Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: roger waters

Showing posts with label roger waters. Show all posts

Monday, June 22, 2020

The full Roger Waters interview at Shehab News

Here is the full interview of antisemitic, washed up rock star Roger Waters at Hamas-linked Shehab News.

Some lowlights that were not covered in the portions excerpted by MEMRI:

2:30 he says that BDS was started by "Palestinian civil society," a lie.

Around 7:15 he says "Israelis pay huge amounts of money to artists to whitewash their apartheid racist regime." So now Israeli concert promoters aren't interested in making money?

Around 10:00 he invokes Menachem Begin while talking about Oslo, and says that Begin managed to hoodwink the world. Given that he gave up a great deal of territory for peace with Egypt, it sounds like Waters is anti-peace.

Around 15:10 he claims that Israel is against human rights.

Around 15:40 he makes the absurd claim that for 72 years, most of Palestinian "resistance" has been "largely non-violent."

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Any Leftist (or media outlet) that doesn’t immediately denounce Roger Waters for antisemitism is a disgusting hypocrite

After the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, the media took note of the shooter’s love of conspiracy theories where George Soros was the “puppetmaster” in running the world. Everyone accepted that the idea of a Jewish puppetmaster was a pernicious, centuries-old antisemitic trope.

From Vox soon after the attack:

Anti-Semitic pamphlets and imagery throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries visually portrayed the Jew as something between a corporate fat cat and a shadowy overlord; someone “cosmopolitan,” urbane (and urban), and dangerous.

This rhetoric reveals the extent to which Jews were seen as scapegoats, responsible for somehow manipulating the current world order in order to destabilize white Christian identity. It’s the exact same story we see today in narratives around Soros: that of the scheming Jewish billionaire, without any real (i.e., blood) loyalty to the country that allows him to be a citizen, actively seeking to undermine white Christian unity.

…Last weekend’s attacks on the Tree of Life synagogue — the deadliest ever attack on Jews on American soil according to the Anti-Defamation League — reveal just how noxious the “Jewish puppet master” trope can be, and just how long it can survive.

Similarly, a cartoon by Ben Garrison that showed Soros as a puppetmaster of US government officials along with the Rothschilds, was vilified across the board as an unquestionably antisemitic, and the Left was correctly incensed that the artist was invited to the White House (an invitation later rescinded: )

Other media were unanimous that calling Soros a “puppet-master” is antisemitic.

The trope is quite old.

Now listen to Roger Waters, in a section of the interview on Hamas-linked Shehab News, where he describes Jewish Sheldon Adelson as literally a “puppetmaster” of the US working together with Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli right. (This was not the section transcribed by MEMRI on Sunday, which included other antisemitism from Waters.)

If the accusation of Soros – who all but rejects his Judaism - controlling the world is antisemitic, then by any yardstick the accusation of a proudly Jewish billionaire as being in cahoots with the leaders of the Jewish state as the puppet-master is even more antisemitic. Especially when you combine it with Waters' characterization of Adelson as believing that all non-Jews are subhuman, another Nazi-era antisemitic trope.

Yet there has been no criticism of Waters from the media or from the Jewish Left at this time. Nothing from Jewish Voice for Peace, nothing from IfNotNow, nothing from Mondoweiss, nothing from Electronic Intifada, nothing from J-Street, nothing from Robert Mackey, and nothing yet from the ADL. The people who screamed about the antisemitism of the Soros puppetmaster meme seem quite forgiving of a washed-up rock star calling Adelson the exact same thing.

Any credibility the Left has in pretending it is against antisemitism is shredded. Anyone who condemned the Soros accusations who remains silent about Roger Waters doesn’t give a damn about antisemitism, and only uses the issue to attack their political enemies.

And using Jews as pawns to attack your enemies while not giving a damn about antisemitism on your own side really is antisemitic.

This insane, hate filled rant by former Pink Floyd member Roger Waters proves beyond any doubt his rabid antisemitism.

He was interviewed by the Shehab News Agency, a Hamas-leaning news outlet. But this interview went way beyond Waters’ supporting a terrorist group.

Musician Roger Waters on Hamas-Affiliated News Agency: Crazy Puppet Master Adelson Has Donald Trump’s Tiny Little Pr*ck in His Pocket; Israelis Teach U.S. Police How to Murder Blacks pic.twitter.com/0JUQuwsvhB
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) June 21, 2020

It went way beyond his insane theory that Israel somehow invented the idea of choking a person to death by putting pressure on someone’s neck. (I am not aware of a single Arab killed that way by any Israeli security force, ever.)

It went way beyond his insane assertion that US police import Israeli experts to teach them how to kill black people.

It went way beyond his characterization of Zionism as an “ugly stain” that must be removed.

No, Waters’ characterization of Sheldon Adelson as the “puppet master” behind the US government is what proves his Jew-hatred. This is classic antisemitism. But there is one detail that shows that Waters is a Jew-hater extraordinaire:

Sheldon Adelson believes that only Jews – only Jewish people – are completely human. That they are attached in some way…and that everybody else on Earth is there to serve them.

There aren’t any websites or books that say that Adelson believes this. But there are hundreds that say that Jews believe this, or that the Talmud says this.

This means that Roger Waters, in his spare time, surfs around the most antisemitic websites on Earth and believes what they way about Jews and the Talmud!

So, yes, this is proof positive that Roger Waters is an enthusiastic antisemite who gets his ideas about Jews and Judaism from fellow antisemites.

Roger Waters isn't like Rosa Parks. He's like the KKK.

The New York Times decided to give yet more oxygen to BDSers like Roger Waters.

Waters wrote an op-ed that is so absurd and filled with lies and half-truths that it brings up, yet again, the late Senator Patrick Moynihan's dictum, " Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts."

Waters claims that the Israel Anti-Boycott Act violates free speech:

Members of Congress are currently considering a bill that threatens to silence the growing support for the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement for Palestinian freedom and human rights, known as B.D.S. This draconian bill, the Israel Anti-Boycott Act, threatens individuals and businesses who actively participate in boycott campaigns in support of Palestinian rights conducted by international governmental organizations with up to 20 years in prison and a $1,000,000 fine.

By endorsing this McCarthyite bill, senators would take away Americans’ First Amendment rights in order to protect Israel from nonviolent pressure to end its 50-year-old occupation of Palestinian territory and other abuses of Palestinian rights.

It doesn't. The act is a mere extension of existing US law against adhering to the Arab League call to boycott Israel to include the calls by the UN to boycott a "blacklist" of companies that do business in Israel. The existing law has withstood challenges on free speech grounds.

Waters goes on:

Criminalizing boycotts is un-American and anti-democratic. Boycotts have always been accepted as a legitimate form of nonviolent protest in the United States. In 1955 and 1956, a bus boycott in Montgomery, Ala., incited by the protest of Rosa Parks and others, became one of the foremost civil rights struggles against segregation in the South.

Boycotting Israeli products is not similar to the bus boycott. The bus boycott was against the bus companies directly discriminating against blacks.

Boycotting companies that do business in Israel is more similar to KKK members boycotting black-owned businesses. It has nothing to do with the companies' actions; like KKK boycotts, it is motivated by hate, not human rights.

Waters' arguing that this is a free speech issue exactly mirrors the neo-Nazis who have been marching in America under the same guise of "free speech." In both cases, hate is being advocated under the pretense of caring for "free speech." One only has to look at how anti-Israel activists have shut down Israeli speakers on college campuses to see how little they care about free speech.

But Waters' op-ed is more insidious than its mere disregard for facts. Waters continuously pretends that BDSers are motivated by their concern for Palestinian human rights, and that they are civil rights activists.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

Over 3,400 Palestinians have been killed during the Syrian civil war. Egypt has enforced a near-total blockade on Gaza for years. Lebanon places thousands of Palestinians in what can only be described as open-air prisons complete with watchtowers where their own police will not enter and where they are denied a slew of rights including what jobs they can hold and bans of building houses. Jordan has a history of taking away citizenship of thousands of Palestinians. The Arab League specifically takes away Palestinian rights to become citizens in their member countries. There are plenty of other examples of Arab discrimination and abuse of Palestinians.

BDSers, including Roger Waters, don't say a word about these.

Because their motivation has nothing at all to do with civil rights. Like the KKK, they are motivated by hate for the world's only Jewish state, not by their love of Palestinians or concern for universal human rights. They don't give a damn about Palestinians - only about punishing Jewish Israelis. (They don't want to boycott Arab Israeli businesses.)

Meaning that their fundamental driving factor really is antisemitism.

And Roger Waters' hate is a perfect topic to be pushed in the New York Times.

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Why didn't anyone protest Michael Bolton for performing in Lebanon?

Michael Bolton performed in Lebanon on Wednesday night at the Jounieh Summer Festival.

Lebanon has literally passed laws to ensure that Palestinians can't own land, can't get many jobs, can't go to university and can't build even within their overcrowded camps.

Some two thirds of Lebanese Palestinians live under the poverty line.

Lebanon built a wall around one of those camps, complete with watchtowers. Lebanese police don't get involved as rival terror groups shoot at each other in these camps, often with fatal results both to each other and to residents there.

Lebanon had rejected the idea of granting citizenship to hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have lived there for decades. Nor do their children have any rights.

Lebanon accepts hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees - but turns back any who are Palestinian.

By any objective measure, Lebanon is a far worse place for Palestinians to live than the West Bank is.

Yet no one went on Bolton's Facebook page and demanded that he cancel the concert in solidarity with the Palestinians who are being oppressed, by law, every day in Lebanon.

Roger Waters didn't issue any public statements calling for Bolton to think about the situation of the Palestinians in Lebanon and show how much he cared by publicizing Lebanon's crimes.

No supposed "pro-Palestinian" group created any Twitter hashtags protesting Bolton's appearance or calling on everyone to boycott him because he decided to show such insensitivity to the Palestinian people.

Electronic Intifada didn't publish any articles about how awful it is that Lebanon can continue to repress its Palestinian population with impunity and artists aren't showing proper respect for them.

No "human rights activists" threatened to disrupt Bolton's future concerts because of his clear support for a government that is anti-Palestinian.

No one was offended that Bolton entered the stage carrying a Lebanese flag, a flag under which many Palestinians have been killed over the years and under which they are being discriminated against today..

Even though Palestinians are treated like garbage in Lebanon, artists like Bolton perform there every year without a peep of protest.

What possible reason is there that the "pro-Palestinian" crowd never organizes any actions against Lebanon?

I can only think of one reason.

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Pink Floyd's David Gilmour joins antisemitic "pro-Palestinian" campaign

"A Postcard for Palestine" is another attempt to help end Israel's existence by hiding disgusting anti-Israel and antisemitic messages behind faux "art."

It describes itself by saying that "The objective of this campaign is to educate non-involved people into an awareness of the criminal occupation of Palestine by Israel with the collusion of Europe and the USA." They hope to send a thousands of these postcards to world leaders by the 70th anniversary of the UN resolution to partition Palestine into an Arab and Jewish state.

A peek at the "postcards" show that when they say "occupation" they aren't talking about 1967. Their goal is explicitly the destruction of the Jewish state:

They aren't above making obscene and absurd Israel=Nazi analogies:

They have no problems with invoking the Jew as "Christ-killer" meme, as long as it is arty:

Now, David Gilmour shows that Roger Waters isn't the only member of Pink Floyd whose brain activity is comfortably numb. In a remarkably egotistical addition to the gallery, he simply posts a photo of himself wearing a T-shirt that shows that he supports the lies, bias and bigotry of both his former band-mate and the project itself:

Maybe someone will submit a postcard of the Roger Waters concert pig balloon with the Star of David. It would fit right in.

(h/t Slava)

Roger Waters poster

My story about the anti-Israel curriculum that has apparently been approved by Irish schools (and approved by Israel-hater Roger Waters) was picked up by JNS.

Here's a poster I made for any campaign against it:

Isn't it ironic that the person who wrote lyrics against "thought control" in the classroom is now pushing exactly that?

(h/t MtTB)

Israel-hating organization creates curriculum for Irish students

Ma'an reports:

Iconic British musician Roger Waters launched an education resource on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in Dublin this week, an Irish solidarity group said.

Mr Waters told a packed audience in Dublin that he "wholeheartedly endorsed" a teaching pack entitled 'Palestine & Israel – How will there be a Just Peace?', which was co-produced by Sadaka – the Ireland Palestine Alliance.

The resource is the first curriculum approved teaching module on Israel/Palestine in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland, and provides a critical analysis of the conflict in a context of human rights.

"I have studied the education pack... and it is extremely well laid out, extremely informative and eloquent in a way that kids will understand," Waters said.

Marie Crawley, chair of Sadaka, said that Waters' endorsement of the pack is "immeasurable in its importance and will be hugely influential with young people around the country as we encourage schools to use this resource."

The home page of Sadaka includes The Map That Lies, just so you know what Irish students are in for.

The curriculum itself pretends to be even-handed. It is pretty much what Israel haters would consider even-handed, without actually subjecting themselves to the opinions of mainstream Israelis.

Here is how the history of the land looks to Sadaka, and now to the Irish school system (p. 16). along with my notes about how literally every timeline event suffers from either huge bias or gigantic omissions.

1897: Growth of Zionist movement - the Basle Declaration (1897) which was agreed at the ﬁrst Zionist Congress, declared that the main objective of Zionism was the “colonisation of Palestine by Jewish agricultural and industrial workers”.

Nothing about the ancient nations of Israel and Judea. Nothing about the Bible, the Patriarchs, King David, the Temple. Nothing about Jews longing to return to Zion for millennia. But they do take out one sentence of the Zionist Congress that uses the word "colonisation," which sounds a lot like "colonialism" even though they have completely different meanings.

1917: The Balfour Declaration in which Britain stated that they would support a homeland for Jewish people. At this time the population of Palestine was approximately 90% Palestinian and 10% Jewish

No, it was 90% Arab, not "Palestinian." Jews were called Palestinians then, more often than the Arabs were. This curriculum doesn't mention that. So the Palestine Symphony Orchestra, the Palestine Post, the Palestine Exhibit at the World's Fair all sound, to these students, like they were run by Arabs. They weren't. They were all run by Palestinian Jews.

1930s: Jewish immigration to Palestine increased greatly after WW1, especially in the 1930s. By the end of the 1930s, Jews made up nearly 30% of the population.

Arab immigration, especially illegal Arab immigration also increased dramatically because of the increased standards of living that the Jews brought.

Not a word about the Arab rebellion that killed thousands in the 1930s. Nothing about the British methods to stop Arab disturbances, like executions and collective punishments that far exceed anything Israel could ever be accused of doing. In fact, the British Mandate itself is essentially ignored! So are the massacres of Jews by Arabs in 1929 and earlier.

1942-1945: The Holocaust takes place in Europe: 6 million Jews and up to half a million Roma Gypsies were killed by the Nazis.

The mention of Gypsies seems deliberately included to minimize the goal of the Holocaust - to destroy all Jews in the world. After all, they don't mention homosexuals.

The Holocaust began before 1942.

Nothing about the British White Paper that limited immigration (to appease Arabs after the 1936-39 revolt) and the hundreds of thousands of Jewish lives lost because they had no safe haven to escape to. This is critical background information and it is ignored.

1945: World War 2 ends

1945-47: Greatly increased Jewish immigration from Europe after WW 2 into Palestine

Immigration that was illegal because the British tried to prevent it, breaking their promises from the Balfour Declaration.

1947: UN partition plan - granting 56% of the area to a Jewish state, even though they only comprised 1/3 of the population and owned less than 6% of the land. Outbreak of war between Israelis and Palestinians.

The White Paper also limited the ability of Jews to buy land, which is why Jews owned so little.

Arabs also privately owned little, perhaps 20% of the land. The false implication is that Arabs owned 94%.

Most of the Jewish state under the UN partition plan was desert.

The Arabs didn't accept partition, and the Palestinian Arabs started massacring Jewish civilians literally hours after the partition plan passed.

For the most part, the war wasn't between Israelis and Palestinians, but between Jews and the Arab states. Most of the Palestinian Arabs fled before seeing any fighting as Arab armies attempted to destroy Israel.

1948: Proclamation of the State of Israel. 750,000 Palestinian refugees ﬂed homes. West Bank and East Jerusalem came under Jordanian control. Gaza Strip came under Egyptian control.

Jordan expelled literally every Jew from its occupied lands, including Jerusalem, where Jews had lived continuously for well over a thousand years. Its annexation of the West Bank was considered illegal by virtually the entire world.

1948-1951: In 1948 all restrictions on Jewish immigration to Palestine were lifted. Between 1948 -1951, 700,000 Jews arrived from Europe, including two thirds of the Jews displaced after World War 2.

Not a word about the 800,000 Jews who were expelled or forced to flee Arab countries, as this sham of a curriculum attempts to make Israel look like it is filled with only European Jews.

Nothing about the founding of the PLO in 1964, about terror attacks before 1967, about the constant state of war between Israel and her neighbors, about the Arab League boycott of Jews (later Israel,) about daily Arab incitement to destroy Israel.

1967: ‘Six-Day’ War - Israel occupies Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Palestinians in those areas living under military rule. Israel began to build settlements in Palestinian areas.

When exactly did those areas go from being Egyptian/Jordanian to "Palestinian"? A little sleight of hand here.

Nothing about the wave of Palestinian Arab terror against the world in the early 1970s.

Nothing about the Yom Kippur War. Nothing about peace between Israel and Egypt, including Israel giving back some 90% of the land controlled by Israel for peace. Nothing about how Judea and Samaria are the cradle of Jewish civilization. Nothing about how Jews were returning to areas that they lived in a mere 19 years before.

Nothing about the increase of life expectancy and decrease of infant mortality under "occupation." Nothing about how Jews and Arabs coexisted before the first intifada.

1993: Oslo Accords – Palestinian Authority was created, with limited powers. Israel still occupying West Bank and Gaza.

Nothing about how Arafat spurned the Clinton parameters and chose instead to start a terror war that ended up killing thousands. Not a word about suicide bombings or terrorism - even before the second intifada.

2005: Withdrawal of Israeli settlers from Gaza strip. Israel still controlling all access to area.

Of course, Egypt shares a border with Gaza.

Nothing about rocket attacks from Gaza.

2009: A ban on new Israeli settlements in the West Bank was agreed

A ten month freeze on new construction that was never agreed to be permanent. It was meant to re-start negotiations, and the PLO refused to negotiate until the last minute so they could storm out when the deadline passed.

2010: The ban on Israeli settlements in the West Bank ends. Palestinians now only have access to less than one-third of the West Bank territory.

Nothing about how tens of thousands work in Israel - or in the Jewish communities in the territories. Nothing about PLO intransigence.

The rest of the curriculum is just as bad, with highlights of "good Jews" like Jeff Halper and nothing about any Israeli human rights.

The entire coursework is filled with one-sided pseduo-facts and startling omissions that shows it to be simple propaganda masquerading as a school curriculum.

The fact that the Irish school system accepts this sham as legitimate shows how ignorant Europeans are about the facts and how willing they are to accept any anti-Israel narrative.

UPDATE: I made a poster about this, pointing out the irony that a songwriter who rails against "thought control" in the classroom is guilty of exactly that.

UPDATE 2: Israellycool also looked at the curriculum. Besides not mentioning terrorism, the entire pack doesn't mention Hamas once - except in the glossary, which no one would see because it isn't mentioned in the text!

What kind of a person embraces the political advice of an old rockstar? (ElderToons)

Waters recently released another anti-Israel screed pleading with his fellow LSD-addled rock star friends to boycott Israel.

Roger Waters flies a pig balloon with a Star of David in Belgium concert (video) (update)

YNet reports:

On Saturday night, Israelis were among those who attended a British musician and former Pink Floyd frontman Roger Waters’ concert in Belgium. Even as Waters is a known activist pushing for the boycott of Israel, Israelis were still amazed to see that the show included a blatantly anti-Semitic display.

Toward its end, a black balloon in the shape of a wild pig was released to the sky, on it a Star of David, in the company of symbols of dictatorial organizations and regimes from around the world.

“I came to the concert because I really like his music, without any connection to his political stance toward Israel,” says Alon Onfus Asif, an Israeli living in Belgium. “And I had a lot of fun, until I noticed the Star of David, on the inflatable pig. That was the only religious-national symbol which appeared among other symbols for fascism, dictatorships and oppression of people. Waters crossed the line and gave expression to an anti-Semitic message, beyond all his messages of anti-militancy.”

I found a video of a July 18th show (in the Netherlands) with the pig and the star:

UPDATE: Wikipedia has a history of Roger Waters' use of the pig (or warthog) balloon in concerts. It is clear that Waters uses the pig to push his political opinions of the moment; in the past he has written slogans like "Torture Shames Us All!", "Religions Divide", "Impeach Bush" and, during the 2008 elections, a checkmark next to "Obama."

Roger Waters hypocritically responds to 92Y cancellation

Roger Waters, the crazy anti-Israel musician who has been memorably described in the comment section here as a "Pink Floyd cover band member," was scheduled to give a talk at the 92nd Street Y in New York, a Jewish community center, on April 30.

After much pressure on the Y, the talk was canceled with no explanation.

Now, Waters has issued a statement:

There has been some chatter about the cancellation of my interview at 92Y. By way of clarification, here is what I know.

I was invited by 92Y to take part in an interview at the Theresa L. Kaufmann Concert Hall on the 30th April this year. ...

Things were complicated when the Opera House in São Paulo, Brazil requested my presence for four full productions of Ça Ira, my opera on the French Revolution, around conflicting dates. In the end, the date for the dress rehearsal of Ça Ira fell on the 30th April, and so, reluctantly and very apologetically, I asked the team at 92Y if my appearance could be re-scheduled. Assistant Director Jennifer Hausler, who had been helping all along, couldn’t have been more understanding, gave me some alternative dates in June and I accepted June the 19th. Everyone was happy. Well, perhaps not quite everyone.

On April 3rd, my publicist in NY received a phone call from Susan Engel, the Director of Lectures at the 92Y, cancelling my re-scheduled engagement without explanation. She did leave a telephone number which we called, but it was only an answering machine with the message that 92Y was closed for Passover. We left messages asking to talk to Susan Engel but have so far received no reply.

I have since been made aware of rumblings on the net suggesting that resistance in the local Jewish community to my coming engagement may have had something to do with its cancellation. If that be the case it saddens me. In these troubled times, opportunities for serious, measured discourse are too precious to be discarded on the altar of sectarian prejudice. Not to talk is not an option.

While the 92nd Street Y should have never have invited this Israel-hater to begin with, it should also have been forthcoming on the reasons for the cancellation. This was a bit passive-aggressive for my taste - it would have been far better for them to have stated that his simple-minded anti-Israel position establishes him as a person who could not be trusted to give any sort of serious talk on any topic.

Waters' hypocrisy shines through on his declaration, "Not to talk is not an option." As a person who supports "BDS," surely Waters knows that he is supporting the silencing of Israeli opinions worldwide. He supports boycotting Israeli universities, Israeli books, Israeli poems, Israeli music, Israeli dance and indeed Israelis giving talks in other countries. He supports the disgraceful displays of haters interrupting concerts, lectures and dances simply because the performers were Israeli, no matter what the content of their performances.

For a person like that to say "Not to talk is not an option" really means that Waters reserves the right for his drug-addled ramblings to be heard wherever and whenever he wants, but he will not extend that same right to anyone who is peripherally connected to the Jewish state. That is pretty much the definition of hypocrisy.

As far as I know, Waters never responded to this excellent open letter by an Israeli musician .So when he says he wants to talk, it means he only wants to talk - but he certainly doesn't want to listen. Waters, for all his high-minded babble about walls and talking is not really interested in dialogue, but in having a forum to spout his crazed thoughts to swooning fans without fear of contradiction.

It is best to leave the lunatic out of the Hall.

(h/t shmuckler )

The most expensive, expansive anti-Israel initiative just ended - and no one noticed (update)

This weekend was the final session of the "Russell Tribunal on Palestine."

"Jury"

Founded four years ago, the "tribunal" was from the start meant to be a kangaroo court to damn Israel. Using rabid Israel-haters like Roger Waters, Cynthia McKinney, Ronnie Kasrils and a host of others to lend it legitimacy, it would hold sessions in different cities and pretend to call "witnesses" to be evaluated by "jurors" who were all in on the scam from the start.

It held its first session in Barcelona in 2010 and from there went to London, Cape Town and New York, each time receiving less and less coverage.

This weekend, the "tribunal" wrapped up its pre-determined findings in Brussels. What was supposed to be its crowning achievement ended with barely a whisper, as there has been literally no news coverage of its final weekend.

I tuned into their webcast this morning to see that the final session had less than three dozen viewers - worldwide.

Keep in mind that this effort at delegitimizing Israel has cost hundreds of thousands of euros. Their budget for the Cape Town session alone was €190,000, so almost certainly the entire sorry exercise cost close to a million euros, paid by far-left anti-Israel extremists.

For all that money, effort and attempts to recruit D-list celebrities, the only articles about the sessions themselves can be found in the echo chamber of the anti-Israel sites like Mondoweiss. Even 972mag and Electronic Intifada criticized the sessions, for differing reasons.

This weekend, the final session wasn't even mentioned by Mondoweiss either!

The Zionist community gets upset, and rightly so, at these constant attempts to delegitimize Israel. We are so often on the defensive that we don't always notice that the haters generally have very little support outside their own circles.

In this case, however, the "Russell Tribunal on Palestine" was by any yardstick an expensive, time consuming, epic failure.

UPDATE: AFP did decide to do a generic story. Its best quote comes at the end:

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told AFP: "They can write what they like, they only represent themselves. It's a private body with no legal or political weight and has moral weight only among its members."

"It has no political or legal significance, it is an ideological and propaganda document that people write for their like-minded friends."