A Jewish Russian Telegraph reader, a congregant of Temple Isaiah, shares with us his impressions about an event with Boston Globe's Charles Radin:
On a dank and uninspiring night, I found myself at Temple Isaiah in Lexington to hear Israel's Consul General, Meir Shlomo, and Boston Globe Foreign Correspondent Charles Radin discuss Gaza. I had hoped for a lively debate. Instead I was surprised to hear Shlomo and Radin agree on almost everything. Both agreed that the pullout was the best thing that had happened in a long time.
Radin made a curious remark; he claimed that Israelis felt that Gaza was Israel’s Vietnam. When someone in the audience tried to bring attention to Radin’s repeated use of the Vietnam analogy, Temple Isaiah moderator Jeff Robbins, former U.S. delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Commission cut him off. Another audience member made a rambling speech about how the homeless in the US and Boston’s big dig were connected to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Former Human Rights Commissioner Robbins had no problem entertaining this odd questioner.
One interesting moment of the evening occurred when Shlomo tried to illustrate how Israel was a Democracy by talking about the treatment of Gays in Israel vs. their treatment in Arab countries. Hearing someone from the Israeli Government nomenklatura must be heartwarming to those who feel this defines a Democracy.
Another revealing moment was Charles Radin’s novel explanation of why the Camp David peace talks failed. It seems Bill Clinton should have know that the Palestinians would need time to come to an agreement and instead of trying for a deal at the last hour of his Presidency, Clinton should have involved Al Gore in the negotiations. If he had passed the baton to Al, Gore would have won Florida in 2000 and become President! An outcome for which the audience had been praying.
posted by: jrtelegraph
The Jewish Advocate reported that Peter Lowney, who was deported from Israel in 2004 for his activities with the International Solidarity Movement, was arrested for assaulting a police officer at the demonstration of anti-Israel protesters outside disengagement talk at Temple Isaiah.
This is the same Lowney who, in the company of Joachim Carlo Santos Martillo Ajami, was arrested for disorderly conduct at a small protest on the campus of Harvard’s Emerson Hall where Dr. Mike Cohen spoke on Israel's Disengagement from Gaza.
The Internet posting that alerted police to the demonstration, referred to Shlomo as a “notorious and blood soaked human rights abuser and criminal.”
And what was Shlomo’s reaction? “This kind of language really doesn’t deserve a response.” As for the demonstration itself, Shlomo noted that it was “a free country.”
“Discussion moderator and Temple Isaiah member Jeff Robbins told the Advocate that while a couple activists did make it into the event, the only disruption occurred when one had to be coaxed into a question after making a long-winded anti-Israel statement.”
Indulged was more like it. The police were ready to eject these folks but Robbins, good lefty that I imagine he is, wanted to hear them out.
The Advocate claims that an estimated 250 people attended the Temple Isaiah discussion – actually it was about half that number.
Posted by: At Temple Isaiah | October 29, 2005 at 12:15 AM