Following the 11th demolition of the Bedouin village of Al Arakib yesterday (January 31), a protest was held outside the Jewish National Fund building in Jerusalem today. A group of upwards of 100 people gathered in the cold and rain at 2pm today with the message, in Hebrew, Arabic and English: “There is no such thing as an unrecognized village, there are only government lies.” Here are some photos I shot:
"Uprooting People, Planting Trees"
"The Trees Refuse to be Enemies"
An indignant onlooker wrapped in an Israeli flag
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Menil
That “indignant onlooker” wasn’t some random passerby. It was Yonatan Yosef, grandson of Ovadiah Yosef, and speaker of the settlement in Sheikh Jarrah, though he doesn’t live in the neighborhood. He’s an extreme right-wing fundamentalist activist, and he comes to many leftist demonstrations to counter demonstrate and make a fool out of himself.
Tahel Ilan
The sad part is that these slogans “uprooting people, planting trees” express the core of the JNF’s doctrine since it was estblished.
This is simply one of the most ridiculous examples for it…