Tensions rise in Philadelphia as anti-Israel protesters boycott businesses.

 

Members of "Philly Bike on Your Left". NBC News/USA Today/Reuters. 

Tensions rise in Philadelphia as anti-Israel protesters boycott businesses, leading to counter protests. NBC News. The protest was organized by "Philly Bike on Your Left", an anti-Israel and antifa organization. The boycott came against businesses that are pro-Israel or owned by Israelis. The protest spurned counter protests and long lines for the businesses affected by the boycott ride. The ride also happened on the anniversary of  Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass, in 1938 when Nazis attacked Jewish businesses in Germany. The organizers denied any connection to Kristallnacht and said the ride was antifascist in nature. 

My Comment:

It still confused how the Israel-Palestine conflict ever became an issue anyone in the United States cared about. Nobody cares about the civil war in Myanmar. Nobody cares about the various bush wars in Africa. Nobody even cares about the Mexican Drug War, even thought that one actually affects Americans. And even the Russia-Ukraine war, the worst current war, gets a lot less anger and outrage over it than a minor war in the Middle East that isn't even a hot war anymore. 

The only way the conflict affects me at all is things like this. Protests and counter protests over nonsense. If every Israeli and Palestinian disappeared tomorrow it wouldn't affect me at all. If a lasting peace that would somehow satisfy both sides broke out tomorrow, it wouldn't affect me either. The only thing about the conflict that affects me directly is the fact that both sides of the conflict somehow get my tax dollars. 

So we get things like this. One group of people protesting against another about a thing that doesn't affect them in anyway. It probably doesn't have much to do with the conflict either, it's just folks preening and telling themselves "I'm the good guy and the other side is the bad guy". It's all a little much. 

That being said, I don't have any sympathy for the bike riders. Hassling a bunch of shopkeepers that have nothing to do with the foreign policy of Israel. They know that there is nothing that these people could do to affect what happens half way across the world. They just want to make their lives difficult because they consider them enemies. 

Do I think this has anything to do with Kristallnacht? Probably not. Not because I don't think they wouldn't do that, but because I think these folks don't actually know the history. Leftists like this usually pride themselves in their ignorance and I doubt they checked their calendar. It's bad optics but the whole thing is bad optics. Bad optics is the point. 

What does give me some hope is that there are always pretty big counterprotests against the antifa types. Israel might be unpopular right now, but folks are pretty tired of this kind of targeting of people. Even if you are critical of Israel, there is a difference between criticizing their government and criticizing random people that ay support it.