The Loathsome Paul Larudee
“This is something small I can do to make life under occupation just a little more bearable for people, so I do it.”Paul Larudee, Ph.D, a 60-year-old piano tuner from El Cerrito, California travels with the tools of his trade and had twenty piano-tuning engagements scheduled around the occupied West Bank.
However, when he got off the plane in Tel Aviv Sunday night, Israeli authorities pulled him from the line, interrogated him about his political beliefs, not about his ability to tune pianos, and took him to an immigration detention center at Ben Gurion Airport. They intend to put him back on a plane today.
His family and friends are concerned for his health while he’s in detention, since he is diabetic and has specific dietary and medical needs.
Although never arrested or detained in the past, Israeli authorities have now decided to deport him based on his outspoken support for the work of the International Solidarity Movement (ISM) and the Palestinians’ right to nonviolently resist occupation.Israeli attorney Gabi Lasky stated: “The policy of blacklisting a nonviolent peace activist as persona-non-grata, then denying them access to the Occupied Territories because of their nonviolent activities raises questions regarding Israel’s intentions to resolve the conflict through dialogue and nonviolent means.”
Listen to Paul LaRudee, the Northern California head of the ISM….Explained LaRudee:We believe in the application of international law. Although we are totally dedicated to nonviolence, we recognize not everyone in the Palestinian community is dedicated to nonviolence and under international law we recognize that violence is necessary and it is permissible for oppressed and occupied people to use armed resistance and we recognize their right to do so.
Even the leftist Jewish site Tikkun issued this qualification before publishing a piece by Larudee:
In this case, we present Paul Larudee’s screed against Israel piece that we find extremely unsympathetic to the situation of the Jewish people in Israel.
“Palestinian society is as diverse in attitudes about gender and sexuality as is U.S. society.”
Update: The Jerusalem Post have additional information about Larudee:
But according to security officials, Larudee’s name appears on a Shin Bet (Israeli Security Agency)-compiled list of foreign far-left activists suspected of involvement in dangerous anti-Israel activity. The Ministry of Interior is responsible for ensuring that the suspect is not allowed into Israel.Security officials said that Larudee was one of the ISM’s top leaders and was behind anti-Israel activity during IDF operations in the territories during the height of the Intifada between 2002 and 2004. Officials said that he was once found in the home of a suicide bomber and that he participated in a violent anti-Israel demonstration.
“This person is a danger to the state,” one official said. “He is one of the ISM leaders, was in the past involved in anti-Israel activity and therefore will not be allowed to stay in the country.”
“[Larudee] has been here four times before and has never been arrested. He has never done anything illegal,” continued Golan, adding that the activist, who is a piano tuner by trade, was here to tune more than 40 pianos in the Palestinian Authority areas, said Golan.
Filed Under: General
About the Author: An Australian immigrant to Israel, Aussie Dave has been blogging since early 2003.
I’m so glad you posted this- those PMS’ers- er, ISM’ers (common mistake) are a loathsome bunch- lying is a prerequisite for their terrorist-loving cult.
“then denying them access to the Occupied Territories because of their nonviolent activities”
Nonviolent activities? Like attacking soldiers, which is why another of those *@&^s is currently in an Israeli prison? I’ll bet this guy was planning to whack some of our brave men with his piano-tuning tools before helping a few terrorists strap on their bomb belts.
Sorry to rant on and on, but these people make me sick. So many worthy causes in this world, so many people who deserve help, and these clueless idiots choose to aid and abet terrorists.
why do you suppose these people are so passionate about palestoonians? hmmmm…wonder why they’re not protesting against Tibet, Chechnya, Northern Ireland, Sudan, etc. etc. etc. etc. could it be because Israelis are Joooos?
have you ever spoken to Paul Larudee?
taken the time to ask him on his beliefs and question what your told rather than swallowing it blindly because of your faith, ethnicity or nationality….
think about that after you get all mad as i know you will
because that’s what you were taught…
So your contention is that one needs to speak to someone personally in order to garner an opinion on their views and beliefs?
Very interesting, especially considering your erroneous assumption that I was taught to believe in a certain way.
Some of us think about things, Mr Anon. Try it sometime.
Aussie Dave,
Paul larudee is a good friend of mine and, for the record, of many of my progressive Jewish friends here in the Bay Area. I’m sure they would be happy to step forward in support of Paul if that would add some light to the subject, although I suspect you wouldn’t be open to what they have to say anyway.
Paul’s agenda with regard to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is simply to see that all parties abide by international and humanitarian law, as embodied in documents such as the UN Charter and the Fourth Geneva Convention, to which both Israel and the US are signatories. If you had ever troubled yourself to actually visit the Occupied Territories and experienced the oppression, even horrors, of living under occupation for over 3 generations, you might actually experience a transformation, much like that of Anna Balzer. Anna, as you probably know, was once an unabashed Zionist who decided to debunk all of what she had heard of the oppression of Palestinians by visiting the Territories herself and exposing all these anti-Semitic ‘lies’. Lo and behold, she found them to be true ! Now she travels the country as a tireless champion for justice and security for both peoples, often enduring angry, and even threatening, outcries from those lacking the wisdom and courage to seek the truth about the conflict.
So, what about you, Aussie Dave ? Are you willing to actually study the recorded history of the conflict, even if it conflicts with narrative to which you were most likely exposed from childhood ? Are you willing to listen to the voices of those living under occupation, even if it might seriously challenge your belief system ? Do you have the wisdom and courage to do so, it will be difficult at first for you. But, in the end, you will be free to see and speak the truth.
And, most importantly for me, you will learn to appreciate, rather than demonize, good people like Paul Larudee.
Gene St. Onge, speaking of Occupied Territories, are you not bothered by your occupation of Native American land?
Anyone who is not Native American (that’s Europeans, Africans, Asians), living in North America, are occupiers.
If you are not a Native American, when will you be ending your occupation and leaving North America?
Which country will you emmigrate to?
When did you last endure the horrors of long security checkpoints at an airport, infact at airports all over the world, checkpoints to filter out islamofascist hijackers such as those who have been celebrated by the Finsbury Park mosque in London, as “The Magnificent 19″ of 9/11?
[...] Larudee – Infamous ISM tool who is on record as supporting palestinian terrorism and is proud of the fact that he once slept in the bed of a suicide bomber. Sphere: Related [...]
ruoy rehtom si a tnuc
The blatant perpetuation of the same ignorant narrative is disgusting & tiresome. The comparison of the illegal occupation of Palestine to the U.S. conquering of indigenous peoples in North America is ridiculous.
Perhaps if it were two hundred years ago, the white Europeans conquest could have been defeated. Simply bc that injustice was allowed to stand does not give the green light for further occupation.
Palestine was not “a land without people” for “a people without a land”.
Anonymous Says:
June 8th, 2006 at 11:09 am
…Northern Ireland! It doesn’t belong in your list.
Keep this moron out of Israel. If he desperately wants to go to Gaza, let him take a swim from Egypt and see the land that way. We all do not need this rabble rouser leftist do gooder.
I’ve heard Paul Larudee speak many times- he is a chameleon who changes his message based on his perception of the audience. Clearly he didn’t think there were “Zionists” in the audience last week when he claimed in a local church that Israel treats Gaza “this way” because Gaza isn’t Jewish.
No, Paul, its because Hamas considers Jews the sons of apes and pigs and has vowed to destroy Israel. Its because over 8,000 rockets have been launched at Southern Israel SINCE disengagement.
Yes, Paul is loathsome, and I say that from a position of knowledge.
Unfortunately, Paul Larudee has been my neighbor for over 20 years. He lives with wife Betty @ 405 Vista Heights Rd, El Cerrito, CA 94530.
He has been hassling me for years. He's called me up on my unlisted number. His son once knocked on my door to physically threaten me. His wife rang my doorbell, too, pleading that Israel was killing Arabs. He once encouraged his crappy little dog to snap at my heels — what a pathetic joke. His wife, Betty, sits every day and night in her bathrobe on her deck, chain smoking, yelling into the phone in Arabic, even lying to the police that she is "dying."
Paul is a loser. He is an unemployed wino – I have smelled wine on his breath in the middle of the day. He hardly ever tunes pianos; his piano tuning minivan hardly ever leaves home; and it barely runs. He has no visible means of support. Apparently, he has conned some fellow Arabs and anti-semites into giving him money.
Maybe George Soros credits his bank account now and then.
Follow the money.
p.s. This is a thread from 2006. Die, thread, die!