Isru Chag ?

Isru Chag is a Hebrew phrase for the day after a Jewish Holiday, when, because we love the holiday so much, we still try to keep some of the flavour of the holiday around.

Well today is the day after Shushan Purim, and it seems someone is keeping the Purim spirit alive.

According to a story in today's Jerusalem Post (now copied around the world and referenced in at least 49 other web sites - according to Google):

The fifth annual Israel Apartheid Week, which ended on Sunday, was a more
popular, better attended, and more aggressive series of anti-Israel rallies
and lectures than ever before.

"Forty-four international cities held IAW events, which is twice as much as last year, and in Toronto thousands of people attended events. Almost every building was filled to maximum capacity," Golda Shahidi, spokeswoman for Students Against Israel Apartheid, told The Jerusalem Post by phone from Toronto on Wednesday.

Golda Shahidi !!

This name is too good to be true: Golda - as in Golda Meir; Shahidi - as in Arabic for martyr.

I googled "Golda Shahidi" and came up with 49 hits all of which reference the Jerusalem Post story. If this person does exist, there is no record of them on the web prior to this: highly unlikely for a student activist.

More likely someone was pulling the JP's leg.

The article goes on to bemoan the violence (sic) and lack of civility around Israel Apartheid Week. What its doesn't point out is that the photo accompanying the article (see above) was credited to Shira Gilboord/Hasbara. "Hasbara" is a Jewish student organization at York University that was temporarily banned - precisely for intimidation and lack of civility in its own protesting against Israel Apartheid Week.

A lesson to the wise: Don't believe everything you read in the newspaper.