Presbyterian Church-USA Stands By While Palestinian Human Rights Activist Harassed by Extremist - by Dexter Van Zile

...Eid reports that acts of intimidation like what he endured outside the PCUA’s General Assembly in St. Louis are routine under the rule of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank and Hamas in the Gaza Strip. This makes him wonder why the Palestinian elites in both the PA and Hamas are so often supported by the PCUSA in its statements about the Israel-Palestine conflict. “How can it be you are supporting my oppressors?” he asked. “This is what God said?”

Dexter Van Zile..
CAMERA Snapshots..
20 June '18..

Palestinian human rights activist Bassem Eid was harassed and accused of being a “traitor,” a “spy” and a collaborator after criticizing Palestinian elites at the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, USA currently being held in St. Louis, Missouri.

These accusations, which, in Palestinian society, could be used to justify violence against Eid, were leveled by Palestinian American activist Bassem Masri, who was attending the proceedings at the invitation of the Israel-Palestine Mission Network of the Presbyterian Church, a PCUSA institution with a long history of promoting hostility toward Israel and its Jewish supporters in the United States.

Curiously enough, Masri himself videotaped himself harassing Eid and then posted the videos on Twitter. In the videos, which were posted on Twitter on Monday June 18, 2018, Masri can be heard accusing Eid of betraying the Palestinian people. In one video, Masri calls Eid, “a f-----g collaborator,” a “piece of s—t” and a “sympathizer with the Zionists.” In another video, Masri calls Eid gasus — Arabic for spy. “He speaks on behalf of the Jewish lobby,” Masri said.

These accusations could very well incite people to harm Eid, a regular speaker in the United States, upon his return home. (Eid divides his time between East Jerusalem and Jericho.) “People will watch the video where I am called a traitor. This is a clear call to kill me,” Eid said.

Despite the hostility directed at him by Masri, the videos indicate Eid kept his composure during the confrontations. At one point, Eid asks Masri to stop talking to him. Masri refused.

(Continue to Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work. 

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The lie of pro-Palestinian activism - by Caroline Glick

...Until 1994, Eid’s human rights activism made him the darling of the far Left. He was a co-director of B’tselem. He was invited to prestigious anti-Israel forums worldwide and given platforms where he presented his accusations against Israel to international acclaim. But since the PA was formed, those who once upheld him as a hero have turned their backs on him. In so doing, they have shown their true colors. During his talk at the University of Chicago, those colors came shining through. Eid talked about the human rights abuses and repression of Palestinians not at the hands of Israel, but at the hands of the PA and Hamas. In other words, Eid held the Palestinian leadership accountable for its failure to respect the rights of the Palestinians it claims to speak for. This, it turns out, is a big no-no.

Caroline Glick..
Our World/JPost..
23 February '16..

Last Thursday, yet again, we learned that pro-Palestinian activists couldn’t care less about Palestinians.

For them, the Palestinians whose rights they claim to champion are nothing more than means to another end.

Our latest lesson came from the University of Chicago.

Last week, Palestinian human rights activist Bassam Eid was abused and threatened by supposedly pro-Palestinian and pro-peace activists as he tried to inform his audience about the state of Palestinian human rights today.

Bassam Eid has dedicated his life to defending the human rights of the Palestinians. From 1967 through 1994, Israel administered the population centers of Judea, Samaria and Gaza. From 1994, with the establishment of the Palestinian Authority until today, the Palestinians have been ruled by the PLO and Hamas.

As a human rights activist, until 1994, Eid directed most of his criticisms against Israel. Since then, Eid has defended Palestinian human rights from abuse at the hands of the PLO and Hamas.

Until 1994, Eid’s human rights activism made him the darling of the far Left. He was a co-director of B’tselem. He was invited to prestigious anti-Israel forums worldwide and given platforms where he presented his accusations against Israel to international acclaim.

But since the PA was formed, those who once upheld him as a hero have turned their backs on him. In so doing, they have shown their true colors.

During his talk at the University of Chicago, those colors came shining through.

Eid talked about the human rights abuses and repression of Palestinians not at the hands of Israel, but at the hands of the PA and Hamas. In other words, Eid held the Palestinian leadership accountable for its failure to respect the rights of the Palestinians it claims to speak for.

This, it turns out, is a big no-no.

In the name of human rights, silencing those discomforting voices

...Bassem Eid is not in hiding, and not in danger of going to jail, at least not in Israel. But (and we have not heard this from him), it might be some time before he willingly exposes himself again to Western (or at least South Pacific) academics or audiences with some specific sub-set of human-rights on their minds, or self-proclaimed advocates of free speech. At a certain point, a person just gets sick of the empty slogans and pines for a world where values and opinions can count on getting a certain degree of respect and exposure.

Arnold/Frimet Roth..
This Ongoing War..
24 September '15..

It's the day after Judaism's Yom Kippur. In some ways, it's a shame the Jewish practice of focusing energy and thoughts on wrong-doings on one long (very long) day once a year - no eating, no drinking - and sincerely repenting for them has not been adopted outside the Jewish world in the way that we Jews do.

Even those not very observant of Judaism's detailed code of conduct do this both as individuals and as a community. Does this make "us" holier than other people? No, of course not, though observant Jews do have a fairly concrete sense of the sacred and what holy means. and strive to bring it into our lives. And are we doing better now that the Day of Atonement is behind us? Only time will tell, but the day does end on a distinctly optimistic note.

We're thinking about this after reading a little-noticed report about a proud, eloquent Palestinian Arab with a passion for human rights and the courage (as we have seen from up close ourselves) to speak out in defence of the values in which he believes even when his audiences are not too sympathetic.

He has just been visiting New Zealand. And according to a seriously disturbing report we have just seen from there, Bassem Eid was treated despicably.

Some readers might be surprised to know that the sharpest of the disgraceful responses to which he was treated came from some of the very people who posture and trumpet themselves as respectful defenders of free, open speech.

(Read Full Post)

Updates throughout the day at http://calevbenyefuneh.blogspot.com. If you enjoy "Love of the Land", please be a subscriber. Just put your email address in the "Subscribe" box on the upper right-hand corner of the page.Twitter updates at LoveoftheLand as well as our Love of the Land page at Facebook which has additional pieces of interest besides that which is posted on the blog. Also check-out This Ongoing War by Frimet and Arnold Roth. An excellent blog, very important work as well as a big vote to follow our good friend Kay Wilson on Twitter, 

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(Excellent) A shattered Palestinian society: Interview with Bassem Eid

An absolutely fascinating interview with Bassem Eid, any number of thoughtful and interesting insights, the ring of truth definitely present throughout, and an interview worthy of seeing a wider audience.

Fred Maroun..
Times of Israel..
25 February '15..

Anyone who has met Bassem Eid in person or who has seen him speak knows that he is personable, direct, and charismatic. Mr. Eid is a human rights activist and a political commentator who would be a privilege for any country to have, but he happens be a Palestinian who grew up in a refugee camp.

Mr. Eid has been fighting for the human rights of Palestinians for decades, and his courage was noticed particularly during the first Palestinian Intifada because as a researcher for B’Tselem, he was reporting human rights violations by Palestinians as well as human rights violations by Israelis. As a result of his even-handedness and honesty, Bassem was called a “collaborator” by Fatah. After his freedom to criticize the PA was restricted within B’Tselem, he founded the Palestinian Human rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG), but PHRMG later lost funding because its sponsors were uncomfortable with his criticism of the PA.

I had the privilege of interviewing Mr. Eid after his last publication, which is a blog on Times of Israel that received a great deal of attention and that was the most popular blog for four days running.

In this interview, Mr. Eid provides an insider’s view of a Palestinian society that is divided and full of contradictions. Perhaps the biggest contradiction is that while Palestinians are still pursuing violence and revenge against Israel, they also have strong economic and even friendship ties with Israelis, and their culture has become strongly influenced by and integrated with the Israeli culture.

This interview and Mr. Eid’s work in general provide a view of the conflict that is starkly different from much of what is said by either side. It leads to us to realize that no one has ever really worked towards a feasible long-term solution for the Palestinians, not Israel (which is hardly unexpected considering the long-standing Arab hostility towards Israel), not the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), not the UN itself, not the international community, not the so-called pro-Palestinian activists in the West, not the regional powers, and not even the Palestinians’ own politicians and leaders.

Mr. Eid’s perspective uncovers a Palestinian world that is badly divided and dysfunctional, in urgent need of a solution when none is forthcoming and when no one in any position of authority, either locally or internationally, really cares. If there were any doubts about the seriousness of the Palestinian condition and its need for real answers, Mr. Eid dispels those doubts. Sadly we are left wondering how long it will take before those who claim to support the Palestinians start listening to Palestinians like Mr. Eid rather than to terrorists and crooks.

Fred M: Bassem: Your first blog in Times of Israel was extremely popular, and it received overwhelmingly positive responses from Jewish readers. But do you know if many Palestinians have seen it? Would many Palestinians agree with your blog?

Bassem E: The Palestinians in East Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza know me very well and know my thinking. Since the year 2000 I have been participating every two weeks in a show called “Dialog” on Israel’s television Channel 1 in Arabic with two Israelis and two Palestinians. All the ideas that I raised in the blog, I said them thousands of times in Arabic on television. There are many Palestinians who agree with me, but there are many who disagree. Palestinians are living under a kind of shattered hope. They don’t know exactly what they are hoping for, which makes their situation very complicated. If you take the issue of peace process since Oslo, the PA doesn’t know what they want from the Israelis. Do they want a state or do they want to trash the state of Israel? Unfortunately it looks like there are more Palestinians going in the direction of trashing Israel and dismissing it. There is a lot of hatred between the Israelis and the Palestinians left-over from the intifada in 2000; a lot of tragedies happened on both sides. Many Palestinians want revenge against Israelis rather than peace, which worries me. This makes my situation very sensitive because I live between Israeli friends and their enemies from the Palestinian side.

As you probably know, many Jews are concerned with what they see as a culture of antisemitism among Palestinians. One example is the festive Palestinian reaction to the kidnapping of three Jewish teens by Hamas last year. Many Jews see this as the main stumbling block to peace. Do you agree that it is an issue? And if yes, what can be done about it?

I agree that this is an issue. When this tragedy happened with the three Jewish youths in June of last year, the Palestinians almost crossed a red line. Later when Mohammed Abu Khdeir was kidnapped and burned alive, a lot of Israeli buses full of Jewish people came to give their condolences to the family of Abu Khdeir. I was near the house, and I saw it. I hoped that Palestinians would start as a result of this event to want peace with Israelis. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. In November of last year, when two Palestinians went into a synagogue and killed four rabbis while they prayed, I thought that some religious Muslim Palestinians should have gone to give their condolences. Unfortunately that didn’t happen. I wrote about that incident. I said that I wished to see Muslims offering their condolences at the synagogue, but unfortunately, Palestinians are still under the influence of incitements from Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the Fatah’s Palestinian Authority. Palestinians are not able to follow their own conscience when such incidents happen. Palestinians should be more courageous and more human. We must realize the fact that there is no other choice, for both Israelis and Palestinians, other than living together. It is the time for the Palestinians to prove that we are ready to live in peace with the Israelis. We must start building the bridges of trust towards Israeli public opinion.