Stunning images and photos emerged on Sunday from the protests inside Iran showing demonstrators attacking images of former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani while also refusing to walk on American and Israeli flags.
The latest round of protests come after Iran admitted that it shot down a Ukrainian passenger plane last week, which killed all 176 people on board, after falsely claiming for several days that they were not responsible for what happened.
BBC reporter Ali Hamedani tweeted a video that showed student protesters refusing to walk on a giant American and Israeli flag that were painted on the ground, writing, &#8220;At the height of the Iranian establishment anti Americanism, Tehran Beheshti university’s students refused walking over the US and Israel flag while participating in #IranProtests. They all grew up to hate the two countries but seems like the revolutionary ideology is failed.&#8221;
WATCH:
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At the height of the Iranian establishment anti Americanism, Tehran Beheshti university’s students refused walking over the US and Israel flag while participating in <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IranProtests?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IranProtests</a> . They all grew up to hate the two countries but seems like the revolutionary ideology is failed. <a href="https://t.co/ABQY3GzWMo">pic.twitter.com/ABQY3GzWMo</a>
&mdash; Ali Hamedani (@BBCHamedani) <a href="https://twitter.com/BBCHamedani/status/1216343386401075200?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Masih Alinejad, an Iranian journalist, tweeted: &#8220;Watch how Iranian students refuse to step on American &amp; the flag of Israel. This should embarrassed Iranian regime &amp; their propaganda funeral for #Soleimani where people were told to chant &#8216;Death To America&#8217;. Now people in Iran chanting &#8216;Death to Islamic Republic dictatorship.'&#8221;
WATCH:
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Watch how Iranian students refuse to step on American &amp; the flag of Israel.
This should embarrassed Iranian regime &amp; their propaganda funeral for <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Soleimani?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Soleimani</a> where people were told to chant “Death To America”. Now people in Iran chanting “Death to Islamic Republic dictatorship.” <a href="https://t.co/hTxDuxZeaB">pic.twitter.com/hTxDuxZeaB</a>
&mdash; Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) <a href="https://twitter.com/AlinejadMasih/status/1216340850227150848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) tweeted: &#8220;Students at Beheshti University of Tehran Refuse to Walk Over U.S., Israel Flags, Boo People Who Do&#8221;
WATCH:
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Students at Beheshti University of Tehran Refuse to Walk Over U.S., Israel Flags, Boo People Who Do <a href="https://t.co/hVPMONwwve">pic.twitter.com/hVPMONwwve</a>
&mdash; MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) <a href="https://twitter.com/MEMRIReports/status/1216358709892407297?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Other videos that circulated on social media showed Iranian protesters tearing down posters of Soleimani, who was a terrorist responsible for the murder of hundreds of American soldiers.
WATCH:
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No caption needed <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IranProtest2020?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IranProtest2020</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IraniansDetestSolemani?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IraniansDetestSolemani</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/davereaboi?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@davereaboi</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/DonaldJTrumpJr?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@DonaldJTrumpJr</a> <a href="https://t.co/fqi0PxmU2u">pic.twitter.com/fqi0PxmU2u</a>
&mdash; Saghar Erica Kasraie (@SagharKasraie) <a href="https://twitter.com/SagharKasraie/status/1216465994639605762?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Iran&#39;s people hated Soleimani. They want regime change.
Scene of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/IranProtests?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#IranProtests</a> in Tabriz tonight. The MEK report protests in Tehran, Isfahan, Mashhad, Ahvaz, Shadegan, Kermanshah, Sanandaj, Karaj, Sari, Babol, Amol, Semnan, Shahroud, Qazvin, Zanjan, Shiraz, Urmia, Gorgan &amp; Arak. <a href="https://t.co/c1iviS4FDR">pic.twitter.com/c1iviS4FDR</a>
&mdash; M. Hanif Jazayeri (@HanifJazayeri) <a href="https://twitter.com/HanifJazayeri/status/1216450858017349634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The stunning images out of Iran come after the American mainstream media, figures in Hollywood, and members of the Democratic Party have appeared sympathetic toward the terrorist leader.
Far-left filmmaker Michael Moore wrote on Twitter regarding Soleimani&#8217;s funeral: &#8220;Just wondering – is there an American General for whom millions of us would turn out for his funeral? Mad Dog? Kelly? Colin Powel? William Westmoreland? Can anyone even name the chair of the Joint Chiefs? We all support those who serve but would we pour into the streets like this?&#8221;
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Just wondering &#8211; is there an American General for whom millions of us would turn out for his funeral? Mad Dog? Kelly? Colin Powel? William Westmoreland? Can anyone even name the chair of the Joint Chiefs?We all support those who serve but would we pour into the streets like this? <a href="https://t.co/L1Y5Bb9iys">pic.twitter.com/L1Y5Bb9iys</a>
&mdash; Michael Moore (@MMFlint) <a href="https://twitter.com/MMFlint/status/1214881961564606464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 8, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Moore was promoting pro-Iranian propaganda from the Islamic regime, which forced people to attend the funeral service.
Before Soleimani&#8217;s funeral, Alinejad <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2020/01/06/dont-believe-iranian-propaganda-about-mourning-soleimani/">wrote</a> in The Washington Post :
<blockquote>But what to make of the crowds of flag-waving mourners streaming across TV screens? Without doubt, Soleimani had support among hard-liners and regime loyalists. The regime is not taking any chances, though. In the city of Ahvaz, where large numbers of people turned out to mourn Soleimani, the government has forced students and officials to attend. It provided free transport and ordered shops to shut down. According to videos sent to me by people inside the country, the authorities are making little kids write essays praising the fallen commander. First-graders who didn’t know how to write were encouraged to cry for Soleimani.
Some Iranians have compared the funeral services for Soleimani to those held for the Nazi leader Reinhard Heydrich, the Butcher of Prague, killed by Allied agents during World War II.</blockquote>
Socialist Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ocasio-cortez-promotes-pro-iran-propaganda-from-russian-state-media-on-twitter">promoted</a> pro-Iran propaganda on Twitter from Russian state media, which falsely claimed that Iran does not kill civilians, which is a blatant lie as the Islamic regime was <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-iran-protests-specialreport-idUSKBN1YR0QR">estimated</a> to have killed 1,500 protesters in November alone.
Far-left Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/breaking-ilhan-omar-attacks-trump-for-killing-top-iranian-terrorist-promotes-conspiracy-theory">attacked</a> Trump for killing Soleimani, saying that she was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/ilhan-omar-im-outraged-trump-killed-iranian-terrorist-who-killed-hundreds-of-americans">&#8220;outraged,&#8221;</a> while far-left Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) falsely claimed that the lawful military strike was an assassination and said America would be <a href="https://twitter.com/SteveGuest/status/1215342665300152321">&#8220;a safer place&#8221;</a> if Soleimani was still alive.
Journalist Yashar Ali, whose family is from Iran, noted how leftists suddenly quit caring about what was going on Iran since they can&#8217;t use the protests to attack President Donald Trump now that the demonstrators were protesting on different issues.
&#8220;I&#8217;ve gone through some of the most active and prominent liberal Twitter accounts and none of them mentioned the Iran protests today. These same people were actively tweeting about wanting to avoid war and attacking Trump for his decision. What happened?&#8221; Ali wrote. &#8220;In this context, Iranians are being used by certain people on the left (i didn&#8217;t say all) as a tool to attack President Trump. But these same people don&#8217;t seem to care to to support their right to protest?&#8221;
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10. And that&#39;s why I tweeted this earlier today. In this context, Iranians are being used by certain people on the left (i didn&#39;t say all) as a tool to attack President Trump. But these same people don&#39;t seem to care to to support their right to protest?<a href="https://t.co/M1wLT4Lv3B">https://t.co/M1wLT4Lv3B</a>
&mdash; Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1216252086154776576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2020</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;It seems to me the protests were inconvenient for some of these folks today,&#8221; Ali continued. &#8220;They were placing the blame on the Iranian leadership who lied repeatedly about what happened. They weren&#8217;t blaming President Trump&#8230;so it wasn&#8217;t worth it to bring attention to or support them?&#8221;
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11. It seems to me the protests were inconvenient for some of these folks today. They were placing the blame on the Iranian leadership who lied repeatedly about what happened. They weren&#8217;t blaming President Trump&#8230;so it wasn&#8217;t worth it to bring attention to or support them?
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/1216252086817452032?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 12, 2020</a></blockquote>
Grabien founder Tom Elliott released a video last week that showed numerous American journalists reporting on Soleimani&#8217;s death by taking a sympathetic tone toward the terrorist.
Perhaps the most egregious example came from CBS’s Holly Williams, who described Soleimani as a “revered figure,” a “war hero,” and “an inspirational military leader.”
WATCH:
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Montage: Media mourn loss of Iranian terror leader <a href="https://t.co/RKrLOcBZqY">pic.twitter.com/RKrLOcBZqY</a>
&mdash; Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) <a href="https://twitter.com/tomselliott/status/1214351300382597120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 7, 2020</a></blockquote>
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Iran

WATCH: Iranian Protesters Refuse To Walk On U.S., Israel Flags; Attack Soleimani Posters

Israel

Protest

Qasem Soleimani

ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), a partner of the World Worker&#8217;s Party, organized and held several large &#8220;anti-war&#8221; rallies Saturday in a handful of major cities, including New York City and Washington, D.C., and dozens of smaller rallies in at least 70 locations across the United States.
But what began, ostensibly, as a march to prevent further action against Iran quickly &#8212; and predictably &#8212; evolved into a group tirade against one of ANSWER&#8217;s perennial bogeymen, the state of Israel.
Around 250 people marched on Times Square in New York City and a similar-sized group appeared on the lawn across the street from the White House (and in front of the Trump International hotel), carrying signs that read, &#8220;US out of Iraq,&#8221; and &#8220;No War in Iran&#8221; and chanted slogans like, &#8220;No justice, no peace. U.S. out of the Middle East,” and &#8220;Donald J. how many kids have you killed today?&#8221;, a re-hashed anti-Vietnam war chant.
WATCH:
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Oh look! The sleeping anti-war movement has decided to exist again right before an election! How convenient after silence through an entire administration of drone enthusiasts. <a href="https://t.co/ojp57W11HR">pic.twitter.com/ojp57W11HR</a>
&mdash; Brandon Darby (@brandondarby) <a href="https://twitter.com/brandondarby/status/1213565668529819648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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In Los Angeles, the gathered group accused President Donald Trump of unspecified &#8220;war crimes.&#8221;
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An activist at the anti-war protest in Los Angeles asks the crowd if they think the Soleimani strike Trump authorized was a war crime. The crowd cheers.
He then asks if Trump should be impeached, removed from office, and jailed for the strike. The crowd cheers again. <a href="https://t.co/iK7hmipZ34">pic.twitter.com/iK7hmipZ34</a>
&mdash; Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) <a href="https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1213590292189679618?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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One protester even carried a memorial to slain Iranian general Qasem Soleimani.
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A L.A. anti-war protester memorializing Qasem Soleimani. <a href="https://t.co/S1nNhdmLrC">pic.twitter.com/S1nNhdmLrC</a>
&mdash; Julio Rosas (@Julio_Rosas11) <a href="https://twitter.com/Julio_Rosas11/status/1213602414969835521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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The amassed group in Washington, D.C., was treated to a eulogy for Soleimani, whom one speaker described as a &#8220;hero&#8221; to the region because he opposed &#8220;US imperial aggression.&#8221;
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An honor to stand w the people of DC as they resist US war on Iran from within the belly of the beast!
I spoke to the crowd about my recent trip to Syria &amp; why Maj. General Soleimani was considered a hero in the region: he led the Resistance Axis against US imperial aggression <a href="https://t.co/EQYz39Nn3H">pic.twitter.com/EQYz39Nn3H</a>
&mdash; Anya Parampil (@anyaparampil) <a href="https://twitter.com/anyaparampil/status/1213585395146985472?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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In Chicago, socialists and Communists joined up with the protests to express their disdain for the United States&#8217; &#8220;capitalist, racist, and imperialist&#8221; system.
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When you attend an anti-war protest, calling out a capitalist, racist, &amp; imperialist system that sends our working class sons, daughters, &amp; they to die in war 
&amp; run into students of yours! We radicalize in our classrooms! ✊🏾<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoWarOnIran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NoWarOnIran</a> <a href="https://t.co/DzPmuYgY8N">pic.twitter.com/DzPmuYgY8N</a>
&mdash; Anthony Clark for Congress (@anthonyvclark20) <a href="https://twitter.com/anthonyvclark20/status/1213526033401556992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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In New York, protesters called to &#8220;Defeat US Imperialism and Defend Iran.&#8221;
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Anti-war protest in Herald Square, NYC. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NoWarWithIran?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NoWarWithIran</a> <a href="https://t.co/H1ZRGlLaQk">pic.twitter.com/H1ZRGlLaQk</a>
&mdash; Tom (@tkendrick21) <a href="https://twitter.com/tkendrick21/status/1213539995241373698?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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And called Soleimani &#8220;fighters for the oppressed&#8221; who were &#8220;murdered by Trump.&#8221;
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American strike in Iraq prompts anti-war protests in U.S. cities <a href="https://t.co/XNko0C4BZs">https://t.co/XNko0C4BZs</a> <a href="https://t.co/od2ta7WibW">pic.twitter.com/od2ta7WibW</a>
&mdash; Reuters (@Reuters) <a href="https://twitter.com/Reuters/status/1213571003194003456?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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ANSWER, the group that organized the protests (with some help from Code Pink), however, is an &#8220;intersectional&#8221; group that bills itself as an anti-war collective, and the marches experienced a fair amount of &#8220;mission creep,&#8221; with subgroups protesting against poverty, for workers&#8217; rights, and, of course, against the Israeli &#8220;occupation&#8221; of Palestinian territories.
It wasn&#8217;t long before the New York City rally, particularly, devolved into an anti-Semitic tirade, with at least one speaker railing against the &#8220;racist monstrous state that sits on the land of Palestine that is known as Israel &#8230; free free Palestine end all aid to Israel.&#8221;
WATCH:
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Anti-war rally turns antisemitic 
“..racist monstrous state that sits on the land of Palestine that is known as Israel&#8230;free free Palestine end all aid to Israel”<a href="https://t.co/bVpK7wgZPD">pic.twitter.com/bVpK7wgZPD</a>
&mdash; Eytan Sosnovich (@EytanSosnovich) <a href="https://twitter.com/EytanSosnovich/status/1213604847007805446?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 4, 2020</a></blockquote>
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ANSWER Coalition was founded in the days after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks to oppose the Bush Administration&#8217;s decision to attack targets in Afghanistan in order to wipe out the roots of international terrorism. The group&#8217;s initial marches billed themselves as opposed to &#8220;the Bush administration’s reactionary foreign and domestic policy and the IMF and World Bank,&#8221; but the group later organized itself as an “anti-racist, anti-war, peace and justice group.”
However, ANSWER is regarded by the Anti-Defamation League <a href="https://www.adl.org/sites/default/files/documents/assets/pdf/israel-international/Top-10-Anti-Israel-Groups-in-America.pdf">as one of the nation&#8217;s top-ten anti-Israel organizations </a>and it regularly organizes anti-Israel protests featuring anti-Semitic rhetoric. ANSWER, ADL reports has “sponsored and organized numerous anti-Israel events, rallies and demonstrations” involving “anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic rhetoric, expressions of support for terror, and offensive Holocaust imagery likening Jews and Israelis to Nazis.”
The group, ADL continues, in its comprehensive report on ANSWER, has “repeatedly expressed support for terrorist groups determined to dismantle the state of Israel, including Hamas and Hezbollah, as well as ‘resistance’ groups fighting U.S. forces abroad.”
Saturday&#8217;s rallies were, of course, no exception.

Hundreds took to the streets as antiwar and social justice

WATCH: ‘Anti-War’ Protests In New York City, Washington Quickly Turned Anti-Semitic, Anti-U.S.

Anti-Semitism

Donald Trump

Qassem Soleimani

I recognized that look in their eyes. It was the same look I received several times throughout my service with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) in Judea and Samaria. A look that showed the trauma of years of anti-Semitic indoctrination. When I was a soldier, I understood that look. After all, these Palestinian teens in Judea and Samaria had been, throughout their entire lives, led to believe that Jews were European colonialists who had no connection to the land and had orchestrated the displacement of the Palestinian people in 1948. I could at least understand the logic behind that look.
Receiving it by nearly one hundred students in the University of Florida on <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/958292104537679/">November 19th</a> completely disoriented me. A similar look, with the only difference being that it was driven by the adoption of false information about the conflict and not necessarily blatant anti-Semitism.
These students did not know me. They did not know my story, and they were definitely not interested in dialogue. Had they been interested in a discussion filled with opportunities to challenge my premises, perhaps they would have stayed and listen to my ultimate message:
We need to humanize Palestinians. The way we will humanize Palestinians is by making a very clear distinction between the people and the leadership. Then we can hold the leadership accountable for repressing its own population for decades and refusing to abandon the rejectionist attitudes towards peace with a Jewish state. An attitude that, if abandoned, could have granted the Palestinian people a state as far back as 1937 with the <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/the-peel-commission">Peel Commission</a>. That is what my presentation, “Why There is No Palestinian State,” sought to discuss.
As the majority of students participated in the protest and walked out of the room, nearly thirty students stayed behind, eager to find out more. Among the students who stayed were two reporters for the school’s newspaper, The Independent Alligator, and I rejoiced. I thought perhaps those who decided to walk out of the room because the content of the presentation would challenge their preconceived notions would discover that my intentions were to use objective historical truths to engage in meaningful dialogue.
The protestors decided to hold a vigil for Palestinians who had died in Gaza after Israeli air attacks during armed escalation that was recently ended by a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Had the protestors stayed for the Q&amp;A session, they would have learned about how civilians in Gaza are used as human shields. They would have learned that Israeli airstrikes only served as a form of retaliation against a terrorist organization that was targeting Israeli civilians indiscriminately with a barrage of over 350 <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-hits-islamic-jihad-launchpads-as-over-200-rockets-fired-into-israel/">rockets</a>.
But the role of the Palestinian leadership as an obstacle to peace is an inconvenient truth.
I offered the reporters a full interview after my speaking engagement. I answered all their questions with the outmost transparency; after all, they were professional enough to stay throughout my entire presentation and listen to what I had come to say. I was questioned about my experience in the army and the message I sought to leave the audience with my presentation. After a long night, I returned to my hotel and woke up early the next morning to see the article: “Hundreds protest Israel Defense Forces speaker at Little Hall Tuesday night,” <a href="https://www.alligator.org/news/hundreds-protest-israel-defense-forces-speaker-at-little-hall-tuesday/article_c8698c78-0b4a-11ea-92d7-e7720dcad3b9.html">published</a>. The title, blatantly inaccurate, set the tone for a piece of writing that violated basic journalistic ethical norms. Not only were my quotes largely ignored or cut in half, but the article was dedicated to quoting the students who decided to storm out of the room without hearing a word out of my mouth.
Twelve thousand dollars. That is the average amount paid by students at the University of Florida for <a href="https://www.ufl.edu/">tuition</a> after financial aid is applied. Nearing $50,000 per bachelor’s degree, one has to wonder — what type of education are the students who walked out interested in receiving? Do they want to remain in a social bubble that will continue to serve as an echo chamber for all their preconceived notions — even if they are erroneous?
More importantly, did the newspaper achieve its purpose of shedding light unto a story or did it perpetuate darkness and ignorance by refusing to publish the content of the presentation they had come to hear? The authors of this horrendous article not only failed to uphold journalistic ethics, but they also failed their own student body.
Towards the end of my interview with The Independent Alligator, I was asked:
“What message would you like to give to all those students who walked out in the protest?”
Despite the clear attempts to silence my message, I will answer that question now.
My message to the nearly one hundred students — not hundreds, as it was inaccurately described by the paper — who walked out is simple:
If you are planning to go into debt for at least five to ten years after you complete your undergraduate education, at least have the courage to challenge your own positions. Your conviction was not proven by your decision to preemptively exit the room before I began speaking; rather, it would have been proven if your positions would have remained the same after hearing everything I came to say.
I would hope that the school’s administration might consider the negative implications of this protest and take this as an opportunity to encourage its students to accept the principal factor guiding all of academia: Open-mindedness.
&nbsp;
<a style="font-style: italic;" href="https://yonimichanie.org">Yoni Michanie</a> is a former IDF Paratrooper and has a MA in Diplomacy and International Security from IDC Hertzeliya. He is an Israel advocate, public speaker, Middle East analyst, and is campus advisor and strategic planner for the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA).

Florida Gators logo

MICHANIE: I Was Just Protested At The University Of Florida For Being A Zionist

First Amendment

Florida

Free Speech

Israel Defense Forces (IDF)

Palestinians

Students for Justice in Palestine

The Binghamton Leftist Mob (BLOB?) is at it again.
This time, dozens of left-wing Binghamton University students shut down an event sponsored by Young America’s Foundation (YAF), where a famous economist who worked for the Reagan administration was scheduled to speak about gun violence.
Minutes after Dr. Arthur Laffer had begun his speech, dozens of angry students began protesting in the room. Protesters were armed with loud voices and, for good measure, a megaphone. Some among the group were wearing red bandanas and black masks.
<iframe title="Leftists Shut Down Art Laffer Lecture at Binghamton U" width="500" height="375" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rUa_ssM1QYI?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“We’re like the new Berkeley,” said Lacey Kestecher, president of the university&#8217;s Turning Point USA chapter, about Monday’s event that conservative clubs had been planning since July.
Kestecher left the room with the other students, fearing the protest would escalate into violence. “We didn’t know what was going to happen if we stayed in the room,” she said.
When security approached a protester ranting on the megaphone about how the Trump administration was killing people of color, the mob swarmed in to block the officer from escorting the ranter out of the room. Then, in Orwellian fashion, the screaming mob chanted “free speech” — implying that their free speech rights were the ones being blocked.
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Leftist protesters interrupt Dr. Laffer’s speaking event at Binghamton University, leading to his removal due to security concerns. Thank you for coming <a href="https://twitter.com/BetzArthur?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BetzArthur</a>. <a href="https://twitter.com/prageru?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@prageru</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TrumpStudents?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TrumpStudents</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@realDonaldTrump</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TPUSA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TPUSA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/BingRepublicans?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BingRepublicans</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/PragerFORCE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PragerFORCE</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/yaf?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@yaf</a> <a href="https://t.co/z88QGySbBS">pic.twitter.com/z88QGySbBS</a>
&mdash; Kyle Nelson (@93Kylenelson) <a href="https://twitter.com/93Kylenelson/status/1196601178341224448?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 19, 2019</a></blockquote>
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“No peace no justice,” they yelled, followed by, “shut it down.”
Due to security concerns, Dr. Laffer was promptly removed from the room. Moreover, police arrested two of the protesters.
In response to the shutdown, <a href="https://www.yaf.org/news/video-crazed-leftists-shut-down-art-laffer-lecture-at-binghamton-u/">YAF </a>released a statement indicating that “legal remedies” were on the table. YAF  wrote, “Young America’s Foundation is actively exploring all legal remedies, including litigation, to do what Binghamton University failed to do — protect the First Amendment.”
It was just less than a week ago that the leftist mob had targeted conservative students for harassment and intimidation and the university refused to take disciplinary action.
As The Daily Wire’s Frank Camp previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/shocking-video-conservative-students-harassed-and-intimidated-by-leftist-student-mob">reported</a>, about 200 leftist students at Binghamton University swarmed college Republicans while they were tabling last Thursday, destroying their display. In addition to vicious name-calling, including using expletive words referring to genitalia, the mob demanded that the students “pack up” and leave. When the conservative students from Turning Point USA and college Republican clubs refused, the protesters screamed in the personal spaces of the students. They proceeded to overturn their tables and throw around their merchandise. Campus police intervened to escort the conservative students to safety.
A day later, New York State Assemblyman Douglas M. Smith <a href="https://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Antisemitism/NY-State-assemblyman-calls-to-protect-free-speech-at-Binghamton-University-608234">sent a letter </a>to President Harvey Strenger of Binghamton University requesting actions from the college to “ensure that … students are able to peacefully exercise their First Amendment rights on campus without fear of physical violence in the future.”
By Monday — hours before the shutdown of the YAF event — the Binghamton administration said that it <a href="https://www.binghamton.edu/apps/messaging/announcement/">would not</a> investigate the mob incident, nor would it discipline the students involved in the harassment against conservative students.
The administration&#8217;s statement said:
<blockquote>“On Thursday, Nov. 14, two groups tabling outside of the Union attracted counter-protesters. &#8230; The groups’ display included provocative posters. … There were also protesters who acted in a manner that may have violated University rules. In the context of the incident … the University did not seek to identify or charge any protesters. To do so would have escalated an already volatile situation and run counter to the primary interest in safely de-escalating the situation.”</blockquote>
The administration concluded inaction would “de-escalat[e]” the situation.
As the shutdown of Monday’s YAF event shows, Binghamton&#8217;s decision not to act may have only served to embolden the mob to continue harassing conservatives.
Ultimately, the mob incidences at Binghamton have created an environment of terror and fear among conservatives.
“I do not feel okay,” said Kestecher. “I did not ask for this. I’m just standing up for my rights. Which is have to do, what I should do.”

Economist, Art Laffer

Binghamton Leftist Mob Returns With A Vengeance To Shut Down Conservative Event

Leftism

Progressivism

Turning Point USA

Young America's Foundation

Last Tuesday, the editorial staff of the Daily Californian, the student newspaper for the University of California, Berkeley, authored and published an editorial entitled <a href="https://www.dailycal.org/2019/11/12/expecting-useful-dialogue-from-coulter-is-futile/">“Expecting useful dialogue from Coulter is futile”</a> in response to Ann Coulter’s impending November 20th speech on campus. The argument laid out by the editorial board only serves to confirm conservatives’ suspicions about the state of present-day American institutions of higher education — suspicions that UC-Berkeley and the Daily Californian have attempted to rebuff since the school became the forefront of the campus culture war in the wake of the 2016 election.
I won’t attempt to hide my bias like the Daily Californian. As the former president of the organization bringing Coulter to campus, the Berkeley College Republicans, I have an interest in seeing this event succeed. But that doesn’t invalidate my critique of the editorial board’s logic.
At the beginning of the piece, the editorial board claims that “there are many more qualified authorities on immigration beyond Coulter,” despite the fact that Coulter is considered one of the most prominent influences on Donald Trump’s immigration policy in 2016.
Of course, they dare not give alternate suggestions as to who we might bring instead — but those speakers, conservative speakers, they swear, are out there.
What if the Berkeley College Republicans brought Stephen Miller to Berkeley’s campus? Undoubtedly, his current role as a senior policy advisor to President Trump — on matters of immigration, specifically — would classify him as a “more qualified authority on immigration” than Coulter. But would a visitation from Miller elicit a different response? Probably not. Would a visit from a conservative who is more pro-legal immigration than Coulter be received more cordially? No. I can say this with certainty because this is the same talking point the campus Left has trotted out every time a prominent conservative comes to speak on campus. The campus Left’s rejection of these speakers has nothing to do with the speakers’ previous work experience and everything to do with the fact that they are bringing right-wing viewpoints to campus.
The editorial goes on to say: “In theory, interacting with speakers who have differing views is a healthy way to encourage useful political discourse. But the fact of the matter is, Ann Coulter is absolutely not the person to bring in for productive dialogue, and the event’s current structure does not give space for audience members to engage with Coulter. The event’s public webpage doesn’t list any time for a Q&amp;A, nor is the event itself a panel; so how is this event supposed to be facilitating dialogue without the act of opening space for, well, dialogue?” Again, we see the liberal establishment on campus falling back to creating constantly shifting, malleable, and inconsistent standards.
The assertion that it is impossible to have productive dialogue when both sides of the political spectrum are not equitably represented in a forum provided by an overtly partisan campus institution seeking to provide a counter-narrative to the predominant campus narrative is ridiculous. By their own logic, every forum created to have dialogue, not only at UC-Berkeley but also throughout the entire UC system, is now invalidated given the overtly partisan actions taken by the <a href="https://campusreform.org/?ID=13993">UC system against the Trump administration</a> for rescinding DACA. Furthermore, these standard are ones that the Left is completely uninterested in upholding in the classroom itself, where the presentation of information is anything but equitable.
If these truth-seeking journalists actually did their job and researched the major campus events the Berkeley College Republicans have hosted, they’d know that we host events in both panel and lecture formats, and that every event comes with a substantial amount of time allotted for Q&amp;A from the audience.
But what else should we expect from the next generation of our journalistic firefighters?
The editorial board attempts to shift the blame for campus disruptions that have cost the UC-Berkeley campus hundreds of thousands of dollars in security and damages from those protestors trying to create a heckler’s veto to the Republican students who unapologetically seek a voice on Berkeley’s hyper-liberal campus.
This type of response to the Right’s representation on campus is the direct result of the Left’s domination of academia that has protected and justified leftist students’ conflation of argumentation with literal assault for decades. The result: Students with a weak command of history and wavering principles they can’t defend, making them incredibly susceptible to being whipped up into these childish frenzies every time a conservative or Republican comes to campus.
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If you’re interested in attending Coulter’s speech at UC-Berkeley, purchase tickets <a href="https://secure-tickets.berkeley.edu/14812?fbclid=IwAR3kUAep94ZArYQzuSKKhigE_EBQ1MYqCc8TdQ3u-1MFHnNIIRyMPjFVuaU">here</a>.

UC-Berkeley campus

DEVLIN: UC-Berkeley Students Blame Campus Republicans And Coulter For Possible Event Disruptions

Ann Coulter

College Republicans

University of California Berkeley

Protests by climate change alarmist group Extinction Rebellion erupted into violence on Thursday after radical activists got on top of trains, forcing the system to shut down and thus preventing London commuters from getting to work.
Extinction Rebellion, a loose affiliation of radical climate change activists, has been engaged in a series of protests intended to &#8220;disrupt&#8221; society in order to draw attention to the supposed &#8220;extinction&#8221;-level threat posed by global warming. As <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-london-50079716">BBC</a>&#8216;s chief environment correspondent put it, this latest stunt &#8220;represents a significant escalation of its strategy of &#8216;disruption&#8217;.&#8221;
BBC reports that protesters from the group climbed on trains at Stratford, Canning Town, and Shadwell during rush hour Thursday. As a result of their actions, service on the Jubilee Line and Docklands Light Railway was temporarily suspended, BBC reports, an extreme &#8220;disruption&#8221; that the radical group said was &#8220;necessary to highlight the emergency&#8221; of climate change.
At least eight of the activists have been arrested, according to British Transport Police.
As video posted online shows, the situation got particularly tense at the Canning Town station after multiple protesters climbed onto train carriages.
As a growing number of commuters became increasingly furious over the activists&#8217; antics, a few of them took action, yanking protesters off train cars. When the protesters were forced into the middle of the livid commuters, things got even more tense: videos show pushing, shoving, and shouting erupting, with officials reportedly being forced to intervene at some points to avoid an escalation of violence.
&#8220;The two activists used a ladder to climb up onto the carriage, causing passengers to begin shouting at them to get down before launching a physical attack,&#8221; <a href="https://metro.co.uk/2019/10/17/angry-commuters-drag-xr-protesters-off-tube-try-glue-10933003/">Metro</a> reports. &#8220;A man was seen throwing a bag of crisps at the pair, while others chucked their drinks and bits of cardboard as the number of people on the platform grew.&#8221;
&#8220;You guys have done nothing wrong. We’re so sorry about this,&#8221; one of the activists yelled, the outlet reports. But when a commuter attempted to use the ladder to get up to him, the activist kicked at him.
The activist is eventually grabbed by the legs and yanked down into the angry crowd, where he appears to be pushed, punched, and kicked.
Another protester was chased down by a commuter on the top of the train and then shoved off and dragged down like his fellow climate alarmist.
Some of the footage of the chaos posted on social media below:
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Furious London commuters have been pulling Extinction Rebellion protesters off the top of a train at Canning Town station <a href="https://t.co/ZHgsVCIxft">pic.twitter.com/ZHgsVCIxft</a>
— Metro (@MetroUK) <a href="https://twitter.com/MetroUK/status/1184716769510019073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
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London today&#8230;<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ExtinctionRebellion?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ExtinctionRebellion</a>
<a href="https://t.co/uS66e3fv71">pic.twitter.com/uS66e3fv71</a>
— Shama Junejo (@ShamaJunejo) <a href="https://twitter.com/ShamaJunejo/status/1184778539691859968?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
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And here is the scene before things erupted:
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Extinction Rebellion begin their planned disruption of the tube on the Jubilee Line at Canning Town 👇🏽 <a href="https://t.co/oN8LDO1G0o">pic.twitter.com/oN8LDO1G0o</a>
— Holly Collins (@HollyJoCollins) <a href="https://twitter.com/HollyJoCollins/status/1184712338001321990?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Below is more footage that has gone viral of livid commuters pointing out the hypocrisy of an activist who glued herself to a train:
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Angry words had with XR protestors at Shadwell station this morning. They’ve glued themselves to a DLR train. <a href="https://twitter.com/SkyNews?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@skynews</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ExtinctionRebellion?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ExtinctionRebellion</a> <a href="https://t.co/GttjEK00xO">pic.twitter.com/GttjEK00xO</a>
— Jenny Longden (@JenLongdenNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/JenLongdenNews/status/1184728000228663296?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 17, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;A third Extinction Rebellion activist, who was broadcasting the protest on the group&#8217;s social media accounts, said he was also attacked and &#8216;kicked in the head,'&#8221; BBC reports.
British Transport Police described the situation in Canning Town as &#8220;concerning,&#8221; rebuking commuters for having taken &#8220;matters into their own hands&#8221; and &#8220;displaying violent behaviour to detain a protester.&#8221;
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&#8220;It is important that commuters and other rail users allow the police, who are specially trained, to manage these incidents,&#8221; Assistant Chief Constable Sean O&#8217;Callaghan said in a statement reported by BBC. &#8220;Unfortunately, there is still a risk that Extinction Rebellion will target the rail network during this evening&#8217;s peak. We will continue to have extra officers on patrol and will work to disrupt any potential criminal action before it happens.&#8221;
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Commuting in London

WATCH: Furious London Commuters Pull Climate Change Activists Off Train

Climate Change

London

In a truly saddening but by no means unpredictable development, the <a href="https://amchainitiative.org">AMCHA Initiative</a>, which is a watchdog organization dedicated to investigating and combating anti-Semitism on university campuses across America, reported this week a <a href="https://mailchi.mp/amchainitiative/eliminationist-anti-zionism-report">70% rise</a> over the past year in anti-Semitic incidents directed against pro-Israel students on college campuses. As <a href="https://freebeacon.com/issues/report-anti-semitic-harassment-at-u-s-college-campuses-hits-historic-levels/">reported</a> by Adam Kredo of The Washington Free Beacon, AMCHA noted a drop in &#8220;classical&#8221; white supremacist-inspired Jew-hatred targeted against Jews on university campuses, but a huge spike in Israel-related acts of harassment against Jews and other non-Jewish Zionists who stand in solidarity with the Jewish state.
The trend is hardly new, and The Daily Wire has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/38722/pitzer-college-faculty-goes-full-anti-israel-votes-hank-berrien">extensively</a> <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47153/shocking-there-absolutely-appalling-anti-semitism-josh-hammer">covered</a> the years-long development of escalating anti-Semitic incidents on the American campus. Indeed, the <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2018/11/30/bds-in-politics-and-on-the-college-campus/">problem has been so bad</a> that a group wholly distinct from AMCHA but similarly dedicated to combating on-campus anti-Semitism was founded in 2015: <a href="https://www.maccabeetaskforce.org">Maccabee Task Force</a>. The question now facing the American Jewish and pro-Israel communities is simple: How can we begin to shift the on-campus narrative away from anti-Semitism and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46068/hammer-yes-united-states-was-right-deny-entry-bds-josh-hammer">Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions</a> movement and back toward a pro-Jewish, pro-Israel stance?
I have personally observed this ongoing fight across numerous college campuses and have been a part of more than one pro-Israel university event that was protested and/or forcibly shouted down by the Jew-hating miscreants of the misnamed hate group &#8220;Students for Justice in Palestine.&#8221; I have seen the vicious faces of those who yell &#8220;<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/nakba-day-catastrophe-palestinians-israel-benjamin-netanyahu-gaza-west-bank-hamas-a8346156.html">Nakba</a>!&#8221; and the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/38814/watch-cnns-hill-appears-call-elimination-israel-ryan-saavedra">genocidal eliminationist phrase</a>, &#8220;from the river to the sea, &#8216;Palestine&#8217; shall be free.&#8221; (One must wonder whether these people feel similarly about liberating other legally fictitious locales, such as Mordor or Narnia.) I also have seen many Israeli flag-wielding students push back with hapless pleas for &#8220;peace!,&#8221; &#8220;tolerance!,&#8221; and (<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/50850/hammer-yes-palestinian-state-far-more-dangerous-josh-hammer">unfortunately</a>) &#8220;two states!&#8221;
Do my fellow proud Zionists see the problem here? The Palestinian-Arab side of the argument may be genocidal and jihad-loving, but at least they present a morally framed narrative (no matter how grossly immoral that narrative actually is). The pro-Jewish/pro-Israel side, by contrast, tends toward an overly defensive, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45203/hammer-what-exactly-current-role-aipac-josh-hammer">AIPAC-inspired</a> defensive posture that relies on a non-substantive, purely procedural narrative.
Interestingly, then, the fight against Israel-inspired Jew-hatred on the university campus can actually learn much from the <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/51891/hammer-american-mind-our-constitutional-order-josh-hammer">ongoing conservative dialogue</a> between the New York Post’s Sohrab Ahmari and National Review’s David French. Procedure-based arguments, especially when confronted with a substance-based argumentative opposition, are unlikely to be sufficient; the only way to truly make a dialectic dent is to argue on the substantive merits of an issue and argue in overtly moral terms. I <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/47964/hammer-conservatives-must-make-their-arguments-josh-hammer">wrote as much</a> in June: &#8220;Advocates for Israel on the American university campus must transition away from pleas for &#8216;peace&#8217; and &#8216;tolerance&#8217; and toward arguments grounded in the inherent, biblically derived morality of a Jewish state existing between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.&#8221;
This simply must be the path forward for Jewish and pro-Israel students on campus who are invested in helping to turn back the tide of rising on-campus anti-Semitism. Jewish and Zionist students must make the moral, historically informed case that Zionism — which is simply the Jewish right to self-determination in the Jews&#8217; biblical, ancestral homeland — is an inherently beautiful phenomenon. These courageous students must argue that the culmination of Herzl&#8217;s Zionist vision, the establishment in 1948 of a sovereign Jewish state in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Land_of_Israel">Eretz Yisrael </a>for the very first time in millennia, represents one of the most profoundly beautiful developments in human civilization over the course of the last century. These students must advance direct, overt, morally based arguments that defend the beauty of that Zionism. These students must also advance historically and legally informed arguments that rebut the utter <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYZBjoeeehg">mendacity that is &#8220;Nakba&#8221;</a> and other purported Palestinian-Arab <a href="https://www.prageru.com/video/why-isnt-there-a-palestinian-state/">&#8220;national&#8221; humiliations</a>.
Appeasement and unilateral disarmament — here, in terms of the use of overt moral terminology — never work. The students who take the lead on this initiative will necessarily be bold. They will be valiant. And they will face mighty resistance from the leftist/Islamist alliance all across the nation. But these students will have the benefit of standing for truth, morality, and, fundamentally, justice. It&#8217;s time to get the ball rolling and begin to defeat on-campus Jew-hatred in America.

Israeli Flag

HAMMER: How Pro-Israel Students On Campus Can Fight Back Against Jew-Hatred

Students

Zionism

China issued a strong warning through state-controlled media on Sunday to protesters in Hong Kong, telling them that their time is running out as the communist nation plans to put an end to those demanding freedom.
&#8220;The end is coming for those attempting to disrupt Hong Kong and antagonize China,&#8221; China&#8217;s Xinhua News Agency wrote in a piece directed at &#8220;the rioters and their behind-the-scene supporters.&#8221;
The Nikkei Asian Review <a href="https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Hong-Kong-protests/Xinhua-warns-end-is-coming-for-Hong-Kong-protesters">reported</a> that the Xinhua piece informed readers that no one should attempt to undermine or challenge China&#8217;s sovereignty or the power of Chinese authorities — or to attempt to use Hong Kong to infiltrate the Chinese mainland.
&#8220;Anyone who dares to infringe upon these bottom lines and interfere in or damage the &#8216;one country, two systems&#8217; principle will face nothing but failure,&#8221; the piece continued. &#8220;They should never misjudge the determination and ability of the central government &#8230; to safeguard the nation&#8217;s sovereignty, security, and core interests.&#8221;
China&#8217;s threats come after &#8220;thousands of protesters swarmed Hong Kong&#8217;s airport Sunday in an effort to shut it down again, and force the world to pay attention to their demands,&#8221; CBS News <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hong-kong-protest-today-airport-blockade-strike-action-china-warns-end-is-coming-2019-09-01/">reported</a>. &#8220;This time they were prevented from entering the terminal buildings because of a court injunction, so they blocked traffic instead, and threw objects onto the airport link&#8217;s rails, shutting down the service.&#8221;
CBS News noted that the protesters are pushing back against China&#8217;s attempts to restrict their freedoms.
On Sunday, The Atlantic <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2019/09/hong-kong-police-lost-trust/597205/">noted</a> how Hong Kong&#8217;s police force used to be respected for showing restraint and was widely trusted by the citizens — and how that is no longer the case, given the recent chaos and escalation of protests.
&#8220;The American flag has become a symbol of freedom in some protests, with protesters carrying signs saying &#8216;We need the 2nd Amendment&#8217; and &#8216;President Trump, please liberate Hong Kong,'&#8221; National Review <a href="https://www.nationalreview.com/2019/08/the-hong-kong-crisis-is-stuck-in-a-dangerous-holding-pattern/">reported</a>.
&#8220;We hope the U.S. and other nations will be able to help Hong Kong fight against Communist China&#8217;s policies,&#8221; a protester told Bloomberg News. &#8220;We need human rights, democracy, and freedom. These are the same values we share with the U.S. These are universal values. Now we are resisting Communist China, which doesn&#8217;t like these values but also interferes with Hong Kong.&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Why were Hong Kong protesters waving the American flag during the extradition bill marches? <a href="https://t.co/UiR5cNGZc1">pic.twitter.com/UiR5cNGZc1</a>
— Bloomberg TicToc (@tictoc) <a href="https://twitter.com/tictoc/status/1150884024862294017?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 15, 2019</a></blockquote>
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HONG KONG-CHINA-POLITICS

China Threatens Hong Kong Protesters: ‘End Is Coming’ For Those Who ‘Antagonize China’

China

Hong Kong

As millions of students pack up and return to the dorms for the start of a new academic year, so too returns the scourge of the on-campus Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement’s ideology of anti-Zionism, Jew-hatred, and radical indoctrination.
Since 2005, over 130 BDS measures have been entertained by student council bodies at 68 of the nation’s most elite university campuses. At Barnard College, Brown University, the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, the University of Michigan, Wesleyan University, and dozens more, these resolutions have passed — an unfortunate truth that is indicative of the grip BDS maintains among many young people.
As graduates of these universities progress into positions as titans of industry, politicians, and all manner of movers and shakers, they risk carrying with them the skewed BDS stance on Israel’s right to self-determination and the propagation of anti-Semitic rhetoric that is synonymous with BDS activism. As such, they risk fundamentally endangering Jewish presence in society and institutions in the years ahead.
Whether or not oftentimes-gullible students recognize the movement for what it truly is, the BDS phenomenon rejects the value of liberal discourse by advocating for intolerance and promoting divisiveness and discrimination under the guise of a political position.
First and foremost, the BDS movement is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43033/israeli-government-reveals-stunningly-close-ties-josh-hammer">inextricably linked</a> to recognized anti-Semitic, racist terror organizations. Indeed, BDS quietly serves as the international mainstream propaganda arm of these groups. “More than 30 Hamas and [Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)] operatives hold senior positions within BDS advocacy organizations. Known terrorists are invited to national conventions of BDS affiliates, radicalizing followers to view terror acts as legitimate resistance,” noted Haym Salomon Center senior fellow Ziva Dahl in <a href="https://spectator.org/the-unmasking-of-bds/">American Spectator</a>. PFLP has hijacked dozens of planes since 1968 and has organized countless bombings against Israeli and Jewish civilians. Hamas continues to rule the Gaza Strip with an iron fist, launching rockets and incendiary balloons on a seemingly daily basis as well as digging terror tunnels beneath the border between Gaza and Israel. Likewise, it ought to come as no surprise that the Iranian regime, responsible for some <a href="http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/253558">150,000 rockets</a> directed at Israel from Lebanon, promotes the BDS movement. By proxy, college students subscribing to BDS are thereby perpetuating a pro-terrorist, pro-violence ideology in the halls of the world’s most exclusive and prestigious academic institutions.
Even notwithstanding the grotesque behaviors of its partner organizations and benefactors, BDS independently promotes the alienation of Jewish students not only from political discourse, but from campus life more broadly. <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46068/hammer-yes-united-states-was-right-deny-entry-bds-josh-hammer">BDS founder Omar Barghouti</a> espouses “armed resistance” against Israelis and denies the history of Jewish persecution altogether. “There were no pogroms. There was no persecution,” he has declared. These are the canards being disseminated among the upper echelon ranks of BDS — a self-described “non-violent movement” that ostensibly fights for “freedom, justice, and equality” for Palestinians.
BDS agitators on campus routinely promote hatred and discrimination toward Jewish students, as well as pro-Israel students who are not necessarily Jewish. At Brandeis University in May, anti-Israel students defaced with graffiti a piece of Hillel-sponsored art bearing messages of coexistence and tolerance. In February, Kingsborough Community College professor Michael Goldstein <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/ny-oped-a-campus-infected-with-hostility-20190131-story.html">faced unrelenting harassment</a> by BDS activists for his Zionism and Jewish faith. A photo of Goldstein’s father, a former college president, was defaced with “F**k Trump Goldstein, Kill the Zionist Entity,” and over 1,500 flyers slandering Goldstein as sexist, racist, and bigoted were disseminated among the student body and faculty. Other recent examples abound: A UCLA student denied a student government post amid allegations that her Jewish faith would cloud her judgment, a University of Michigan professor denying a recommendation to a student seeking to study in Israel, and so forth.
It’s not hard to draw a parallel between the narratives of terrorists like the PFLP, Hamas, and the Iranian regime&#8217;s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, and the destructive patterns of abuse endured by Jewish and pro-Israel college students at the hands of BDS activists. And right now, BDS is winning hands down. With no sign of abating, coupled with the bare minimum of resistance from many university administrations, the dangers on campus posed by BDS proliferate — at the cost of academic liberty in general, and Jewish inclusion on campus, in particular.
Noah Phillips is a junior fellow with the news and public policy group Haym Salomon Center. Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/salomoncenter">@salomoncenter</a>.

Israel, Jerusalem &#8211; 31 December 2018: Israeli flag at the Western wall

PHILLIPS: BDS And The Looming Threat Of A New Academic Year

Education

Hong Kong has been engulfed in protests for months now. The demonstrations were triggered by a proposed extradition bill, which would allow for accused Hong Kong residents to face trial on the mainland, where criminal cases are little more than show trials. There has been wide spread opposition to the bill in Hong Kong, as many fear that this will greatly undermine Hong Kong&#8217;s guaranteed freedom. Protests have been constant for months and have reached over a million participants at times. The police have tried and failed to suppress the demonstrations, and now Beijing is threatening military intervention.
China has been increasing the rhetoric against the protesters. In the past few weeks, the Chinese state-run newspaper, The Global Times, has published articles with overt threats of military action. Concurrently, state-operated television has been playing videos of People&#8217;s Liberation Army (the Chinese Army) soldiers practicing invading a place that looks suspiciously similar to Hong Kong. In those videos soldiers have also conducted &#8220;training simulation&#8221; involving &#8220;anti-riot&#8221; tactics, according to <a href="https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/video-shows-how-china-would-invade-and-crush-hong-kong-72431">The National Interest</a>.
The Chinese government has now begun to label some demonstrators as terrorists. Many are concerned that this label will be used as a pretext to conduct an &#8220;anti-terrorism operation&#8221; in Hong Kong. These fears are well-founded considering China&#8217;s long history of wiping out dissenters. Most famously, in 1989, at Tiananmen Square, the Chinese Army massacred thousands of protestors (some estimate between 2,000 to 3,000).
According to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-protests-envoy/china-will-not-sit-on-its-hands-if-hong-kong-protests-intensify-says-uk-ambassador-idUSKCN1V5117?il=0">Reuters</a> the Chinese ambassador to Britain — Hong Kong&#8217;s former colonizer — said today that, &#8220;The central government will not sit on its hands and watch [the protests.]&#8221;
The rhetoric coming out of the Chinese government suggests they plan to repeat history if the demonstrations continue. Recent intelligence has now confirmed that China is preparing to back up its threats. The government yesterday conducted a massive military parade in Shenzhen — the closest city in China to Hong Kong. This has been viewed as a blatant threat by the Beijing government against the protestors, who are no more than a hundred feet away.
It was discovered that the People&#8217;s Liberation Army has been secretly stockpiling men and war materiel in Shenzhen. The government has tried to hide this fact from the world, but the sheer amount of supplies that they have concentrated, makes such a feat impossible. In order to keep the massive military vehicles out of plain view, the central government has hidden the vehicles in soccer stadiums. This information was discovered on Monday by surveillance photos from Maxar Technologies.
Photo of Chinese military equipment stashed in a soccor stadium:
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Visual evidence from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/space?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#space</a>: The Maxar News Bureau released this <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/satellite?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#satellite</a> image taken yesterday by WorldView-1 showing military equipment inside the Shenzhen Bay Sports Center outside of <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/HongKong?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#HongKong</a>. Reports say it’s Chinese troops: <a href="https://t.co/gRHprxzYSJ">https://t.co/gRHprxzYSJ</a> <a href="https://t.co/NdAVSe5IoK">pic.twitter.com/NdAVSe5IoK</a>
— Maxar Technologies (@Maxar) <a href="https://twitter.com/Maxar/status/1161424397875331072?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The next day, President Trump told reporters that the U.S. government had independently verified a military buildup near Hong Kong.
If China sends their forces into Hong Kong, many could die. It would also effectively result in the end of all freedoms that have been previously promised to the special administrative region.

Unrest In Hong Kong During Anti-Government Protests

Chinese Troops Are Massing On Hong Kong’s Border

Trump Administration

The population of Hong Kong has been out en masse protesting for months. The protestors have seen their rights and liberties slowly chipped away by the Chinese government. This gradual reduction of freedoms has been a decade-long process, but recent legislation was a bridge too far for the people of Hong Kong. The legislative boiling point was an extradition bill that would have allowed Hong Kong residents to be transferred and tried in mainland China courts.
Even though Honk Kong is officially part of China, their history kept the island distinct from the rest of the country, both culturally and legally. Hong Kong was seceded to the British by the previous Chinese dynasty in 1842, and the territory remained a British Colony almost uninterrupted for the next 150 years. The mainly Cantonese native population of the island colony was entitled to the freedoms and liberties guaranteed to all citizens under the British Crown. The citizens enjoyed a much higher income compared to those on the mainland, as it was a major trading port, with the economy running under a laissez-faire capitalist model, while mainland Chinese lived under a system that lacked civil liberties and free markets. China would consolidate and fracture in constant cycles of volatility for the next 100 years. During this time, the Hong Kongese found refuge in the stability of their island, and Hong Kong grew to be culturally and economically independent from the mainland.
According to <a href="https://www.scmp.com/article/48108/thatcher-reveals-dengs-threat-seize-hong-kong-day">The South China Morning Post</a>, in 1982, Deng Xiaoping, the effective dictator of China, told Margaret Thatcher that they would just take the islands by force if Britain did not willingly hand it over. She knew this to be true and was forced to negotiate the handover of Hong Kong. Britain relinquished the territory in 1997, but in the negotiation the U.K. was able to secure the freedoms and liberties that the population had grown to expect. These protections were stipulated in a document known as the &#8220;Sino-British Joint Declaration.&#8221; Rights such as freedom of speech, democracy, and the ability to have a fair and impartial trial were to be preserved for 50 years after the handover, known as the &#8220;One country, two systems&#8221; policy.
The protesters, many of whom used to live under British Dominion, believe these guarantees are being rolled back prematurely. In response they have risen up in protest to stop the regression of their rights. In 2014 the &#8220;Umbrella&#8221; protests occurred in which half a million people rose up against a bill requiring politicians to be approved by the Chinese Communist Party before they were allowed to run for office. The public pressure was so great that it forced the authorities to relent.
The current controversy started from a homicide case in Taiwan. A Hong Kong man was suspected of committing the crime, and the Hong Kong government wanted the accused to be extradited to face trial in Hong Kong. The two entities currently do not have an extradition treaty in place. In response, a bill was proposed in the Hong Kong legislature to allow for an extradition agreement. The controversy arose when it was discovered that the bill&#8217;s provisions would also allow for a suspected criminal to be extradited to mainland China.
The Hong Kong population saw this as a direct threat to their freedoms, as any citizen would be capable of being tried in the mainland. In the People&#8217;s Republic of China, death penalty cases are usually decided in under 20 minutes, and the criminal justice system has a 99.9% conviction rate, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/03/11/china-scored-99-9-percent-conviction-rate-last-year/">The Washington Post</a>.
The demonstrations began March 31. At first, it was mainly students who protested, and then on June 6 there was a Silent Lawyer&#8217;s March — where a fourth of the city&#8217;s legal professionals marched against the bill. Soon, every level of Hong Kong society joined the protests. On June 9, over 1,000,000 people took to the streets in protest of the extradition bill. The demonstrations have continued for months with hundreds of thousands filling the streets regularly.
On July 9, Carrie Lam, the chief executive of Hong Kong, declared the bill &#8220;dead.&#8221; This did not stop the protests as there is no legal meaning behind saying a bill is &#8220;dead&#8221;; declaring the bill &#8220;withdrawn&#8221; is the actual terminology that would &#8220;kill&#8221; the bill. Once a bill is withdrawn, it must be reintroduced from the beginning of procedure, if the bill is to become law. Carrie Lam has refused multiple times to declare the bill officially withdrawn. This has led many protestors to believe her plan is to quietly pass the proposition when public pressure dies down.
Carrie Lam has sided against the protests in favor of the bill and has branded the protestors &#8220;rioters.&#8221; After significant backlash from the public, Lam apologized for the statement.
Progressively, police actions toward protestors have become increasingly violent, some of which has been documented in videos showing police brutality. Footage shows uniformed police bashing protestors heads in with clubs and shooting rubber bullets and tear gas at demonstrators. One of the main demands of the protest is for an independent investigation into police brutality that allegedly occurred. There have even been cases of the infamous &#8220;Hong Kong Tirades&#8221; orchestrating attacks against protestors — with police aware of the events prior to happening and refusing to intervene.
In the past few days, there was a major sit-in protest in Hong Kong&#8217;s main international airport, which halted all flights at the facility. The Chinese government has also been reportedly moving troops to the Hong Kong border.

The Full Story Behind The Hong Kong Protests

Freedom of the Press

Great Britain

On Wednesday&#8217;s episode of &#8220;The Ben Shapiro Show,&#8221; Shapiro explains Trump&#8217;s halfway stance on the Hong Kong protests and discusses why he must back the protestors. Video and partial transcript below:
With the economy on the brink of a slowdown, this has put President Trump in a very difficult position. It&#8217;s put him in a position where if he takes a strong stand against China, it could in fact damage his re-election prospects in a serious way. And so, in a time when we should be ratcheting up the possibility of economic sanctions, we&#8217;re actually ratcheting down the possibility of economic sanctions. Whereas before when we should have been negotiating a trade deal. We shouldn’t have exited the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), we should have renegotiated it. It was a mistake to exit TPP which is a trade deal directed against the economic strength of China in Asia. All the lies about the TPP that it was good for China was a lie. TPP was designed explicitly as a counterbalance to Chinese infiltration economically in the region.
You know, in a time when we should have been looking for a trade deal, we were searching instead for trade conflict. In a time when we should be ratcheting up trade conflict, as an effect of trying to help the Hong Kong protesters, we&#8217;re not doing any of that. And so, this has led President Trump to this bizarre kind of halfway position on Hong Kong. So, in the last 24 hours he&#8217;s tweeted out, &#8220;As usual, China said they were going to be buying &#8216;big&#8217; from our great American Farmers. So far they have not done what they said. Maybe this will be different!&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">As usual, China said they were going to be buying “big” from our great American Farmers. So far they have not done what they said. Maybe this will be different!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1161278978201661440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
I don&#8217;t know what the h*ll that means. And then he added, &#8220;Many are blaming me, and the United States, for the problems going on in Hong Kong. I can&#8217;t imagine why?&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">Many are blaming me, and the United States, for the problems going on in Hong Kong. I can’t imagine why?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1161324294800121857?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 13, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
Again, Trump is not responsible for what&#8217;s going on in Hong Kong. But this would be a time for him to stand up for freedom, in an area of the world that deserves it. It had negotiated for it and now is not receiving it from what is a geopolitical enemy of the United States. China is stealing our technology, building rival 5G networks that attempt to provide a counterbalance to our 5G networks that we are building right now. We are in a second Cold War with the Chinese.
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It will stay cold, we can all hope. But the fact is that the Chinese are an expansionist power, and they have been both militarily and technologically. They&#8217;re doing so at the expense of the United States, and if we&#8217;re going to take harsh action against China, you need to make the case. Now Trump keeps making this sort of weird case where Xi Jinping is his best friend, and we&#8217;re great, going to negotiate a deal together, and at the same time the Chinese keep jacking us, and the Chinese are the worst. They&#8217;re cheating us, and they&#8217;re stealing our manufacturing jobs.
Explain what it is you are doing, President Trump, if you want the American people to be with you — and especially again in the midst of a time when there are protesters in the streets in Hong Kong who may be mowed down by the Chinese government in the very near future — this would be a time for you to stand up.
[You should] say, &#8220;This is why we&#8217;ve been putting tariffs on China. It&#8217;s because of crap like this that we&#8217;ve been putting tariffs on China, and as JFK put it, &#8216;We will bear any burden in the name of liberty.'&#8221; And I&#8217;m sorry, but getting slightly more expensive goods from China in the name of liberty doesn&#8217;t seem like all that much of a burden to bear to help the people of Hong Kong. They are flying the American flag while they are protesting for their freedom. This would be the time when Trump should stand up with the protesters. [&#8230;]
In fact, members of his own administration are being a lot clearer about this. A senior administration official recently told CNBC, &#8220;Freedom of expression and assembly are core values we share with the people of Hong Kong. Those freedoms should be protected. The U.S. firmly rejects the notion that we are sponsoring or inciting the demonstrations.&#8221;
Again, that is sort of splitting the baby a little bit. But what you have seen from Mitch McConnell, what you&#8217;ve seen from Nancy Pelosi, what you&#8217;ve seen across the political aisle is a general support for the protesters. You&#8217;re not seeing that from the Trump administration. Now people are going to say again, &#8220;That&#8217;s a practical move by President Trump. What would you expect him to do, go to war with China or arm the protesters?&#8221; No one&#8217;s talking about that. But again, this is a guy who declared a trade war with China on the basis of them supposedly cheating us. Would it not behoove him to make similar threats with regards to them running roughshod over protesters, that if they should trash their own protesters — if they should kill a bunch of protesters — run them over with tanks or something?
That the United States will take harsh and appropriate non-military action, economic sanctions action, that we certainly will do. Trump is not going to sit still for that. So, wouldn&#8217;t you want to issue some sort of threat at this point, some sort of form of support for the Hong Kong protesters?
No, practicality and morality and moral rhetoric do not have to be on opposite sides. Ronald Reagan was able to call the Soviet Union an evil empire, even as he was negotiating with them. So, this weird notion that you have to either kowtow rhetorically to a country or go to war with them is just not proved by anything in American history. Very often the very people we are negotiating with are the people that we are speaking most harshly about — in order to bring them to the table. Trump likes to kind of wheedle people into deals, but his wheedling hasn&#8217;t produced a deal with North Korea. I understand that everybody is very up on Trump&#8217;s negotiations with North Korea. They&#8217;ve produced nothing, literally nothing, except the of the legitimization of the North Korean regime. That&#8217;s it.
So, before we get into this as a masterclass in negotiation, how about we see some good results from one of these negotiations? And then you can talk about the masterclass. In fact, the areas where Trump [has] actually accomplished something with negotiating tactics are the areas where he has been the harshest, with regard to Mexico for example. He was able to negotiate a quasi-immigration deal with Mexico, to keep many illegal immigrants in Mexico [and] to have them strengthen their own southern border. He did that by threatening them. President Trump is more effective when he is the braggadocious bully that he typically is. Not when he is doing the wheedling gladhanding routine with dictators in Turkey or China, or anywhere else on the planet.
<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-ben-shapiro-show/id1047335260">Download full episode of &#8220;The Ben Shapiro Show&#8221; on iTunes.</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/show/ben-shapiro-show">Watch &#8220;The Ben Shapiro Show&#8221; on-demand!</a>

Hong Kong Protester Rally In Hong Kong International Airport

SHAPIRO: Trump Needs To Stand With Hong Kong

Ben Shapiro

Joe Biden

Nancy Pelosi

Last Saturday, while protests against the Russian government and President Vladimir Putin took place in Moscow, a lone 17-year-old girl sat cross-legged surrounded by Moscow’s riot police and defied the government and Putin by doing something extraordinarily courageous: reading aloud the Russian constitution, which states that Russians have the right to peaceful assemblies.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">Moscow, 29.07.2019 Olga Misik <a href="https://t.co/uSf8FIevJ1">pic.twitter.com/uSf8FIevJ1</a>
— Rolf Draht (@tweetedtimes) <a href="https://twitter.com/tweetedtimes/status/1156197271651934208?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 30, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Olga Misik, 17, told the <a href="https://meduza.io/feature/2019/07/29/druzhelyubnaya-devushka-chitayuschaya-konstitutsiyu-omonu">Meduza</a> website, “I just wanted to remind them [the police] that we are here with peaceful purposes and without weapons, but they are not … It never even occurred to me that someone other than them would hear it … I sat on the ground and began to read out our constitutional rights, specifying that what is happening here [police arresting protestors] is illegal.”
<a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/olga-misik-russia-protests-constitution-moscow-riot-police-putin-a9029816.html">The Independent</a> noted, “The weekend’s demonstrations were ostensibly a protest against the banning of several leading opposition politicians from running in September’s Moscow City Duma elections. But they also called more widely for greater political freedoms and transparency in Russia, where elections are widely viewed to be rigged.”
<a href="https://time.com/5639451/what-the-protests-in-russia-mean-for-president-putin/">Time magazine</a> pointed out, “Protests are not new to Moscow. But the intensity with which these protests were met by Moscow police caught many political observers off guard … the stakes were low, as Moscow City Council elections have little impact on national, let alone international, politics. And yet the police responded as if these protests directly threatened the Russian state—this was the most arrests at a Russian protest in <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f56c2b24-b143-11e9-8cb2-799a3a8cf37b?emailId=5d3ed2cd312a1f0004c486e9&amp;segmentId=13b7e341-ed02-2b53-e8c0-d9cb59be8b3b">more than a decade</a>.”
Misik, whose father reportedly supports Putin, continued, “Injustice always concerns everyone. Today the Moscow City Duma, tomorrow the governor of the region, a week later the head of the Resurrection District. It is only a matter of time. It is foolish to think that this is a rally only for free elections or the admission of candidates. This is a rally in defense of elementary constitutional rights that would not be questioned in a democratic state.”
The <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49169706">BBC reported</a> of the protests, “Demonstrators were dragged away from the city&#8217;s parliamentary building as security forces used batons against the crowd, in what was one of the biggest crackdowns in Russia in years. Images from the protest showed several of the demonstrators bleeding, while at least two members of the security forces reportedly received eye injuries from pepper spray.” The BBC showed pictures of bloodied protesters.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin reportedly said the protests were a &#8220;security threat.” An Investigative Committee stated, “The investigation has established that ahead of an unsanctioned rally a group of people repeatedly posted on the internet calls to take part in it, knowing full well that these actions could provoke mass unrest.”
Misik was reportedly arrested later when she headed to a subway station. 1,000 other people were arrested. She stated, “They did not introduce themselves, did not explain the reason and grounds for detention … There was not a rally or a crowd of people in this place. They grabbed my arms and legs and dragged me down the street and through the underpass … I screamed that they were hurting me, but they told me that they knew better.”
Misik will reportedly be charged with attending a public event which was held without filing a notice.

One Brave Russian Teenage Girl Defies Riot Police And Does Something Extraordinary

Russia

There is almost nothing to say about the fact that Nike <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/49067/nike-pulls-american-flag-sneaker-after-complaint-emily-zanotti">recalled a patriotic American flag shoe</a> after Colin Kaepernick complained. It is so self-evidently absurd and disgraceful — such a cowardly surrender to political correctness — that analysis is rendered moot.
Kaepernick reportedly felt that the flag — a Betsy Ross flag from the American Revolution — somehow represents slavery. Of course, if the American flag represents slavery, then every flag of every country 200 years old or over also represents slavery. Slavery was a universally accepted institution all across the world for thousands of years. The only thing unique about American slavery is that we practiced it for such a comparatively short amount of time. Egypt had slavery for 3,000 years. We had it for 90. These are facts that have apparently escaped Kaepernick&#8217;s notice.
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The one notable, though far from surprising, aspect of this story is how it finally exposes the truth behind Kaepernick&#8217;s kneeling stunt. We were told for years that the kneelers were not protesting the flag — or the country or the national anthem, for that matter. A viral <a href="https://twitter.com/kdreamcatchers/status/999781373958410240?lang=en">tweet</a> with over 300,000 likes summed up this defense: &#8220;Rosa Parks was not protesting the bus. Gandhi was not protesting the food. The colonists were not protesting tea. Players are not protesting the flag or the anthem. They are protesting injustice.&#8221;
Many in the media, <a href="https://www.upworthy.com/no-players-arent-protesting-the-anthem-fox-news-shep-smith-explains-perfectly">including Shep Smith</a> at Fox News, also made this claim. The NFL players themselves repeatedly <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/sports/seahawks/seahawks-receiver-doug-baldwin-message-is-about-fighting-inequality-not-protesting-the-flag-our-country/">declared</a> that they were not protesting the flag, despite appearing to do exactly that. LeBron James, one of the highest-profile defenders of the anthem protests, <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/lebron-james-trump-protests-press-conference-2017-9">tried to put a patriotic spin on it</a>: &#8220;We know this is the greatest country in the world — it&#8217;s the land of the free. But we still have problems just like everybody else. And when we have those problems, we have to figure out a way how we come together and be as great as we can be as a people.&#8221;
Kaepernick, who started it all, <a href="https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/chicago-bears/49ers-qb-colin-kaepernick-anthem-protest-about-change-not-just-police-violence">said</a> that he was trying to call attention to &#8220;police violence&#8221; and &#8220;systematic oppression.&#8221; He and his fellow kneelers always insisted that this was not about the flag itself. Well, in case anyone was ever fooled by all of the misdirection, the truth should now be clear: It was indeed about the flag. It was always about the flag.
Colin Kaepernick does not like this country. That much is clear, by now. He is rich and famous and free — all things that he would not be if he lived in any number of other countries around the globe — but his privilege has made him bitter to his core. And he is free to be bitter. He is free to hate the United States and its flag and all it stands for. But he should be honest about where he really stands (or kneels) on the issue.

WALSH: We Were Told That Kaepernick Was Protesting Police Brutality, Not The Flag. Now The Truth Has Finally Come Out.

Colin Kaepernick

Nike

Patriotism

United States

On <a href="https://www.facebook.com/events/2323471524380525/?acontext=%7B%22source%22%3A5%2C%22action_history%22%3A%5b%7B%22surface%22%3A%22page%22%2C%22mechanism%22%3A%22main_list%22%2C%22extra_data%22%3A%22%5C%22%5b%5d%5C%22%22%7D%5d%2C%22has_source%22%3Atrue%7D">June 2</a> at 1:00 PM local time, six men performed Islamic prayers on the sidewalk in front of an emerald green building in Los Angeles&#8217; Japantown neighborhood.
They waited for more people to gather, until a small crowd of approximately 25 Muslim-American men and women and a handful of non-Muslim supporters had gathered outside the local consulate of Saudi Arabia. The group began unfurling signs and chanting slogans in defense of &#8220;our scholars&#8221; who were scheduled to be executed by the Saudi government.
&#8220;Not another nickel, not another dime, no more money for Saudi&#8217;s crimes!&#8221; &#8220;Rest in peace Jamal Khashoggi!&#8221; &#8220;Down! Down! With [Saudi Crown Prince Mohamed bin Salman]!&#8221; &#8220;Free expression, no oppression!&#8221; And, of course, the traditional activist chant: &#8220;No justice! No peace!&#8221;
These protestors were not just ordinary Muslim-Americans, however, but members of the Muslim American Society&#8217;s Greater Los Angeles chapter (MAS-GLA). And the scholars were leading clerics with a history of ties to Islamic extremism and terror: <a href="https://www.nysun.com/foreign/islamist-threat-arrives-in-switzerland/55439/">Salman al-Odah</a>, who issued calls for killing American troops in Iraq and was linked by Spanish prosecutors to the 2004 Madrid train bombing carried out by al-Qaeda; Ali al-Omari, a member of the <a href="http://www.newageislam.com/current-affairs/a-public-apology-by-aidh-al-qarni,-salafi-scholar,-sheds-a-light-on-mohammed-bin-salman&#8217;s-version-of-&#8216;moderate-islam/d/118847">International Union of Muslims Scholars</a>, which the Saudi government has designated as a terrorist organization and which called for the <a href="https://www.memri.org/reports/reactions-sheikh-al-qaradhawis-fatwa-calling-abduction-and-killing-american-civilians-iraq">killing of Americans in Iraq in 2004</a>, and <a href="https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/defenddemocracy/uploads/documents/facebook_fatwa_low_res_2.pdf">Awad al-Qarni</a>, who once offered $100,000 to any Palestinian who successfully kidnapped an Israeli soldier.
Why did this particular organization come out in support of these radical three clerics?
First, MAS has been named by federal prosecutors as the &#8220;<a href="http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/542.pdf">overt arm</a>&#8221; of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in the United States, and the group often does little to hide its radical sympathies. MAS was <a href="https://gulfnews.com/uae/government/uae-publishes-list-of-terrorist-organisations-1.1412895">designated a terrorist group</a> in 2014 by the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Describing the <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/world/qatar-terror-ties-friend-foe-or-both">decision to designate</a> MAS and similar groups, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan said that the small Gulf state &#8220;&#8230; cannot accept incitement or funding&#8221; of terrorism.
At last year&#8217;s <a href="http://www.maslaconvention.org/">MAS&#8217;s west coast convention</a>, the keynote speaker was Tareq Al-Suwaidan, a Kuwaiti-based Brotherhood leader and open <a href="https://www.memri.org/reports/kuwaiti-muslim-brotherhood-leader-and-director-saudi-al-risala-tv-tareq-al-suwaidan-tours">anti-Semite</a> &#8212; who, incidentally, is <a href="https://gulfnews.com/world/gulf/kuwait/kuwaiti-preacher-barred-from-makkah-pilgrimage-1.1238437">banned</a> from entering both Saudi Arabia and <a href="https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-sunday-telegraph/20100124/282209416988562">the United States</a> &#8212; who spoke via Skype. Suwaidan has previously called for jihad to liberate Palestinians, including once <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/case_docs/2439.pdf">boasting</a> that &#8220;the Jews will meet their end at our hands.&#8221;
Both Suwaidan and al-Odah are leading members of the Global Anti-Aggression Campaign (GAAC), a <a href="https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/NGO_Doha_Terror.pdf">Qatari sponsored network</a> of radical clerics, which includes multiple MB acolytes and other Islamist clerics. It was this association that formed part of the justification for the <a href="https://www.centerforsecuritypolicy.org/2017/09/28/saudi-university-dismissing-muslim-brotherhood-linked-academics/">arrest</a> of the three clerics and 27 others in September of 2017.
It should come as no surprise that MAS&#8217;s declaration of the three imams as &#8220;our scholars&#8221; indicates a shared association with the Brotherhood.
And the ties are even more direct in the case of al-Qarni, who has had previous involvement with MAS. <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/3864/cair-protests-saudi-radical-exclusion-from-us">In December 2012</a>, al-Qarni was scheduled to speak at MAS&#8217;s annual national convention but was blocked from entering the country because of his inclusion on the U.S.&#8217;s no-fly list &#8212; a direct result of his advocacy for jihad.
The protests were led by five California-based Islamist activists, most notably Yasmeen Azam, a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/yasmeen.azam.5/about?section=contact-info&amp;lst=20704912%3A100003030329134%3A1560447252">23-year-old activist</a> who <a href="https://www.facebook.com/yasmeen.azam.5/about?section=education&amp;lst=20704912%3A100003030329134%3A1560447252">currently works</a> as the assistant regional coordinator for MAS-GLA. She was among the protest&#8217;s primary organizers. It is worthwhile to learn about Azam and keep an eye on her now, as she is just beginning to establish herself as an activist &#8212; rather than waiting until she becomes more prominent and effective. Opponents of the domestic Islamist movement in America do not need another Zahra Billoo or Linda Sarsour.
Azam has been making a name for herself in L.A. Islamist circles for years now, including a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/notes/cair-greater-los-angeles/cair-las-socal-muslim-of-the-week-yasmeen-azam/10153973288967831/">profile</a> in September 2016 as the Greater Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations&#8217; &#8220;SoCal Muslim of the Week.&#8221; The fawning write-up noted that Azam gave a speech at the United Nations based on an essay she submitted into a contest, &#8220;The Call to Light,&#8221; which described &#8220;her personal spiritual awakening.&#8221; It also noted Azam&#8217;s involvement with <a href="https://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2014/2/2/the-ten-worst-u-s-purveyors-of-antisemitism-2-students-for-justice-in-palestine?print=true&amp;singlepage=true">Students for Justice in Palestine</a> and the MSA chapter at California State University Long Beach, for which she would serve as president. Today the MSA is <a href="http://www.nypdshield.org/public/SiteFiles/documents/NYPD_Report-Radicalization_in_the_West.pdf">described</a> by law enforcement as a &#8220;radicalization incubator.&#8221; Azam is also a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement, with her anti-Israel campus activism documented in an <a href="https://canarymission.org/individual/Yasmeen_Azam">extensive profile</a> at the indispensable Canary Mission website.
Others who led the group, <a href="https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=392262191631804">giving speeches</a> and booming slogans through the bullhorn, included such familiar voices in Southern California Islamist circles as Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl (described by Daniel Pipes in 2004 as a <a href="http://www.danielpipes.org/1841/stealth-islamist-khaled-abou-el-fadl">&#8220;stealth Islamist&#8221;</a>), <a href="https://shuracouncil.org/muslim-of-the-week/imad-bayoun">Imad Bayoun</a> (a regular MAS lecturer who has <a href="https://www.investigativeproject.org/7003/cal-state-professor-bin-laden-islamist">praised</a> MB founder Hassan al-Banna and defended MB theorist and jihad apologist Sayyid Qutb), Shakeel Syed (who has <a href="https://www.meforum.org/campus-watch/25693/shakeel-syed-wants-tariq-ramadan-freed">advocated</a> for the release of al-Banna&#8217;s Islamist intellectual leader grandson Tariq Ramadan, who is currently held in France on rape charges), and MAS-GLA&#8217;s Director Tareq Purmul.
Putting together these varied data points from the protests, the promotion of international MB figureheads, and the activist priorities of Azam, MAS&#8217;s role in Islamist activism comes into clearer focus: Much more so than other groups, MAS takes a particular concern in international issues and strives to provoke American Muslims to see themselves as one part of a global <a href="https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Ummah">&#8220;ummah.&#8221;</a> What&#8217;s so problematic about this is that in MAS&#8217;s formulation, this ummah is one that consists of MB activists and ideologues linked with terrorists &#8212; and is dead set on the destruction of Israel, to boot.

David M. Swindle is the Southern California associate for the <a href="https://counterislamist.org/">Counter-Islamist Grid</a>. He also works as the Director of Research for <a href="https://theisraelgroup.org/">The Israel Group</a>. Follow him on Twitter <a href="https://twitter.com/daveswindle">@DaveSwindle</a>.

SWINDLE: California Islamist Activists Protest At Saudi Consulate In Support Of Terror-Linked Clerics

Al Qaeda

CAIR

California

Islam

Los Angeles

Muslims

Radical Islam

Saudi Arabia

On Friday, an estimated 1,000 pro-lifers gathered outside a Philadelphia-based Planned Parenthood in response to Democrat State Representative Brian Sims live-streaming his harassment of an elderly pro-life sidewalk counselor and teenage girls praying outside the abortion clinic over the weekend.
The Daily Wire&#8217;s Matt Walsh, who <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46902/daily-wires-matt-walsh-sparks-big-name-pro-life-amanda-prestigiacomo">called</a> for the rally in reaction to Sims&#8217; deplorable treatment of pro-lifers, gave an impassioned speech at the gathering, which of course included a direct address to &#8220;bully&#8221; Sims.
&#8220;I&#8217;m grateful that we are not merely complaining right now. No, we decided to do something, we responded. We are engaging on the issue in the real world. I hope we continue this,&#8221; Walsh told the massive crowd, <a href="https://www.faithwire.com/2019/05/10/walsh-responds-to-bully-rep-brian-sims-in-bold-speech-at-philly-pro-life-rally/">according</a> to Faithwire.
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Here&#8217;s what peaceful pro-life action looks like. This is happening, America!! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ProLifePhilly?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ProLifePhilly</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/RallyAgainstBullying?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#RallyAgainstBullying</a> <a href="https://t.co/7gjaW0vMWG">pic.twitter.com/7gjaW0vMWG</a>
&#8212; Carly Hoilman (@carlyhoilman) <a href="https://twitter.com/carlyhoilman/status/1126871935017734145?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
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&#8220;We are saying to the pro-life activists that they are not alone and that we are with them,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We can&#8217;t just be pro-life in our minds, we have to live that truth &#8212; to bring that truth out into the real world.&#8221;
Then Walsh took on Sims directly: &#8220;We are sending a message to bullies like Brian Sims. We will not be intimidated, we will not be silenced. If you try to shut us up, we are only going to get louder. If you try to shame us, we are only going to stand taller.&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none" data-lang="en">
.<a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MattWalshBlog</a> to <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianSimsPA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BrianSimsPA</a>: &#8220;If you try to shut us up, we&#8217;re only going to get louder&#8230;you try to intimidate because that&#8217;s all you have. You have no arguments&#8230;If you want to bully someone, I&#8217;m right here.&#8221;
&#8212; Alexandra DeSanctis (@xan_desanctis) <a href="https://twitter.com/xan_desanctis/status/1126872342855131136?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
&#8220;Pick on someone your own size,&#8221; Walsh said to the Democrat. &#8220;Can you look us in the eyes and tell us why you think babies should be killed? If we cannot see the worth and value in a child, then who can we see it in?&#8221;
&#8220;We know that our cause is just. We know that we are right and we are firm in that truth. We have truth on our side and we will wield it like a sword to protect the unborn,&#8221; he added.
<blockquote>
We are sending a message to bullies like Brian Sims. We will not be intimidated, we will not be silenced. If you try to shut us up, we are only going to get louder. If you try to shame us, we are only going to stand taller.
-Matt Walsh
</blockquote>
The podcast host ended by explaining why he and fellow pro-lifers care so deeply about the issue of abortion: &#8220;Because life is precious &#8212; that&#8217;s it, that&#8217;s our entire argument. &#8230; Let the children live. Let them live!&#8221;
Sims made headlines on Saturday when he <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46910/watch-democrat-state-rep-who-harassed-pro-life-amanda-prestigiacomo">live-streamed</a> himself harassing an elderly pro-life sidewalk counselor for over seven minutes. &#8220;Shame on you! Shame on you!&#8221; the Democrat continuously shouted at the woman. &#8220;What you&#8217;re doing out here is disgusting. You have no business being out here! &#8230; An old white lady telling people what&#8217;s right to do with their bodies. Shame on you. Shame! Shame!&#8221;
The Democrat also taped himself threatening to dox three teenage girls who were praying outside the abortion clinic. &#8220;What we&#8217;ve got here is a bunch of protesters, a bunch of pseudo-Christian protesters who&#8217;ve been out here shaming young girls for being here,&#8221; Sims screams at them. &#8220;So here&#8217;s the deal, I&#8217;ve got a $100 for anyone who will identify any of these three.&#8221;
Walsh personally thanked Mr. Sims on Twitter, too. &#8220;HUGE thanks to [Brian Sims] for making this happen. We couldn&#8217;t have done it without him.&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
HUGE thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianSimsPA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BrianSimsPA</a> for making this happen. We couldn&#8217;t have done it without him.
&#8212; Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1126903274924388352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 10, 2019</a></blockquote>
</div>
<a href="https://www.faithwire.com/2019/05/10/walsh-responds-to-bully-rep-brian-sims-in-bold-speech-at-philly-pro-life-rally/">H/t</a> Faithwire
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46965/democrat-lawmaker-who-harassed-young-girls-ends-james-barrett">Democrat Lawmaker Who Harassed Young Girls Has Unintentionally Helped Raise A Lot Of Money For Pro-Life Cause</a>
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/46862/dem-rep-who-spent-weekend-harassing-pro-lifers-amanda-prestigiacomo">Dem Rep. Who Spent Weekend Harassing Pro-Lifers On Video Has Meltdown When Hit With Criticism</a>

Matt Walsh Addresses Brian Sims At Massive Pro-Life Rally The Democrat Rep. Accidentally Sparked

Abortion

Pennsylvania

Planned Parenthood

In video first <a href="https://www.liveaction.org/news/pennsylvania-verbally-harasses-pro-life-woman/">reported</a> by Live Action News on Sunday, Pennsylvania state Rep. <a href="https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/legis/home/member_information/house_bio.cfm?id=1650">Brian Sims</a>, a Democrat and self-styled LGBT activist, harassed an elderly pro-life sidewalk counselor outside a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic. In an <a href="https://twitter.com/LifeNewsHQ/status/1125467623838216204">update</a> from pro-life site LifeNews on Monday, video emerged of Rep. Sims targeting more pro-lifers; this time he was harassing and offering money to dox three teenage girls praying outside the abortion clinic.
&#8220;What we&#8217;ve got here is a bunch of protesters, a bunch of pseudo-Christian protesters who&#8217;ve been out here shaming young girls for being here,&#8221; claimed Sims, who live-streamed himself harassing the pro-lifers.
&#8220;So here&#8217;s the deal, I&#8217;ve got a $100 for anyone who will identify any of these three,&#8221; he offered his viewers, pointing out the young girls.
&#8220;We&#8217;re actually here just praying for the babies. And we actually believe women deserve more,&#8221; said an adult who was with the girls.
&#8220;I&#8217;m gonna donate to Planned Parenthood,&#8221; interrupted Sims. &#8220;So, look, a bunch of white people standing outside a Planned Parenthood &#8212;&#8221;
&#8220;I&#8217;m pretty far from white,&#8221; one of the teen girls interjected, giving off a laugh of disbelief.
&#8220;There&#8217;s nothing Christian at all about what you&#8217;re doing&#8221; Sims accused. &#8220;Nothing Christian or loving or Godly at all about what you&#8217;re doing.&#8221;
After the three teens and the female adult left the area, presumably because of Sims&#8217; antics, the Democrat approaches a male pro-lifer outside the clinic and demands his name and address. After the man calmly complies, Sims asks him why he thinks it&#8217;s &#8220;okay to tell women what&#8217;s right for their bodies.&#8221; Before the man can answer, the representative tells him he&#8217;s &#8220;not really asking&#8221; because he &#8220;doesn&#8217;t care.&#8221;
&#8220;Shame on you!&#8221; he yells at the pro-lifer.
Ending his tremendously persuasive &#8220;arguments,&#8221; Sims asks viewers to donate to Planned Parenthood, because &#8212; wait for it &#8212; pro-lifers are engaging in attacks. Not him. Definitely not Rep. Sims.
&#8220;Guys, Planned Parenthood is out here facing attacks daily from people like this, from pseudo-Christians saying that they are here to somehow protect their own version of Christianity. So do me a favor, if you&#8217;ve watched this, please consider donating $100 to Planned Parenthood. I&#8217;m gonna do the same.&#8221;
WATCH:
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
This is not the first time <a href="https://twitter.com/BrianSimsPA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@briansimspa</a> has harassed pro-life women.
Three weeks ago, Brian Sims offered viewers $100 to doxx these teen girls:
&#8220;I&#8217;ve got $100 to anybody who will identify these three, and I 
will donate to Planned Parenthood&#8221;<a href="https://t.co/ZS61gIFosn">https://t.co/ZS61gIFosn</a> <a href="https://t.co/R77mqyhsLR">pic.twitter.com/R77mqyhsLR</a>
&#8212; LifeNews.com (@LifeNewsHQ) <a href="https://twitter.com/LifeNewsHQ/status/1125467623838216204?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 6, 2019</a></blockquote>
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WATCH: Dem Rep. Brian Sims Tries To Dox 3 Pro-Life Teen Girls, Offers $100 For Identities

As The Daily Wire has previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45612/baylor-amanda-prestigiacomo">reported</a>, our own <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/authors/matt-walsh">columnist</a>/<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/podcasts/show/matt-walsh-show">podcast host</a> Matt Walsh is facing protests in anticipation of a speech &#8212; sponsored by Young Americans for Freedom (YAF) &#8212; that he will deliver at Baylor University <a href="https://www.yaf.org/events/matt-walsh-at-baylor-university/">tomorrow evening</a>. According to The Daily Wire&#8217;s Amanda Prestigiacomo:
<blockquote>
Left-wing students and faculty at Baylor University, an alleged Christian school, are trying to shut down a speech concerning life, gender, and marriage from a Christian perspective by The Daily Wire&#8217;s Matt Walsh set for Tuesday. &#8230;
A Change.org petition seeking to censor Walsh, titled &#8220;Stop Matt Walsh, Conservative Blogger, from Delivering Anti-LGBTQ Speech at Baylor,&#8221; has garnered 2,200-plus signatures as of Saturday morning.
&#8220;Baylor University&#8217;s conservative student group, Baylor Young Americans for Freedom, has invited conservative blogger Matt Walsh to deliver an Anti-LGBTQ+ speech on April 9,&#8221; the petition claims, adding, &#8220;This cannot be allowed to take place. Please remove this from campus events. For the benefit of all LGBTQ+ students, alumni, and future students, this harmful hate speech must be kept off of our beloved campus.&#8221;
</blockquote>
Over 600 individuals of all stripes &#8212; alumni, students, faculty, and staff &#8212; affiliated with Baylor also signed a letter expressing serious concern with the appearance of Walsh, a conservative Catholic, at the purportedly Baptist university. Walsh responded on Twitter on Friday, referring to the letter as, &#8220;cowardly, overwrought, dishonest, ridiculous nonsense.&#8221;
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<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Faculty and students are now claiming that my appearance threatens their &#8220;psychological, emotional, and physical wellbeing.&#8221;
This is cowardly, overwrought, dishonest, ridiculous nonsense. <a href="https://t.co/c2AZvmncfU">https://t.co/c2AZvmncfU</a>
&#8212; Matt Walsh (@MattWalshBlog) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWalshBlog/status/1114246937098772480?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 5, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Today, in a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/45700/walsh-baylor-matt-walsh">column</a> for The Daily Wire, Walsh elaborated on the cowardice of the protesters:
<blockquote>
To be perfectly clear about this, I am simply coming to the campus to give a speech. I will stand at a podium, talk for a little while, answer questions, and leave. At no point will I engage in any activity that could possibly threaten anyone&#8217;s safety. I come armed only with ideas. You may disagree with the ideas, but they cannot hurt you. And, in fact, you cannot even really know that you disagree with the ideas until you have listened to them.
That&#8217;s the problem with the hostility to open dialogue on college campuses. It&#8217;s not just that students who react this way to opposing ideas will never learn what other people think; worse, they&#8217;ll never learn what they themselves think. We cannot develop a coherent and original perspective if we have only ever allowed ourselves to be exposed to one set of views. All that happens, when we insulate ourselves from different viewpoints, is that we become more and more unjustifiably convinced of our own rightness and less and less capable of explaining why.
</blockquote>
Reached for a statement by The Daily Wire, Baylor&#8217;s YAF chapter provided the following update on the latest from campus:
<blockquote>
Baylor tried to put a last-minute requirement on the event, saying our advisor who is in D.C. right now needs to be there from set-up time (1:30 PM) to leave time (10:00 P.M.?), or else the event couldn&#8217;t go on. This isn&#8217;t a rule, but luckily we found a professor who is willing to do it [anyway]. Baylor&#8217;s Assistant Director of Student Activities signed an anti-YAF, anti-Walsh petition, as have dozens of faculty and administrators. And as a response to Matt Walsh, Baylor will in all likelihood be chartering an LGBT group, which would strip [Baylor] of its religious affiliation.
</blockquote>
Also reached for a statement, Walsh added, &#8220;While I really appreciate and am grateful for the university administration&#8217;s unwillingness to cave to the mob, I am distressed that so many students at a Christian school are so hostile not only to the free exchange of ideas, but to the free exchange of Christian ideas.&#8221;
Walsh&#8217;s speech is still scheduled to go on tomorrow evening.
UPDATE: On Tuesday, leftist activist Laura Seay began to promote a counter-programning event to Walsh&#8217;s talk, entitled &#8220;Dia Love Feast.&#8221;
<div class="embed tweet">
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en">
Want to support love &amp; inclusion on Baylor&#8217;s campus? Show up tonight at Dia Love Feast, a great alternative to that other event happening on campus tonight. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BaylorDia?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BaylorDia</a> <a href="https://t.co/mrraAcsDxn">https://t.co/mrraAcsDxn</a>
&#8212; Laura Seay (@texasinafrica) <a href="https://twitter.com/texasinafrica/status/1115659354672455680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 9, 2019</a></blockquote>
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The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh Is Being Protested At A Christian University. Here Is The Latest.

Young Americans for Freedom

As a public institution, the University of Arizona is fully bound by the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects the right of public college students to engage in peaceful protest. This right protects student speech that listeners may find deeply offensive. Taken alone, the content of the speech at issue here &#8212; calling Border Patrol agents &#8220;murder patrol&#8221; and &#8220;an extension of the KKK,&#8221; for example &#8212; is plainly protected by the First Amendment. Likewise, the <a href="http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/JW-Student-Complaint-U-of-A-BP-Visit-3-20-19.pdf">call</a> by a Border Patrol agent (with <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1113091756130742273?s=21">considerable</a> political influence) to investigate and punish students for a letter criticizing the Border Patrol is a clear demand that the university violate the First Amendment.
The First Amendment also protects the right of public college students to hear from the speakers of their choice free from the <a href="https://www.thefire.org/rejecting-the-hecklers-veto/">heckler&#8217;s veto</a>. Attempts to prevent a speaker from being seen and heard by an audience are not protected by the First Amendment. However, as FIRE has <a href="https://www.thefire.org/actually-some-heckling-is-free-speech/">previously stated</a>, isolated heckling, fleeting disruption, or other <a href="https://www.thefire.org/u-of-toledo-adopts-freedom-of-expression-policy-after-censoring-karl-rove-protesters/">expressive activity</a> that does not prevent audience members from seeing and hearing the speaker is generally permissible.
There is simply not enough information in the brief videos that have so far been made public to confirm that the protestors&#8217; conduct, taken as a whole, constituted unprotected disruption. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYn1_-iLjRo">Video recordings</a> capturing some of the incident appear to place the protesting students near the doorway but outside of the room, show the students refusing to leave, and indicate that the students and Border Patrol agents inside of the room noticed the demonstration. Although the student hosts of the event call law enforcement (saying that they did so because one demonstrator said the presence of the Border Patrol agents made her fear for her safety), there is no indication that the event was unable to proceed. When the Border Patrol officers leave, they are followed down a short hallway and into a garage by student protesters.
Two students from the University of Arizona are facing misdemeanor charges for harassing two U.S. Border Patrol agents who came to speak at their school.
Last month, The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/44916/watch-border-patrol-agents-harassed-arizona-kassy-dillon">reported</a> that two Border Patrol agents were harassed when they came to speak about their careers to criminal justice majors at the university.
Several videos showed students interrupting the officers&#8217; presentation and following them out of the classroom to their cars while chanting &#8220;murder patrol.&#8221;
&#8220;This is supposed to be a safe space for students but they allow an extension of the KKK into campus, an extension of the KKK into campus,&#8221; a student said, interrupting and filming the agents. &#8220;There are students that pay to be here, pay to be here, that need this to be a safe space for them and we have the KKK and their supporters right here at the U of A.&#8221;
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WATCH: Far-left protesters at the University of Arizona protest Border Patrol agents on campus by likening them to the KKK and calling them the Murder Patrol repeatedly.
h/t denisseisdead IG <a href="https://t.co/iwPmNYRzFC">pic.twitter.com/iwPmNYRzFC</a>
&#8212; Lone Conservative (@LoConservative) <a href="https://twitter.com/LoConservative/status/1108490225037262848?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
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They follow them on their way out of the school continuing to yell Murder Patrol. Additionally, they meet up with a large group of far-left protesters chanting &#8220;Police and ICE same shit twice.&#8221;
h/t denisseisdead IG <a href="https://t.co/I2ZSlPIZGq">pic.twitter.com/I2ZSlPIZGq</a>
&#8212; Lone Conservative (@LoConservative) <a href="https://twitter.com/LoConservative/status/1108490230712229889?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Two of the students, whose identities remain unknown, are being charged with &#8220;interference with the peaceful conduct of an educational institution,&#8221; according to an email from the university&#8217;s president obtained by <a href="https://www.campusreform.org/?ID=12054">Campus Reform</a>.
In an email to the entire <a href="https://mailchi.mp/0d072511991d/update-to-safety-free-speech-and-respect">student body</a>, President Robert C. Robbins started by reaffirming &#8220;the University of Arizona&#8217;s relationship with the leadership and the women and men serving in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.&#8221;
&#8220;The incident between the protesting students and the Criminal Justice club members was a dramatic departure from our expectations of respectful behavior and support for free speech on this campus,&#8221; Robbins wrote. &#8220;University police determined today they will be charging two of the students with interference with the peaceful conduct of an educational institution, a misdemeanor.&#8221;
Robbins said that the university&#8217;s police department will continue investigating possible additional criminal violations and that the Dean of Students is still &#8220;reviewing potential violations of the student code of conduct.&#8221; He further added that &#8220;there will be a probe into actions involving [university] employees.&#8221;
Robbins added that the university is committed to free speech but said the student&#8217;s actions were not protected. &#8220;The student club and the [Customs and Border Protection] officers invited by the students should have been able to hold their meeting without disruption,&#8221; Robbins wrote. &#8220;Student protest is protected by our support for free speech, but disruption is not.&#8221;
&#8220;As a community of scholars, we need to be more thoughtful and deliberative in how we approach these issues and work together to sustain vigorous conversations to find better solutions,&#8221; Robbins concluded. 
Campus Reform reported that, following the incident, the university&#8217;s student government condemned the agents&#8217; presence, deeming it &#8220;immensely harmful to our DACA and undocumented community.&#8221;
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A statement to the Wildcat Community <a href="https://t.co/QKkRu7DXEB">pic.twitter.com/QKkRu7DXEB</a>
&#8212; Natalynn Masters (@UASBPresident) <a href="https://twitter.com/UASBPresident/status/1108874291104243714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 21, 2019</a></blockquote>
UPDATE: In a statement to The Daily Wire, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education said they are monitoring the situation, which the organization described as having &#8220;competing First Amendment interests.&#8221;
FIRE also stated:
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As a public institution, the University of Arizona is fully bound by the First Amendment. The First Amendment protects the right of public college students to engage in peaceful protest. This right protects student speech that listeners may find deeply offensive. Taken alone, the content of the speech at issue here &#8212; calling Border Patrol agents &#8220;murder patrol&#8221; and &#8220;an extension of the KKK,&#8221; for example &#8212; is plainly protected by the First Amendment. Likewise, the <a href="http://www.judicialwatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/JW-Student-Complaint-U-of-A-BP-Visit-3-20-19.pdf">call</a> by a Border Patrol agent (with <a href="https://twitter.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1113091756130742273?s=21">considerable</a> political influence) to investigate and punish students for a letter criticizing the Border Patrol is a clear demand that the university violate the First Amendment.
The First Amendment also protects the right of public college students to hear from the speakers of their choice free from the <a href="https://www.thefire.org/rejecting-the-hecklers-veto/">heckler&#8217;s veto</a>. Attempts to prevent a speaker from being seen and heard by an audience are not protected by the First Amendment. However, as FIRE has <a href="https://www.thefire.org/actually-some-heckling-is-free-speech/">previously stated</a>, isolated heckling, fleeting disruption, or other <a href="https://www.thefire.org/u-of-toledo-adopts-freedom-of-expression-policy-after-censoring-karl-rove-protesters/">expressive activity</a> that does not prevent audience members from seeing and hearing the speaker is generally permissible.
There is simply not enough information in the brief videos that have so far been made public to confirm that the protestors&#8217; conduct, taken as a whole, constituted unprotected disruption. <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYn1_-iLjRo">Video recordings</a> capturing some of the incident appear to place the protesting students near the doorway but outside of the room, show the students refusing to leave, and indicate that the students and Border Patrol agents inside of the room noticed the demonstration. Although the student hosts of the event call law enforcement (saying that they did so because one demonstrator said the presence of the Border Patrol agents made her fear for her safety), there is no indication that the event was unable to proceed. When the Border Patrol officers leave, they are followed down a short hallway and into a garage by student protesters.
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WATCH: Arizona Students Facing Charges After Harassing Border Patrol Agents

Arizona

Illegal Immigration

Southern Border

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

On Friday, local activists in Austin, Texas from the virulenty anti-Israel &#8220;Jewish&#8221; group IfNotNow decided that it would be appropriate to picket fellow Jews and physically block the entrance to a Chabad house. And they deliberately and ostentatiously did so on Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath.
Yes, really.
The Chabad Jewish Center at the Univeristy of Texas-Austin described the affair in a <a href="https://www.jewishlonghorns.com/templates/blog/default_cdo/aid/1939391/jewish/Jewish-Longhorns-Blog.htm">blog post</a>:
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A small group of students and young adults affiliated with &#8220;If Not Now&#8221; decided it was a good time to protest a guest speaker, who was going to speak at our center later in the day: A sweet and soft-spoken IDF soldier.
Shockingly, these protesters spoke to my young children and gave them flyers. They also videotaped and photographed us on Chabad property, something which is traditionally prohibited on Shabbat for religious reasons. All of this didn&#8217;t happen during any speech, but during Shabbat morning prayers.
I&#8217;m not against protests, even if I disagree with the cause. But on Shabbat &#8212; during prayer services &#8212; really? There&#8217;s a time and place for protests. It would have been nice to see them show some respect while claiming to advocate dialogue, because there is none without the other.
It reminded me of a fringe religious group, who were very active a few years ago, and would find the most inappropriate times to demonstrate. They didn&#8217;t make any friends, but cruelly garnered a lot of media attention. &#8230;
The saddest part to me is that the protest was organized by fellow Jews, who should have understood the value and sensitivities around Shabbat observance, prayer and community. They showed up in the middle of morning Shacharit/Mussaf prayers, and very insensitively took pictures and videos of my kids on Shabbat. They failed to show the most basic respect and sensitivity.
It was in certain ways a very sad day. I am hopeful that one day it will be good for all of mankind, both Jew and non-Jew, as we work together to repair the world via our holy Torah.
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The planned speaker that IfNotNow disrupted was Leibel Mangel, a combat veteran of the Israel Defense Forces and a popular pro-Israel speaker. &#8220;Truly disheartening that Shabbat services and my talk @ the University of Texas were disrupted by Jewish protesters,&#8221; Mangel tweeted. &#8220;It just highlights the growing need and obligation to educate and speak truth!&#8221;
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Truly disheartening that Shabbat services and my talk @ the University of Texas were disrupted by Jewish protesters.
It just highlights the growing need and obligation to educate and speak truth!
&#8212; Leibel Mangel (@LeibelMangel) <a href="https://twitter.com/LeibelMangel/status/1099489496377319425?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Melissa Weiss, National Campus Director for the <a href="http://www.wiesenthal.com/site/pp.asp?c=lsKWLbPJLnF&amp;b=4441471">Simon Wiesenthal Center</a>, which combats anti-Semitism worldwide, tweeted: &#8220;It&#8217;s truly disgusting that @IfNotNowOrg, which calls itself a Jewish group, would hold a demonstration and disruption outside of Shabbat services when fellow Jews are at prayer. IfNotNow is absolutely not representative of American Jewry and has no place in our very big tent.&#8221;
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It&#8217;s truly disgusting that <a href="https://twitter.com/IfNotNowOrg?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@IfNotNowOrg</a>, which calls itself a Jewish group, would hold a demonstration and disruption outside of Shabbat services when fellow Jews are at prayer. IfNotNow is absolutely not representative of American Jewry and has no place in our very big tent. <a href="https://t.co/ZdNze9cLUD">https://t.co/ZdNze9cLUD</a>
&#8212; Melissa Weiss (@melissaeweiss) <a href="https://twitter.com/melissaeweiss/status/1099707823141908483?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 24, 2019</a></blockquote>
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As The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/43748/hammer-israel-bashing-group-ifnotnows-recent-josh-hammer">covered</a>, IfNotNow recently released a viral propaganda video that scurrilously blasted Israel and mendaciously sought to assign blame for the recent rise in European and American anti-Semitic incidents to fringe members of the broader political Right. In recent weeks, IfNotNow has also openly stood with freshman congresswomen Reps. <a href="https://twitter.com/RashidaTlaib/status/1096587728165183489">Rashida Tlaib</a> (D-MI) and <a href="https://twitter.com/IfNotNowOrg/status/1097173309823815682">Ilhan Omar</a> (D-MN), each of whom has become infamous in her own right for peddling <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/42998/ocasio-cortez-omar-tlaib-take-democrats-anti-ryan-saavedra">anti-Semitic conspiracy theories</a>.

Hellenized Jews: IfNotNow Protesters Disrupt Shabbat Service At University of Texas

Austin

Judaism

University of Texas

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