David Rolde, secretary and administrative committee member of Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts at Muslim rally in Boston Friday (Courtesy Solomonia.com) |
A Jewish activist was physically assaulted and his life was threatened during a planned "peaceful" rally held by the Muslim American Society in Boston, he told WorldNetDaily today.
"I have never been physically attacked before. I've had slurs thrown at me, got into heated debates, but what was amazing was that I was actually physically attacked," Seva Brodsky said. "Since they were the majority, and felt invincible, they threatened to kill me!"
Brodsky, who recently returned from nearly six months in Israel, captured some of the confrontation on video, available at the weblog Solomonia.com.
The event Friday at Boston's City Hall Plaza was the Muslim American Society's "Justice for Palestine and Lebanon Protest." Participants brought signs, including one calling for "victory" for the terrorist group Hezbollah and the "Palestinian Resistance."
Brodsky reported to Solomonia he was bullied, pushed, shoved, cursed and abused after showing up in Boston where Muslims said they planned to rally to call for an end to the "indiscriminate" loss of life in Lebanon.
The event was held by the Boston branch of the Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation, where spokesman Mahdi Bray told WorldNetDaily his group's events always are peaceful.
Signs at Muslim rally in Boston Friday (Courtesy Solomonia.com) |
"I've been doing rallies since LBJ was president and I came out of the non-violence movement. Every rally we've ever had, regardless of the politics, all of our rallies are non-violent and peaceful," he insisted.
The local event organizer, Omar Abdala, said in reports that it was "unacceptable" to indiscriminately kill innocent civilians, and he is calling for Israel to pull back immediately.
Israel and Hezbollah, a terrorist faction operating in Lebanon, have been at war for two weeks after an attack on Israeli soldiers left several dead and two more as hostages.
Brodsky said he took out and turned on a video camera as he approached the assembled group, estimated by Boston police at about 500.
"As I approached the crowd I was confronted," Brodsky wrote. He said the man "tried to harass and intimidate me" and blocked his camera. When he tried to lift his camera overhead, to shoot over the top of the man confronting him, Brodsky said the man raised a large white banner to create a new barrier.
Then the crowd started threatening and verbally abusing him, he said, and a "short and skinny" woman screamed hysterically and grabbed his arm and his camera.
"At this point, indignant and even outraged, realizing that I was entirely on my own and no help was forthcoming, I yanked the camera … and a scuffle ensued," Brodsky said.
But one man then told Brodsky he would be hunted down and killed.
Brodsky said he eventually talked with a police officer and was directed to a nearby station, but he hadn't decided whether he would try to pursue a complaint.
Bray said there have been instances of individuals showing up at rallies with their own agenda of violence or intimidation and that he always arranges for police to be at rallies to address problems that do occur.
The Muslim American Society's website carried the Boston Globe report on the event. The paper reported both Muslims and Christians were at the rally and carried signs such as "Free All Palestinian and Lebanese Political Prisoners," "End the Israeli Occupation," and "Stop Aid and Weapons."
Brodsky, however, captured photographs of rally signs that said "Victory to Hizballah and the Palestinian Resistance" and "Zionists Out of the Middle East." A flyer attached to the sign said "Armagedon (sic)."
"I had the wrong type of faith," Brodsky told WorldNetDaily. "The Arabs at the demonstration were so hostile. They could see right away who I was."
The event was a big step among Muslims, said Caline Jarudi, of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Massachusetts, because Muslims frequently are concerned about vocalizing their views.
Participants in the rally also held pictures of the dead in Lebanon, but a spokesman for the American Jewish Committee in Boston, Lawrence Lowenthal, said Hezbollah has moved into homes and apartments in civilian areas in Lebanon in order to launch rockets at Israel.
"I don't understand what alternative Israel has," he told the newspaper. "Hezbollah is holding Israel hostage."
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