Israel Matzav

Protest at the Swiss embassy in Tel Aviv

As I noted Thursday night, there was a protest this morning at the Swiss embassy in Tel Aviv against the massive natural gas contract Switzerland just signed with Iran. I received the following email and photos from people who were there (Hat Tip: Ashley in Tel Aviv).

Protest went smoothly. It was only a small crowd but we ended up making quite a noise, garnering lots of "kol hakavods" [well done. CiJ] from passersby and having a "discussion" with two of the Swiss diplomats. The two employees came out to take photos of us as they stood behind the gate of the embassy. They asked us to move a little so they could get better photos. One of the protesters, Ariel Harkham, told them we wouldn't move, that they could come out from behind the embassy gate if they wanted, which they did.

Ariel asked the diplomat why he's taking photos. He responded that he wanted to send them to the foreign ministry in Switzerland to let them know what's going on. The diplomat approached us and we asked what he thought about the signs we had, which read, "Switzerland: Don't Fund a 2nd Holocaust", "Swiss Neutrality Strikes Again," "How Many Nukes Does 28-40 billion euro fund?" and one in Hebrew.

The diplomat responded saying, "You should verify where you [Israel] get your gas and oil. It's easy to criticize but it's not easy to be criticized." A couple of the protesters responded without missing a beat that, "Believe us, we know what it's like to be criticized, we live in a tough neighborhood [the Middle East]. We've fought 6 wars in 60 years, criticism is no stranger."

The guy tried to responded saying Israel also does things wrong. A protester responded that his only a response was one of moral equivalence. Then another American Israeli whirled around and said, "That's not even it. Your foreign minister went to Iran and shook hands with a man who's calling for the destruction of the Jewish State. It was an official visit!" Another protester observed that the Iranian president's remarks are a casus belli and that Switzerland's meeting with the Iranian head of state is not exactly a neutral act.

The Swiss diplomat had nothing to say at that point. He returned to the compound.

We continued our protest, holding signs and speaking with people on the street and drivers. The response was overwhelmingly positive and supportive.

We'll be back next week...

And here are some of the 30 or so photos that were sent to me:







If any of you want to join them, send me an email and I'll try to hook you up with them.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 4:16 PM