Zarelli gets in bed with the extremists

The convening of Convergence NW, the get together organized by 18th LD State Senator Joe Zarelli, of right wing Israeli politicians and their Clark County analog, just so happens to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the Six Day War, when Israel conquered Jerusalem, and:

“I was alone for a moment, lost in thought, when Rabbi Goren approached me,” Uzi Narkiss told Haaretz in an interview a few months before his death in 1997. “‘Uzi,’ Rabbi Goren said to me. ‘Now is the time to put 100 kilograms of explosives into the Mosque of Omar so that we may rid ourselves of it once and for all.’

“I said to him, ‘Rabbi, enough.’”

But Goren persisted. “‘You don’t grasp what tremendous significance this would have. This is an opportunity that can be taken advantage of now, at this moment. Tomorrow it will be too late.’

“I said, ‘Rabbi, if you don’t stop, I’ll take you to jail.’”

Goren wasn’t through. After the smoke had cleared, he addressed a military convention, calling it a “tragedy” that Israel had left the Temple Mount in control of Muslims: “I told this to the defense minister [Moshe Dayan] and he said, ‘I understand what you are saying, but do you really think we should have blown up the mosque?’ and I said, ‘Certainly we should have blown it up.’”

“It is a tragedy for generations that we did not do so,” Goren said. “I myself would have gone up there and wiped it off the ground completely so that there was no trace that there was ever a Mosque of Omar there.”

That’s great that Zarelli feels compelled to consort with the kind of people who desired to blow up the Dome of the Rock. And we call Palestinians terrorists?

Zarelli’s motivation for organizing this conference is patently political. Getting AIPAC and the Israeli lobby on your side for a future congressional attempt is clearly the motivation here. What’s silly is having your local paper not even attempt to see through Zarelli’s fabrications on why he organized the conference in the first place and the larger Israeli political dynamic at work here.

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4 Comments so far (Add 1 more)

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As a member of the Voices for Mid East Justice committee, I was proud to be a part of protesting the NW Convergence. The first day’s street visibility went by quietly with about 3 dozen of us and swarms of police who had nothing to do. Tonight’s memorial vigil had about 30 of us again. We stood across from the Hilton in the park area. Several of my peace friends from Portland made the trip to be with us. We took turns reading the names of the 1,045 Israel and Palestinian child deaths, after which a light bell sounded.

For awhile there were some blue-shirted guys, “Jews for Jesus,” who stood at the corner. I ignored them.

I can’t believe people follow this agenda inside. They are blind to the truth and the Israel occupation. Any group that tolerates war is on my protest list. This includes the Democratic Party which will have their annual social bash June 16 at the Hilton. Local Dems who go are supporting the Dems who voted to fund the war 3 more months. Not acceptable.

[Reply]

1. Above comment written by g. kortes on June 6th, 2007 at 8:41 pm (replies, if any, are attributed separately above).
I noticed that there had been a lot of talk about using our pension funds as an economic weapon in Israel’s behalf. Guess who was given input by Governor Gregoire in the investment of state funds? David Nierenburg.

[Reply]

2. Above comment written by Pat Campbell on June 8th, 2007 at 7:37 am (replies, if any, are attributed separately above).
Postman has a good summary of the Columbian’s report:

Brigitte Gabriel, a Lebanese-American woman who founded the American Congress for Truth to educate Americans about the threat of radical Islam, suggested that citizens monitor the lectures of university professors and report the names of mosque owners to the FBI.

[Reply]

3. Above comment written by Aneurin on June 8th, 2007 at 12:42 pm (replies, if any, are attributed separately above).
I noted a letter to the Columbian today marking the 40th Anniversary of Israel’s attack on the intelligence gathering ship Liberty 6/8/67. I was stationed in Turkey at the time and we had valid concern we would be attacked as well.

When you are dealing with radical religious elements, christian, Jewish, or Muslim they would just as soon blow up the world than bend an inch.

[Reply]

4. Above comment written by Pat Campbell on June 11th, 2007 at 8:59 pm (replies, if any, are attributed separately above).

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