Ahava – The Last Days Selling Stolen Goods

Stolen Beauty Falls Out of Behaviour

Begun over two years ago by Jews 4 Boycotting Israeli Goods, there has been a constant picket every other Saturday outside the shop. Although in the early months there were relatively few protestors and we were in danger of running out of steam, we were fortunate in securing the good services of Jonathan Hoffman. With the presence of a small Zionist counter-demonstration, together with their friends in the EDL, we were able to provide a new pole of attraction.

The result was a lively demonstration outside Ahava and the disruption to their trade resulted in fellow shop owners petitioning the owners of the site into not renewing Ahava’s lease. Result Ahava will experience what will soon be the lot of all Israelis – they will be withdrawing from someone else’s territory. The difference is that Israel, so far anyway, hasn’t laid claim to London as being part of the Promised Land!

And yesterday was another first marking the appearance of Greenstein Jnr, to wit one James Greenstein 9 to take over from, in the words of the Jewish Chronicle these days, the ‘veteran anti-Zionist Tony Greenstein’. And a good time was had by all. Hoffman was his usually self, no sense of humour especially in the wake of his demotion by the Zionist Federation to a newly created sinecure – Hon. Co-Vice Chair! Clearly his record of attracting libel suits and adverse decisions has effected his otherwise brilliant career progression within the Zionist movement.

The Zionists, being natural born liars, told the Police I was on bail and there were restrictions therefore on me entering Monmouth Street. Next time they pull this stunt I shall ask the fuzz to arrest them for wasting police time! Bruce, our Jewish American comrade, is on bail for having one night given Ahava a fresh coat of paint. Unfortunately he didn’t ask the shop’s permission beforehand though, given the graffitti attacks on it previously, we are sure he would have obtained the necessary permission. Hence he had to stay on the other side of a line at the entrance to Ahava.

Other regulars included Michael Shanahan, almost a fixture at the picket since the beginning with a subtle but humorous approach to the Hoffman. Seymour Alexander shot the video below where you will see my son holding the Palestinian flag.

The main chant of Hoffman was that we were ‘cultural terrorists’ though they were hard put to explain why disrupting Soviet artists like the Bolshoi Ballet in the 1970’s and 1980’s was acceptable but enhancing the performance of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra was ‘terrorism’. No doubt a better logician than me can explain it all.

Tony Greenstein