Zionist coffee

From National Post Jan 16, 2009, by Michael Coren:

...Since the beginning of the war against Hamas in Gaza, various Arab, Muslim and socialist blogs have become obsessed with the idea that Starbucks is sponsoring the Israel Defense Force, which explains why one of their stores was smashed and looted during an anti-Israel demonstration last weekend in London. "Starbucks and McDonald's are donating their next two weeks of earned revenue to the Israeli military. Please BOYCOTT them and forward this message to everyone you know," was a typical headline.

....This whole nonsensical campaign is highly illustrative of the current propaganda campaign against Israel and the irksome mingling of anti-Semitism with Islamic and leftist politics. The Starbucks-Israel connection is a hoax, originating with the tale of a letter from Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz claiming that it was essential to give Israel more money because the country needed to "pay for all of the weaponry, bulldozers and security fences." The story of the letter was then repeated in the Egyptian press and found its way into anti-Zionist folklore.

Thing is, the letter was not written by Schultz at all but by an Australian-German "anti-Zionist" zealot. And here lies the essence of the problem. A known fanatic writes a letter and it is accepted by an unquestioning mob. Not because its victim manages a coffee chain, grew up poor in a New York housing project or has won awards for his work helping people with AIDS, but because -- here we have it -- he is Jewish.

He is indeed a friend of Israel but then so, we are told, are all those people who criticize it at the moment because they want "peace for both sides."

None of this should come as any surprise in Britain, where earlier this week at an anti-Israeli protest, a man dressed in a mask with a hideously large nose and bulbous eyes -- described as a "Jew mask" -- stood in front of the Israeli embassy and graphically pretended to eat a baby doll while fake blood splashed from its plastic body. Not one of the labour union activists, church peaceniks or Marxist egalitarians around him tried to intervene. Jews eat children it seems, just as Jews own coffee shops.

Later the same day, an attempt was made to firebomb a London synagogue and an armed gang ran down the streets of a suburb with a large Jewish population looking, according to the police, "to beat up people who appeared to be Jewish."

Only a fool would believe that this has anything to do with a moderate and reasoned opposition to Israeli policies, just as only a fool would believe that Hamas is committed to human rights and co-existence and never makes up casualty figures or fabricates evidence.

Then again, there are plenty of fools around. Perhaps they need a caffeine fix. They certainly won't be getting it from the Zionist running dogs at Starbucks!