In Photos: National March on the White House – 8-2-2014

Originally Published on: Aug 4, 2014

 

“The Arabs will have to go, but one needs an opportune moment for making it happen, such as war.” -Ben-Gurion

On Saturday August 2, 2014 approximately twenty-five thousand people took to the streets of Washington, D.C. to protest the latest round of Israeli military action in Gaza .

Cornel West addressed the crowd and called for the end to Israeli occupation in Palestine.

A protester praying (Salat) outside the White House during the Palestinian National March.

Many people are just now starting to learn the history and ideologies behind the conflict. A young lady named, Stacy, came from Ohio to express her concern for the people living in Gaza. Stacy said that she is just now discovering the details of the conflict. She went on to say that the information she has received through the mainstream media, is quite at odds with the detailed facts she is discovering in books.

One must keep in mind that not all Jewish people support Israel.

Things were peaceful, and many people with opposing ideas discussed the issue without incident.

Here is another example of people on opposing sides of the issue, having dialogue without being disrespectful towards one another.

The peaceful atmosphere radically changed when a small group of Israeli supporters arrived and began to taunt the crowd. At this political rally, the people who were looking for a problem, surely found it; while the people who were looking to express themselves in more constructive ways, found that as well.

This individual put special effort into antagonizing the crowd.

Protesters verbally confronted the Israeli antagonists. Never at any point was there any physical violence on the part of the Palestinian supporters.

This man passionately reminds the Israelis just who is suffering during this latest round of violence.

Once the police had removed the Israeli antagonists, things returned to a more peaceful nature.

Cornel West helped stack makeshift coffins outside the offices of the Washington Post. Many people expressed their concern over the mainstream media coverage here in America, that tends to be biased towards the Israeli perspective.

Pro-Palestinian protesters burn an Israeli flag during the demonstration against violence in the Gaza strip, August 2, 2014.

A Pro-Palestinian protester marches with a burning Israeli flag during a demonstration against violence in the Gaza strip, August 2, 2014.

Things became heated once again, when a lone Israeli supporter began to throw insults at some of the Palestinians who were marching to the White House.

Pro-Israel U.S. Marine, Manny Vega, Incites Violence at Pro-Palestinian March in Washington

Unlike other conversations between contesting sides, which remained peaceful, this engagement became physical.

After this Zionist supporter began to get belligerent, he then lunged and kicked into the crowd. It was the Israeli supporter who started a physical confrontation:

Police arrived and defused the situation before things really got out of hand. In the end, it seemed as if the Israeli was looking to cause trouble, and, he was accommodated.

This whole incident is a sort of microcosm of the events playing out on the world stage. The early Zionists explicitly designed the strategy of provoking, applying excessive force in retaliation, and then crying victim. Nothing new here.

“Transfer does not serve only one aim – to reduce the Arab population – it also serves a second purpose by no means less important, which is: to evict land now cultivated by Arabs and to free it for Jewish settlement… The only solution is to transfer the Arabs from here to neighboring countries. Not a single village or a single tribe must be let off.” -Yossef Weitz, Leading Zionist (The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Ilan Pappe, p.62)

A video has surfaced of this incident, and identifies this individual as one, Manny Vega. You can see me photographing in this video. What you can’t see, is Manny Vega kicking into the crowd. The video also failed to capture what Vega was saying right before things exploded. Vega claims in the video that he does not know who started it. Really? Cursing, mocking, antagonizing, and then striking people? That’s what started it. He also stated in the video that “they started punching me for no reason.” Nothing could be further from the truth. He was antagonistic from the word go.

Vega claims to be an innocent victim when telling the police he was simply having “a peaceful conversation with the gentleman” when he was suddenly attacked. In actuality, Vega had been standing on the street for several hours with a hostile  demeanor.  At no time did I witness Mr. Vega being “peaceful.” He was belligerent and antagonistic. It was obvious that he was looking to start a problem.

Also, notice that most people are attempting to defuse things. 

Here we have an example of misleading reporting:

Marine Veteran Attacked by Pro-Hamas Terrorist Supporters at White House Rally

Vega wasn’t attacked, he was the aggressor. Vega lunged at an individual, and then kicked into the crowd (Someone touched Vega’s shoulder to get his attention, they did not hit him). He made first aggressive physical contact. The worst that happened to Vega, was when someone spat in his face.

The march continued without further incident. I am unaware of any other conflict that occurred during the march. The only acts of intimidation, antagonism, and physical violence that I witnessed, were instigated by Israeli supporters – NOT the Palestinians.

I’m working on a slideshow with many more photos from the rally. I should have it posted soon.

National March on the White House
AMP – American Muslims for Palestine
http://www.ampalestine.org/

demands:
End the massacre in Gaza! End the blockade of Gaza!
End all U.S. aid to Israel!
End the colonial occupation!

Co-sponsors:
– ANSWER Coalition http://www.answercoalition.org/
– American Muslims for Palestine (AMP)
– Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
– American Muslim Alliance (AMA)
– Al-Awda: Palestine Right to Return Coalition
– Muslim Legal Fund of America
– MAS Immigrant Justice Center
– Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA)
– Code Pink
#2DC4Gaza #LetGazaLive #FreePalestine #Protest4Palestine