So much for the big protests. There were only a handful of disruptive incidents and those were handled, I thought, quickly and fairly by the Georgetown University staff and security who had, undoutably, the crummiest job of the day.

In the opening panel session the ‘head’ of the international Jewish Defense League began to ask a question and then, basically, freaked out and started screaming “You’re a liar!” at a sick lady. He was asked to stop screaming and allowed to stay until a little while later when he started screaming again. Initially, he did not use the microphone to ask his question because it was the Sabbath. Fair enough. So I guess the JDL feels that to use a microphone on the Sabbath is a sin against God, but to scream like a crazy man at a sick woman is a mitzvah.

Jesus. For those Jews who feel dirty after reading this, go read something radical and feel cleaner.

Two other guys were asked to leave, one refused and was sort of carried/scooted out. Will Youmans, the panel moderator, appealed for him to be treated gently by the campus police. A mentsch. Visit KabobFest for a summary of the panel speakers from Will.

The ISM session went pretty well with ome good questions and a few attempts at disruption by a couple of well-known trouble-makers, one of whom used a fake accent to play Israeli. (He was at last years PSM conference and apparently sounded like he was from Scotland.) The unversity had observers in every session to monitor disruptions and they helped shut that stuff down.

The weird highlight of the day was my encounter with Rachel Fish, the Director of Campus Strategy for The David Project. Rachel and I were two members of a three-person Jewish Sunday school class way back in the day. She was a central figure behind the “Colombia Unbecoming” video that took aim at Dr. Joseph Massad. I noted that it was strange how we had gone in very different directions, but she played off what she does until I actually mentioned the David Project. Later, she came to a session on technology and activism. We all went around and introduced ourselves and gave our organization affiliation. She didn’t mention her job at the David Project and then avoided looking at me. A few minutes later she left. Weird. Especially after she had just told me earlier that she thought truth on campus was very important. Apparantly not if it blows her cover.

Ali Abunimeh and Mohammed Abed’s sessions were a highlight of the day as was Ali’s keynote address. He traced to development of the South African apartheid regime and the divestment campaign waged against. He contrasted it with the Israeli occupation of Palestine and was very moving. (As a side note, this was the second time that all four founders of Electronic Intifada were in the same room together.)

The cultural events at night were great, but I’m exhausted. So far, a pretty good conference.