Sunday, May 19, 2019

ISIS Shadow Looms

by G Parthasarathy-2019-05-18

The people of Sri Lanka have shown courage, wisdom and resilience in recovering from the traumatic effects of the brutal ethnic conflict between 1983 and 2010. An estimated 47,000 Tamil civilians, 27,000 LTTE members, 50,000 Sinhala civilians, 23,790 Sri Lankan soldiers and 1,500 members of the Indian Peace Keeping Force laid down their lives during the conflict. The conflict, however, did not affect the lives of ‘Indian Tamils’ in southern Sri Lanka, whose ancestors had migrated as plantation workers during British rule. There have, however, been recent incidents of religious tensions between the Sinhala Buddhist clergy and radicalised elements in the Muslim minority. Sri Lanka’s relatively small Christian minority, which is peaceful and relatively affluent, had steered clear of getting drawn into any conflict.

In these circumstances, the world was shocked to learn that in the midst of Easter Sunday church services on April 21, churches in Colombo, Negombo and even the eastern port of Tamil-dominated Batticaloa, were hit by explosions. Three hotels housing a large number of western tourists in Colombo were also targeted. Over 200 people perished. The ISIS soon claimed responsibility for the attack, contradicting President Trump’s claims that the outfit had been ‘100 per cent’ crushed in Syria. It soon emerged that the mastermind behind the blasts was a rabidly fundamentalist Sri Lankan Tamil, Maulvi Mohammad Zahran Hashim, who was from the town of Kathankudy in the Tamil-dominated eastern province.

Indian Intelligence agencies had provided timely warnings to the Sri Lankan government about an impending terrorist strike by the ISIS. These warnings were not viewed seriously. It is, however, imperative that India keeps in touch discreetly with the Sri Lankan government. We are evidently seeing the beginnings of long-term internal and regional problems and challenges, as ISIS members disperse and regroup after being ousted from Iraq and Syria — like the Al-Qaeda and the Taliban did after American intervention in Afghanistan. As the ISIS targets in Sri Lanka were the country’s peaceful Christian community and western (Christian) tourists, the attacks sent ripples across the western world, as they came soon after the massacre of Muslims in New Zealand during their Sunday prayers.

Sri Lanka's Muslim community, which has done well economically, has lived in peace with both Buddhist Sinhalas and Hindu Tamils. Recent studies, however, indicate that some years before the bombings, sections of Tamil Muslims from the eastern province were getting radicalised in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries. Zahran Hashim was one of those influenced by radical beliefs and made common cause with Sinhala Muslims, including two sons of a Muslim business tycoon in Colombo, who had been deeply influenced by the ISIS. Both died in suicide blasts, even as the wife of another bomber detonated explosives in a suicide bombing the same day, resulting in the death of three police personnel.

The blasts were thus executed by young radicalised Sri Lankan Muslims, cutting across the ethnic divide. Moreover, there are now signs that an estimated 75-100 Indian Muslims, who were with the ISIS in Syria, have dispersed and chosen escape routes, including through Afghanistan and Pakistan. Hashim has also reportedly established close institutional links with a counterpart group in Coimbatore and people in other parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. There are now indications that after being forced out of Iraq and Syria, ISIS fighters have now dispersed across Asia, Africa and even to parts of Europe. While the Osama bin Laden-led Al-Qaeda made it clear that its struggle was against ‘Jews and crusaders’, the ISIS targets all non-Muslims, as was evident from its brutal killings of Indians in Iraq. Moreover, the Al-Qaeda operated primarily out of Afghanistan and Pakistan, apart from select Arab countries. Al-Qaeda’s leadership was predominantly Arab.

The ISIS poses a much more serious challenge to India than the Al-Qaeda ever did, primarily because it has recruited its fighters from countries across Europe, Asia and Africa. President George Bush praised India because not a single Indian joined or backed Al-Qaeda. But things are different with the ISIS, which regards India as a part of the ‘Islamic state of Khorasan’. Over 100 Indians are estimated to have joined the ISIS. The reach of the ISIS across India is evident from its links with extremists in Kashmir, apart from those established in the recent past in Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Radicalisation in our southern states poses new and serious challenges. The ISIS also acknowledges its links with associates across India’s maritime frontiers in Malaysia, Thailand, the Philippines, Myanmar, Indonesia, the Maldives, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. It also has a growing presence in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

India will have to take note of the possibility of the ISIS attempting to take advantage of tensions arising out of the Rohingya crisis. A senior Myanmar official recently revealed that even as the ISIS was losing influence in Iraq and Syria, its supporters were moving into Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where the Rohingya reside. Malaysia’s police chief recently noted that the ISIS is shifting its focus to Rakhine and southern Philippines. Many refugees, now in Bangladesh, could well make common cause with the ISIS and members of Pakistan-backed outfits like the Jamat-ul-Mujahideen to destabilise the borders of India, Bangladesh and Myanmar. Pakistan has had an abiding interest in destabilising the Sheikh Hasina government.

Apart from Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, India will now also have to keep a watch on challenges that would arise from the ISIS. Pakistan could be expected to use the challenges posed by the ISIS to absolve itself of responsibility on actions of its jihadis.

( The writer Former diplomat )

Doctor Admits Having Sex With Prostitutes While Health Minister Rajitha Was Undergoing Bypass

MAY 18, 2019

While the entire nation is paralyzed with grief and loss in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday bombings and Anti-Muslim violence, the Medical Administrators and the officials of the Ministry of Health are expressing their consternation over a leaked telephone conversation revealing that a stooge of the Minister of Health Rajitha Senaratne admitting to having sex with a prostitute in Singapore. The ex-acolyte of the Minister flew to Singapore to ‘mark present’ when the Minister underwent a bypass surgery for heart disease.

Minister Senaratne

In this leaked conversation, Dr Susitha Senaratne refers to Ujith Anuradha, a local provincial council politician and the trip he took with him to Singapore when Rajitha Senarante travelled to Singapore for his bypass surgery.

“Sujatha (Minister’s wife) was organizing a Bodhi puja for the Minister. But he (Ujith Anuradha) and I slept with a prostitute and had some fun (“badwuak gahala aathal ekak gaththa”).

Susitha Senaratne

Further Susitha Senarante in this conversation with a ministry official (whose name Colombo Telegraph has withheld), is pumping information about the security threats to the Minister and his whereabouts. He is also pumping for information about the Minister’s political position and the allegiance to the UNP. He also finds fault with the security personnel of the Minister for tightening security calling an officer called Mahesh a stooge (gotta) of Dr Sujatha Senaratne. He sporadically refers to Dr Upul Gunasekera , the Public Relations Officer of the Minister as a “low caste dog (sakkili balla)”.

In this leaked conversation Susitha Senaratne states “I am managing the minister remotely. If I am seen near the Minister, that women – Sujatha (Senaratne ) will get to know. Minister has also told me to communicate via text. He has told Ujith Anuradha that he will soon fix me somewhere and do justice by me”.

Listen to the audio evidence of the conversation below which was recorded three days before :

“AUDIO- Susitha Senaratne's recording”

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1. “AUDIO- Susitha Senaratne's recording”

8:51

Dr Susitha Senaratne and his wife Dr Ancy Senaratne formerly acolytes of Rajitha Senaratne have been implicated in a financial fraud of over 17 million rupees where Senaratne deposited millions to his wife’s personal account via a fraudulent project in the Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital (SJGH). This fraud is currently under investigation by the Special Presidential Commission on Corruption as well as the FCID. Susitha Senaratne was illegally ‘appointed’ as Director SJGH by Rajitha Senaratne in 2015 and he illegally occupied his quasi position for nearly four years. Following the allegations of massive fraud by Susitha Senaratne, Rajitha Senaratne instructed Secretary Ministry of Health to transfer Susitha Senaratne back to Lady Ridgeway Hospital as a medical officer. Susitha Senaratne has reported to duty, but not reporting to work, it is reliably reported.

A source from Lady Ridgeway Hospital commenting to Colombo Telegraph stated “having sex with a prostitute is a clear violation of the E Code, and the ethics of our profession. Susitha Senaratne is admitting to this act in no uncertain terms. Ever since his disgraceful dismissal, Susitha Senaratne has been sniffing around the Minister and he Ministry trying to sneak back into the minister’s fold. He is calling up Medical Administrators and Minister’s aids to spy on the whereabouts of the minister to arrange to ‘bump in’ to the Minister. This is actually a security threat to the Minister and to other officials. He is a security threat and a moral threat to the Ministry”.

Memorialisation on May 18th: From Politicisation to Peoplisation

NORTH EAST COORDINATING COMMITTEE- 05/19/2019

At the last stages of the war thousands of civilians who lived in the Vanni Region of Northern Sri-Lanka were killed, injured and disappeared. Surrenders of war and persons among detainees were gone disappeared. When war intensified in late 2008, people of Vanni region started to move towards Mullaitivu district from other parts of Vanni. Daily they moved place to place to protect themselves from shelling and bombings, and finally they all came to bare lands where they found the darkness of the night is the only shadow that covers their heads. They loved the night as they could get some relief from the burning. Mothers kept the children under trees and damaged and unmoved abandoned vehicles to protect them from hot sun. Final few months the sufferings intensified. They only got kanji (rice porridge) to help them survive. Then the kanji become salt-less and more watery. When kanji distribution was announced, children run with utensils to get it for their families. There were incidents where children who had gone to collect kanji were caught in aerial bombings and shelling.

In the final stages of the war, people could not bury the bodies of their dead family members. They left the bodies on the way and moved on. Young children missed from the hands of the mothers. There were incidents where people stepped on the bodies of the dead and ran to protect their lives. On 18th May 2009, the war ended.

Memorialising the people who died in the war and the grievances that they suffered is a right of the people. But the ‘Mullivaikal Memorial’ is dominated by politically influenced persons and designed according to their agendas. The survivors of war and ordinary people of Tamil community are not included as equal partners in the memorialisation process. Memorialisation should be people-oriented and a collective event observing the particular communities’ own traditions.

In order to transform the memorialisation from politicisation to peoplisation, North East Coordinating Committee (NECC) called survivors of war and the general public, and mobilised them to collectively commemorate the 10th year war memorial from their own places. The leaflets which were widely distributed in North and East areas by NECC asked the public to ‘Plant a Tree and Remember Our Beloved ones’ to create permanent identities and also to ‘Eat Salt-less Porridge’ to collectively share the pain, sufferings and losses of the people.

A total number of 5000 coconut seedlings, 125 shade tree plants, and palmyra seeds were planted in remote villages of all eight districts of North and East including schools, hospitals, worship places and public places. Along with war affected social groups – families who lost their beloved ones in war, family members of disappeared persons, war-injured persons, war widows, war orphans – grass root civil organizations, women’s societies, fisher and farmer federations, students, men, women and children were keenly involved in the events.

Special memorial services and poojas were organized in churches and in Hindu temples by war affected people. Villagers and neighbours joined with them. In Eachalavakkai village of Maanthai East of Mannar, a mother who lost her four children in war, treated the coconut seedling as a child and planted it at the village temple location on behalf of her children and other 26 people of her area who died in war. She adored the planted plant with flowers with a sense of respect.

It was observed that people of different generations participated in the collective commemoration. While elderly mothers cook “Kanji” at homes and collectively have it within the community, youth travelled by lorries and land masters with Kanji pots and served it in the streets and in public places. A 19-year old boy said, ’10 years ago, during the war, as a 9-year old child he used to stay in “Kanji” queues and there were times that he arrived with empty jug as Kanji finished before he reaches the server. A middle-aged man in Jaffna said, he could not forget the Kanji, as after having it his family members were killed in shelling. People shared their experiences in the streets while having Kanji. Some people took the Kanji in grocery bags for family members and neighbours.

It was observed, this sort of people-oriented memorialisation makes the people to take the ownership of memorialisation and develop solidarity among them and enables the people to widely engage in the memorialisation. A rough calculation reveals more than 25,000 people of North and East were involved in people-oriented memorialisation in 2019.

In two locations, the Sri Lanka Army also had Kanji served in streets even though they knew it was for memorialisation. This attitude of army was welcomed by the people.

Israel launches strikes on southern Syria: Reports

Israel has been more open in recent months about targeting sites inside Syria that it says belong to Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah

Israeli military outpost in Israeli-annexed Golan Heights pictured recently from Syrian town of Quneitra (AFP)

By MEE and agencies-18 May 2019

Israel launched air strikes on southern Syria late Saturday, a war monitor was cited as saying by AFP, prompting air defences into action.

Syrian air defences targeted projectiles coming from "occupied territory", state news agency SANA said, referring to territory held by Israel.

Israel's military declined to comment on the report. Still, Israel has been more open in recent months about targeting sites inside Syria that it says belong to Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, both of which have forces aiding President Bashar al-Assad, Reuters said.

"Israeli airplanes fired at least three missiles from the occupied Golan," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

Two of the strikes targeted a Syrian army brigade that supervises the country's Quneitra province, he told AFP, while the third missile was destroyed by Syrian defences.

SANA reported that the strikes came a day after Syrian air defence systems intercepted several other projectiles also coming from "hostile territory".

Haaretz said the reports seemed questionable, and it was possible the Syrian defense systems mistakenly interpreted aerial movements as Israeli strikes. The timing also appeared unlikely as Israel was hosting the Eurovision Song Contest and its aerial defense systems were on high alert to fend off any potential attacks.

Still, Israel deems Iran its biggest enemy and the heavily armed Shia Hezbollah movement as the main threat on its borders.

Israeli officials, alarmed by Tehran's expanding clout next door, have acknowledged carrying out scores of strikes during the eight-year conflict in Syria. Iran and Hezbollah have played a key role in helping Assad's army defeat rebels and militants.

Tensions between Tehran and its regional enemies rose this week after reports of attacks on four oil tankers in the Gulf, sparking concerns about a potential conflict between Iran and the United States, Israel's closest ally.

Watch: The camera is my weapon

17 May 2019

For the past decade, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank village of Nabi Saleh have held weekly demonstrations in protest of Israel’s encroachment on their land.

Bilal Tamimi, a Palestinian from the village, has made a point to document Israel’s attacks on the village through his camera.

Tamimi started filming when Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem asked to have someone in the village document Israeli attacks, around the same time the demonstrations started in 2009.

The Tamimi family, whose home is in Nabi Saleh, has been subject to Israeli occupation arrests, harassment, assault, maimings and killings.

“I was targeted by the Israeli army by live ammunition, by tear gas canisters, which were directly shot at me, by rubber-coated bullets. I was injured. I was pepper-sprayed in my face. I was arrested many, many times,” Tamimi told The Electronic Intifada.

Ahed Tamimi, a teenager from Nabi Saleh, was imprisoned for eight months, and released in July 2018, for shoving and slapping a heavily armed occupation soldier after Israeli forces had shot and severely injured her 15-year-old cousin Muhammad Fadel Tamimi.

Bilal Tamimi’s wife Manal and his three children, Osama, 22, Muhammad, 19, and his 11-year-old son Samer, were also detained by Israel at several points.

Osama, the eldest, was released in September 2018 after spending nine months in Israeli prison.

His younger brother Muhammad was detained in January 2018 and is expected to be relased in September of this year.

“Everyone should stand in front of soldiers to document, to take footage, to show the world exactly what is happening,” Bilal told The Electronic Intifada.

In the video above, Bilal films an interaction between him and an Israeli soldier during a night raid on the village.

The soldier asks Bilal if he has a weapon, to which Bilal replies that the camera is his weapon.

Video by Activestills.

Fire The Nutcases Leading Us To War

Which leads us to ask the question: given all these lies, is it not time for us to begin questioning the official narrative about World War II?

by Eric S. Margolis-2019-05-18

President Donald Trump claimed this week that he does not want war with Iran. If he really believes this, the president ought to look into what his subordinates are doing.

Among their bellicose actions are deployment of the ‘Abraham Lincoln CVN-72’ carrier task force to the coast of Iran, massing a strike package of B-52 heavy bombers in Qatar, just across the Gulf from Iran, positioning more US warplanes around Iran, readying a massive cyber attack against Iran, and trying to stop the export of Iranian oil, upon which its economy depends.

Plus repeated attempts to overthrow the government in Tehran – something the US already did very skillfully in 1953.

If all this is not war, according to Trump, then what is? It’s war by another name. Just what the US did to Cuba, Iraq, Sudan, North Korea, Nicaragua, Syria, and, since 1979, Iran. Like a shark, the US warfare state has to keep moving. So it finds threats popping up all over.

The latest alleged grave ‘threat’ to America’s security was an ancient wooden dhow. Spotted by US satellites, this decrepit old sail-powered tub was claimed by Washington war promoters, led by the enragé John Bolton, to be carrying Iranian missiles. What unbelievable rubbish.

Many moons ago, I used to oversee dhows based in Dubai smuggling expensive Western luxury goods and small gold ‘ten tola’ bars into India and Iran. They would dodge Indian and Pakistani patrol boats; if caught, ‘baksheesh’ (bribes) were paid. Some of the smuggled goods even found their way into the Soviet Union, via caravans through Afghanistan.

All this was worthy of Sinbad the Sailor and the Arabian Nights. Great fun and profitable, but hardly of any strategic consequence. But now, Washington’s war-mongers claim the dhows will threaten ‘US interests’ in the Gulf region. ‘US interests’ are, of course, whatever and wherever Washington says they are.

This is yet another charade that will be amplified by the tame US media, and gobbled up by the credulous public unsure if the Gulf is off Texas or Iran. It joins the huge lies about World War I – ‘Belgian babies spitted to German bayonets’ – Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, anthrax attacks, and Saddam’s ‘drones of death.’ Some cynics would add 9/11 and Osama bin Laden to the cast of manufactured villains.

We now know that all the reasons cited for attacking Iraq in 2003 where false. Pure lies. War propaganda. President George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Tony Blair led us into a war by a campaign of lies that fed off one another. Media that supported the war with false news was equally guilty.

Yet we still see, for example, the Murdoch-owned media, New York Times and Washington shamelessly promoting more war in the Mideast. US media has made little progress since the yellow journalism era of William Randolph Hearst. As the great Mark Twain said, ‘if you don’t read the daily newspapers you are uninformed. If you do read them, you are misinformed.’

Which leads us to ask the question: given all these lies, is it not time for us to begin questioning the official narrative about World War II?

Trump is playing with fire by making threats against Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Libya, Cuba, North Korea and China. He appears well on the way to a major war by either plan or accident. He is provoking and trifling with two major, nuclear-armed world military powers, Russia and China. Instead of capable diplomats, Trump keeps consorting with men of low character and even lower knowledge. It’s like the hostess who will never invite to her party another woman who is younger and more attractive.

North Korea asks U.N. chief to address ship seizure by 'gangster' U.S.

An undated image provided in a U.S. Department of Justice complaint for forfeiture released May 9, 2019 shows the North Korean vessel Wise Honest. Department of Justice/Handout via REUTERS

MAY 18, 2019

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea has asked United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to deal with the “illegal” seizure of one of its cargo ships by the United States, state media said on Saturday.

“This act of dispossession has clearly indicated that the United States is indeed a gangster country that does not care at all about international laws,” the North Korean ambassador to the United Nations said in a letter sent to Guterres dated Friday, according to North Korea’s KCNA news agency.

Pyongyang’s protest to the United Nations over the seizure comes amid mounting tensions since a second summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump, aimed at bringing about the denuclearisation of the North, broke down in Hanoi in February.

The letter also called for “urgent measures” by Guterres and claimed that Washington infringed the North’s sovereignty and violated U.N. charters.

With the denuclearisation talks stalled, North Korea went ahead with more weapons tests this month. The tests were seen as a protest by Kim after Trump rejected his calls for sanctions relief at the Hanoi summit.

North Korea has said the ship seizure violated the spirit of the summit and demanded the return of the vessel without delay.

The U.S. Justice Department said the North Korean cargo ship, known as the “Wise Honest”, was seized and impounded to American Samoa. The vessel was accused of illicit coal shipments in violation of sanctions and was first detained by Indonesia in April 2018.

'This is art-washing': Israeli activists dog Eurovision with protests

Determined to expose the realities of Israel's occupation and siege of Gaza, a group of young Israelis are staging daily demonstrations

Israelis march against their country's hosting of the Eurovision Song Contest (MEE/Miriam Deprez)

By Megan Giovannetti- 17 May 2019

This week, hundreds of people have flocked to the Eurovison Village on Tel Aviv beach each day, revelling in the festivities surrounding the song contest that this year has landed in Israel.

But while the scene may appear a benevolent and welcoming atmosphere, a group of Israeli activists has made it their mission to reveal a quite different side to the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.

"We're here because Eurovision, and of course the Eurovillage, is this great, lucrative business that helps Israel promote its so-called values of [being a] young, hip, multicultural, LGBTQ-friendly place, when in fact it's an apartheid state," Shahaf Weinstein, 26, told Middle East Eye.

"This is pink-washing, this is art-washing, and we're against it."

A Jewish Israeli, Weinstein is part of a collective of activists from various groups that have been organising daily protests in recent days against Israel hosting Eurovision and the positive international limelight that comes with it.

I have 'democracy' - that democracy that they are trying to show the world. I have it as a Jew, but Palestinians don't have it

- Omer Shamir

While Israelis and tourists were partying at a beach-side Eurovision village festival on Wednesday, Palestinians were commemorating the 71st anniversary of the Nakba - the "catastrophe" in Arabic - when hundreds of thousands were forced from their homes in the conflict that surrounded the creation of Israel.

On the same day, Weinstein and 12 other activists staged a "die-in" at the venue, demonstrating against the Nakba and Israel's regular killing of Palestinian protesters in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Wearing T-shirts with "Free Gaza" written across the back, the activists played dead by lying on the ground. Hung from their necks were photos of Palestinians killed during Israel's violent crackdown on Gaza's year-long Great March of Return protest movement.

Israeli activists stage a "die-in" at the Eurovision village in Tel Aviv (MEE/Miriam Deprez)

With heightened security in preparation for such protests, five activists were refused entry into the Eurovision village and had their IDs confiscated. Eight more got through the security check and carried out the plan.

"I am Jewish. I have the privilege to be here and protest while Palestinians in Gaza who are protesting get shot," said Omer Shamir, a 26-year-old from Tel Aviv.

"My risk is very little, I have 'democracy' - that democracy that they are trying to show the world," Shamir said. "I have it as a Jew, but Palestinians don't have it."

'We as Israelis are responsible'

At a march through Tel Aviv the night before, Nimrod Flashenberg laid out his reasons for taking to the streets.

"I think we as Israelis, the State of Israel, is responsible for [Palestinian] suffering,” Flashenberg, 28, told MEE. "So we need to say 'enough with the occupation and enough with the siege'."

Tuesday night's march purposefully coincided with the day Israeli singer Netta Barzilai won the 2018 Eurovision, allowing Israel to host the song contest this year.

It was also the first anniversary of the United States officially moving its embassyfrom Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as 68 Palestinians were fatally shot while protesting at the same time.

Activists march through Tel Aviv to protest against Israel's hosting of Eurovision (MEE/Miriam Deprez)

The march attracted some 300 supporters, and Flashenberg pointed to a lack of anti-occupation sentiment among Jewish Israelis as a reason numbers were not higher.

"The Jewish population in Israel is moving rightwards," he said. "It's blocking itself. It's blocking its eyes to the suffering of the Palestinians around us."

Weinstein believes that the right-wing takeover of Israeli politics is "part of the international processes of neo-fascism that we've seen happening in a lot of countries, including in the US [and] in Europe.

"In a lot of places the population is getting more hateful and more Islamophobic and more racist. People are listening less and less."

According to Weinstein, "the occupation continues because of the international community's complicity," which she says is why the protest and boycott actions against Eurovision in Israel are important for her in the fight for Palestinian rights.

Gazavision: Palestinians hold music event in defiance of Israel's Eurovision

"Indeed, Israel is working tirelessly on its hasbara," Flashenberg said, using the Hebrew term for the dissemination of positive information, "and has been very successful in its effort to put the Palestinian issue on the sidelines of the international agenda."

Hosting Eurovision, Flashenberg said, is just one example of Israel attempting to normalise its occupation of Palestinian lands.

Marching on Tuesday night, Shamir agreed.

"To host the Eurovision contest is to pretend as if [Israel] is a normal European, liberal, gay-friendly country," he said.

"So the only way to wake up from this bubble is international pressure, which comes in the form of sanctions and boycotts."

But Shamir doesn't believe that the people around him are "shaken up" enough to burst their bubble of comfortability.

"Generally, I would say Tel Aviv is considered kind of leftist, but many of my friends, my age group, don't come and protest," he said.

"The fact that they are occupiers is still very comfortable [to them], which I think brings us back to the point of why it is important now to emphasise that [Israel] is not a normal place."

'They should enjoy'

Daily protests in the lead-up to the Eurovision final on Saturday is a way of trying to remind people of the reality of Palestinian life under Israeli occupation, Shamir said. Even if it's just "a little pinch".

On Monday, Shamir and other activists projected disturbing images from Gaza on a large screen in front of the Eurovision Village's main stage. Slowly, the dancing crowd beneath it began to understand what they were seeing, and things took a violent turn.

It was all a bit ironic for Shamir, who said that Eurovision was meant to show how peaceful and "normal" Israel is. Instead, "people beat us up and stole our projector and ran away," he said.

Weinstein experienced a similar backlash on Wednesday.

On Nakba day, why is Israel hosting Eurovision?

Ghada Karmi

Immediately after the "die-in," about a dozen Israelis surrounded her, yelling obscenities and making loud noises to prevent her from being interviewed by the press.

"They were saying that my parents must be ashamed of me - which they're not," Weinstein said. "They were saying that I should live in Ashkelon [a southern city near Gaza], and that I should go to Gaza. They were calling me a lot of horrible slurs."

Nani, a woman from Ashkelon, told MEE that she joined the crowd yelling at Weinstein because the young activist is Israeli, and she sees such behaviour as a betrayal.

"She stands in front of Israel, not with Israel, because she wants to free Palestine," Nani said.

Nani, an Israeli woman from Ashkelon, and her husband argue with Weinstein, preventing her from giving an interview to the press after she participated in the "die-in" (MEE/Miriam Deprez) — Nani, an Israeli woman from Ashkelon, and her husband argue with Shahaf Weinstein, preventing her from giving an interview to the press after she took part in the "die-in" (MEE/Miriam Deprez)

Ruthie, 42, thought it was a shame the activists were coming to the Eurovision village to protest.

"They came here, so they should enjoy," she said.

Ruthie came from the far reaches of the southern desert to enjoy the festivities and believes hosting the song contest is a good thing for Israel's image.

"I think that they are protesting because they don't really know the reality and what really happens," Ruthie told MEE. "As you can see everything is good here, this is the reality here. We learn to live with it.

"We came here to enjoy, and we welcome everyone to come to Israel to come and enjoy. It's a very safe place."

Flashenberg lives near the Eurovision village and hears the joyous festivities every night, finding them disturbing.

"There’s something in this international acceptance and international celebration around Israel which is, obviously from Palestinians' eyes and peace-seeking eyes, troubling," he said.