The bullies who stand with Stand With Us are developing ever more belligerent, assaultive behavior in their jihad against the pro-peace movement. Last week at one of its regular meetings, members of Jewish Voice for Peace were confronted with a number of hecklers who were also attempting to videotape the meeting against the express wishes of JVP. I’m going to let JVP explain what happened:
…Up to a dozen members of San Francisco Voice for Israel/StandWithUs, a right-wing Israeli advocacy group with a documented track record of aggressively taunting and intimidating grassroots peace activists, attended a Bay Area Jewish Voice for Peace community meeting at a South Berkeley Senior Center.
…Wrapped in an Israeli flag, San Francisco Voice for Israel/StandWithUs (SFVI/SWU) member Robin Dubner, an Oakland based attorney, pepper-sprayed two JVP members in the eyes and face after they attempted to nonviolently block her ability to aggressively videotape the faces of JVP meeting attendees against their will. The members, Alexei Folger and Glen Hauer, were careful to make no physical contact with her or her camera prior to the attack.
Folger said, “I did not see it coming and all of a sudden there was gooey stuff all over my head and hand. I have never been pepper-sprayed before, my whole head felt like it was on fire.”
[At an earlier JVP street protest last June]…Caught on a widely seen videotape was a SFVI/SWU supporter pointing his camera to the faces of silent peace vigil participants while saying “You’re all being identified, every last one of you…we will find out where you live. We’re going to make your lives difficult. We will disrupt your families…”
For that reason, JVP members were particularly concerned about protecting the safety of meeting attendees and preventing the videotaping.
…Hauer, a retired attorney and member of San Francisco’s Congregation Sha’har Zahav who was treated for pepper spray explained, ”When one of the intruders [Dubner] continued standing and filming people despite the facilitator and facility manager repeatedly telling her that she could not, I first asked her politely to please put away the video camera, then several times told her to put away the camera, and then tried nonviolently to stay in front of the camera with my body, even when she shoved me. I could have taken the camera but decided instead to talk to the woman and to try to be the only person she photographed.”
…Dubner was accompanied by up to a dozen other StandWithUs members–including Dan Spitzer, Susan Meyers, Mike Harris, Bea Lieberman, Faith Meltzer, and Ross Meltzer–who repeatedly disrupted and aggressively videotaped the JVP meeting and JVP members against their will, wielding the cameras in an intimidating and belligerent manner. Despite repeated requests from the JVP meeting facilitator and other JVP activists to desist from recording and put away their videocameras, the SFVI/SWU activists – who had spread themselves throughout the room – continued to record and launch lengthy monologues while the presenters attempted to speak.
They were explicitly invited by the JVP facilitator to stay in the meeting and participate without videotaping but they refused. They also refused offers for floor time by the presenters. The manager of the facility asked the SFVI/SWU members to abide by JVP’s rules or face the police, and when SFVI/SWU refused to comply with JVP’s protocol, the police were called.
…When police arrived, Dubner was temporarily placed in handcuffs while other members of San Francisco Voice for Israel/StandWithUs remained inside the meeting blowing loud whistles, using videocameras to intimidate meeting attendees.
Dubner refused repeated requests by JVP members or the police to identify the substance she sprayed. A police officer later identified it as pepper spray and paramedics were called to help treat the victims of the attack. One of them, Alexei Folger, looked visibly red and swollen, as though she had been burned on more than half her face.
…This deliberate confrontation is part of a pattern of escalating intimidation and attacks against peace activists in the Bay Area. Earlier this year, the home of Tikkun Magazine editor Michael Lerner was covered in threatening posters. In addition to the videotaped harassment of Women in Black and JVP members, several months ago someone placed threatening graffiti outside of the JVP offices.
Americans for Peace Now and Meretz USA have denounced this attack. No word yet on when JVP will hear from the ADL or even J Street. Yes, yes, I know naysayers will say that these assaults are the acts of aberrant personalities who don’t represent the mainstream Jewish community or even Stand With Us. But look, Stand With Us is a deliberately confrontational organization. Perhaps Roz Rothstein or Rob Jacobs won’t douse anyone with pepper spray but clearly a significant number of their members will. And they either cannot or will not control them.
This behavior is not exclusive to the Bay Area either. Here in Seattle, SWU board member David Brumer (he was even on the board of my shul at the time) wrote in an e mail to me that I should be spanked for my views. Brumer works as the geriatric social worker at the Kline-Galland Home, Seattle’s Jewish home for the aged. Neither the leadership of the Jewish community nor his employer finds anything untoward with Brumer’s verbally assaultive behavior.
Stand With Us plays an honored role in the Israel discourse in Seattle. At the Operation Cast Lead local community meeting, SWU’s Nevet Basker made the main presentation. Included on the Jewish federation’s Israel committee is Stand With Us. This is the same committee that organized the anti-Iran program last October at which the Israeli consul general and an Aipac flack with no experience dealing with Iran, spoke. They bring their dog and pony shows to Hebrew schools, synagogues, Hillels and universities with IDF veterans telling American Jews that Palestinians force them to kill them against their will. Stand With Us organizes gay tours to Israel to promote the notion that Israel is a paradise for gays–all this in order to juxtapose the supposed homophobia of Muslim countries.
When it all comes down to it, the behavior of Stand With Us is of a piece with Zionist Organization of America and Israel’s Im Tirzu and even mainstream Israel-apologists like Alan Dershowitz. The latter will not pepper spray anyone, but his rhetoric is no less brutal and inciting, as anyone who reads this blog will know from my posts about him.
There is a struggle for the heart and soul of the Jewish community and Israel going on in both places. I have no problem with Stand With Us existing in our community. But I have a problem with mainstream Jewish leaders refusing to recognize the quality of the people behind this group. They are thugs and pogromists. If you lie down with them you will get up with fleas.
22 thoughts on “The Pogromists at Stand With Us – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم”
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Has this woman been charged? This is assault, plain and simple. If this were a moslem involved in political violence I have no doubt it would be national news and charges would be forthcoming. Does the immunity from all legal norms and human decency afforded Israel extend to their thuggish supporters in matters of local law enforcement. They are perfect ambassadors for their cause.
Richard Silverstein: Is this how you, as a self-described observant Jew, make the world a better place? You make fun of my size and my gender. That is so funny. Brilliant even. Apparently, I intimidate the hell out of you because you greatly exagerate my height and weight. I guess you like your women feminine and petite. Or you like your boys young and little. You and your followers have problems with a big dyke? Very funny, but not very progressive. Hey, don’t you know that Kate Raphael is a big dyke too. She’s kind of in the closet, though, because her Hamas friends hate LBGTQ people, as you also do. You know nothing of Judaism. Do you even know the name of this week’s parsha? Quick – look it up.
We hear from the repulsive thug herself. Readers are allowed to take a shower after reading her swill.
And on what grounds could a private citizen uninvolved in the incident sue you? I wish he could & had the wherewithal to do so. You deserve nothing less.
Not afraid of you, Robin dear. But do tell us how you develop that magnificent physique. And which government agency will you be suing next to finance yr adventures in hasbarism.
I never said I was an “observant Jew.” I’m a Jew. Maybe you are too. Takes all kinds to make up a world.
I never made fun of “your gender.” I would never make fun of women, who in general I admire. Now making fun of you is a different story. You seem to be beyond gender.
not very progressive
A pro-Israel fascist is telling me how to be progressive. That’s rich.
You know nothing of Judaism.
Coming from an am ha-aretz, that’s rich too. Quick–look that up.
MY COMMENT: I wonder if it would do any good for them to file a complaint against Robin Dubner with the The State Bar of California? It sounds as though she is almost as much in need of a psychiatric assessment as is her fellow member of the California Bar, Orly Taitz.
CURRENT RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT – http://rules.calbar.ca.gov/Rules/RulesofProfessionalConduct/CurrentRules.aspx
“…after they attempted to nonviolently block her ability to aggressively videotape the faces of JVP meeting attendees against their will.”
how exactly does one “aggressively” videotape another person?
and according to robin, the attempt to stop her from videotaping was not done nonviolently…unless you believe that pushing someone against a wall is a non violent act
[ed., this blog does not permit self-serving propaganda or lies to be published]
here is the link to the statement, as i know you dont like cut and paste without a link
this was a public meeting…why were jvp members against others videotaping them…as it seems they had no problem videotaping themselves and posting the vid on youtube?
Robin Dubner is a liar. And JVP has a lot more videotape it hasn’t yet collated which will prove it. This woman weighs nearly 200 lbs. Who do you think has the strength to push her into a wall? One of the women she pepper sprayed is a head or two shorter and weighs almost 100 lbs less. Did she push Robin Dubner into a wall? If so, who speciifically did? Robin Dubner is a liar. Do you want me to say it again? She is a vile liar.
You want to know how you aggressively videotape someone when you’re 6 ft. 200 lbs? You march up to them & stick the friggin’ camera in their face. That’s how.
And you will not publish her lies here. Not on your life.
This was a meeting of the JVP chapter. JVP rented the hall. It did not invite hecklers or disruptors or violent filth to disrupt it. Next time, JVP will have to get police to protect them fr. these bullies. But at least their is now a reocrd and if these pogromists continue their behavior eventually they will do prison time.
are you saying that ms dubner is not legally disabled?
I don’t care what she claims. I know what scores of JVP members say happened. I know they are putting together a detailed video which will easily show Dubner to be a fraud. I know I saw her walking down a hallway after assaulting two individuals with pepper spray who didn’t so much as touch her.
Arguing about whether or not she a certain legal designation is completely beside the point. Whatever disability she does or does not have did NOT prevent her from committing a violent assault that night. That’s the bottom line. Are you serious arguing that even a woman disabled & in a wheelchair (which Dubner certainly was not) cannot press the button on a bottle of pepper spray & assault individuals who did her no harm whatsoever?
when jews for peace disrupted netanyahu’s speech, were they invited to do so?
First, the JVP protestors at the GA didn’t pepper spray or assault anyone. They directed their protest at a single individual & left when asked. Second, they were immediately escorted fr. the hall by security. When JVP politely asked the hooligans to leave the Bay Area mtg. the brutalists refused & continued shouting so that the police had to be called, whereupon they placed Dubner in handcuffs where she belonged.
JVP will publish the video they have. And you can whine about it or cast aspersions on it all you like. But the proof will be there for the world to see that Dubner is a hulking hooligan, a liar & a fraud.
1. This tactic is something settlers use all the time
2. This Dubner person should and must be charged with assault and hate crimes (this was a racially or a politically motivated attack)
3. It is possible to find on the net 1W blue laser. This thing pointed into a camera lens from up close (around 50m) will destroy it, can cause blindness and or burns.
But seriously guys, it is all through the pockets – sue them, criminal and civil, sue them for damages, for extortion and hate-crimes, sue the socks off their feet. Get her disbarred, take her house and her car. JVP must sue everything that is connected to SWU and have it rated as a terrorist organization. Americans are lucky to live in a country where, regardless of your political opinion, you can get justice from the court (I am writing this as an Israeli…)
JVP has done an excellent job of convincing many people that their activists were innocent victims. The truth is that they violently attacked a disabled middle-aged woman for the ‘crime’ of videotaping a pro-Israel speaker at their event.
Read the real victim’s words, before accepting the vile lies being told about her:
Disabled my ass. I saw her hulking body walking down a hallway in the video after she’d assaulted these two innocent JVP members. I saw her menacing the meeting wrapped in her idiotic Israeli flag (the flag wasn’t idiotic, the idea of wrapping her body in it was). She wasn’t disabled in the least. She walked under her own power w. no aids whatsoever. What a charlatan & you’re pathetic for spreading this shtus. Shame!
Again allegations about StandWithUs being behind this. As I’ve said elsewhere, we neither planned, funded, supported, suggested, backed, approved, etc., of this event. Neither I nor you really have all the facts – we weren’t there. You’ve just decided to accept verbatim everything that is negative and said by JVP and ignore anything that anyone else has said, calling conflicting statements “lies” and those who say them, “liars.”
While we did not plan it, I can point out that your complaints are hypocritical.
You write, “This was a meeting of the JVP chapter. JVP rented the hall. It did not invite hecklers or disruptors or violent filth to disrupt it.”
Yet you approve of the exact same behavior by JVP activists at the Federation General Assembly when they continuously interrupted Netanyahu. In fact, your take is that the people who disrupted the convention were brave.
And you approved of the continuous interruption at UC Irvine of Ambassador Oren). They, too, are brave.
Neither I nor you really have all the facts – we weren’t there
Unlike you, I’ve actually spoken to the victim. So I know far more about the attack than you. I wonder if you or Roz Rothstein has communicated your distress or concern at the attack on her. I wonder if you’ve offered her protection since she now has to sleep away from her home every night because she’s frightened of a possibly violent attack against her. When you show that sort of humanity then I’ll believe you not only weren’t involved but that you denounce the sort of attack that victimized her. And I wonder if the perpetrator is found whether or Rothstein will issue a statement denouncing that person? When you assent to this then I’ll actually be impressed. Till then, you & SWU still have a lot to prove to the world.
you approve of the exact same behavior by JVP activists at the Federation General Assembly when they continuously interrupted Netanyahu. In fact, your take is that the people who disrupted the convention were brave.
Ah, let’s point out the multiple diff. bet. the GA action & the Berkeley assault. First, there were thousands in the GA asembly hall & 5 demonstrators. The speakers at the dais had the mike & PA system. So the disruption was minor. At the Berkeley mtg. there were nearly 10 attackers & about 30 JVP members. The SWU people screamed at the top of their lungs & refused to leave the mtg. till police were called. The SWU folk were never assaulted as the JVP protesters were at the GA. IN fact, Robin Dubner pepper sprayed 2 JVP leaders in Berkeley. JVP at the GA demonstrated completely peaceably.
you approved of the continuous interruption at UC Irvine of Ambassador Oren
Once again you’re confusing me with JVP which is precisely the sort of nonsense RObet Wilkes engaged in by conflating many critics of Israel who ea. hold diverging political views. JVP approved of the interruption. I wrote one post about the event & you certainly never read it & don’t know what my views are. But I do approve of protesting publicly the slick apologias for Occupation represented by Oren. I would not approve of any attempt to drown him out over a prolonged period of time or any attempt like Dubner’s to take over the event.
She’s a “piece of work,” as they say. Rage-filled as well. I hope JVP has gotten a restraining order against her, preventing her from approaching any of their gatherings. She’s potentially armed (with pepper spray) & dangerous.
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Has this woman been charged? This is assault, plain and simple. If this were a moslem involved in political violence I have no doubt it would be national news and charges would be forthcoming. Does the immunity from all legal norms and human decency afforded Israel extend to their thuggish supporters in matters of local law enforcement. They are perfect ambassadors for their cause.
She was in handcuffs for a time & I believe she was charged, though I haven’t heard any follow up on the case.
Richard Silverstein: Is this how you, as a self-described observant Jew, make the world a better place? You make fun of my size and my gender. That is so funny. Brilliant even. Apparently, I intimidate the hell out of you because you greatly exagerate my height and weight. I guess you like your women feminine and petite. Or you like your boys young and little. You and your followers have problems with a big dyke? Very funny, but not very progressive. Hey, don’t you know that Kate Raphael is a big dyke too. She’s kind of in the closet, though, because her Hamas friends hate LBGTQ people, as you also do. You know nothing of Judaism. Do you even know the name of this week’s parsha? Quick – look it up.
So sue me, sue me, hire a lawyer and sue me.
We hear from the repulsive thug herself. Readers are allowed to take a shower after reading her swill.
And on what grounds could a private citizen uninvolved in the incident sue you? I wish he could & had the wherewithal to do so. You deserve nothing less.
Robin Dubner, you’re a total disgrace.
You don’t need pepper spray, or any other weapon you’re so huge.
A “Weapon of Mass Destruction”
Come over here so I can squash you. I like that you’re all afraid of me.
Not afraid of you, Robin dear. But do tell us how you develop that magnificent physique. And which government agency will you be suing next to finance yr adventures in hasbarism.
I never said I was an “observant Jew.” I’m a Jew. Maybe you are too. Takes all kinds to make up a world.
I never made fun of “your gender.” I would never make fun of women, who in general I admire. Now making fun of you is a different story. You seem to be beyond gender.
A pro-Israel fascist is telling me how to be progressive. That’s rich.
Coming from an am ha-aretz, that’s rich too. Quick–look that up.
Such behavior is nothing new for Zionists: http://tinyurl.com/2974omp .
MY COMMENT: I wonder if it would do any good for them to file a complaint against Robin Dubner with the The State Bar of California? It sounds as though she is almost as much in need of a psychiatric assessment as is her fellow member of the California Bar, Orly Taitz.
CURRENT RULES OF PROFESSIONAL CONDUCT – http://rules.calbar.ca.gov/Rules/RulesofProfessionalConduct/CurrentRules.aspx
This is very sad.
richard,
this may be your funniest post ever.
“…after they attempted to nonviolently block her ability to aggressively videotape the faces of JVP meeting attendees against their will.”
how exactly does one “aggressively” videotape another person?
and according to robin, the attempt to stop her from videotaping was not done nonviolently…unless you believe that pushing someone against a wall is a non violent act
[ed., this blog does not permit self-serving propaganda or lies to be published]
here is the link to the statement, as i know you dont like cut and paste without a link
http://proisraelbaybloggers.blogspot.com/2010/11/jvp-attacks-middle-aged-disabled-woman.html
this was a public meeting…why were jvp members against others videotaping them…as it seems they had no problem videotaping themselves and posting the vid on youtube?
Robin Dubner is a liar. And JVP has a lot more videotape it hasn’t yet collated which will prove it. This woman weighs nearly 200 lbs. Who do you think has the strength to push her into a wall? One of the women she pepper sprayed is a head or two shorter and weighs almost 100 lbs less. Did she push Robin Dubner into a wall? If so, who speciifically did? Robin Dubner is a liar. Do you want me to say it again? She is a vile liar.
You want to know how you aggressively videotape someone when you’re 6 ft. 200 lbs? You march up to them & stick the friggin’ camera in their face. That’s how.
And you will not publish her lies here. Not on your life.
This was a meeting of the JVP chapter. JVP rented the hall. It did not invite hecklers or disruptors or violent filth to disrupt it. Next time, JVP will have to get police to protect them fr. these bullies. But at least their is now a reocrd and if these pogromists continue their behavior eventually they will do prison time.
richard,
are you saying that ms dubner is not legally disabled?
and when jews for peace disrupted netanyahu’s speech, were they invited to do so?
i dont believe that anyone’s speech should be disrupted…but i see a double standard here
and why wont jvp post the entire video and not just edited portions?
I don’t care what she claims. I know what scores of JVP members say happened. I know they are putting together a detailed video which will easily show Dubner to be a fraud. I know I saw her walking down a hallway after assaulting two individuals with pepper spray who didn’t so much as touch her.
Arguing about whether or not she a certain legal designation is completely beside the point. Whatever disability she does or does not have did NOT prevent her from committing a violent assault that night. That’s the bottom line. Are you serious arguing that even a woman disabled & in a wheelchair (which Dubner certainly was not) cannot press the button on a bottle of pepper spray & assault individuals who did her no harm whatsoever?
First, the JVP protestors at the GA didn’t pepper spray or assault anyone. They directed their protest at a single individual & left when asked. Second, they were immediately escorted fr. the hall by security. When JVP politely asked the hooligans to leave the Bay Area mtg. the brutalists refused & continued shouting so that the police had to be called, whereupon they placed Dubner in handcuffs where she belonged.
JVP will publish the video they have. And you can whine about it or cast aspersions on it all you like. But the proof will be there for the world to see that Dubner is a hulking hooligan, a liar & a fraud.
1. This tactic is something settlers use all the time
2. This Dubner person should and must be charged with assault and hate crimes (this was a racially or a politically motivated attack)
3. It is possible to find on the net 1W blue laser. This thing pointed into a camera lens from up close (around 50m) will destroy it, can cause blindness and or burns.
But seriously guys, it is all through the pockets – sue them, criminal and civil, sue them for damages, for extortion and hate-crimes, sue the socks off their feet. Get her disbarred, take her house and her car. JVP must sue everything that is connected to SWU and have it rated as a terrorist organization. Americans are lucky to live in a country where, regardless of your political opinion, you can get justice from the court (I am writing this as an Israeli…)
JVP has done an excellent job of convincing many people that their activists were innocent victims. The truth is that they violently attacked a disabled middle-aged woman for the ‘crime’ of videotaping a pro-Israel speaker at their event.
Read the real victim’s words, before accepting the vile lies being told about her:
http://balabustabluejeans.blogspot.com/2010/11/jewish-voice-for-whaaaa-again.html
Disabled my ass. I saw her hulking body walking down a hallway in the video after she’d assaulted these two innocent JVP members. I saw her menacing the meeting wrapped in her idiotic Israeli flag (the flag wasn’t idiotic, the idea of wrapping her body in it was). She wasn’t disabled in the least. She walked under her own power w. no aids whatsoever. What a charlatan & you’re pathetic for spreading this shtus. Shame!
Richard,
Again allegations about StandWithUs being behind this. As I’ve said elsewhere, we neither planned, funded, supported, suggested, backed, approved, etc., of this event. Neither I nor you really have all the facts – we weren’t there. You’ve just decided to accept verbatim everything that is negative and said by JVP and ignore anything that anyone else has said, calling conflicting statements “lies” and those who say them, “liars.”
While we did not plan it, I can point out that your complaints are hypocritical.
You write, “This was a meeting of the JVP chapter. JVP rented the hall. It did not invite hecklers or disruptors or violent filth to disrupt it.”
Yet you approve of the exact same behavior by JVP activists at the Federation General Assembly when they continuously interrupted Netanyahu. In fact, your take is that the people who disrupted the convention were brave.
And you approved of the continuous interruption at UC Irvine of Ambassador Oren). They, too, are brave.
Explain the difference, if you can.
Unlike you, I’ve actually spoken to the victim. So I know far more about the attack than you. I wonder if you or Roz Rothstein has communicated your distress or concern at the attack on her. I wonder if you’ve offered her protection since she now has to sleep away from her home every night because she’s frightened of a possibly violent attack against her. When you show that sort of humanity then I’ll believe you not only weren’t involved but that you denounce the sort of attack that victimized her. And I wonder if the perpetrator is found whether or Rothstein will issue a statement denouncing that person? When you assent to this then I’ll actually be impressed. Till then, you & SWU still have a lot to prove to the world.
Ah, let’s point out the multiple diff. bet. the GA action & the Berkeley assault. First, there were thousands in the GA asembly hall & 5 demonstrators. The speakers at the dais had the mike & PA system. So the disruption was minor. At the Berkeley mtg. there were nearly 10 attackers & about 30 JVP members. The SWU people screamed at the top of their lungs & refused to leave the mtg. till police were called. The SWU folk were never assaulted as the JVP protesters were at the GA. IN fact, Robin Dubner pepper sprayed 2 JVP leaders in Berkeley. JVP at the GA demonstrated completely peaceably.
Once again you’re confusing me with JVP which is precisely the sort of nonsense RObet Wilkes engaged in by conflating many critics of Israel who ea. hold diverging political views. JVP approved of the interruption. I wrote one post about the event & you certainly never read it & don’t know what my views are. But I do approve of protesting publicly the slick apologias for Occupation represented by Oren. I would not approve of any attempt to drown him out over a prolonged period of time or any attempt like Dubner’s to take over the event.
OMG
I can’t believe this is a woman, it looks like a man, and she weight 200lbs?
What is this, a female giant?
She’s a “piece of work,” as they say. Rage-filled as well. I hope JVP has gotten a restraining order against her, preventing her from approaching any of their gatherings. She’s potentially armed (with pepper spray) & dangerous.