Journalist Attacked During Islamic Demo Against Israel

“Stop the massacre in Gaza – Stopp das Massaker in Gaza” – a huge demonstration against the  criminal state of Israel was organized by demo_16_janua-456many Islamic organizations in Vienna. It took place on Friday, January 16, 2009, and started at 3PM from the Westbahnhof / Mariahilfer Straße in the sixth district. They walked along Mariahilferstraße , Ringstraße, and stopped in front of the Opera in the first district.

Over 6.000 men, women wearing Islamic “hijab” and children from different parts of the Islamic Arab and Turkish communities participated in this day of anger against the Israeli massacres in Gaza. The Islamic organizers of the demonstration did not invite the political activists of Austrian parties, even those who support the Palestinians in their fight against the Israeli occupation. The organizers did not invite the Austrian journalists and media either.


Notice: I redacted parts of this article after receiving a call from one of the leaders of the Islamic groups in Vienna Mr. “A D.” The call came a bit late, after I already published this article. He claimed that he respects my work. But he shouted and threatened me angerly and said: What will happen to you if I translate your report and send it to the Turkish community in Vienna and let them read your report??? He said we have our own photographers, but you also welcome to do my journalistic work in the future.

Due to “A. D” call, I decided to redact part of my article.  Forgiveness is a fundamental way to deal among human beings.


A Female Journalist Attacked by Islamic Leaders

The Islamic organizer expressed their anger due to a female journalist and photographer, me, when I was photographing the demonstration, because I was not wearing the Islamic hijab, they tried to bar me from taking photos. The p11632488leaders of the demonstration treated me in a violent way, which is considered as a violation of the Austrian laws. One leader shouted at me when I was together with two male photographers in a car taking some images of all the demonstrators. One leader “Abu Baraa” also called “Adel AbedAllah” asked me angrily while he was moving his hand unfriendly toward me “what are you doing there?” Another unfriendly leader “Jamal Murad” approached the moving car and ordered me to get out while the car was driving. He held my arm and pulled me out, I almost fell on the ground under the car and the demonstrators, because the leader did not stop the car before I got out. Another demonstrator  helped me and held my other arm until I stepped safe on the floor.

The unfriendly, angry Islamic religious leaders of the demonstration in Vienna did not behave the same toward the other male journalists and photographers who were with me in the same car. I understood that the photographers were members of the Islamic groups in Vienna, and I was not welcomed to be with them in the same car as a liberal free journalist and photographer who did not cover her head with the Islamic tent.

However, the way how the Islamic reader behaved with me could be demo_16_janua-231understood as sexism and violence against women. This is against the Austrian laws and customs, as well as against the Islamic principles which demand that Muslims be polite in dealing with others. This is the part of the Islamic faith which the extremist Muslims do not understand.
I found that there is no difference between the behavior of the criminal Israeli soldiers and the Islamic leaders of the demonstration in dealing with me as a female, a journalist, a photographer, and a defender of the human rights. The only difference was that I received an invitation from the Islamic organizations to attend the demonstration.

I challenged the Islamic demonstration leaders will and I continued demo_16_janua-308photographing the demonstration until the end. When the demonstration arrived the ring street in the first district, an Austrian friend of mine, a former employee of the Austrian government was making photos. He said that he was in a hotel at the Ring and heard the Police talking about a Palestinian demonstration. My friend said that he remembered me when he heard the word ‘Palestinians’ from the Police, so he ran to the street to see if I was there. One of the unfriendly Islamic leaders looked at me full of hatred after he saw me greeting my Austrian friend in a different way of the Islamic people.

The Anger  of the Demonstrators
The demonstrators expressed their anger chanting: “Gaza, the second Holocaust – Gaza, der Zweite Holocaust”, “Down, down Israel”, “Children killer Israel – Kinder Mörder Israel”, “Women killer Israel – Frauen Mörder Israel”, “Israeli terrorists”, “Stop the massacre in Palestine – Stopp das Massaker in Pälestina”, demo_16_janua-419“Leave Gaza live, free Gaza – Lass Gaza leben, befreie Gaza”. “Israeli Ambassador out, out of Vienna”. They held and wore Palestinian flags as well as Hamas and Turkish flags and some black and yellow flags. The demonstrators raised photos of dead children and of the destruction of Gaza. They held signs with different titles and colors: “Stop the Massacre”, “Let Gaza live”, “We all are Gaza”, “Children killer – Kinder Mörder”, “No war, don’t kill”, … They all chanted “Al-laho Akbar Takbier – God is great and above all”, “Israeli terrorists”, “Occupation is a crime”, “Stop the occupation”, “Go to Hell, Israel,” and “Free Palestine”.

The demonstrators stopped before the Opera and continued with their angry chants against the Israeli crimes and murders in Gaza. The demonstration leaders stepped on a stage together with their own photographers and gave speeches about the Israeli crimes and horror in Gaza. They demanded that the international community stop the massacres and the daily murder in Gaza.

Some other demonstrators burnt a big sign with the Israeli david demo_16_janua-541star and the titles “The end of Zionism, children killer Israel” in front of the opera and the police. The demonstrating youth stepped on the burnt sign as a symbol of putting an end to Israel.

Boycott Islamic Demonstrations

I left the demonstrators at the opera. I went home and wrote an Arabic letter (PDF) to the unfriendly Islamic leaders, demanding them to delete my e-mail address from their mailing lists and informing them that from now I would be boycotting their activities and demonstrations, just like  the Austrian colleagues. I clarified that the background of my decision came as a result of their sexist treatment toward me as a journalist and as a woman, their breaking of the Austrian laws and the principles of the Islamic faith at the same time.
Islamic Community in Vienna The huge demonstrations of the Islamic organizations in Vienna do not representing all of the Islamic community. These well known organizations serve certain special Islamic interests, but not all of Muslims.

In Vienna, the Islamic society, which does not appear shouting at the demo_16_janua-1731demonstrations of these religious groups in the streets, is bigger than these smaller but louder groups who show themselves in the streets. Thousands of Muslims prefer to live a quiet life as part of the Austrian society, far from these Islamic organizations and their religious groups. The leaders who were seen shouting in the demonstrations are represent themselves and the people behind them. Even these Muslim groups are small, very small. But they look like bigger than they are when they come in force to the streets. This was very clear during their demonstrations which were divided into different groups and had different leaders, who all hold different signs and flags.

See more Photos here

11 comments to Journalist Attacked During Islamic Demo Against Israel

  • Beau Leclerque

    It is generally believed that both Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood are creation of Mossad. There are also reasons to believe that by now Mossad only has a few informants infiltrated in Hamas, but they are always trying to attack from within.

    Therefore it wouldn’t surprise me if they had either created or infiltrated these small groups in Austria (and of course also other countries) you mention. – Good it didn’t go any further than just the fear you experienced for a moment.

  • Chi0ne1

    You might want to look up the hippie peace movement of the 60’s and other “peace” movements. Most or all get their money from the elite and have been infiltrated by them. The elite love it when we protest, because the masses are really protesting about some other part of the masses instead of the elite. Coming from a religious background I can tell you that all religions and peace movements have been infiltrated by the elite. The elite either own it or have infiltrated it. The only way to stop this blatant abuse is if a higher power steps up and does something about it. Right now the higher power seems to be on vacation. A lot of people call it “testing”, I call it abuse.

  • Bivins

    Why don’t the arabs just leave Gaza?

  • Juan

    Righty there, those tards are a disgrace to the muslim community, give bad press to muslims and basically behave like jews, ghettoized and trying to impose their customs into their host country.

    I wonder if they are not in fact israeli and western intelligence agencies’ “useful idiots”.

    We haven´t this problem here, where a large arab community is fully integrated (muslim and orthodox christian).

    Cheers.

  • tsk_tsk

    The violence and hatred you just experienced at the hands of the leaders of these people reveal the point of Israel’s alleged support of Hamas when it developped in the 80s as a fundamentalist, religious alternative to Fatah, if I understood that properly.
    In other words, the Zionists diminished the strength of the Palestinian resistance by splitting it along the line of religious zealotry. The progressive, articulate part of the resistance, the part which comprises individuals most able to communicate easily with the rest of the world, like you, are cut off from the most energetic, action-oriented part of the rebellion. It’s a special variation on “divide and conquer” which was also used by the Russians in the North Caucasus, where rebellions born out of national sentiments were replaced with militantism based on extreme forms of faith. The same tactic was applied to Iran and other parts of the world, in Afghanistan, and even in the U.S.A.
    You, as an intellectual, were forced to leave the raw force of a movement of your people. This benefits your enemy, the common enemy, in many ways.
    To continue your efforts to help liberate Palestine from the zionist occupant, you had two options (until you sent the letter which you wrote about): 1. You could have worked from within the context of religious radicalism, pretending to be what your not, for the greater good, or 2. you could do what you did, and stand apart from your “religiously radicalized” kin, thus losing to the logic of “divide and conquer”.
    From now on, you’ll have less time to fight the Zionists, because you’ll also be busy writing letters to and about the scarf wearing crowd. Especially now: The Zionists will do everything they can to divide your camp. For all I know, you yourself could be a fake, part of a zionist plot to create more divisions. Who knows, but you?

    Peace, and good luck to you!

  • Dear Sister, I am saddened to hear of your treatment. You deserve a full apology from these so called “Islamic” leaders. Besides, what do they think they will achieve by public protests? They should all be in the Mosque asking Allah for assistance.

  • Hello,
    according to an unknown Danish philosopher, Martinus (1890-1981),
    we’re, mentally on different stages of evolution. So we can’t blame the “primitiveness” of these machos you’ve encountered, and pretending thus to fullfil God’s/Allah’s will. Also American Walter Russell (1871-1963) had similar ideas. Thanks for your informations.
    Greetings from Darmstadt, Germany
    Henry
    henrynold [at] hotmail [dot] com

  • mc

    This is a good story and it is very representative of exactly why support to gaza is not stronger in the west.
    There are too many extremists among the muslims.

  • me

    This reminds me of a citation from Avraham Burg which seems to be spot-on:

    “If you are a bad person, a whining enemy or a strong-arm occupier, you are not my brother, even if you are circumcised, observe the Sabbath, and do mitzvahs. If your scarf covers every hair on your head for modest, you give alms and do charity, but what is under your scarf is dedicated to the sanctity of Jewish land, taking precedence over the sanctity of human life, whosever life that is, then your are not my sister. You might be my enemy. A good Arab or a righteous gentile will be a brother or sister to me. A wicked man, even of Jewish descent, is my adversary, and I would stand on the other side of the barricade and fight him to the end.”

    (Passage in “The Holocaust Is Over, We Must Rise From Its Ashes”, by former Israeli Knesset speaker and Jewish National Fund chairman Avraham Burg.)

  • voss

    Dear Kawther,
    is a shame and a pitty what happened to you. These so called “Islamic leaders” behave like there “friends” inside IDF if they treat people like you who want to help them! That is in no means the behavior of leaders!
    You have choosen the only possible and correct way in stopping to support them.

    @tsk_tsk
    Read this blog a little closer and you will discover that the writer of this blog is not a fake. Belive me, she’s not a fake.

    So far ..

  • Sonia

    I am really surprised and this shouldn’t happen to you or anybody who are with the Palestinians people. Even they have their own photographer but still it is better to have wide coverage of what you are doing so that others come to know about it too. I was in 3 of the demonstrations in Vienna but was not on this one since I left for holiday and in all those 3 demonstrations we never saw such a thing. It is shameful and I hope this incident will be a reminder for them in the future.

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