Michigan Republicans have been looking to cream Carl Levin for decades, but an anti-Israeli anti-war activist managed to do so today-
A woman identified as an anti-war protester hit U.S. Sen. Carl Levin in the face with an apple pie during the Armed Services Committee chairman's meeting with constituents in northern Michigan, authorities said Monday.
The senator took a question near the end of the Monday morning meeting in Big Rapids from a man who said he was a student, Levin's office said in a news release. The man read a long statement, then a woman came up and hit Levin with a pie.
Big Rapids police arrested Ahlam M. Mohsen, 22, of Coldwater on a felony charge of stalking, as well as misdemeanor counts of assault and disorderly conduct. She has no listed telephone number in Coldwater.
Mohsen told the Big Rapids Pioneer she hoped "to send a message that liberals and Democrats are just as implicated in the violence (of war) as the Republicans."
Levin is both a down-the-line liberal and a nice guy, which makes it hard to beat him on ideology when be puts on that avuncular $10000-toilet-seat-hunter persona.
Mohsen was one of three protesters arrested in January 2009 after a sit-in at Levin's office in Lansing, according to Michigan State University's campus newspaper. She told the newspaper then that the group wanted the United States to begin cutting military and other support to Israel and call for an investigation of Israeli war crimes.
She's sending a scary message here, one that people on both sides of the aisle could bear listening to. Even great liberal icons line Levin are fair game for the anti-Israel left and it. The even scarier part is that the attacker has an Arab-sounding name and Levin is Jewish.
[Update 11:45PM-I had a Google hit looking for Ms. Mohsen's nationality. The name seems to be an Arab one from a quick look for references to the name, but she could be Arab-American, being young and from a small town in southern Michigan. A doctor's daughter, perhaps? Or a convenience-store owner's girl?]
By the way, the AP piece has the pieing done in Meekest County; not quite, it's Mecosta County, which should ring a bell for literate conservatives as Russel Kirk's home turf.
Actually, I think the real, bottom-line problem is when we turn complicated issues into "A is always wrong and B is always right". Speak out on an atrocity committed by Hamas, and one is "anti Palestinian". Speak out on an atrocity committed by Israel and one is "anti Israel".
Atrocities are always atrocities, no matter who does them. Killing people is always wrong. Stealing is always wrong. Denying individuals their liberty is always wrong. Doesn't matter who does it.
Posted by: PamBG | August 17, 2010 at 07:18 AM
Pam...anti-Israel might be a bit strong. Militantly pro-Palestinian might be a fairer description, at least militant enough to attack one of the opposition in a non-damaging manner.
However, a lot of the pro-Palestinian groups are anti-Israel in that they would prefer Israel not exist. For instance, Hamas is literally anti-Israel, vowed to destroy it as an entity; it's in their charter.
I can't tell if our young lady here would go to that extent, but I wouldn't be surprised.
Posted by: Mark Byron | August 17, 2010 at 01:23 PM