Pistolesi exclaimed: "there's a terrible urgency about this; everybody needs to get out and stand up against this horrible thing."
Eighty-nine-year old Esther Cicconi, a longtime peace activist, was among those standing up against it, even from her wheelchair. Set to turn 90 this summer, she was proud "I'm still raising hell." But at the same time, she said, because of the events in Gaza, "I'm ashamed to be an American and I'm ashamed to be Jewish."
A few miles across town, a very animated protest initiated by ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) and Palestinian and Arab organizations was also in full-swing Tues. evening on the sidewalk outside the Israeli Consulate of L.A. There were so many people, it was extremely difficult to push through the crowd, and very hard to converse with all the chanting and drumming.
Muna Coobtee, long-time ANSWER-LA activist, said that the ANSWER Coalition demands "an end to the bombardment and the blockade of Gaza". Coobtee called the air strikes on Gaza "a massacre" and "completely outrageous". She was also very critical of the U.S.' role in the assault, saying that it's "clear" that Israel has "U.S. approval" or it would not proceed. She called the U.S. "entirely complicit" and urged Obama "to come out strongly against this." The ANSWER Coalition is also one of a number of organizations calling for an end to US aid to Israel.
During the demonstration, one of the protesters against the air strikes on Gaza was arrested. An eye-witness reported that police had pushed his wife backwards by pushing on her chest, so the man responded by shoving the police officer back and was handcuffed and led across the street. The crowd was unified, however, and persisted in chanting "Let him go." As a result, the man was released.
9/11 truth activist Katy Kurtzman was there representing We Are Change L.A. (www.WACLA.org), and told me "we're here to support the truth. Governments lie to their people. Israel is lying to their people."
Kurtzman was handing out flyers for the group's upcoming screening of the Alex Jones' documentary "Terrorstorm: A History of Government Sponsored Terrorism", a film which lists Nazi Germany, Italy, Britain, and the U.S. among governments which have mounted false flag operations (acts of terror attributed to another entity for political purposes). One of the movie's claims is that Israel's sustained bombardment of the U.S.S. Liberty during the Six-Day War of 1967 was no accident, but the result of a deal between President Lyndon Johnson and Israel - an attempted false flag operation intended to cast blame on Egypt and thereby justify the U.S. joining the war in the Middle East. Different sides of the U.S.S. Liberty controversy are presented here.
Further down the block, a music student visiting from CSU-Fresno who said his name was Javiera El Cantara, had a contrasting take on 9/11 and doesn't support people "who say 9/11 was an inside job." He was holding a hand-lettered sign that warned: "9/11 - The Result of U.S. Support of Israel". He called the Israeli government "fascist" and said "we shouldn't support a fascist regime that treats people as sub-humans", largely because "U.S. support for Israel endangers all Americans."
He explained his sign's reference to "p.163 of the 9/11 Commission Report": his sign cites Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, whom the 9/11 Commission Report called "the principal architect of the 9/11 attacks," and his confession that U.S. support for Israel was the motive for 9/11. (Human rights advocates have alleged that Mohammed was tortured, and Pulitzer-winning national security reporter James Risen wrote in a 2006 book that a source told him Mohammed recanted some of what he told the CIA. Yet last month Mohammed, whom the U.S. charged with murder and war crimes, indicated to a judge that he wanted to plead guilty.)
Another student at the protest, Aneeta Mitha, studies social psychology and public policy at SMC and blogs at www.rise2peace.blogspot.com. She came out because she feels "what's going on is an atrocity, it's genocide" – both the air strikes and the occupation of Palestine where life is "like an open-air prison". She called Israel's assault on Gaza "collective punishment" and "disproportionate", and noted: "the U.S. is alone in saying that it's the Palestinians' fault what's going on."
Across the street from the Israeli consulate, a small counter-demonstration stared at the vociferous and much larger anti-war assembly. The 100 or so Israel-supporters (about the same number as police officers on the scene) held a banner that said "Stop using Gaza as a Base for Terrorism", waved Israeli and American flags, and held up professionally-printed, black-and-white signs that did not credit any identifying organization and which had slogans such as: "Hamas Stop Using Children as Human Shields", "Israel left Gaza for Peace and is Being Attacked from Gaza", and "Israel is Doing the World's Work."
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