Exhibit of Bombed Bus Raises Concern

Berkeley Daily Planet ^ | 14 January, 2005 | JAKOB SCHILLER

[Salem]

Several Berkeley residents plan to protest Sunday’s display of the remains of a Jerusalem commuter bus blown up by a suicide bomber last January. Protesters say the display, which will be held on Center Street beside Martin Luther King Jr. Park from noon to 3 p.m., is out of context and creates an inaccurate representation of the complex Middle East conflict.

Among the organizations planning to protest is the Middle East Children’s Alliance, which said it will also display pictures of the Palestinian children killed during recent violence.

“I want them to understand that there is suffering on both sides,” said Barbara Lubin, the organization’s executive director. According to Lubin, some 650 Palestinian and 120 Israeli children have died since September 2000. Several thousand adults have been killed.

The organization also wants to educate viewers about what they see as the root cause for violence on both sides: Israel’s occupation. “All of us abhor violence, but there is really only one way to stop it, and that is for Israel to get out,” she said.

The Israel Action Committee (IAC) of the East Bay is sponsoring the event. The Jerusalem Connection (formerly called Christians for Israel), a Washington D.C.-based organization, brought the bus to Washington D.C. from Europe where it was originally displayed outside The Hague to protest the International Court of Justice’s vote to condemn the separation wall Israel is building in an attempt to keep out terrorists.

IAC’s chair, Susanne “Sanne” DeWitt, has led the project, personally paying more than half of the $11,000 it cost to ship the bus across the country to Berkeley. The city is also requiring her to pay for a private security company to assist Berkeley police and to purchase $1 million worth of liability insurance.

Late last year, before the city granted her a permit, DeWitt posted a scathing letter on the Internet that said the city’s insurance and security demands, among other things, had “placed obstacles in my way at every turn.”

“They were reluctant [to issue the permit],” she said.

Lisa Caronna, the deputy city manager, said the permit request was originally submitted while the person needed to approve it was away on medical leave. Otherwise, she said the city treated the application like any other for a special event.

“We had to go through a whole variety of issues that we normally do,” she said.

DeWitt said the event is broadly supposed to address global terrorism. She said it is also a reaction to Representative Barbara Lee’s refusal to support a resolution passed by Congress in July condemning the International Court of Justice’s ruling on the wall.

“I feel that people in her district should know about her vote,” DeWitt said.

Jim Hutchens, the president of the Jerusalem Connection, said that along with the bus there will be a display of enlarged photos of the victims. This has raised concern for at least one family member of the 11 Israelis that died on the bus.

Carrie Devorah, a photojournalist based in Washington D.C., was supposed to speak at the Berkeley rally but decided to travel to Israel for the one-year anniversary, Jan. 29, of the death of her brother, Yechezkel “Chezi” Goldberg, on the bus.

Devorah said she was unaware that the tour has been using enlarged photos of the victims and said her family was never contacted for permission. While Devorah said she wants people to know about the impact of suicide bombings, she is concerned her brother’s image and name could be misused.

“It is my hope the bus will be retired after the first anniversary and be removed from the controversy it is being taken into,” she said.

[Salem]

I read another version in our local paper, but found this one online. It version is also posted here: BERKELEY: Critics plan to protest as bombed-bus tours Pro-Israel group says display decries terror.

[Rummyfan]

Protesters say the display, which will be held on Center Street beside Martin Luther King Jr. Park from noon to 3 p.m., is out of context and creates an inaccurate representation of the complex Middle East conflict.

None so blind as those who will not see! It causes problems for some of them to see that they are allied with a bunch of murderous animals!

[Straight Vermonter]

“I want them to understand that there is suffering on both sides,” said Barbara Lubin, the organization’s executive director.

Yes but one group is the source of all of the suffering.

The organization also wants to educate viewers about what they see as the root cause for violence on both sides: Israel’s occupation. “All of us abhor violence, but there is really only one way to stop it, and that is for Israel to get out,”

Get out of where? The "occupied territories"? The place that Arabs controlled until they went to war with Israel.

But really we all know she means that the Joos should leave the middle east altogether unless some even better "final solution" can be found.

[Salem]

All right, Dr. James M. Hutchens is an official hardass in my book, to take his project right into Berzerkely. He stated as much in the other article I couldn't find. More on him HERE.

What a great op! Those radical leftists must be messing their shorts. This was the same Marxist haven Professor Daniel Pipes spoke at and had HAMAS and Palestinian sympathizer howling at the moon.

If you'd like to be on or off this
Christian Supporters of Israel ping list,
please FR mail me. ~
    
MikeFromFR ~
There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had
spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass. (Joshua 21:45)
Letter To The President In Support Of Israel ~
'Final Solution,' Phase 2 ~
Warnings ~

[streetrepair]

".... is out of context and creates an inaccurate representation of the complex Middle East conflict."

Out of context? Looks to me to be a failure to acknowledge truth, plain and simple, on the part of the commies.

[WorkingClassFilth]

Micheal Medved said the other day that less than 5% of the Israeli inflicted Palistinian casualties were women and children. OTOH, over 60% of the Israelis killed by terrorists were women and children.

Those statistics show the real "...context and create...an...accurate representation of the complex Middle East conflict..." you lying, miserable Leftist slimebags!

[Paulus Invictus]

Berserkely is the least appropriate place in the US to show the bus. It is, after all, the People's Soviet Republic of Berkeley and Pali supporters are in the majority. They actually believe that Israel is the aggressor when they respond to Pali terror attacks on their citizens. The whole of North central CA is a commie enclave that hates America and truly hates Israel.

[Quick Shot]

Maybe they should also display a Cat bulldozer like the one that protester became just a speed bump in history.

[swilhelm73]

These people are amazing. Their reaction to the the reality of what there friends and allies are up to in the Middle/Near East stares them in the face and they plan to protest???

Terrorism exists in large measure because we in the West allow it to.

The best example of this is the way Palestinian terrorism is consistently excused. They should be given a choice, terror and we give Israel a free hand, or peace and negotiation; but not persuing both at the same time. Because they are allowed to use both, they will, with results such as one sees here...

[Salem]

"...The whole of North central CA is a commie enclave that hates America and truly hates Israel."

Believe it or not, things are changing in California, slowly but surely, out in the "red counties."

At this point, view this as a "Thunder Run" right into the middle of Baghdad. I guess it's an "Army thing" to do.  

[Salem]

"Maybe they should also display a Cat bulldozer like the one that protester became just a speed bump in history."

Indeed!

[Prime Choice]

Protesters say the display ... is out of context and creates an inaccurate representation of the complex Middle East conflict.

Those Leftist jackwits probably think that 9/11 memorials are "out of context," too.

[Eric in the Ozarks]

It must really be painful to have this rubbed in their liberal faces.

[Slings and Arrows]

"Maybe they should also display a Cat bulldozer like the one that protester became just a speed bump in history."

Here, use mine:

[longtermmemmory]

Bump to force the left to see the blood on their hands.

[Codename - Ron Benjamin]

Of course it's not the full context. But it's kind of hard to transport bombed discos or coffee shops around.

[geopyg]

And I imagine bloody body parts imbedded in the walls and ceilings of the bus would be a little over the top.

Perhaps have some of the brutally injured talk about what is going on in Israel - or read poems, letters, etc. (which might actually go over well in Berkely).

It is always sad to hear of the number of deaths from a suicide bombing. In some way it almost seems even more tragic to think of the wounded (in numbers far greater than the dead). These wounded have lost limbs, sight, etc (and perhaps loved ones).

[eclectic]

"is out of context and creates an inaccurate representation of the complex Middle East conflict"

Yea sure, this whole Middle East thing is just too complex for the confused minds

[nw_arizona_granny]

Ping

[kingsurfer]

I am not sure where he got this figures from.


More Palestinian Children have been killed in the 2nd intifada than Israeli kids have.