Occupy LA Reply to ADL on Anti Semitic remarks at OLA
Bold emphasis added by RWC
Reply to ADL
Submitted by occupationblog on Thu, 10/20/2011 - 11:54am
From the Daily Breeze:
“Superintendent (John) Deasy and the school district took a clear and firm stand against anti-Semitism by clearly and unequivocally condemning (Patricia) McAllister’s remarks,” said Amanda Susskind, the Anti-Defamation League’s Los Angeles regional director.
“We welcome his statement and we hope that others more directly affiliated with the Occupy Wall Street and Occupy LA movements will make similar efforts to denounce any expressions of anti-Semitism during the protests. Regardless of how fringe these statements may seem, they have found a large audience on the Internet, and should be denounced as loudly as possible as unacceptable expressions of anti-Semitism.”
At the site of an Occupy LA protest, McAllister told an interviewer from the website reason.tv last Wednesday, “I think that the Zionist Jews who are running these big banks and our Federal Reserve, which is not run by the federal government — they need to be run out of this country.”
In reply to the Anti Defamation League request, it should be said that rumors have circulated about anti–Semitic remarks, but so far none have been verified. This episode involving Ms. Mc Allister illustrates a problem inherent to this sort of gathering. Anyone can say anything they want to anyone they want to. It is up to the news organizations that solicit these remarks to keep in mind that there are people who say these things with the intention of misrepresenting the Occupation Movement in general and Occupy Los Angeles in specific (which has an on-site Jewish Temple). I suspect they are aware of that already.
It is unfortunate when these people find someone with a camera or a microphone that is willing to help them misrepresent the larger group. The concern by the ADL is legitimate, but Ms. Mc Allister in no way reflects the thinking of anyone I’ve spoken to since the beginning of this experiment in direct democracy. If someone with similar views makes themselves known, they will be asked to find another venue.
If there are people who have used the Occupation Movement as a vehicle to make inappropriate remarks elsewhere, especially over the Internet, we can only denounce them and their message. Consider this a formal denouncement.
Your reply and any further comments you would like to make are welcome here. The link below is a must-read for anyone who would like to learn more about this subject:
