broken by a Jewish extremist in Hebron today. Earlier the same day at least five Palestinians, including a 3-year-old child, were injured by the settler-supporting extremists, who rampaged through Tel Rumeida hurling stones and bottles at local residents. Palestinian schoolchildren on their way home were also attacked. The Israeli army, which was intensively deployed in the area, did not intervene to stop the attacks. http://palsolidarity.org/2006/11/1726/

Israel’s illegal and violent actions on humanitarian aid volunteers in the summer of 2010 led to nine deaths on the Freedom Flotilla. Executions took place at close range, and multiple bullets were fired directly at the heads of these unarmed civilians, whose aim was solely humanitarian in nature, all by well-trained and armed Israeli commandos.

Did you know that the Israeli Navy acted as pirates, in international waters? Perhaps you have read the Kurt Wallander detective books. Did you know Swedish author Mankell fearlessly joined the flotilla in 2010? Afterwards he said “Israel has never before been so condemned. Israel has painted itself into a corner. The world does not look the same as it did a week ago.” Upon his return to Sweden, Mankell charged that “all the ships (in the flotilla) were hijacked, and this was really piracy.” [3]

Have you heard of Tove Johansson from Stockholm? Tove could very well be one of your fans. In November of 2006, Tove was brutally attacked by Israeli colonists resulting in a broken cheekbone, a fractured skull and damage to her eye muscles. Tove knows that Palestinians undergo this violence on a daily basis. She was attempting to walk small children to their homes from their school. She was spit at, then kicked, then attacked with a glass bottle. In a statement from the Swedish government :

“The Swedish government is dissatisfied with Israel’s investigation of an attack in the contentious West Bank city of Hebron that left a Swedish activist with a broken cheekbone, the Swedish Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. “We’re concerned that this hasn’t been followed up, and we intend to speak to the relevant authorities and ask for more information about the incident,” said Petra Hansson, a spokeswoman for the Swedish Foreign Ministry. ” [4]

Shuki wants you to think you are “playing for people, not for governments.” It would be utterly ridiculous for you to agree to play a concert for colonists in Ariel, and invite Tzipi Livni and Ehud Olmert.

Some Israelis are boycotting products made in the settlements. Some of your Israeli fans may disagree with their own government. Some of your Israeli fans may have even attended protests against the wall.

The small sacrifice your Israeli fans would have to make by not hearing you perform live is equivalent to nothing compared to the aims and goals of the boycott. Musicians who refrain from playing Israel are very humanitarian focused, and they usually agree that:

Racial discrimination and segregation against the Palestinian citizens of Israel is wrong, and it resembles the defunct apartheid system in South Africa.
Military occupation and colonization of the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and Gaza is wrong and it violates international law and multiple UN resolutions.
The Palestinian Nakba is a fact. Israel is responsible for the Nakba — in particular the waves of ethnic cleansing and dispossession that created the Palestinian refugee problem — and Israel continues to refuse to accept the inalienable rights of the refugees and displaced. International law stipulates that they have a right to reparations or to return to their homes.

Marie Fredriksson and Per Gessle, don’t you also agree that international law should be upheld and that the Palestinian people’s rights are as valid as any other people’s?

We hope you will refrain, as you put it so well, “Listen to your heart,” not to pressure from musical contracts.

Don’t Play Apartheid Israel

We are a group, of over 760 members, representing many nations around the globe, who believe that it is essential for musicians & other artists to heed the call of the PACBI, and join in the boycott of Israel. This is essential in order to work towards justice for the Palestinian people under occupation, and also in refugee camps and in the diaspora throughout the world.

[1] After a months long BDS campaign, the group August Burns Red, decided to cancel their concert in Israel. Their video still remains on Shuki Weiss’s youtube channel at the time of this publishing.

[2] See the Goldstone Report http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/specialsession/9/docs/UNFFMGC_Report.pdf

[3] See Wallander – writer may bar Hebrew Version of books http://hello.news352.lu/edito-46181-wallender-writer-may-bar-hebrew-version-of-books.html

[4] ISM Report: Swedish Human Rights Worker Viciously Attacked by Jewish Extremists in Hebron. http://palsolidarity.org/2006/11/1726/

September 13, 2011December 11, 2020

The Children of Gaza and MOCHA : Censored

Art which represents the relations of people with others is political – even to represent the human form in some cultures is a political act. There is nothing wrong with art that is political, it is perfectly valid. Yet when art is censored for political reasons, we have a problem, Houston. The MECA “Child’s View from Gaza” exhibition, due to open on September 24, 2011 at the Oakland Museum of Children’s Art [MOCHA], has been cancelled due to political lobbying by zionist groups.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Article 19 states:

Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.

and further in Article 27:

(1) Everyone has the right freely to participate in the cultural life of the community, to enjoy the arts and to share in scientific advancement and its benefits.
(2) Everyone has the right to the protection of the moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author.

while the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue affirms:

“Physically silencing criticism or dissent through arbitrary arrests and detention, enforced disappearance, harassment and intimidation is an old phenomenon … Such actions are often aimed not only to silence legitimate expression, but also to intimidate a population to push its members towards self-censorship. ”

Dr. Michael Siegel is a professor of community health sciences at the Boston University School of Public Health and he observes

‘In essence, MOCHA is using these Palestinian children as pawns in a political maneuver that delivers a clear message about what the public is or is not to believe. MOCHA is essentially contributing toward the suppression of the truth about the effects of the Israeli incursion into, and blockade of Gaza.’

The zionist lobbyists who harangued the MOCHA Board of Directors with traditional fallacious moaning about ‘it will be divisive’, ‘anti-Israel incitement‘, ‘one-sided propaganda’, ‘anti-Jewish propaganda’, ‘pink jihadist sympathizers‘, ‘they are HAMAS pictures’, ‘these are not done by small children‘, ‘MECA misled MOCHA’, ‘MOCHA didn’t know the content of the pictures’ and ‘the pictures are not suitable for young children’ do not represent a ‘general body of people’, but a sectarian putsch with a specific political agenda of justifying Israel’s crimes against humanity, and, contrary to the US constitution, suppressing political dissent that doesn’t present Israel in a pristine light. Is using the cancellation of Palestinian children’s art as a metaphorical human shield for apartheid, colonialism and war crimes really acceptable in the US ‘general community’?

From the MOCHA Facebook page:

On his own FB page, board member Randolf Belle said of those who pushed this campaign, “At first I thought they were just whiney, then it turned stupid”.

The ambit of zionists purveying hasbara is to NOT answer questions about their censurious actions, but to divert toward the fallacious propaganda used to persuade the MOCHA board to censor Palestinian children.

The initial hasbara meme of the zionist lobby was ‘the exhibition will cause division’. Ironically, the Israel lobby’s strong-arming and subsequent banning of the exhibition is causing huge division, including within the Jewish community. Prepare for this contradictory outcome to be blamed on those who object to the outrageous censoring, while ziocultists claim innocence and propose that any criticism of them, ad nauseum, is ‘antisemitic’.

For example, Philip C says “A museum of children’s art is not a place for hateful, distorted polemics. Thanks for canceling the political art from Gaza.”

The second meme is that the pictures would be inappropriate for the very young children that patronize the Museum, a banal hypocritical argument. The MOCHA FAQ states:

Can I drop my child off at MOCHA? Do you offer daycare?

You must remain with your child at all times (the only exception is art camp). Not only is this a legal requirement, it is in keeping with our aim to provide valuable art experiences in which children and parents participate together.

Thus children visitimg MOCHA must be accompanied by their parents unless attending art camp. This FAQ requirement is at variance with the letter affirming cancellation of the Gaza children’s exhibition from the MOCHA Board.

Most children that visit MOCHA are between the ages of 5 and 9, and many children enter our gallery without the supervision of their parents.

Yet even for MOCHA’s Drop-in Art Program, “Children must be accompanied by a parent at all times.”

MECA, the curator of the exhibition advises “Due to the graphic nature of some of the images, adult supervision is advised.”

No complaints from the zionist lobby were presented to MOCHA when it exhibited drawings by children from Iraq of the conflict they endured. Should the children of Oakland who draw pictures of the violence they experience in their community be censored? Should any Museum or art gallery ban children from visiting in case they view a violent image? do the ziocensors prevent their children from watching the nightly news?

It’s worth bearing in mind the process of hasbarisation inculcated on Israel’s propaganderists is deliberately designed to create cognitive dissonance and irrationality, obvious to observers but opaque to the hasbarists.

‘And who says you can not facilitate analysis and criticism, while also encouraging students to reach the right conclusions?’

An intellectually bankrupt ‘teaching’ technique which is cognitively dissonant itself, this strategy would be laughable if it wasn’t aimed at producing cultists dedicated to minimising, excusing and disappearing alternate views which *are* directly based in experience of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Cults call out their cult ‘traitors’ – for cultists, loyalty to the cult is more important than human rights, justice and freedom for which cult dissenters advocate. Goldstone experienced this victimisation for crossing the zionist red line to find Israel had committed war crimes.

President Shimon Peres called Goldstone “a small man, devoid of any sense of justice.” Others in the government and media piled on, as did the so-called leaders of the “organized” American Jewish community. Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said Goldstone was “an evil, evil man,” “a traitor to the Jewish people,” the U.N.’s “token court Jew” and a “despicable human being.”

There’s a Hebrew word for what these people did to Richard Goldstone: They put him in cherem, meaning he was not just persona non grata in the eyes of our religious arbiters, he was totally cut off from the Jewish community. From the moment the report was released, he was treated like a leper — shunned, defamed, disowned — and the worst was yet to come.

In April 2010, the South African Zionist Federation reportedly threatened demonstrations outside the Sandton Synagogue if he showed up at his grandson’s bar mitzvah. Given the volatile political context, that was tantamount to banning the grandfather from the ceremony. No less an authority than Rabbi Moshe Kurtstag, head of the local rabbinic court, endorsed the idea that Goldstone should simply stay away, calling it “quite a sensible thing to avert all this unpleasantness.”

After an international outcry, Goldstone was able to attend the bar mitzvah. However, that hardly absolves Jews worldwide for the smear campaign against him. Appalling enough in human terms, I believe it should be condemned on speci?cally Jewish grounds. The most Jewishly observant and educated of Goldstone’s attackers surely knew that speaking ill of another human being (“hate speech” in current parlance) violates one of Judaism’s most sacrosanct laws, the prohibition against lashon hara (the Evil Tongue — i.e., gossip), which Maimonides de?ned as any utterance (true or not!) that might cause a person physical or monetary damage, or shame, humiliation, anguish or fear.

The Gaza children’s art confirms the findings of the Goldstone report, another target for delegitimisation by the Israel lobby. Nutanyahoo said early last year:

“We face three major strategic challenges. The Iranian nuclear program, rockets aimed at our civilians and Goldstone.”

The report of the UN Fact-finding Mission into Israel’s Operation Cast Lead is on the UN General Assembly agenda this month.

Crayonophobia

Pedophobia is a fear of children, an appropriate term for people who are attempting to censor Palestinian children. Or should it be crayonophobia? The zionist lobbyists are afraid of what Palestinian children have to say with their art. They are afraid of the truth that these children have seen with their own eyes, heard with their own ears. The truth is a powerful weapon against the hideous injustice of the Israeli occupation, apartheid and colonialism.

Later in 2010, Nutanyahoo expanded the threat list to Israel to include an ongoing threat to its legitimacy ‘as anti-Semitism had warped into criticism of the Jewish state’, a classically topsy turvy explication of Zionist reality.

In line with current Reut Institute strategy which reveals how criticism of Israel is to be dealt with, between redlines and bluelines, zionists wage war on US democracy in an obscene attempt to stifle criticism of Israel on the MOCHA facebook wall.

Who would think that so many grown adults (?) would be terrified of what children think and create? These art censors are into control – of all our lives, of all our children. Forget the US constitution, free speech and parents’ rights, zionists know best what’s good for you and yours, with an underlying assumption that what is good for Israel, assuming that political censorship IS good for Israel, is good for the US. While many of the facebook page posters in favour of showing the exhibit are Jewish, the zionist art censors claim to represent the interests of ‘the Jewish community.’

This issue *is* about antisemitism – that of political zionist bigots who think they speak on behalf of everyone, including all Jews, that zionists have a right to determine what everyone sees about Israel, whilst trampling upon Palestinian children’s freedom of expression to do it. Unfortunately, self-appointed art censors operating from political zionist lobby groups help fan real antisemitism.

Political zionism was proposed by Herzl, who based this 19th century nationalist ideology on a racist assumption that Jews create antisemitism wherever they go. In Der Judenstaat he writes:

“The Jewish question persists wherever Jews live in appreciable numbers. Wherever it does not exist, it is brought in together with Jewish immigrants. We are naturally drawn into those places where we are not persecuted, and our appearance there gives rise to persecution. This is the case, and will inevitably be so, everywhere, even in highly civilised countries—see, for instance, France—so long as the Jewish question is not solved on the political level. The unfortunate Jews are now carrying the seeds of anti-Semitism into England; they have already introduced it into America.”

Yet Jews should be able to feel safe anywhere. Herzl had a plan for antisemitism, that the ‘the anti-Semites will become our most loyal friends, the anti-Semite nations will become our allies.’

Ziocultists continue in Herzl’s tradition, attempting to manufacture antisemitism where it doesn’t exist. And those who oppose zionism might also be aware not to play into zionist stereotypes.

This dialogue about the mechanism of zionist mythology is pertinent:

Emma Rosenthal: If depicting the zionist lobby as powerful and financial is anti-semitic, then they need to stop doing that!!! Anti-zionists need to stop doing it too, because it makes one little community group (the JCRC) seem much more powerful than it is, when it tells a museum it needs to shut down an exhibit.

Emma Rosenthal: Clarification, the zio lobby needs to stop presenting itself as powerful and financial.

Becky Dent: But it is powerful and financial. 🙁

Sylvia Posadas Yet the zio lobby is geared to the fomentation of antisemitism since Herzl.

Emma Rosenthal: Yes, but not so powerful that anytime anyone complains, it needs to be heeded. That just feeds the power. and their power certainly isn’t magical. It is powerful within a system of power. Any power the zio lobby has is due to inherent inequalities within the already existing amerikan capitalist system.

There have been many examples of small organizations like this museum, refusing to be told what to do by groups like the JCRC and Standonus, and they have survived. When people have been defeated by this power block, it’s because targeted organizations buckled down to the pressure of these groups and forgot their core constituency.

It gets to the point, when there are 3 phone calls from “the jewish community” saying something is anti-semitic, it is interpreted that the powerful lobby has descended, when all it is is 3 phone calls. The anti-zionist jewish lobby doesn’t have the same mystique. (we also don’t have the money and power) but who’s to say those 3 callers do either.

I asked Maxine Waters when she would come out with a statement of real support for palestine. She told me “AIPAC is too powerful”. It’s an excuse. she’s untouchable. They may be able to make life a bit more difficult for her, but there’s no way she could be defeated in her district, no matter how they draw the districting lines. Truth is, she doesn’t want to take them on because she might want other things for her district. It ends up being an excuse.

Sylvia Posadas: The ‘powerful mystique lobby’ can also serve as cover for hegemonic power too – the lobby can be blamed when policies are aiming for outcomes with increased defence spending to funnel into congressional districts etc.

Why would a polly cut military spending and risk his/her seat by job losses in defence industries in their district = the tension from Israeli destabilisation, primed by the lobby, gives excellent cover.

In the end, the ‘powerful mystique’ doesn’t serve ordinary people, it serves an elite which also can be antisemitic – while Jews are cast as the all powerful money folks, the dynastic and nouveau elites can use them as cover also. So folks end up diverting their antipathy towards Jews – directed by the ziolobby and the ruling elite to do so.

Emma Rosenthal: Syl’s point is excellent. the lobby, on the national level merely reinforces the MIC and that whole trajectory of U.S. foreign policy. Where they have real power is in the way they persuade cultural organizations, labor unions, educational facilities, etc. to marginalize and blacklist members, and to cancel events. At this level, it IS about mystique. If the JCRC and Stand on us really represented so many people, we’d actually have a deluge of resistance to our resistance. But as it is, there are only 3-4 zionist trolls on this wall, spreading lies and half truths, with really bad unsubstantiated arguments.

It is at the point where they claim they have grassroots support where we need to stand our ground and challenge and demystifying them.

Sylvia Posadas If folks followed the REAL money, they would know it resides in the Pentagon, with its $1.2 trillion which gets recycled majorly back to US defence corporations, whose shareholders reap unbelievable profits from maintaining conflicts around the globe. Not forgetting big pharma, oil, the prison industrial complex, intelsec, all benefit from maintaining militarisation globally.

Emma Rosenthal: I’m very aware of that power, but for example, when I came under attack w/in my union, and a flurry of letters came to the union president for work I was doing on BDS, any letter that started with “as a jewish person i…” was categorized as being against BDS. They didn’t even bother to read the next sentence, which often went on to say something about support for Palestinians. The zio lobby perpetuates the idea that they represent most jews, when they don’t even represent most zionist jews.

Sylvia Posadas: The other con where the ziolobby and US imperialists/white supremacists do Jews a big disfavour is in the maintenance of the myth of the aid to Israel, which US people often blame Israel for. In reality nearly ALL the milaid supplied to Israel is recycled back to teh US – first off, 75% has to be spent on US defence product, the other 25% goes to Israeli defence corps, most of whom are floated on the NASDAQ with majority US capitalist shareholders.

The US runs the same scam throughout the ME and wherever else it wants to retain tabs on its tributaries and vassals.

Emma Rosenthal: It is a powerful lobby that gets liberal jews to demand that a small local museum practice censorship!!! (who would have thought that was even remotely possible!!??)

Of course zionism serves the ruling class by means of confusing imperialism, censorship, settler colonialism and militarism with social justice and human rights.

Sylvia Posadas: OK, so how can we better explicate this relationship so at least ordinary folks can stop being conned by really powerful large predators?

Zero tolerance for racism, bigotry, elitism, ableism, and sexism has to be one way where ordinary folks do have a chance to participate in taking control.

Emma Rosenthal: Well the fact that it is confusing is of course part of its brilliance.

Sylvia Posadas: Playing on people’s hopes and fears – the American scream, anyone can be president, fear the other, work till you drop, taxes are bad (even though they might improve most people’s lot) they want to take what we have …. we don’t want to give back to those from whom we have taken …

Emma Rosenthal: And the fact that in amerikkka it is worse to be called a racist (including anti-semitic) than it is to actually BE racist (such as closing down a children’s art museum because some people think palestinian children’s art is terrorism.)

I’m well aware of the semantics of semitism. http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2004/720/op63.htm – that has nothing to do with it. I happen to disagree with the zionist lobby, which isn’t exclusively a jewish lobby. many jews don’t support the lobby, and many many many non-jews are part of the lobby. Jewish is an ethnic/religious/cultural group. Zionism is a political ideology, that one can agree to or disagree with.

The original settlers of the “new world” used much of that same rhetoric and biblical reference in their conquest. These were, in many ways, the first zionists and they weren’t jews, and they didn’t settle in historic palestine. their zion was the region that is now the continental U.S.A. It wasn’t jews who named Zion national Park. It was Mormons.

Most zionists today are not jewish. They are christian zionists.

I won’t conflate zionist with jewish. There are too many exceptions to that rule, including both anti-zionist jews, and non-jewish zionists. For example, one is supposed to imagine that Fatima Husseni is a zionist, but not jewish. right? and in the context of this wall, is definitely part of the zionist lobby. on the other hand, I’m clearly NOT part of the zionist lobby. But I’m jewish. (in rw, not just on fb!) so even here, with only a few zionists posting, most of the jews in this discussion are anti-zionists and support the exhibit, and not all the zionists who oppose the exhibit, are jews. so how could we even begin to assume that zionist means jewish. it clearly does not.

Political zionist lobby groups – JCRC, JDEF, JCPA and Stand With Us – all worked to have the exhibit cancelled.

On the MOCHA page, David M says : “We don’t want our children and other people’s children exposed to it. The East Bay JCRC worked very hard to get this exhibit stopped.” Fatima H says “The MOCHA decisons were made locally, by grass roots peace activists working hand in hand with the museum.”

David M again: “I am simply providing some information about why we did that and why the museum board listened to us. It is not policing adult or teen age thought to be concerned about what children as young as two are exposed to.”

David M: “Do you think there would be an exhibit from WW II showing how kids felt about the Japanese? Or from the Korean War showing how kids felt about the Chinese? Or one showing how kids in India feel about terror attacks originating in Pakistan? I would not want any of those exhibits shown.”

Slurs against BDS and JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace):

David M: “We are trying to respond to the BDS campaign, which is very well funded and organized. We can’t match the funding and numbers but we can improve our ability to respond to attacks like these. We have a lot of work to do. JVP is very good.”

And slurs against MECA:

David M: “Parents don’t take their children to the museum or approve their going on field trips so MECA assistants can indoctrinate them with their extreme political ideas.”

David M: “I agree with MECA about the therapeutic benefits of art expression for children. They have picked 50 out of many pictures and are using them for propaganda purposes. That is fine with me as long as they show them somewhere other than this small museum.”

Allen S: “is this show about art or to broadcast a praticular mono-selective ageda with exculdes the atrocities of both sides of the conflict.?”

The self-appointed censors cast blame and assert antisemitism:

David M: “Right. Those who don’t see things your way must be inferior to you.”

David M: “One issue is their lack of truth in the interest of attacking Jews. Another is the inappropriate audience.”

David M: “That is not a projection. It is a guess. Rhetoric like that here tends to lead to action.”

David M: “The virtual attacks on the museum’s Facebook wall will probably lead to physical attacks.”

David M: “When people mad about this say Zionists, they mean Jews. It was leading Jewish organizations which dealt with this. I am sure our overseas visitors do not understand how the US Jewish community works.”

David M: “The intended effect of the exhibit is important. These are very sensitive issues. There are communal tensions and people get attacked.”

David M: “The kind of things you folks say inspire violence.”

David M: “I would not approve of an art exhibit which aroused anger against Muslims period; whether it was shown to children or not, whether the art was created by children or not.”

Aleksandra F: “I dare you to show me one Arab in Gaza that wants to get along with the Jews instead of slitting Jews’ throats! Don’t give me this “peaceful” crap! ”

Aleksandra F: “Rebut my content – like I said, label me what you will – it stiil doesn’t change the fact that there are no peaceful “Gazans” whatever that may mean. Aza has always been Jewish land and we will get it back. Time to end Arab occupation of Jewish land and take back the language from lowlifes like yourself ! I have no patience for those who defend terrorists.”

These “arguments” are more transparent excuses which avoid dealing with the heinous immorality of art censorship for political reasons and recalling what sort of tyrannical regimes practise political censorship.

In Studies on Hysteria, Freud pinpoints the ‘rationale’ of the hysteric for censorship:

“We are very often astonished,” he writes, “to realize in what a mutilated state all the ideas and scenes emerged which we extracted from the patient by procedure of pressing. Precisely the essential elements of the picture were missing […] I will give one or two examples of the way in which a censoring of this kind operates . . .” (1895b, p. 281-282). He then shows that what is censored is what appears to the patient to be blameworthy, shameful, and inadmissible. In a letter to Wilhelm Fleiss (December 22, 1897, in 1950a) he compares this psychic work to the censorship that the czarist regime imposed on Russian newspapers at the time: “Words, sentences and whole paragraphs are blacked out, with the result that the remainder is unintelligible” (1950a, p. 240).

The art burners blame the artists and those who support them for ‘divisiveness’ – they play the same game as the apartheid entity they protect – blame the victim. One of the real divisions is that there is a substantial body of medical evidence confirming the expression of art by traumatised Gazan children and its display is psychologically healing for them. These children are facing fears which are ever-present in reality for them. On the other side of the ‘divide’ are those who wish to censor the creative expression of these children. These suppressors across the ocean do not have to face daily bombings, death, white phosphorus, mutilation, deprivation and occupation. Neither can they bear to be reminded of them. In censoring these children, they enmesh themselves in more guilt.

The self-appointed gatekeepers can’t allow the whole picture to be presented. They attempt to ensure that essential pieces of the picture of Israel’s crimes against humanity and war crimes are deleted perhaps lest they are forced to acknowledge that they, and the US, are fully complicit with those crimes. At the least they follow the dictates of Israel’s Reut Institute current hasbara strategy, including the strategic conflation of Israel with zionism and all Jews.

Over the past year, and especially following Reut’s study visit to the Bay Area in February, it has become clear that the response to the assault on Israel’s legitimacy must begin with internal Jewish deliberation: we have to broaden our tent, as well as establish red-lines; we have to work together across the political spectrum ,with the Government of Israel and with both establishment and non-establishment groups; and we have to transform the education on Israel.
…
the Reut Institute has been committed to responding to the challenge of the de-legitimization of Israel since the fall of 2008. Our team, led by Eran Shayshon,
has worked to catalyze an effective response to this challenge in Jewish communities including in London, Orange County and the Bay Area, as well as in the Government of
Israel , as well as in the Government of Israel. Reut’s conclusions are summarized in a trilogy on de-legitimization (each can be skimmed in 10-15 min through the bold sentences): Building a Political Firewall Against Israel’s De-Legitimization (click here); The Gaza Flotilla – The Collapse of Israel’s Political Fire Wall (click here); and London as a Case Study (click here). In
addition, we published a document on the BDS movement (click here), which exposed its de-legitimizing character. This paper informed the following YouTube clip produced by StandWithUs (click here).

More projection of blame is uncovered by reviewing Stand With Us’s actual violent acts. Were these ziolobbyists concerned about young children witnessing them? Robin McClaren relates her personal experience with SWU:

I was not going to relate this story here because the subject is a CHILDREN’S art exhibit being cancelled. But since YOU brought up “violence” and the folks at Stand With US were a major force behind getting this exhibit cancelled I am going to share my very first up close and personal experience with those folks. It was in 2007 at the Beverly Hills Library. Women in Black were hosting Hedy Epstein, a Holocaust survivor in her 80s. The room was not large. My 16 year old daughter and I were sitting directly in front of a row of Stand With Us people. The entire time Hedy was speaking the people right behind us with loudly muttering in the FOULEST language possible. There were more of these SWU folks at the back of the room. I turned around several times to ask them to please keep their voices down and not speak like that within hearing distance of my daughter. I was told to “F–k off” along with the nastiest superlatives for the female anatomy in the English vocabulary. Immediately when Hedy finished talking all hell broke loose. Shouting, jumping up and a woman in the back had to be escorted out by library security for SHOUTING and cussing about Muslims. I was SO glad security was in place because it was SCARY.

Stand With Us also threatened violence in Seattle should the bus ads run. NO ONE ELSE did this, SWU did.

So you brought it up Mr. Marshak, not one single person here has threatened “violence” OR tried to incite it and on the contrary Zissa was asked to COOL HER JETS. But here you come saying “words lead to actions”. I suggest you take care of your own constituency before you start projecting that anyone commenting here negatively about this censorship be accused of having their words “probably lead to violence”.

Medical experts say it is beneficial for Palestinian children to show their art, while zionists cynically claim that exhibiting their art is ‘abuse of the pain of Palestinian children for political ends’. Ziocultists in fact propose such abuse by denying these children an audience, by bantustanning, corralling off these childrens’ expression even though the MOCHA have shown the works of other children from other regions of conflict, including Iraq.

The reaction of Gaza’s children to their silencing is immensely poignant:

“He was extremely disappointed, and the other children were obviously shocked and sad as well … It’s upsetting to them to hear that a children’s art museum across the world decided that their personal [narratives] are offensive, and then silenced their voices and artwork. When you hear about an art museum that has violated its own mission to censor children’s artwork and children’s artistic expression, it’s extremely disappointing.”

The zionist lobby has a track record for closing down Palestinian and even Jewish art which challenges Israeli propaganda.

Art critics and visitors to the museum were impressed. Some of the museum’s powerful backers were not. They included Chicago’s Jewish federation, which contributes $700,000 a year, or 10% percent, of the Spertus’ operating budget, and whose membership contributed generously to Spertus’ new, $55 million home.”
…
Those looking at the exhibit in the spirit of Spertus—to learn—did so. Those looking at it through politically motivated lenses preferred to find the exhibit objectionable. In the end, the politically motivated won. The exhibit was censored.

How to make ‘peace’ with zionist lobby groups which can’t allow children to express themselves? If the survival of Israel depends on censoring Palestinian children’s art, then Israel truly is doomed.

Truth cannot be divided, truth promotes understanding and resolution of conflict. The creative expressions of children who suffer oppression directly are essential reflections of their world and their lives. To censor Palestinian children because it makes those who condone and perpetuate injustice toward them feel uncomfortable is immoral. Unfortunately, this success on the part of the vigilante art censors may only encourage them to find other ways to suppress expression by victims of Israel’s crimes. Democracy thrives on open dissent, not political censorship of art the anti-democratic Israel lobby regards as inconveniently violent, ‘divisive’, ‘unsuitable for young children’ and slanders as ‘untruthful’. The MOCHA board must take a stand against censorship at the behest of the zionist lobby and reverse their decision.

The famous words of Frank Zappa: “I think you should leave it up to the parents, bec not all parents want to keep their children totally ignorant.”

From Stephen King: “What I tell the kids is, don’t get mad, get even. Run, don’t walk, to the first library or bookstore you can find and read what they are trying to keep out of your eyes because that is exactly what you need to know.”

And from Jin: “A curse on those who promote and capitulate to the evil of political censorship, you open the door to hell just a little wider”.

Related Links

“A Child’s View From Gaza” – see more of the pictures from the Child’s View from Gaza exhibition
The Survival and Art of the Children of Gaza
What the zionist lobby is NOT trying to limit access to young children

And this:

Holocaust Butterfly

View more presentations from aahelpdesk

Petitions: Show art by all children, including Palestinians
US museum cancels Gaza children’s art exhibition after pro-Israel groups’ pressure
The MOCHA board released a second weasily, cowardly statement confirming they are capitulating to the artburners, complicit with yet another crime against Palestinian children – the stench-filled evil of political censorship, removing reference to those who lobbied them.
To read people’s responses to it, go here
Give MOCHA a review
See some banned Palestinian children’s art
One of the ziolobby groups involved in the censorship of the art exhibition, the East Bay Jewish Federation, gloats about their achievement on twitter.
Write @MOCHAorg to Save @MECAForPeace Gaza Children’s Art Exhibit.
The drawings that terrified the the San Francisco Jewish Community Relations Council
Empathy Is A Wave: The Banning of Palestinian Children’s Art
“Censorship in the United States is an old pastime and new hobby of the feebleminded.” – Adler & Robin Books
Psychological trauma in Palestine

Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue

22. The right to freedom of opinion and expression is as much a fundamental right on its own accord as it is an “enabler” of other rights, including economic, social and cultural rights, such as the right to education and the right to take part in cultural life and to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications, as well as civil and political rights, such as the rights to freedom of association and assembly.
…
However, the Special Rapporteur deems it appropriate to reiterate that any limitation to the right to freedom of expression must pass the following three-part, cumulative test:
(a) It must be provided by law, which is clear and accessible to everyone
(principles of predictability and transparency); and
(b) It must pursue one of the purposes set out in article 19, paragraph 3, of the
Covenant, namely (i) to protect the rights or reputations of others, or (ii) to protect national
security or of public order, or of public health or morals (principle of legitimacy); and
(c) It must be proven as necessary and the least restrictive means required to
achieve the purported aim (principles of necessity and proportionality).
Moreover, any legislation restricting the right to freedom of expression must be applied by
a body which is independent of any political, commercial, or other unwarranted influences
in a manner that is neither arbitrary nor discriminatory, and with adequate safeguards
against abuse, including the possibility of challenge and remedy against its abusive
application.
25. As such, legitimate types of information which may be restricted include child
pornography (to protect the rights of children), hate speech (to protect the rights of affected
communities), defamation (to protect the rights and reputation of others against
unwarranted attacks), direct and public incitement to commit genocide (to protect the rights
of others), and advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement
to discrimination, hostility or violence (to protect the rights of others, such as the right to
life).

Sign National Letter to Protest Closing of Gaza Children’s Art Exhibition in Oakland
Suffer the Children: MOCHA Cracks Under Anti-Exhibit Lobby
JWeekly hasbara Sides divided after children’s museum in Oakland cancels art show by Gaza kids

THE CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF THE CHILD

Participation rights: having an active voice

Article 12 (Respect for the views of the child): When adults are making decisions that affect children,
children have the right to say what they think should happen and have their opinions taken into account.
Article 13 (Freedom of expression): Children have the right to get and share information, as long as the
information is not damaging to them or others. In exercising the right to freedom of expression, children
have the responsibility to also respect the rights, freedoms and reputations of others. The freedom of
expression includes the right to share information in any way they choose, including by talking, drawing or
writing.

All countries in the world have ratified the UNCRC except the US and Somalia which is intending to ratify.

Lawfare is a Reut Institute tactic: Lawsuit Details Depth of Berkeley Jewish Student Harassment
Similar censorship campaign in the UK : PSC target primary kids in lit festival : Board of Deputies’ chief executive Jon Benjamin said: “Given the PSC’s recent activity, we find it extremely troubling that this local branch is now directing its highly political agenda to primary school children.”
Is Israel an Apartheid State?

My letter to the MOCHA Board:

I’m dismayed that the MOCHA Board crumbled to the evil of political censorship from those political lobby groups who only realised they had a concern about your exhibitions when it came to exhibiting Gazan children’s art.

These traumatised children’s creative expression of their suffering has been identified as a healing for them from the horrors of war – a powerful message for us all. Their art stands alone as a testament to hope – that when noone wants to listen, one can delve into one’s own creative reservoirs for sustenance. Yet there are those who still wish to deny them an audience, because what these children have to say is deeply uncomfortable to their colonisers.

Let’s close the dark door which some would have us open that unleashes further travesties. Please reconsider, take courage as these Gazan children have to reach out with their art, and search within your own creative resources for sustenance to resist opening that door – these children of all children, living in the world’s largest open air prison, under siege now for 1,553 days, deserve to be heard without gatekeepers suppressing and demonising them and their creative expression abroad even as they are oppressed, rendered voiceless and inconsequential in Gaza under Occupation. You can be these children’s link to hope. You can make a difference to their impoverished lives against those who find them an embarrassment or would prefer they did not exist at all.

UPDATE 21/9/11

Some within the fold are catching on : Group urges rabbis to use the civil pulpit

It was a young Jewish San Franciscan that was allegedly punched when she interrupted a speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last year. In Berkeley, Rabbi Michael Lerner has had his home vandalized several times with graffiti branding him a supporter of terrorism. The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival sparked furor and lost some funding over its decision to put on a program featuring a film about Rachel Corrie, the activist killed by an Israeli army bulldozer in the West Bank, and an appearance by her mother. And just last week, in Oakland, an exhibition of Palestinian children’s art was canceled because the subject proved too controversia

Odd hasbara against Sabeel
Doug Minkler: Most Censored Art

During my twenty-seven years of poster-making, no piece that I have created has been censored more than Stop US Aid to Israel. When I made the poster in 1988, it was displayed restaurants, grocery stores and bakeries all over Berkeley. Within two weeks from the time of posting, all the posters had been removed. The merchants were told, in no uncertain terms, by Israeli supporters “show this poster here and your business will suffer.”

Pro-Israel Censorship Hurts Us All ‘Some weeks later I saw my father sitting, stony faced. He turned to me and whispered: “I just got a call from Michael. My show has been canceled.” Michael, it transpired, had been visited by a group from the Sacramento Jewish community. Their message: “If you show Bisharat’s art, we will boycott your gallery and close you down.”
Berkeley Filmmakers Challenge Censorship in Jewish Community
Iraqi Children Depict “Operation Iraqi Freedom” Gallery here
War in Irak seen by the Iraki children

It is my hope that many people will see these images to better understand that there are no ‘smart bombs.’ Children and innocents have been killed, crippled, maimed and orphaned by this war. War is not a football game. There are no winners. War represents the worst of human nature.