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January 07, 2009

Disgusting

A woman protester at a pro-Palestinian rally in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida shouted "Go back to the oven" at participants in a smaller pro-Israeli counter-protest across the street.

"She does not represent the opinions of the vast majority of people who were there," said Emmanuel Lopez, who helped plan the event, one of many sponsored nationwide on Dec. 30 by the ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism ) Coalition.

Lopez, a state coordinator for ANSWER, admitted there is a problem with anti-Semitism within his organization's ranks. But then he went on to call the supporters of Israel across the street "barbaric, racist" Zionist terrorists.

Both accusations are, in my considered opinion, true for far too many on both sides. Not for most. But that doesn't excuse the sheep on both sides who turn a blind eye to the racism on their own side.

I understand that this is a very highly emotionally-charged issue for many on both sides. And I'd like to believe that many of them will say things in the heat-of-the-moment that they would probably freely express regret over after the emotions have been spent and cooler heads have prevailed. But that's only believable up to a certain point, IMHO. Suggesting that genocide ought to be committed against members of either ethnic group goes way, way, way beyond that line.

Anyway, I just wanted to aknowledge this incident - having first read about it a few minutes ago - because I've been pretty unremitting in my criticism of the pro-Israeli side and the fact is that there are bad actors on both sides and that absolutely does need to be articulated and aknowledged in a very public way.

Posted by Kevin at January 7, 2009 08:42 PM