Oakland bakery features mural of a convicted terrorist

[Derec]

Protesters of bakery’s ‘appalling’ mural of terrorist attacked

Potesters outside an Oakland restaurant that features a mural of a convicted Palestinian terrorist were physically attacked by counterdemonstrators, according to an organizer of the July 8 nonviolent vigil.
Protester holding torn sign in front of Reem’s restaurant in Oakland (Photo/Courtesy Faith Meltzer)
Faith Meltzer said she and four fellow pro-Israel activists had gathered near Reem’s, an Arab restaurant and bakery in Oakland’s Fruitvale district. They came to protest the restaurant’s wall-size mural depicting Rasmea Odeh, a Palestinian woman who confessed to participating in a 1969 Jerusalem grocery store bombing that killed two and injured nine.
[..]
A dozen counterprotesters soon approached, according to the pro-Israel activists, ripping signs out of their hands. One pried a sign from the fingers of a disabled protester and another tried to grab Meltzer’s purse, she said. Police were called, and bystanders filmed portions of the incident, according to Meltzer. Photos taken at the incident seem to confirm that one of the counterprotesters grabbing signs was Lara Kiswani, executive director of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center.

I guess political violence is a-ok if it is in support of Palestinian terrorism...
These extremists are as bad as Charlottesville Nazis. So why are these idiots not losing their jobs and Ok Cupid profiles?

Reem Assil, founder and owner of the bakery, is of Palestinian-Syrian descent. She has defended the mural, calling Odeh “outspoken on Palestinian rights” and “an emblem of resilience for us.” In an interview with Berkeleyside, Assil called Odeh “a modern-day Malcolm X.”

If Malcolm X had ever bombed his local Stop&Shop.

This is the mural in question.

To give some background, Rasmeah Odeh is a Palestinian terrorist (with the terrorist group PFLP) who carried out a bombing of a grocery store in 1969 that killed two men. She was convicted in Israel but unfortunately she was released only 10 years later in a prisoner swap. She was recently stripped of her US citizenship and deported because she lied on her naturalization application about ever being convicted of a crime. A terrorist murder conviction is a biggie as far as such failures to disclose go. She was also active in the "Women's March" together with her supporter Linda Sarsour, and she has many supporters in the anti-Israel far left.

 

[LordKiran]

So is there a point hidden within all this meandering bullshit or am I supposed to draw my own conclusions?

 

[Derec]

So is there a point hidden within all this meandering bullshit or am I supposed to draw my own conclusions?

Point is that a bakery in Oakland is glorifying a terrorist. Do you think that's correct?

 

[Keith&Co.]

So is there a point hidden within all this meandering bullshit or am I supposed to draw my own conclusions?

Standard Derec Whataboutism...

 

[Derec]

Standard Derec Whataboutism...

So you think glorifying terrorists is good?
You think people attacking peaceful protesters is good as long as the violence comes from the left-wing?

It's not "whataboutism" to point out the sickening one-sidedness of our contemporary discussion of political violence.

 

[prideandfall]

Point is that a bakery in Oakland is glorifying a terrorist. Do you think that's correct?

it's irrelevant to the fact that YOU think it's correct, since you have shown your staunch support for bakeries being some kind of bastion of free speech with the whole gay cake fiasco.

so which is it, derec... should bakeries be forced to make gay cakes, or can bakeries put a mural of whoever the fuck they want on their walls?

 

[Derec]

it's irrelevant to the fact that YOU think it's correct, since you have shown your staunch support for bakeries being some kind of bastion of free speech with the whole gay cake fiasco.

Huh? What exactly do you think I said about bakeries and cakes? Also, please provide citation.

so which is it, derec... should bakeries be forced to make gay cakes, or can bakeries put a mural of whoever the fuck they want on their walls?

I do not think they should be prohibited by law to glorify terrorists. But the rest of us should be able to criticize them and call them out for being terrorist sympathizers.
Those protesting her bakery have as much free speech rights as she does painting that disgusting mural. And attacking the protesters is no better than if somebody broke into the bakery and removed the mural.

 

[J842P]

So is there a point hidden within all this meandering bullshit or am I supposed to draw my own conclusions?

You should try not being such a hyper-partisan.

- - - Updated - - -

So is there a point hidden within all this meandering bullshit or am I supposed to draw my own conclusions?

Standard Derec Whataboutism...

Oh what a load of crap. This should be a pretty easy thing for anyone to denounce - the protestors here are well within their rights to protest a business for whatever reason. They were peaceably demonstrating outside, and then they got violently attacked.

 

[J842P]

Point is that a bakery in Oakland is glorifying a terrorist. Do you think that's correct?

it's irrelevant to the fact that YOU think it's correct, since you have shown your staunch support for bakeries being some kind of bastion of free speech with the whole gay cake fiasco.

so which is it, derec... should bakeries be forced to make gay cakes, or can bakeries put a mural of whoever the fuck they want on their walls?

I don't recall Derec's position on the gay cake thing. Regardless, his position seems perfectly consistent even if I grant that your characterization of it is correct. Derec never said that the owner of this store isn't allowed to put up this mural, rather, he condemned the counter-protestors that violently attacked the peaceful demonstrators outside. Why is that so difficult to agree with?

 

[dismal]

Maybe they're confused because the protestors peacefully protested the mural instead of putting on black suits and tearing it down?

 

[prideandfall]

Why is that so difficult to agree with?

because that isn't what derec is doing any more than what fox is doing is reporting fair and balanced accounts of the news.

 

[J842P]

Why is that so difficult to agree with?

because that isn't what derec is doing any more than what fox is doing is reporting fair and balanced accounts of the news.

You confuse your opinions with facts.

 

[prideandfall]

You confuse your opinions with facts.

sure thing, sparky.

 

[funinspace]

I generally steer clear of you hobby horse parade...but...

Protesters of bakery’s ‘appalling’ mural of terrorist attacked

I guess political violence is a-ok if it is in support of Palestinian terrorism...

No it is not ok. The Jewish protest group shouldn't have been abused.

These extremists are as bad as Charlottesville Nazis.

Well maybe, but for the guy to tried to kill lots of people with his car, but must have been stuptified by Koalemos so the body count was low. And she is certainly no one to lionize...

So why are these idiots not losing their jobs and Ok Cupid profiles?

Cuz you haven't organized to get it done....

 

[Keith&Co.]

Oh what a load of crap. This should be a pretty easy thing for anyone to denounce -

But we can't.
Derec has already observed (somewhere, somehow) that we support the bakery, but denounce the protest.

I guess political violence is a-ok if it is in support of Palestinian terrorism...

 

[LordKiran]

You should try not being such a hyper-partisan.

Derec could also consider being up front with what his point is instead of trying to transparently set up a "Gotcha!" A conversation that exists as pretext for a "Gotcha!" isn't a conversation held in good faith.

 

[Random Person]

Is the OP trying to compare this to a statue of Robert E Lee in a park?

One is funded by taxes and the other is funded by customers that at least don't care.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Is the OP trying to compare this to a statue of Robert E Lee in a park?

One is funded by taxes and the other is funded by customers that at least don't care.

Amazing the amount of misdirection in this thread rather than address the issue:

The protesters were attacked by leftists defending a mural of a terrorist.

He's not comparing it to the statue in the park--this is on purely private property. It's perfectly legal--but freedom of speech doesn't protect you from opposing speech. Honor a terrorist and you have no right to avoid protesters complaining about it.

 

[RavenSky]

So is there a point hidden within all this meandering bullshit or am I supposed to draw my own conclusions?

Point is that a bakery in Oakland is glorifying a terrorist. Do you think that's correct?

I think it is private property.

Next!

 

[bilby]

So is there a point hidden within all this meandering bullshit or am I supposed to draw my own conclusions?

Point is that a bakery in Oakland is glorifying a terrorist. Do you think that's correct?

The point is that a private business has a picture on their wall that they want on their wall. Do you think that's incorrect?

Does 'correctness' even enter into consideration? It's their fucking mural, and it's their fucking shop. Are you suggesting that they stole the paint? Or that they failed to pay the painter the contracted amount for his work? What, exactly, are you saying is 'incorrect' here?

There are buildings all over the USA that glorify a (possibly fictional) Jewish carpenter's son who caused untold suffering by his teachings - Suffering that has continued for two millennia and still has not stopped. Glorifying unworthy people is hardly worthy of comment; determining who is unworthy is not your job. At least this cafe isn't claiming tax exemption for glorifying their chosen individual.