Prime Minister Netanyahu Comes to Washington

Digesting the media reports on speeches given yesterday by US Secy of State Hillary Clinton and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu before AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobby, I had to read Al Jazeera to learn about the CODEPINK demonstration. Activists were removed from the meeting.

Using utterly subversive tactics, CODEPINK sent out a hoax PR release, one picked up by US news organisations, including National Public Radio and ABC. The statement attributed to AIPAC called on Israel to freeze building in Jerusalem.

CODEPINK’s other protests this week have included daily morning protests, staging of a checkpoint for attendees, and an afternoon press conference announcing the launch of a city-wide boycott of products made in the settlements. via Al Jazeera

It seems that CODEPINK is not alone.

Those attending the conference got a reminder of that when they walked into the gathering. Across the street were demonstrators carrying vile messages on signs: “God Hates Jews.” “You Will Eat Your Babies.” Others carried an Israeli flag defaced with a swastika. The liberal Code Pink group marched around the building hollering about “apartheid” and carrying a banner saying “Stop Israel War Crimes.” via Washington Post

Dana Milbank writes in the Washington Post that Clinton deserved far better than she got from the AIPAC audience.

Prime Minister Netanyahu Meeting President Obama

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"Women of the Wall" Protest Exclusion from Praying at Jerusalem's Western Wall

Supporters of a group of religious activists called Women of the Wall gathered at the holy site in Jerusalem for prayers on Friday. Conservative Jew Nofrat Frenkel, 28 and a fifth year medical student, was the first woman to be arrested last month on Nov. 18th, during prayers at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. Her crime was wrapping herself in a tallit or fringed prayer shawl, a ritual garment traditionally worn only by men.

The Women of the Wall, who meet for prayers at the Kotel at the start of every Hebrew month, are at the vanguard of a feminist struggle in Orthodox Judaism. via NYTimes

The group prayed in large numbers last Friday, the first day of the Hebrew month of Tevet. “We are pushing the envelope. History is made of moments like this,” said nat Hoffman, chairwoman of Women of the Wall, which was founded in 1988.

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