Dear Friends and Members,YOUR UGENT ATTENTION IS NEEDED! Please read this message until the very end.
On February 22, 2011, there was an anti-Israel protest in front of Carnegie Hall, whilst the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra performed inside. Arab organisations use unsuspecting Americans and put them up to these shenanigans. Seventy protesters showed up, mock pamphlets were handed to the audience with a description of the "apartheid" state, banners and signs were held up, the protesters shouted and sang songs against Israel.
But as all this was going on, where were all the pro-Israeli counter protesters? There were none!
However, it is not too late to organise a counter protest in the following cities:
February 26, Seattle, WA, Benaroya Hall, 7:15 PM – 8:15 PM
Organised by Palestine Solidarity Committee – Seattle
February 27, San Francisco, CA, Davies Symphony Hall, 6 PM
Organised by Queers Undermining Israeli Terrorism (QUIT!)
March 1, Los Angeles, CA, Walt Disney Concert Hall, 6:30 PM – 8 PM
Organised by BDS-LA
We need another DANIEL! We need as many as possible!
Now is the time to show your support for Israel. If you live in or near any of the three cities above, please bring together a group of people — no matter how big or small — to participate in a non-violent counter protest against the protesters. Carry Israeli flags if available, and signs like the one above, or hand-written signs like: 'End The Hamas Occupation', '"Palestine" is the REAL Apartheid State - No Jews Allowed', 'Fatah Sentences to Death Arabs Who Sell Land to Jews', 'The DRUZE SERVE IN THE IDF. Create your own sign and write whatever you think will disrupt the protest.
I URGE YOU TO TAKE ACTION NOW! Be part of the movement by showing your support. If I lived in any of these cities, I would most certainly show up to disrupt the protest.
Below is a description of what happened on February 22 in front of Carnegie Hall. Please do not let this happen again without a counter protest.
Israel and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra need your support TODAY!
Thank you very much,
Michelle Cohen
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel
http://www.adalahny.org
New Yorkers protest Israel Philharmonic for whitewashing apartheid, protests planned in other US cities
MEDIA CONTACT: info [at] adalahny.org
Seventy New Yorkers protested the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra’s (IPO) performance at Carnegie Hall Tuesday evening, using chants, songs and street theater to highlight the IPO’s role in whitewashing Israel’s apartheid policies against the Palestinian people. The orchestra’s performances are being met with protests in six of the seven cities on its US tour, including a protest last Sunday evening in West Palm Beach, an upcoming Wednesday protest in Newark, and further protests in Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, as reported by the Israeli news website YNet (a leftist Israeli newspaper whose staff undoubtedly enjoyed the idea of this protest).
Adalah-NY: The New York Campaign for the Boycott of Israel
http://www.adalahny.org
New Yorkers protest Israel Philharmonic for whitewashing apartheid, protests planned in other US cities
MEDIA CONTACT: info [at] adalahny.org
Noelle Ghoussaini from Adalah-NY explained, “Tonight we sent a clear message to the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Israeli government’s “Brand Israel” campaign that their music cannot drown out Palestinians’ calls for justice.” The US protests respond to the call from the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI) to boycott cultural institutions like the IPO that work to normalize Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories and whitewash the oppression of Palestinians in Israel, the occupied territories, and in exile.
Hundreds of well-dressed concert-goers paused on the edge of the sidewalk in front of Carnegie Hall, and looked across the street at the protesters’ signs, and listened to their chants and songs. Many were handed a mock IPO program that featured a cover photo of a past IPO performance in front of Israeli tanks for the Israeli army, and, on the inside, the PACBI’s call for an international boycott of the IPO.
Protesters held signs saying, “Israel Fiddles while Palestine Burns,” “Justice Presto not Lento,” “Without Justice There’s No Harmony,” and “Boycott the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra;” and they carried a banner with the words “Don’t Harmonize with Israeli Apartheid,” surrounded on each side by a violin with a rifle barrel as its neck. Protesters chanted, “We love Gustav, we love Mahler, but occupation makes us holler;” “For liberation take a stand, don’t let Is-ra-el rebrand;” and “Muslims, Jews, Atheists and Christians, stand for justice like Egyptians.”
In a street theater skit, a protester -turned-IPO conductor asked the crowd, “How can apartheid continue without us promoting the new, positive, aesthetically vibrant and civilized Israel? Don’t forget, there is “art” in “apartheid.” The conductor instructed three violinists to play progressively louder in an ultimately unsuccessful effort to drown out and cover up Israeli crimes against Palestinians that kept welling up behind the orchestra.
By serving as cultural ambassadors for Israel, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra is supporting the “Brand Israel” initiative, a campaign by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs to divert attention from Israel's oppression of Palestinians and “show Israel’s prettier face, so we [Israel] are not thought of purely in the context of war.” The IPO refrains from criticism of Israel's policies and is described by the American Friends of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra as "Israel’s finest cultural emissary.” American Friends of the IPO further notes that "the goodwill created by [the IPO's] tours...is of enormous value to the State of Israel. As a result, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra maintains its position at the forefront of cultural diplomacy and the international music scene."
One corporate sponsor of the IPO's US tour is Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev, who hosted a gala IPO fundraiser. Leviev’s companies have been shunned by UNICEF, CARE, Oxfam, the British and Norwegian governments, and Hollywood stars for building illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank and for involvement in human rights abuses in the diamond industry in Southern Africa.
The growing international movement for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel has gained momentum in recent years, with performers like Elvis Costello, Gil Scott-Heron, Roger Waters, Devendra Banhart, and the Pixies all refusing to play in Israel. The 2005 Palestinian civil society call for BDS until Israel respects Palestinians’ basic rights was endorsed by over 170 Palestinian civil society groups. The Palestinian BDS movement is a nonviolent campaign for Palestinian rights inspired by the international boycott campaign that helped to abolish apartheid in South Africa.
For protest photos see: http://adalahny.org/photo-galleries/israel-philharmonic-protest-22-2-2011
For a schedule of IPO protests see: http://adalahny.org/press-releases-other/israel-philharmonic-to-be-met-with-protests-across-the-us-during-february-march-tour
