In Israel: anti-Zionist demonstration confronted by police brutality

The banner reads: "Jaffa was occupied, not liberated! Etzel's attacks: terrorism, not heroism!"

What started as a small and peaceful demonstration on the boardwalk of Tel-Aviv, ended with clashes with a large and violent police force. The demonstration was against an Etzel reunion convention held nearby at the Etzel Museum. Prior to Israel's declaration of independence, Etzel was one of the Zionist terrorist groups which was used by the Zionists to terrorise the Arab population into leaving their homes and lands. The convention was held to commemorate Etzel's contribution to the "liberation" of the city of Jaffa. By "liberation" the Zionists mean the expulsion of the Arab population from Jaffa by means of military and terrorist attacks with the generous aid of British imperialism.

The demonstration was meant to express repulsion at the Zionist terror group and to remind Israelis of the true story about those gallant "war heroes" - nothing but a bunch of thugs that allowed themselves to go wild under the protective shield of imperialism. Arabs and Jews in Israel/Palestine still eat the sour fruits of Etzel's and other Zionist terror group's vandalism. These acts were designed to keep the Zionist oligarchs in rule by setting Arabs and Jews against each other.

Policeman photographs protestors

Despite the reputation spread by Zionism, according to which mostly Arabs participate in such demonstrations, in this demonstration there was about an equal number of Jews and Arabs with a slight Jewish majority. Even some orthodox Jews came to express support, although they are seldom seen in secular demonstrations. They came to express solidarity with the evicted Arabs and to convey their resentment at the barbaric association of Zionism with Judaism made by the Israeli elite.

Even though the demonstration was of less than a hundred participants, all of which used lawful means to express their resentment, police brutality was not late to come. From the beginning, an extensive number of border policemen surrounded the protestors, forcing them into a very small area. The policemen continued to harass protestors as much as they could. Protestors that were too loud were immediately photographed by policemen. At least three protesters were arrested and a lot more were pushed and beaten. I can testify that there was no act of provocation by the protestors to justify such police violence.

Policemen grab protestor

The protestors used whistles and drumming on metal trays and pots in order to make as much noise as possible. Initially, this sort of protest was allowed by the police because it is not against the law. However, it seems that the noise bothered the Zionists nearby as they celebrated the anniversary of their rampaging. Suddenly, a policeman ordered the protestors to continue their protest 50 meters away. The protestors refused to move. A minute later a heavy police force came to push the protestors violently about 100 meters away from their original location. At that distance there was no longer much point in the protest. One of the protestors was pushed over, hit his head and fainted.

Israel prides itself at being "the only democracy in the Middle East". However, the panicked frenzy with which Israeli law enforcers reacted to a very mild and peaceful protest against the ideology of the ruling class reveals the true undemocratic nature of bourgeois democracy in this country. Freedom of expression and of association is guaranteed as long as you stick to what the capitalist state allows you to express and as long as you associate in the manner that it demands. Demonstrators that remind Israelis that behind the democratic façade hides one of the more brutal regimes in the Middle East, fill the Israeli ruling class with terror. At the slightest of criticism, they become hysterical, easily forgetting about their democratic pretensions, and set their watchdogs on the most democratic and advanced sectors of Israeli society.

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