Israel Display Flag

Animal entrails left near display of an Israeli flag

Next to the American flag at the Valero gas station in May's Lick is a shorter pole bearing a white flag with a blue emblem: the Israeli flag.

One of the owners of the gas station, Mark Myers decided to erect the flag to express his opinion on the current status of Israel, what it means to America and what America should mean for the country.

Friday morning, two days after the flag was hung, a small pile of animal entrails appeared to have been placed in the grass near the flag. Myers now wonders whether someone could have been protesting his decision to display the Israeli flag.

"This was placed," Myers said as he stood next to the remains of the animal. "There's no blood whatsoever. It looks like it's just been put there."

No blood, no bones, no evidence of a carcass anywhere near the pile makes Myers especially suspicious of how the remains ended up on the property. There's not even a tuft of hair that would show an animal had died anywhere in the vicinity. And as Myers, an avid outdoorsman and hunter knows, dogs, coyotes and similar animals tend to eat the insides of an animal and leave the rest of the carcass -- not the other way around.

Additionally, the remains, which appeared to include heart and intestines as well as other organs, were in a pile, not strung out as if an animal had carried them.

Myers has owned the gas station with his wife, Thuy Tang since March. He decided to display the Israeli flag after reading an article recently about President Barack Obama's remarks that the prevailing borders before the 1967 Arab-Israeli war should be re-adopted.

Myers cited scripture that indicates those who bless Israel, God will bless. He also noted that Israel has been an important ally for the U.S.

"I think we should defend them, life, liberty and limb," Myers said.

The flag is representative of Myers feelings regarding America and Israel.

Myers said he did not perceive the animal remains to be any kind of threat, but rather a protest against the display of the flag. He hopes the incident will not be repeated, but said he will not be deterred from displaying the flag.

"That flag will stay there as long as I'm here," he said.

Letter From a Naive Peace Activist to an Israeli Naval Officer ...

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But the naval officer asserted that these peace activists were naïve because “extremists will set the tone” if Israeli commandos board the ships. He also asserted that Israel needed to enforce the blockade indiscriminately to defend against weapons imports by future flotillas.

I’m sorry I wasn’t able to attend this press conference. I would like to ask some follow-up questions of my distinguished friend in the Israeli navy, who thinks me naïve.

If you concede that we are peace activists who are not carrying weapons, what exactly is the urgency to confront us with force? Why not just let us proceed to Gaza unmolested? Does it pass a “straight face test,” as Speaker Boehner might say, to claim that it will set a horrible international legal precedent binding the Israeli government if you were to let us pass unmolested to Gaza, having conceded that we are peace activists who are not carrying weapons?

If you are concerned that “extremists will set the tone” if Israeli commandos board the ships, isn’t it wholly within your power to prevent this outcome, by not ordering that Israeli commandos board the ships?

Furthermore, if you concede that we are peace activists, doesn’t that mean that you concede that we are not “extremists”? Peace activists aren’t “extremists,” are we?

If you concede that we are not “extremists,” and you are concerned that “extremists will set the tone,” doesn’t that argue against blocking our communications, or arresting us and holding us incommunicado, or confiscating our communications equipment, as happened to passengers on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla last year? Because if you silence us, you prevent us from speaking on our own behalf, thereby facilitating the outcome that you say you wish to avoid. Again, avoiding the outcome that “extremists will set the tone” is wholly within your power.

When I first visited Ramallah in 1986, I heard a story from Palestinians there that is quite relevant to the present impasse. As you will recall, at that time the display of the Palestinian flag was forbidden in the West Bank, by order of the Israeli military. A pattern was established: when Palestinian youths wanted to confront the soldiers of the occupation, they would hoist the Palestinian flag. Soldiers would come to disperse the demonstrators, the demonstrators would throw rocks at the soldiers, the soldiers would respond with weapons, often with live fire. Often demonstrators would be seriously injured or killed in these confrontations, provoking more demonstrations and more Israeli military crackdowns not only on demonstrators, but on the overall civilian population, with curfews, school closings, and so on.

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