Anti-Israel groups lock down planning for disruption inside Christians United For Israel Summit
Legal Insurrection reporter (me) expelled from public forum in attempt to prevent us from reporting.
Last week, we covered the June 22 planning meeting and joint effort of four anti-Israel groups — Friends of Sabeel North America (FOSNA), American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), and U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights (USCPR) — to protest the massive annual summit of Christians United for Israel (CUFI) in D.C. on July 7-9.
You can read about the background on these groups and their plans in Investigation: Anti-Israel groups plan disruption of Christians United for Israel Annual Summit.
The Counter CUFI effort is promoted not only by the sponsoring groups named above, but also by the official Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
At the June 22 meeting, we learned that these groups planned not only to stage a protest outside the summit venue, but they also plan to infiltrate the venue itself and cause a coordinated disturbance during some part of the conference.
Yet, while Counter CUFI evidently has no compunctions about causing a ruckus during a private, ticketed conference, the Counter CUFI organizers don’t seem to like it when those of us outside the anti-Israel fold attempt to observe Counter CUFI’s own public, non-ticketed events.
Indeed, today, I attempted to attend the Counter CUFI “Nonviolent direct action training and preparation” at the Mt. Vernon Place Methodist Church in Washington, D.C. The training was open to the public and widely advertised in advance.
In accordance with the advertised procedure, I registered in advance:
Once inside the church, I almost immediately overheard an attendee identify himself as a “disruptor”—an indication that the planned political theater inside the summit was still on the agenda.
Among the milling Counter CUFI organizers, I spotted Tarek Abuata of FOSNA and Taher Herzallah of AMP — both long-time and well-known anti-Israel activists (and, as it goes almost without saying, BDS supporters).
A little knot of attendees gathered in front of the welcome table in the lobby, and soon, it was my turn to check in and present my I.D. Upon seeing my name, the Counter CUFI staff immediately assembled to kick me out of the event. At first, they claimed that I was not permitted because my name (though I registered) “didn’t appear on the registrants list.” I was not allowed to check the list for myself.
Then, another Counter CUFI activist approached and clarified: I was “not welcome” because of my “affiliation with the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA).” (I had the pleasure of working for CAMERA from 2011 to 2015.)
Eventually, frustrated at my refusal to leave the publicly advertised event, Counter CUFI staff summoned church personnel, who claimed that Counter CUFI had rented the entire first floor of the church, including the restrooms, and that I was thus obligated to leave.
In a similar incident later in the evening, another individual was removed from a Counter CUFI event — this one a public panel, advertised on Facebook and Twitter, and live-streamed, that did not require prior registration. Linda Sarsour was a featured speaker.
In a brief exchange, Counter CUFI activists asked the person to leave the event, claiming that he was “not welcome” alleging that he was affiliated with Legal Insurrection. Eventually, Counter CUFI called local police in order to force him out of the event — despite the fact that he had disturbed no one, and had simply been listening quietly.
What we know is that these leading anti-Israel groups are preparing a disruption of the CUFI Summit, and have attempted to lock-down their preparations and planned tactics.
The Counter CUFI action continues tomorrow, and we will continue to report on it as the story develops.
[Featured Image: The author confronted in the lobby of the Mt. Vernon Place Methodist Church in Washington, D.C.]
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Samantha Mandeles is Senior Researcher and Outreach Director at the Legal Insurrection Foundation.
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Comments
Any Leftist who equates Zionism with “racism” is an utter fool and reprobate who deserves the harshest scorn and condemnation. I refer to the ugly woman in the photo accompanying the article, wearing a black t-shirt stating this idiotic premise.
At this point, it is exceedingly disturbing to see how much Leftists’ myopic obsession with simplistic and contrived narrative of alleged “victims” and alleged “oppressors” blind them to all notions of objectivity, rationality and fairness. The Narrative of Oppression must be reinforced and propagated, with total disregard to reality, and, with no regard to the consequences of such willful ignorance and zealotry.
Also, witness the utterly appalling moral bankruptcy adopted by Leftists, by whose infantile and foolish calculus the world’s smallest and most historically oppressed religious group (Jews) are vilified and cast as villains, while members of one of the largest and most continually belligerent, supremacist, totalitarian and intolerant religious groups (Muslims, at-large, and, in the case of the Middle East, Arab Muslims, specifically) are cast as the alleged victim-martyrs.
The rank stupidity and perversity of this narrative is hard to stomach.
Thank you, Samantha, for bravely reporting on the activities of these Jew-hating, Israel-vilifying bigots. Great work.
The shirt on that doofus:
Palestine is a feminist/queer/refugee/racial justice issue.
I mean, good Lord….
And the Methodists are all in on this. WTF is wrong with those people?
Sadly, many Methodists, and most other mainstream “churches” no longer preach or live the word of God. They consider the Bible to be a guide book, optional to ones moral living.
The sight of the face of thae scummy Jew-hater Sarsour is enough to damn any “summit.”
All you needed was that photo.
She is hideous, how much of that is due to her character, how much genetics? I is a wonder that she was not strangled immediately after birth.
Why are these c-cufi meetings being held in churches?
Why are fascist propagandistic morons running at our schools?
“For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.”
These things may be held in church buildings, the custodians of which have lost their way. You’ll find the Church wherever the Gospel, the whole Gospel, is taught.
Sadly it’s no longer found in those buildings.
Dear rogue Churches, No Words.
One thing I envy to the leftists is the astonishing beauty of their women, as clearly shown in the picture.
Do I really need to put an emoticon?
I was just trying to determine the sex of the person in black. The person in gray with the boobs is questionable too. Within their circle jerk of friends are there signs or do they just know?
Hi Samantha, I was at the “Counter CUFI” event yesterday, sorry I missed you. I can see that several of the people commenting here have responded in Christian Love (not). I wonder how many of them have been in contact with Palestinian Christians, who live as second-class citizens in Israel, and speak out about the consequences of Zionism? I wonder too how much the Jewish people appreciate that Christian Zionist theology dictates that they must convert to Christianity?
lord, so typical–ugly on the inside? then ugly on the outside–they couldn’t get laid on a troop train
Looks like you might have to try a little James O’Keefe style undercover sting.
When your core beliefs and principles wither when debated fairly, then you restrict speech and shelter them from scrutiny. Placing onerous restrictions and requiring excessive security are some tactics used.
The CUFI organizers should take notice of the attempt to disrupt the conference, and have armed (and brawny) guards to deal with anyone trying to disrupt the conference itself.