Israeli ambassador gets the shoe
...and apparently, it hit the intended target this time around. From an eyewitness attending the lecture:
Sweden: Shoe hits Israeli ambassador
A shoe was thrown at Israel ’s ambassador to Sweden, Mr. Benny Dagan, when
he was giving a speech at Stockholm University today. The shoe hit its
target. It was followed by two books and a note pad, all hitting the
severely embarrassed ambassador.
The two protesters, a young woman and a young man, shouted “Murderers!”
and “Intifada!” while pelting Dagan with the objects. They are currently
under arrest, suspected of assault and public disturbance.
The lecture was organised by the Foreign policy association at Stockholm
university. The ambassador was supposed to talk about the upcoming
elections in Israel , but turned quickly to issues of Hamas and Iran and
developed a lengthy defence for Israel ’s recent actions in the Gaza
Strip.
Some 20 minutes into the lecture, a woman stood up in the audience, threw
a red shoe at the ambassador and shouted “Murderers!”. The shoe hit Dagan
in his stomach. Another protester then joined in and hurled two books and
a note pad.
Dagan was dumbstruck and paralysed, but returned to his lecture shortly
after a few minutes – only to face shouts and other verbal protests from
the audience. The meeting ended in chaos, while the two protestors were
taken to custody.
The boycott movement in Sweden has gained momentum during the last weeks,
not the least since Veolia lost its Stockholm metro contract, worth some
3.5 billion euro a year, after a long campaign against the company’s
notorious involvement in the Jerusalem tram project. The movement is now
taking aim at the Davis Cup tennis match between Sweden and Israel
scheduled in Malmö 6-8 March.
ISM didn’t participate in the action, but was at the meeting.
International Solidarity Movement-Sweden: www.ism-sweden.org
posted by Laila @ Thursday, February 05, 2009
11 Comments:
A first step towards peace...Is that the peace muslims want?
The shoes are coming from all directions these days :) Photo montage at
http://mundosonhos.wordpress.com/2009/02/05/bring-the-israeli-war-criminals-to-justice/
Well done to all these young people who have and continue to protest at this 'shoah', promised by Vilnai.
I have cross posted your blog post to
http://thomaspainescorner.wordpress.com/2009/02/04/a-matter-of-defiance/#comment-10934
where I have also left a comment.
I dread Netanhayu's arrival as PM having read his promise to exterminate Gaza and Hamas, a preliminary to Iran with the help of that very unnatural female Hillary Clinton. There are a few other women who have displayed this militarisitic trait, Meir, Thatcher, Albright, .....
What I can add to your post is that the protests that are on-going in Sweden are quite a big deal since this society is generally based on consensus and due process. More and more people are waking up to the issue and political parties have slowly started to distance themselves from Israel since the protests of the Swedish people have made it clear that the official policies are not in tune with the peoples will.
Dropping white phosphorous on the ambassador's children while they are in school to protest Israel's "operation cast lead" would be hypocritical but it still wouldn't equate to what Israel is, to what Israel does, and to what Israel has been doing just recently (and is still doing) in Gaza.
All power to these courageous young people!
The Ambassador was defending mass murder. That's not acceptable anywhere. A shoe in the gut is mild retaliatory action in the circumstances.
It probably wasn't laced with white phosphorous or depleted uranium - unlike the missiles hurled at defenceless Gazans.
Michael, I am not really a Muslim, so I cannot quite say what "Muslims" want but, being a Palestinian, I know what kind of peace we definitely do not want. We do not want a peace where Israel uses a lull in the violence to build settlements on our land. We do not want the kind of peace which the US brought to Iraq. We do not want a peace where our reluctance to use force is interpreted by the Israelis as violence.
Salam alikum Abed,
I must say that I do not want peace when on a daily basis Israelis are being delegitemized by politicians and clerics.
I do not want peace that will force me to give up my rights for a country of my own.
I do not want peace in which the only place on the face of the planet that can offer refuge for Jews, will be a destination for terrorists and murderers.
I do want to live in quitness, when no one wants to kill me and my family, and no one brainwashes youngsters in foreign countries to come here to explode in my synagogue.
I don't hate anyone. I am afraid of Islam. I'm sorry for that, but the only thing that I was proved is that Islam seeks is death and opression. So far only my tiny country has fought with it in the past 60 years, now its spreading worldwide.
I don't want peace in which I will be forced of my only country in the world to the hands of the "friendly" europeans, who for hundreds of years didn't love my people very much.
The palestinian people did have their chances for peace. However I really do not understand why everytime they choose to kick peace in the face.
There will be no peace until people will love their children more than they hate their enemies.
ma salam,
Michael
I agree with you that peace and quietness is needed here.
By the phrase "our land", what land do you talk about?
Is it the land that Hamas talks about? (all of Israel)
Is it 1967 borders?
Is it Jordan as well? (as you know, the mandate of Palestine was both sides of the river of Jordan - kingdom of Jordan, Israel, what is yours?)
Best regards,
Michael
Michael, actually Hamas has joined the international consensus, namely, that Israel should return to the 1967 borders, and then they said they'd recognize it. So when you say that Hamas wants the whole of Israel, that has been factually wrong since at least March 2008.
There are instances of Zionists declarations that the whole land belongs to them. Ehud Olmert said in 2006 in front of the American Congress that he still believed in his people's "eternal and historic right to this entire land." Israel has been building and expanding settlements in the occupied territories for decades. When Reagan demanded a freeze in the 1980s, Israel was obfuscated and accelerated the rate.
So while you imply that Israel can contend itself with a portion and Hamas wants the whole, the factual record shows the reverse.
Woops, "obfuscated" was a faux-ami, my bad. I meant, "got offended."
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