It’s nice to hear what things looked like from the sane side of the street. It’s not a very long article so I tried not to borrow too much, but I felt the neo-Nazi recruiting aspect was important. It’s heartening to know that some of the protesters defected after seeing the hatred coming from Ritzheimer’s group. BTW, the Marty being referred to is the author’s husband.

I can only imagine how horrifying it must have been for Jews to see some creep running around with an SS symbol on his shirt.

These are the people Pamela Geller & her hateful cohorts inspire.

My husband heard about the protest and asked me if we could counter-protest. After discussing the pros (defending another minority group’s right to worship without fear, creating a little bit of peace in the world) and the cons (violating Shabbat by driving from Tucson), we decided to go. […]

Soon after, Marty, who had been wandering our side of the street, came to check on me. He reported that he had seen a neo-Nazi wearing a T-shirt with an SS symbol on the other side of the street. Another counter-protester said he’d seen that the neo-Nazis had been invited and were instructed not to come in identifiable clothing because they wanted to use the protest as a recruiting event. At this point, many of the people who were on the other side of the street just to support “First Amendment rights” crossed the street and joined our side, due to the hatred they were seeing displayed by the original protesters. […]

More: Supporting Worshippers at Phoenix Mosque, Local Jews Met With Gratitude

H/T to @rabiasquared, who retweeted the story:

Supporting worshippers at Phoenix mosque, local Jews met with gratitude http://t.co/LWd4uDch0A

— SheikhDoha Ujjal (@SheikhDoha) June 12, 2015