These photos were taken at the rally on the U.C. Berkeley campus on Thursday, May 6, 2004.



U.C. Berkeley's anti-Israel groups organized an "emergency" protest on campus at noon on May 6th. Due to protest burn-out, or bad word-of-mouth, or perhaps a growing general distaste for their cause and tactics, they only attracted 18 supporters. They arrayed themselves in a line next to Sather Gate, displaying pictures from Iraq and Palestine.


At the stroke of noon, students poured out of their classes and past the protest. A few of them glanced over at the protesters, but 95% of the passersby didn't even break stride. Meanwhile, student activist Snehal Shingavi read Palestinian poetry through a bullhorn.


Some of the protesters were the familiar crew of full-time Israel bashers. These two, for example, are regulars at every rally in the Bay Area. Their main goal of the day was to display a new series of placards illustrating Israel's supposed crimes. Needless to say, the placards were unapologetically biased and lacked any meaningful context. For example, the sign on the left says that Israel attacks ambulances -- but it neglects to point out that terrorists frequently use ambulances to transport weapons and smuggle explosives.


Other signs, arrayed behind the protesters, were similarly ridiculous in their one-sidedness. No mention here of the fact that dozens of Palestinian gunmen had seized the Church of the Nativity by force and used it as a military hideout from which they fired at Israelis.


Despite the misleading image of the wounded baby, the vast majority of the "under 18" Palestinians injured in the intifada have been young men in their late teens who were actively confronting or attacking Israeli forces, putting themselves in the line of fire.


More context-free bias.


And more.


Notice that this body count tally makes no mention of Israelis killed by terrorism.


Revealing their true feelings, the protesters declared support for the "Iraqi resistance," despite the fact that there is no unified resistance that works together. The ISO supports any group -- Shiite fundamentalists, Saddam supporters, Al-Qaeda terrorists, Iranian militias, Sunni insurgents, Baathist holdouts, foreign suicide bombers -- just as long as they kill Americans.