Israeli Police Thugs Brutalize & Visciously Assault American Jew, Lucas Koerner, Protesting Palestinian Occupation at Jerusalem Day Parade on June 1, 2011

[Editor's Note: You'll notice from the photos and videos seen below that thugs with state authority, no matter they be American police, or Israeli police/military, or Canadian or British goons, require a certain look and body type. That look includes a large head with an extremely short buzz cut, or no hair (the wearing of sunglasses on the head, also seems to be part of the dress code). The bald head is usually attached by a short neck to a body that is pumped up and beefy looking (as in one who routinely takes steroid drugs to bulk up). They will always wear a tight fitting shirt (along with the obligatory garrison belts loaded with tools to inflict pain) to emphasize their menacing bulk. They will invariably attack as a gang with unreasonable and brutal violence against a single protesting individual who is always unarmed, and usually small and non-threatening. The 'crime' is usually words of political protests, or a banner, placard, or protest sign that is not to their liking. Sometimes, innocent spectators or just people walking by are also pummeled (or killed). In this case, Israeli police confronted Lucas Koerner because he was expressing his opinion about Palestinians oppression to a video camera and not in any way "demonstrating." Looking for a pretext, they tell him to hand over his passport, and when he refused, they began to first push and then punch Lucas, eventually pulling him to the ground and piling on top of him while punching and binding his arms behind his back. The video clip of Lucas's assault is only 4 minutes and 16 seconds long, but it captures the essence of the mindless Israeli brutality that millions of beleaguered Palestinians have endured as a daily fact of life since 1947

None of these "bad boys," however, working alone, would ever go up against a man of equal size & weight, and certainly not if that individual was armed. A characteristic of people who are willing to brutalize and inflict pain upon the defenseless in this manner is that they are always sociopaths (meaning they have no humane consciousness or empathy with human suffering), and unfailingly are cowards when confronted with real danger. Men of true courage (the victim in this case, a gutsy 19 year old student at Boston's Tufts University) cannot bring themselves to harm the defenseless, no matter what the circumstances might be. That's why men of integrity, character, morality and courage are never promoted or survive in this type of job. Among the wolf pack mentality of brutes and sadists, only the sociopaths survive Lucas has an incredible blog at http://strongerthanslavery.tumblr.com/. I urge you to go there and read his many excellent articles (some comments from Lucas' blog is seen further below). This guy is really thinking with his head and his heart. He deserves our respect and encouragement for doing what few of us would have the courage to do. ....Ken Adachi]

by Tim King, Salem-News.com
http://educate-yourself.org/cn/israelithugsbrutalizeamericanjewprotester09jun11.shtml
June 9, 2011

Israeli Police Thugs Brutalize & Visciously Assault American Jew, Lucas Koerner, Protesting Palestinian Occupation at Jerusalem Day Parade on June 1, 2011 (July 25, 2012 )

Here is Israel's Crap Treatment of an American Jew, Thanks Obama, Biden and Clinton
http://www.salem-news.com/articles/june092011/israeli-beating-tk.php'

Not in my name' - God bless the resistance...

This is what Israel's political and military supporters are responsible for, action against this rogue regime is imminent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(SALEM / JERUSALEM) - First of all, to the evil heartless bastards in the Israeli government and their group, YouTube this clip of your mindless thugs beating a young American trying to speak his mind about Israeli atrocities in Israel. We have it downloaded. It is here, we have it, and we promise to help it go viral.

So take the YouTube version down in the spirit of Zionism, and we will be sure that it is on several other video sites that are real and not just some damned extension of Israel's arm of oppression that tragically is funded by my own government.

I don't know the young man that the Israeli police and soldiers mercilessly brutalize, beat, choke and arrested in Jerusalem today; they look at one point like they are trying to kill him and every one of those sons of bitches in the Israeli military and police need to be taken down and tried for this disgusting act of Nazi-like fascist brutality.

He said on camera before being assaulted by Israeli police and soldiers, that Israel's policies toward Palestinians are, "Completely unjustified, fantastically reprehensible, and we will world Jewry and all people, the world will not stop until this occupation ends".

He also said Palestinians have, "The right to live without occupation, and equal rights in Israel."

That was about all it took, and they were on him, excessive force from the moment it began. He had a Palestinian flag on his scarf and another on his Jewish kippah and that was quite obviously part of why the Israeli officials attacked him so ruthlessly.

Israel wants to shove their illegal brutality in front of the world. They don't mind and they don't care. They treat Americans like this? Has anyone ever seen something quite like this happen to an American?

Watch how they beat him as they put him in the tiny space of a compact pickup truck's back seat which isn't fit for transporting adults in the first place. These Israeli cops are as bad, wrong and unjustified in their actions. And the thing to appreciate is that this is what is happening to the Palestinians every day, all day, at checkpoints, border crossings, and when they are just walking down the street.

hugs, brutes, fascists, prejudice bigots, warmongers, these are not Jews. They are not Israelis.They are the Israeli government of Prime Minister Netanyahu and the world needs to put its foot up the backside of Israel's apartheid ass.

From the YouTube video:

يهودي امريكي لكنه اشرف من نصف الامة العربية Jewish-American man being harassed in Jerusalem

EE.UU. religión judía está siendo hostigado y golpeado por las fuerzas sionistas en Jerusalén

دین یهودی ایالات متحده است مورد آزار و توسط رژیم صهیونیستی در بیت المقدس مورد ضرب و شتم

Etats-Unis la religion juive est harcelée et battue par les forces sionistes à Jérusalem

American-Jewish young man is being harassed and treated unfairly he is then arrested in Jerusalem for speaking out against the Israeli occupation. How sad, he had the courage to speak out but then was arrested ...so unfair

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=mgWBsCSyjkY#!

Selected comments

Janba32 1 year ago 9

Police brutality, Israel is just another facist country in the middle east, don't let them fool you, The Israeli policemen in Jerusalem are just common racist bruties who serve the extremest political activity of the settlers.

I'm not far away from 80 and believe me my mind is just fine. I clearly remember my now deceased relative telling me how as a member of the hganah he helped to drive at gunpoint the hapless Arabs format eerie homes. They weren't even allowed to put on their shoes and were forced to go barefoot across the border into Lebanon. I asked him why. HIs answer? We wanted the land & we didn't want them on it. That, my friend, is known as ethnic cleansing.

Janba32 in reply to salaciousone (Show the comment) 1 year ago

I am a Jew because my parents, grandparents as far back as I can go were Jews. I no longer feel I have anything in common with any Jew who supports Israel's land theft and oppression of the Palestinians who were not in any way responsible for the European anti-Semitism that drove a handful of Europe's Zionists to declare that they wanted a Jewish state in Palestine. They didn't give a damn that there was another people already on the land. They planned to drive them off & they did

Janba32 in reply to salaciousone (Show the comment) 1 year ago

You're damned right. I have from childhood been a secular Jew but we celebrated the holidays. Now when there is a state that is Jewish and says it is my "homeland" and I have the "right of return" when my Palestinian friend, born in Jerusalem, whose family goes back in Palestine before the 1500s, cannot return, I find this sick and repulsive.

Janba32 in reply to salaciousone (Show the comment) 1 year ago

Lucas Koerner discusses the aftermath of his arrest and beating by Israeli national police

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=fvwp&v=jo8INDkZDnM&NR=1

         

Uploaded by buhrayin on Jul 19, 2011

Lucas Koerner from the Mount Airy section of Philadelphia talks about being seriously roughed up and arrested by Israeli police as seen in the video here during a trip with a peace group to Israel. He was subsequently jailed for two days for peacefully protesting the annual Jersulem Day parade which celebrates Israel's capture of East Jerusalem during the 1967 Mideast War. Koerner reports that this was the first time that the parade was deliberately winding its way through an Arab neighborhood.

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Guided Tour in Hebron from http://www.breakingthesilence.org

Ex-Israeli soldiers describe their role in the oppression of Palestinians in Hebron and the protection of Jewish settlers who repeat a systematic technique of coersion, harassment, and assault to force out Palestinians and take over their neighborhoods and buildings.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGbV_rXmS1M

 

Uploaded by shovrim on Nov 7, 2011

Guided Tour in Hebron
This video on our website:
http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/media/94776
For more Breaking the Silence videos:
http://www.breakingthesilence.org.il/media

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Tim King: Salem-News.com Editor and Writer

Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. In addition to his role as a war correspondent, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Tim spent the winter of 2006/07 covering the war in Afghanistan, and he was in Iraq over the summer of 2008, reporting from the war while embedded with both the U.S. Army and the Marines.

Tim holds awards for reporting, photography, writing and editing, including the Silver Spoke Award by the National Coalition of Motorcyclists (2011), Excellence in Journalism Award by the Oregon Confederation of Motorcycle Clubs (2010), Oregon AP Award for Spot News Photographer of the Year (2004), First-place Electronic Media Award in Spot News, Las Vegas, (1998), Oregon AP Cooperation Award (1991); and several others including the 2005 Red Cross Good Neighborhood Award for reporting. Tim has several years of experience in network affiliate news TV stations, having worked as a reporter and photographer at NBC, ABC and FOX stations in Arizona, Nevada and Oregon. Tim was a member of the National Press Photographer's Association for several years and is a current member of the Orange County Press Club.

Break down the walls of oppression and while you do it, 'stay human'.

Serving the community in very real terms, Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website. As News Editor, Tim among other things, is responsible for publishing the original content of 87 Salem-News.com writers. He reminds viewers that emails are easily missed and urges those trying to reach him, to please send a second email if the first goes unanswered. You can write to Tim at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com

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Commentary from Lucas Koerner
http://strongerthanslavery.tumblr.com/page/15

Bienvenidos/Welcome

Hi all,

My name is Lucas Koerner and this blog is called “Stronger Than Slavery”. I am a sophomore at Tufts University in Boston, studying Spanish and International Relations. But more importantly, I am a political activist. I am not affiliated with any political party or sectarian tendency. Simply put, wherever there is oppression, I stand on the side of the oppressed. The struggle for justice and equality in Israel/Palestine is at present, my preeminent concern, as an activist and an intellectual. I feel that as a Jewish man, a U.S. citizen, and above all, a human being, I am most implicated in the oppression of the Palestinian people, and for this reason, I am highly committed to solidarity with the Palestinian people. I am a leader in the Tufts U chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, and I am associated with a plethora of other Pal Sol and anti-war groups. My activism is far from limited to Israel/Palestine. I am involved in labor activism on behalf of our janitors and other on-campus workers.

The purpose of this blog is two-fold. First, it is to function as a public journal containing my thoughts and reflections concerning the state of the world - politics, art, culture, history, etc. - through a critical lens. The first few weeks of entries will be dedicated to reflecting on my recent trip to Israel/Palestine. Second, I hope this blog will serve as a discussion space for important issues. I place great stock in the value of the dialectic: only through the clash of opposing ideas and theories, do we approach a more accurate approximation of reality. For this reason, I encourage comment and criticism on everything I write, on the condition that the dialogue stays civil and avoids fallacies such as ad hominem attacks and other hateful remarks.

That being said, I must state unequivocally that I write with the intention of developing a more comprehensive critique of society, in order that we can more effectively change it. All those who share this vision, I humbly encourage to peruse my writings.

The title of this blog comes from a song by the Hip-Hop artist Talib Kweli “Beautiful Struggle”: “Life is a beautiful struggle/ I’m too strong for your slavery”. When I was imprisoned in an Israeli jail last week for taking part in a peaceful protest, I recalled these words, and in a moment of darkness, they gave me hope.

In peace & solidarity,

Lucas

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http://strongerthanslavery.tumblr.com/

From his blog about his arrest, seen partially in the video:

"Suddenly, the police moved in without warning of any kind. Officers on horseback came so close to the sidewalk, nearly hitting some of the demonstrators. I stepped down from the pylon. In that instant, my impulse to flee was counteracted by the firm realization that, standing on a sidewalk waving a peace sign, I had every right to be there, and if I fled, who would stand with the Palestinians? I stepped back up on the pylon. Moments later, an Israeli police officer ran up, seized me, and dragged me to the other side of the street. He then punched me in the face, put me in a choke hold, and with four other officers, slammed me to the ground. I was eventually handcuffed and carried to the car; I allowed my body to go limp and refused to walk on my own in a gesture of nonviolent defiance. Throughout the whole affair, the only thing audible coming from the policemen was a constant stream of curses words, “motherf*cker”, “piece of shit”, etc., which was to me a ringing confirmation of how infuriated and threatened they were by a 19-year old wearing a kippah and a keffiyeh standing with the Palestinians.

To be continued in the next post: “In Israeli Jail”

From Tim KIng < tim@salem-news.com>: We are very impressed with this young man, would love to hear from you Lucas,

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Lucas Koerner's account of his visit to Hebron

http://strongerthanslavery.tumblr.com/page/14 In Hebron

On Wednesday, June 1st, I was arrested and detained in Jerusalem for protesting the annual Jerusalem Day Parade. Earlier that day, I had visited Hebron, the largest Palestinian city in the West Bank. What follows is my account of what I saw there. 

The city center was largely deserted: the once great commercial center of the southern West Bank was now a ghost town, more like something out of an old Western film than an ancient Middle Eastern city. Closed to Palestinian vehicular and foot traffic by Israeli military order, Shuhada St., the main thoroughfare and former commercial artery of the city, has become little more than a Jewish-only road connecting Kiryat Arba and other illegal Israeli settlements with a synagogue that was established in the what used to be a bustling market. All the shops on Shuhada St., their inhabitants driven out by Israeli settler violence, were boarded up and defaced with malicious graffiti in Hebrew and English. One example, “Arabs to the gas chambers” is burnt into my memory. Shocked and appalled, I wondered how Jews could write such unspeakable words.

      Approaching the Ibrahimi mosque, which is now a mosque/synagogue complex, I looked to my right, only to see what appeared to be a night club. I was told it was frequented by settlers who consumed alcohol and played loud music deliberately during Muslim holy days and times of prayer. To enter the Mosque, I had to pass through a checkpoint manned by heavily armed IDF soldiers. Passing by more soldiers at the front doors, I set foot in the highly ornate mosque where, legend has it, Abraham is buried. Seventeen years ago, standing close to the spot where I now stood, Baruch Goldstein opened fire on Muslim worshippers, killing twenty-nine and wounding hundreds. In response to this act of terrorism, the Israeli government constructed a wall dividing the mosque from the synagogue part of the complex, permanently segregating it on a religious basis. Additionally, it placed curfews on the Palestinian inhabitants of the city, and permanently closed parts of Shuhada St. to Palestinian vehicular traffic.

      Walking through parts of Hebron’s central marketplace that Palestinians can still access, my eyes could not help but dwell on the netted canopy above that was littered with assorted garbage. Israeli settlers have occupied the apartments above, and regularly dump their trash and sewage onto the market below. Further on, a twelve foot high wall loomed in all of its concrete ugliness, separating the nearby illegal Jewish settlement from the Palestinian-inhabited areas. Peering through a small hole, I saw a young settler boy playing in the grass. This harsh segregation between privilege and poverty instantly conjured to mind images of the late 19th Century Russian shtetl, where my great grandmother and her family were confined, living in constant fear of the Cossacks and their vicious pogroms.

      In order to go from Israeli-controlled areas of Hebron to the parts managed by the Palestinian Authority, I had to pass through a checkpoint operated by IDF soldiers armed to the teeth. Protected by my passport and my light skin, I walked right through, whereas other Palestinians in the vicinity were delayed by humiliating and invasive searches. Designed to restrict Palestinian movement, this checkpoint represented merely one of over 101 physical obstructions which hamper Palestinian movement inside Hebron. After clearing the checkpoint, I noticed a single soldier with a very large gun standing a little ways ahead. Approaching the soldier, my Palestinian guide suddenly stopped. He informed me that if he moved beyond that point, he would be immediately arrested, for he lacked the papers to enter the Israeli-controlled area. Never before was it so concretely apparent to me that an invisible line could have such a colossal impact on the life of a human being.

In light of what I saw, I now realized that Hebron’s reputation as ground zero of Israeli occupation is well-earned indeed. In a chilling way, the built environment of Hebron epitomizes Israel’s regime of apartheid more than anything else I saw: 160,000 people are deprived of normal lives - security, freedom of movement, access to services, etc. - for the benefit of 600, merely because those 600 happen to hail from the “right” ethno-religious group.

Yet the situation is far from hopeless. Despite the suffocating oppression, Palestinians remain incredibly resilient. There is a growing movement of nonviolent resistance against Israeli occupation in Hebron. One of the principal organizations involved in this movement is called Youth Against Settlements, with whom I met and toured Hebron with. To learn more, please visit their website at http://www.youthagainstsettlements.org/. They are courageous and very inspiring people engaged in extremely important work, and I encourage all to support them in any way possible. 

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