THOUSANDS OF LEFTISTS IN EUROPE MARCH IN SUPPORT OF HAMAS

NYTIMES/REUTERS: Thousands Protest In Europe At Gaza Offensive

Thousands of chanting, banner-waving demonstrators marched in cities across Europe on Saturday to demand a halt to Israeli bombing in the Gaza Strip.

Protests were held in Britain, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Turkey as the Israeli offensive entered its second week, and before Israel confirmed ground forces had entered Gaza.

Israeli Arabs held a protest march and Kuwaitis also took to the streets, a day after bigger Middle East rallies.

In Paris, police said more than 20,000 demonstrators, many wearing Palestinian keffiyeh headscarves, marched through the city center chanting slogans such as "Israel murderer!" and waving banners demanding an end to the air attacks.

Similar protests were planned in some 30 other towns.

London police said more than 10,000 people staged a noisy march and rally to urge an end to an Israeli offensive against Hamas militants that has killed at least 435 Palestinians.

In many cities people waved shoes -- recalling the action of an Iraqi journalist who hurled footwear at U.S. President George W. Bush in Baghdad last month in a symbolic insult.

British demonstrators threw dozens of shoes into the street as they passed the gated entrance to Downing Street, where Prime Minister Gordon Brown lives, and shouted angrily at a line of 40 police officers on guard there.

"Come to get your shoes Gordon," one woman shouted as other marchers directed chants of "Shame on you" at Brown.

A spokesman said Brown had spoken again to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Saturday and was pressing hard for an immediate ceasefire.

Leading the march were singer Annie Lennox, politicians Tony Benn and George Galloway and comic Alexei Sayle. Demonstrators carried Palestinian flags and placards with slogans such as "End the siege on Gaza" and "Stop the massacre."

• FACT: THIS IS A COUNTER-OFFENSIVE, NOT AN OFFENSIVE.

• ISRAEL HAS BEEN ON THE RECEIVING END OF 7000 ROCKETS AND MISSILES SINCE HANDING OVER THE GAZA, UNCONDITIONALLY - A MOVE INTENDED TO REVEAL IF PALESTINIAN ARABS WERE READY FOR SELF-RULE AND CO-EXISTENCE.

• THEY PROVED THEY WERE NOT READY.
• DETAILS:

  IDF: Rocket Statistics

  From IDF blog

  * Today, over 950,000 Israelis live within range of rocket and mortar attacks.

  *There have been approximately 7,200 rockets (Grads, Qassams) and mortars launched at Israel since 2005.

  *During 2008, there have been 1755 mortars shells, 1720 Qassams rockets, and 75 Grad missiles launched at Israel.

  *Since Hamas’ election there has been a steady increase of these rocket attacks against Israel’s citizens:

  * Between Israel’s evacuation of Gaza and the election of Hamas (Aug. 15, 2005 – Jan. 25, 2006), there was an average of over 15 rocket and mortar attacks a month.

  * Between Hamas’ election and Hamas’ forceful takeover of the Strip (Jan. 25, 2006 – June 14, 2007), there was an average of over 102 attacks per month—an over 650% increase.

  Read More "IDF: Rocket Statistics"
  

  * Between Hamas’ takeover and the start of the Tahadiya (State of Calm), (June 14, 2007 – June 16, 2008), there was an average of over 361 attacks per month—an increase of an additional 350%.

  * On Nov. 4 – 5, Israel launched Operation “Double Challenge”, targeting a tunnel Hamas was building as part of a plan to kidnap Israeli soldiers.

  * From the end of Operation “Double Challenge” until the end of the Tahadiya, (Nov. 4 - Dec. 19, 2008) a period of only a month and a half, there were 170 mortars, 255 Qassams, and 5 Grads fired upon Israel’s civilian population centers.

  * Since the end of the Tahadiya (Dec. 19, 2009) until the beginning of Operation “Cast Lead,” (Dec. 27, 2008) a period of little more than a week, there were approximately 300 mortars and rockets fired onto Israel.

  * Since the begining of Operation ”Cast Lead”, there have been an additional 500 launches, 284 of which have been verified as rockets (both Qassams and Grads), and 113 as mortars.

  Israel has a right to defend itself against these terrorists.

• ISRAEL HAS USED DIPLOMACY FOR THE LAST THREE YEARS - TO NO AVAIL.

• EVEN EGYPT'S FOREIGN MINISTER BLAMES HAMAS.

• THE PEOPLE WHO PROTEST ARE EITHER HAMAS ALLIES OR ANTISEMITES AND DUPES.

THEY ARE IN EFFECT MARCHING FOR TERROR, MISOGYNY, TYRANNY AND TOTALITARIANISM.

ASIDE: THE R&B-SINGER LENNOX, TONY BENN AND GEORGE GALLOWAY ARE ALL SOCIALISTS, PROVING ONCE AGAIN THAT THE LEFT IS THE HOME OF ANTISEMITISM AND IS PRO-TERRORIST.

*******UPDATE: VDH:

... no other issue in recent memory has illustrated the moral bankruptcy of much of the international community.

Hamas has no pretensions, like the PA, of being a governing authority; it used violence to rout the PA and then bragged that its charter pledging the destruction of Israel remained unchanged.

Israel evacuated Gaza; Gazans in response looted their own infrastructure, alienated both the PA and Egypt,and then sent off more than 6,000 rockets against Israeli civilians, while eagerly becoming a terrorist puppet of theocratic Iran.

Nothing could be more clear: either the fact that a constitutional republic was trying to avoid civilian casualties while a terrorist organization was intent on killing Jewish civilians as it used its own citizens as shields to protect mostly young male terrorists; or the world's craven reaction to all this.

THE POSTMODERN LEFT IS NOT FOR PEACE; THEY'RE ON THE OTHER SIDE.