When I woke up this morning and learned of the Las Vegas shooting, I fully expected all sorts of horrible hot takes and political exploitation.
And Twitter has not disappointed in that regard.
But I have to admit, as attuned as I am to anti-Israel activists hijacking causes and events to turn them against Israel, it never entered my mind that the Las Vegas shooting would be exploited in that manner.
After all, as far as is currently known, the shooter and the shooting have nothing whatsoever to do with Israel. (There is a claim of responsibility by ISIS, but that is unverified.)
So, I actually was surprised when I saw a tweet from Yair Rosenberg:
“American guns are overwhelmingly produced in America, but there is no atrocity that cannot and will not be blamed on the Jews or their state.”
Rosenberg was referring to this tweet from Yousef Munayyer, responding to a statement from the Israeli Embassy sending their “thoughts and prayers” and “love and solidarity” to the Las Vegas shooting victims:
“Also from Israel, assault rifles into the US market”
The tweet links to a February 2017 Daily Beast article that in the future AK-47s for the US market may be manufactured in Israel. Currently, the weapons are manufactured in many places, including the U.S.
So why bring up Israel at all? Why try to make the Las Vegas shooting about Israel, or by implication, suggest that Israel is somehow connected to gun violence in the U.S.?
We’ve seen a similar tactic in other contexts by anti-Israel, pro-BDS Jewish Voice for Peace, whose Deadly Exchange campaign seeks to blame Israel and pro-Israel Jewish groups for police violence against non-whites in the U.S.
Munayyer leads the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation, recently rebranded as the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian rights. It is a leading promoter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement and is a group trying desperately to gain political legitimacy, with only limited success.
The United Methodist assembly voted to break ties with the U.S. Campaign over the U.S. Campaign’s pathological Israel hatred, and a U.S. Campaign event on Capitol Hill was cancelled once the nature of the group was exposed.
It also should surprise no one that the U.S. Campaign staff posted a photo in support of convicted terrorist murderer and immigration fraudster Rasmea Odeh the day she was deported (Munayyer is third from left in back row):
Dave from Israelly Cool had a good response to Munayyer:
“You have an illness. Seek help. Preferably not from a Jewish doctor”
(added) So did Avi Mayer:
The attempt to demonize Israel is beyond political at this point.
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