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<div dir="ltr" style="display: block;" id="reader-header"
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<h1 id="reader-title">"Death to the Arabs" rally draws thousands
in Tel Aviv</h1>
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xml:base="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/death-arabs-rally-draws-thousands-tel-aviv"
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<article class="node-16361 node node-blog view-mode-full
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<p class="node__submitted">
<span class="field field-author"><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/ali-abunimah"
typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label
skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Ali Abunimah</a></span><span
class="field field-blog"></span>
<span class="field field-publication-date"><span
class="date-display-single" property="dc:date"
datatype="xsd:dateTime"
content="2016-04-19T21:55:06+00:00">19 April 2016</span></span><br>
</p>
<p>In Tel Aviv’s Yitzhak Rabin Square on Tuesday evening,
<a
href="http://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Activists-gather-for-controversial-Tel-Aviv-rally-to-support-IDF-shooter-451709">thousands
of Israelis</a> rallied in support of <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/elor-azarya">Elor
Azarya</a>, the soldier <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israelis-rally-around-soldier-filmed-executing-injured-palestinian">filmed
executing</a> a gravely wounded Palestinian last
month.</p>
<p>Rally-goers shouted anti-Arab slogans and attacked
persons perceived as being leftists or journalists.</p>
<p>Hours earlier, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu issued a call for leniency for the soldier.
</p>
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<blockquote data-width="550" class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Few thousand people at the
rally. Organizers keel telling crowd they aren't
angry at the government or army. <a
href="https://t.co/kEcFGsiYM1">pic.twitter.com/kEcFGsiYM1</a></p>
— Judah Ari Gross (@JudahAriGross) <a
href="https://twitter.com/JudahAriGross/status/722494752818655233">April
19, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">NOW: In Tel Aviv to cover
rally for Israeli soldier who executed Palestinian
& got beaten by mob & detained by cops. <a
href="https://t.co/XI5cwyZXQY">pic.twitter.com/XI5cwyZXQY</a></p>
— David Sheen (@davidsheen) <a
href="https://twitter.com/davidsheen/status/722467289904386048">April
19, 2016</a></blockquote>
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</div>
<p><em>Times of Israel</em> reporter Judah Ari Gross <a
href="https://twitter.com/JudahAriGross/status/722458998788792321">tweeted</a>
that an activist from B’Tselem, the human rights group
that released the video of Azarya shooting and killing
Abd al-Fattah al-Sharif, had to be escorted out of Rabin
Square by police in order to “<a
href="https://twitter.com/JudahAriGross/status/722458998788792321">protect
his life</a>.”
</p>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Thousands of people here. So
much for "liberal" Tel Aviv. This is fascist
Israel. <a href="https://t.co/quAOx3t8Jd">pic.twitter.com/quAOx3t8Jd</a></p>
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) <a
href="https://twitter.com/dancohen3000/status/722492508207452162">April
19, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Police escorting a Btselem
activist away from the rally in Kikar Rabin. <a
href="https://t.co/PiyrHfih3Z">pic.twitter.com/PiyrHfih3Z</a></p>
— Judah Ari Gross (@JudahAriGross) <a
href="https://twitter.com/JudahAriGross/status/722458998788792321">April
19, 2016</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<h2>Journalist attacked</h2>
<p>Reporter <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/people/david-sheen">David
Sheen</a>, a contributor to The Electronic Intifada,
was set upon by a mob and then ordered to leave the area
by police after he was accused of association with
B’Tselem.
</p>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">After being beaten by TelAviv
mob rallying to support killer Israeli soldier,
cops gave me ultimatum: A night in jail or go home
immediately</p>
— David Sheen (@davidsheen) <a
href="https://twitter.com/davidsheen/status/722481491775733760">April
19, 2016</a></blockquote>
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<blockquote data-width="550" class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Thanks to those who reached
out after I was attacked by a mob in "liberal" Tel
Aviv tonight. My phone battery's about to die, but
I'll live.</p>
— David Sheen (@davidsheen) <a
href="https://twitter.com/davidsheen/status/722489162750914564">April
19, 2016</a></blockquote>
</div>
</div>
<p>Sheen told The Electronic Intifada he arrived at Rabin
Square before the rally began but as several hundred
people had already gathered. Some asked him to film them
with their signs supporting Azarya.</p>
<p>At that point, Sheen said, a man began asking him why
he was filming. Other members of the crowd quickly began
joining in, shouting at Sheen, “Are you B’Tselem? Go to
Gaza!”</p>
<p>Sheen said he tried to remain calm and exit the square
but the increasingly agitated mob followed him and began
to surround and kick him.</p>
<p>He was then grabbed by a police officer and extracted.
Sheen said police took his camera equipment and
questioned him. After he told them he was a journalist,
they said he either had to leave immediately or face a
night in jail. Sheen said he chose to leave and that
police returned his equipment.</p>
<p>The police were effectively acting accomplices to the
mob, Sheen observed, ensuring the removal of journalists
who could document what occurred.</p>
<p>Sheen said that the assault was frightening, “because I
knew that everyone else at that rally was of the same
mindset and there wasn’t anyone who was going to step
in, so it very easily could have gotten much worse and
there wouldn’t have been anybody to fish me out.”</p>
<p>He said he had been threatened at other recent rallies
he has covered, but had not experienced that level of
violence.</p>
<p>“It doesn’t surprise me that people in Israel harbor
hatred towards journalists,” Sheen said.</p>
<p>“They don’t see the soldier’s actions as a problem,” he
added. “They see the problem as exposure to world media
that puts pressure on their government to withdraw
support from that soldier.”</p>
<p>“But it still caught me by surprise how quickly people
were whipped up into a frothing at the mouth mob,” he
said.</p>
<p>Chants from the crowd heard by Sheen included “Kill the
leftists” and “Elor Azarya is a hero, bring back our
boy!”</p>
<p>A video of the mob assault on Sheen was <a
href="https://www.facebook.com/TheShadow69/videos/vb.189064565254/10153939145340255/">posted
on Facebook</a> by a user who accuses him of being a
B’Tselem videographer intent on “provoking” the
rally-goers. Sheen is not affiliated with the human
rights group.</p>
<p>Members of the mob can be heard shouting “son of a
whore” and other insults.</p>
<h2>“Kill them all”</h2>
<p>Another independent reporter, Dan Cohen, <a
href="https://twitter.com/dancohen3000/status/722487878266327040">tweeted</a>
that many in the crowd chanted “Death to Arabs,” a <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/death-arabs">frequently
heard</a> rallying cry at anti-Palestinian
demonstrations.
</p>
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<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Crowd chants "Elor the hero"
and "death to Arabs." This seems more like a
celebration of murder than anything <a
href="https://t.co/2QHDpIT0LJ">pic.twitter.com/2QHDpIT0LJ</a></p>
— Dan Cohen (@dancohen3000) <a
href="https://twitter.com/dancohen3000/status/722487878266327040">April
19, 2016</a></blockquote>
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</div>
<p><a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/tags/ahmed-tibi">Ahmed
Tibi</a>, a Palestinian lawmaker in Israel’s
parliament, posted an image of a sign displayed at the
rally reading “Kill them all.”
</p>
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<blockquote data-width="550" class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">Message of the new Israeli
justice & equality: "kill them all" in tel
aviv rally supporting a murderer soldier <a
href="https://t.co/t9CqN777ya">pic.twitter.com/t9CqN777ya</a></p>
— Ahmad Tibi (@Ahmad_tibi) <a
href="https://twitter.com/Ahmad_tibi/status/722493665063645184">April
19, 2016</a></blockquote>
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</div>
<p>The rally was <a
href="http://www.timesofisrael.com/top-tier-singers-to-headline-tel-aviv-rally-for-hebron-soldier/">organized</a>
by Sharon Gal, an Israeli journalist and former
lawmaker, and was addressed by Azarya’s parents.</p>
<p>Several Israeli pop icons were also scheduled to
entertain the rally-goers, including singers Moshik
Afia, Maor Edri and Amos Elgali, as well as rapper
Subliminal, the Israeli website <em>Ynet</em> <a
href="http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4793780,00.html">reported</a>.</p>
<p>But two performers, Eyal Golan and David D’Or, withdrew
at the last minute in the wake of public outrage that
their appearance could be seen as an attack on the
Israeli army, which has faced heavy criticism for taking
any measures at all against Azarya.</p>
<p>“I would have liked to come to perform at the assembly
in the name of art, and personally as a performer and as
a human being,” Golan stated. “However, I’m sorry to say
that there are those who will use this as a political
spectacle.”</p>
<p>“I wanted to show my sympathy to the family of the
soldier,” D’Or said, “not to say anything against the
IDF [Israeli army] or the IDF chief of staff, God
forbid.”</p>
<h2>Leniency</h2>
<p>Last month, an opinion poll <a
href="http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.711163">found</a>
that 57 percent of the Israeli public saw nothing wrong
with Azarya’s actions and 32 percent supported it
outright. Just five percent saw shooting an injured,
incapacitated person as murder.</p>
<p>That support comes from the highest echelons of
Israel’s government. In a statement to media hours
before the rally, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
demanded leniency for Azarya.</p>
<p>“As the father of a soldier and as Prime Minister, I
would like to reiterate: the IDF backs its soldiers,”
Netanyahu said.</p>
<p>“In my familiarity with the military justice system, I
am convinced that the court will consider all
circumstances regarding the incident. Our soldiers are
not murderers. They act against murderers and I hope
that a way will be found to balance between the action
and the overall context of the event,” the prime
minister added.</p>
<p>Netanyahu’s attempt to prejudge the outcome of any
trial appears to be an effort to ride the wave of
popularity Azarya is enjoying that was vividly – and
violently – on display at the Tel Aviv rally.</p>
<p>Previously, B’Tselem has condemned <a
href="http://www.btselem.org/press_releases/20150712_killing_of_muhammad_ali_qusbah">similar
statements</a> by top Israeli officials as sending
messages that “empty the official restrictions on use of
force, and particularly on live fire, of real meaning.”</p>
<h2>Cover-up</h2>
<p>Abd al-Fattah al-Sharif and Ramzi al-Qasrawi, both 21,
were shot dead after they allegedly tried to attack
Israeli occupation soldiers in the West Bank city of
Hebron on 24 March.</p>
<p>The killing of al-Sharif was caught on video which
shows the youth on the ground, incapacitated, as Azarya
points a rifle at him from close range and fires
directly at his head.</p>
<p>The Palestinian human rights group Al-Haq, which <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/maureen-clare-murphy/arrest-soldier-filmed-executing-palestinian-was-just-public-relations">investigated</a>
the incident, called the killings war crimes and noted
the complicity of Israeli medical workers and others in
the vicinity who did nothing to assist the injured
al-Sharif before he was extrajudicially executed.</p>
<p>Al-Haq dismissed the arrest of Azarya as part of a
public relations effort, noting that no one was detained
in the shooting of al-Qasrawi, whose killing was not
filmed.</p>
<p>“The occupation authorities’ detention of the accused
soldier is a cover-up of the crime, to show the occupier
state as law abiding and holding violators accountable,”
Al-Haq stated.</p>
<p>“The arrest of one soldier and not the other suggests
that what the other soldier had done was not a crime
because it was not captured on camera,” the group added.</p>
<p>Israel at first announced Azarya would be charged with
murder, but following a <a
href="https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israelis-rally-around-soldier-filmed-executing-injured-palestinian">surge
of public support</a>, the charges were downgraded to
manslaughter.</p>
<br>
</article>
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