Israel Denounced For Not Providing Food At If Not Now Shiva For Terrorist

“It’s of a piece with the Gaza siege.”

New York, November 18 – A progressive group condemned the Jewish State today for neglecting to arrange catering at a mourning ritual for a man who died during an attempt last week to kill Jews.

If Not Now launched a Shiva, a seven-day Jewish observance following a burial, in honor of Sayed Halabi, a Hamas member who met his demise while trying to run down Israeli pedestrians. Police shot Halabi in the chest when he accelerated toward them; he died at the scene. Following the release of his body and a boisterous funeral in his hometown of Yata, near Hebron, activists from the leftist group announced they will hold a Shiva in solidarity. The established practice of Shiva involves community members, neighbors, or extended family bringing meals to the mourners, to spare the latter the need to prepare same and enable them to focus on grief and memories of the departed.

A more affluent milieu in recent decades has given rise to commercially-provided fare, more so among less-traditional Jews and the less-affiliated – If Not Now’s chief demographic. the trend has given rise to an expectation that Shiva participants will have available plentiful and well-presented dishes or platters, at someone else’s expense. As with every other issue, the lack of such fare at the Halabi Shiva here in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn prompted If Not Now activists to assign blame to Israel, and they demanded international pressure on the Jewish State to remedy what one participant called a “galling” example of Israel’s dismissive attitude toward Palestinian suffering.

“It’s just the latest in a long, long litany of offenses,” stated Chester Pogolowitz, 22. “Zionists have been depriving Palestinians of everything Palestinians rightfully deserve for more than hundred years at this point, so I don’t know why anyone is surprised. that doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt every time it happens. And damn it, I was looking forward to a nice bagel platter or deli spread, of the kind one normally sees at these events. It’s of a piece with the Gaza siege, shooting unarmed protesters, organ harvesting, and razing ancient villages to make room for some Jewish settler’ kid’s backyard trampoline.”

Some of the eight attendees voiced a deeper frustration. “Even if the fascist Zionists had sent some food, I doubt it would be vegan-friendly,” insisted Claire Dupont, 19. “It’s cruelty on multiple levels, just like the suppression of indigenous culture that they perpetrate by making honor killings illegal.”

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