This years annual Al-Quds Day demonstration in support of the oppressed peoples of Palestine was opposed by an organised counter-demonstration.
We didn't think anything special of it as we are used to zionists attacking our demos and take such attacks in our stride as part of the price for standing up for justice. During one demonstration an elderly rabbi, one of our speakers, was punched in the face by a zionist right in front of the police. At another demo, the family of one of our activists was targeted at home whilst the activist was at the demo. Apart from the zionists, the IHRC has also been the target of many far right groups including receiving death threats through the post from Combat 18, the "armed wing" of the British neo-Nazi organization Blood & Honour.
But what was so surprising and sad about this counter-demo was that it was an alliance of far right fascist/zionists/neocons and elements of the left! Shamefully certain leftist groups had sold out and made a pact with the fascists to crush a demonstration for Palestine.
Judging by their placards it seems they let themselves be duped in to thinking the demonstration was about Iran.
It would appear that the anti-Quds day demo was co-ordinated with the the neocon racist anti-Muslim hate fest being held in the US in the same month called "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week". Both events originally used the same posters showing photos of a stoning which the organisers claimed occured in Iran. The photos were fake - they were taken straight of out a fictional dutch movie (De Steen (1994), Director: Mahnaz Tamizi, actress being stoned: Smadar Monsinos). When the fakes were exposed the organisers had to come up with new posters - so with nothing left they drudged up two old cases :- one featured on their posters - the case of Ateqeh Rajabi from 2004; and the other in their on-line leaflets - the case of Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni.
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