Occupy Wall Street Protests: Anti-Jewish/Anti-Israel — or Not?
Crowds participate in the Occupy Wall Street campaign
The ADL reports the tenor of the Occupy Wall Street protests is unclear — noting some commentators describe attending numerous benign gatherings, free of anti-Semitism, while others cite the rabid anti-Jewish ravings seen on the internet.
Whether anti-Jewish rhetoric is on the fringe or more commonplace, it’s clear publicity about the presence of bigots raises concern — including with certain extreme left, anti-Israel elements among OWS advocates.
An interview with anti-Israel radical Arun Gupta on the RT network (Russian Television) illustrates the effort to dispel any stigma of anti-Semitism. Gupta, who contributed, for instance, to a volume of anti-Israel essays about the 2010 effort to land a flotilla in Gaza (Midnight on the Mavi Marmara) along with Noam Chomsky, Rashid Khalidi and Norman Finkelstein, among others, understands crude attacks on Jews are repugnant to most Americans, including, needless to say, Jewish Americans,some of whom might be active with OWS.
Gupta ducked discussion of one troublesome matter — reports the far-left, anti-Israel Adbusters magazine was an originator of the anti-Wall Street effort. Adbuster editor Kalle Lasen publishes a lot of crude material, some of it anti-Jewish and a lot of it anti-Israel, including an article comparing Gaza and the Warsaw Ghetto and various others.
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