Posted on 04/02/2002 7:21:45 AM PST by hellinahandcart
When Israeli tanks rolled into Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat's home base on Friday, it’s likely no New Yorker was closer to the front lines than Adam Shapiro.
The 30-year-old Brooklyn native, a volunteer rescue worker who assists Palestinian children in Israel, spent a night inside the besieged compound in Ramallah and told reporters that he had breakfast with Arafat over the weekend.
Back in Brooklyn, his brother Noah said the family is now getting threatening phone calls.
"I have gotten a couple of death threats where I live,” Noah said in an interview with NY1 Monday. “My parents have gotten multiple death threats where they live. Death threats to the extent: ‘There are a thousand Jews in Brooklyn who want your family’s blood on our hands. We would like to hand your brother and string him up.’”
Noah said the threats stem from a perception that his brother is a traitor because he criticized the Israeli government. But Noah maintains Adam is working for peace.
"They've called my brother the ‘Jewish Taliban,’” Noah said. “They’ve called my brother a self-hating Jew. They’ve called my brother a traitor. To each of those I say he has never punched anybody in his life.”
Noah said his parents have moved out of their Brooklyn home because of the ongoing death threats. He also said the family is increasingly concerned about Adam, who is still in the West Bank.
On Monday, Israeli tanks kept Arafat surrounded for a fourth straight day, while a car bomb explosion in Jerusalem marked the sixth terrorist attack against Israelis in as many days.
Adam Shapiro has seen his share of danger. He has lived in Israel for years, first working with a humanitarian group called Seeds of Peace and now for the International Solidarity Movement.
But his family said the recent round of violence was too intense, even for him.
"He called us inside the compound and needed help,” Noah said. “He has never done that before, so we knew he really needed help. And so we decided the only way we could do this was to get the media involved and get it out there, and it worked. He got released; it worked."
Adam told his family he'll be home in time for his wedding later this spring.
As for the threat against his brother, Noah said the NYPD told him they can't do anything without more specifics. Police said they'll do whatever they can to prevent any violence.
- Andrew Siff
Well, okay then. Never mind.
By any definition, he is a self-hating Jew.
You left out: (c) send them out to Jewish synagogues, supermarkets and pizza parlors to blow themselves up in crowds of Jews.
By any definition, he is a self-hating Jew.
No, he hates other Jews. I am sure that he has a lot of admiration for himself.
So he's a coward as well as all the above. Heck of a resume.
And yet he's getting married in New York, suggesting that (a)his side is paying for the wedding, and (b)he hasn't gone as native as he'd like everyone to believe.
I think you've nailed it there.
But he's never PUNCHED anybody in his life, so it's okay. He's working for peace. He's just misunderstood.
If they only tell US, they never have to provide tangibles like phone logs or answering-machine messages.
Hmmm.. Has Hitler ever punched anyone?
Now what other young American male do we know who spent time in Yemen, and then went on to make headlines in the war on terror?
John Walker Lindh -- and he's not winning any popularity polls in the U.S., either.
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