Accounts of the Zelig Krymko Event
by Thomas
Free_Palestine_Now@hotmail.com

     I don’t even know where to begin this piece, I am still shocked and angry a day after one of the most racist and hate filled speakers I have ever seen spoke on our campus. Zelig Krymko, a youth organizer for the ZOA (Zionist Organization of America) and a member of "True Peace" came to speak at a Pro-Israel event sponsored by Hillel at VCU and Supporters of a Safe Israel. The room in which the speaker spoke was lightly populated with only about 30 people stopping in to see the event. Of those 30, 14 were activists from Free Palestine Now! who had researched the past of Zelig Krymko and were deeply concerned with some of the racist and violent quotes from him that we found. We were, however in no way prepared for the horrors of the night ahead. In addition to the 14 Free Palestine Now! members 4 or 5 of the rest of the audience were clearly Pro-Palestinian. The event started with a lecture by Krymko on the history of the "holy land" according to scripture and vague attempts to justify his saying that "God gave the Holy Land to the Jews, and no one else has the right to live there" He also made vague references to the coming war in Iraq as the signal for Armageddon and the coming of the messiah. He vocalized vague interpretations of religious texts that said "There will arise in Basra (Iraq) a King who will challenge a superpower, be defeated then threaten to destroy the whole world bringing it again into confrontation with a superpower leading to the rise of the messiah and Armageddon". After some more maps and a movie of Israel’s victories over Arab countries in 1948 and 1967 he opened the floor up to questions and answers, at which point his racism and hatred was truly shown.
     He demanded that the audience members asking their questions stop referring to the Palestinians as Palestinians, and instead "call them ruthless Arab occupiers of Jewish land" we of course refused. A Jewish member of Free Palestine Now asked the first question! and instead of answering the question (on the plight of the Palestinian people under Israeli military occupation) he attacked Jewish member of FPN quizzing him on Jewish scripture, then saying he was not really Jewish because of his inability to answer various questions about Judaism. The Jewish member of Free Palestine Now! took understandable offense to this attack and the room became heated. Krymko eventually answered the question, but in doing so nearly started a riot. He said that all Palestinians (or as he called the, Arab occupiers) who did not accept complete Israeli control over all of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem "should be put on busses and expelled from their lands" This open and cold-blooded espousal of transfer and ethnic cleansing shocked and horrified the audience. One older man yelled a question asking Krymko if he proposed tattooing serial numbers on their forearms as well. At this point most of the room was in an uproar about such blatant racist speech and Krymko responded with an even more sick suggestion. He said to achieve peace "We should Kill Yassir Arafat, may his name be erased, and 30,000 PLO members" This callous disregard for human life still angers me as I write this piece. Krymko did not even bat an eye or show any conscious as he repeated his wish to murder 30,000 Palestinians. At this point two African-American women justifiably stood up and demanded that Krymko and Hillel stop perverting the name of Martin Luther King Jr by putting his quote on fliers advertising the event. The were, as were the rest of us, horrified that the words of Martin Luther King Jr. the great crusader for human and civil rights, were being used to promote an event which the speaker openly talked about murdering 30,000 of his fellow men, and putting thousands of people on buses and expelling them from their homes and lands. Krymko responded by accusing the women of not knowing Martin Luther King Jr. very well (Even though one of the women was a researcher at the MLK center) The women taken back by the offensiveness of these comments left the room in protest with final warnings against using the words of Martin Luther King Jr. on any more pro-Israel events on campus. As the two women left the atmosphere in the room became more and more intense as many of the audience members, shocked by the open displays of racism and hate began to yell at the speaker. Many stormed out in protest of the racism being espoused in the room.
     With many of the audience leaving the room in disgust Krymko began to personally attack the members of the audience left that were still trying to ask questions. A Pro-Palestinian Iranian girl was told by Krymko that "If she went to Iran she would be raped and killed" at which point she informed him that she had been to Iran many times, and he said that he had never been there. There were more heated exchanges, but by this time most of the people in attendance had left in disgust, myself being one of them.
     Sick and disgusting are the two words that spring to my mind when i recall the speaker of the other night. I am deeply appalled that such hate speech was brought to my University. In terms of contrast i would like to say the following. It is events like these, and racist speaker like Zelig Krymko that perpetuate the hate and killing in Palestine. Krymko believes that he can achieve peace by murdering 30,000 people and deporting everyone who doesn’t accept Israeli hegemony over the Middle East. Contrast this to the events in which Free Palestine Now! has put on over the past year. Of our 4 main speakers (including the upcoming March 5th event) 2 have been Jewish. All have included proposals in which to stop the killing of ALL peoples in Palestine and Israel, and not one of them has even said a single word about wanting to kill anyone. All of them have spoken about Palestinian human rights, Palestinian-Israeli peace initiatives, and a way in which to fight Israeli terror through non-violent tactics. I cannot point to a plainer example of the fact that Israel does not want peace. They want to ethnically cleanse Palestine and colonize it with Israeli citizens. I can only say: I am deeply disappointed and sickened with Hillel at VCU for bringing yet another sick racist speaker to campus, and I am completely horrified that anyone can speak coldly and calmly about murdering 30,000 people of any race, religion, or nationality.