A Lot of This “Political Action” Doesn’t Seem Very Political to Me
Exploring the blurry line between politics and assholery
On Sunday, violence broke out outside Adas Torah synagogue in Los Angeles. Pro-Palestinian groups organized a protest and were met by pro-Israel counter protesters. Violence ensued; there were multiple scuffles, and CNN reports that one person was arrested for having a spiked flag. If you’re like me, you have two questions: 1) What the hell is a “spiked flag”? And 2) What the hell were protesters doing at a synagogue to begin with?
We probably won’t ever have an answer to the first question, but the second question has a nominal answer: Protesters chose Adas Torah because it was hosting a real estate event selling properties in Israel. But what counts as “in Israel”? If we agreed on an answer to that question, there wouldn’t be a dispute to begin with! It seems that most of the properties were within the 1967 borders, though at least one was on a 41 year-old settlement in the West Bank. So, that is — at least nominally — what the hell protesters were doing at a synagogue.
And I understand that explanation. I just don’t buy it.
Here’s a similar story: Code Pink protesters have been demonstrating outside of Jake Tapper’s house. They’ve been yelling at the house through a bullhorn, screeching “your dad’s a war criminal!” at Tapper’s kids, and telling the kids to “walk away” (from their own home). Protesters say that they’re upset about how Tapper, who is Jewish, has been covering Gaza. If I could have one Christmas wish this June, it would be for the Trump lunatics who think that Tapper is too left wing to also show up at the street outside Jake Tapper’s house. At which point an Oxford-style debate would surely break out between the two groups, which would provide much-needed entertainment to the Tapper family.