<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; "><div><img height="1028" width="771" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" id="a8ad7229-ec43-4454-9505-bb718906e08b" src="cid:0ACA4DB0-529B-4365-8544-18D355E961D4@hsd1.il.comcast.net."><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">IMG_0081 When in the French-Brittany town Quimper, population 120,000, I came upon and joined a march to protest the Israeli actions against the flotilla trying to get to Gaza. Probably a couple hundred persons march to the prefecture and demanded an audience there. They were received. If only we could marshall such a crowd from our even larger U-C population. </font></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></font><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br><img height="579" width="771" apple-width="yes" apple-height="yes" id="fe128553-de5e-416b-a3a7-0ec87872a86a" src="cid:32F8C1E8-ACFF-445B-9B1A-044EE85F18D5@hsd1.il.comcast.net."><br></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">IMG_0083. French, Turks, Palestinians giving me a guided visit through the town of Quimper.</font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">On French TV from the National Assembly, expressions of strong condemnation of Israel and demands that the blockade be lifted, were voiced, in marked contrast to what was heard in the U.S. House and Senate. </font></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>Later on in my travels, in the smaller town of Vannes, I was impressed to see a similar demonstration</font><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">One may rightly ask whether these outpourings of outrage did any good at a governmental level. My guess is that the French government took them into account, but did nothing openly; however, behind the scenes it may have contributed to the subsequent defensive responses of the Israelis. </span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; ">--mkb</span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 12px; "><br></span></div><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><br></font></div><p style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; min-height: 14.0px"><font face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></font><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></p><div style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; font: normal normal normal 12px/normal Helvetica; min-height: 14px; "><br></div> </div></body></html>