Friday, December 11, 2009

Anti-Israel Group Charges Glide Memorial Church with Racism

In a staggering show of hubris, ignorance and stupidity, the leader of a local anti-Israel group has apparently used the "r" word against a San Francisco church revered for its work with the poor and the homeless. Glide Memorial Church, located in the notorious Tenderloin district of San Francisco, was founded by the Rev. Cecil Williams . The Wikipedia entry for the Rev. Williams notes that "Under his leadership, Glide Memorial has become a 10,000-member congregation of all races, ages, genders, ethnicities, sexual orientations, and religions. It is the largest provider of social services in the city, serving over three thousand meals a day, providing AIDS/HIV screenings, offering adult education programs, and giving assistance to women dealing with homelessness, domestic violence, substance abuse, and mental health issues."
So what could lead the local coordinator for the so-called "Free Gaza March" to charge Glide with racism? Apparently the sin of not allowing this pro-Hamas event to hold a "memorial service" for the Palestinian casualties of Operation Cast Lead. Of course, this event would memorialize not only the unfortunate civilians used by Hamas as human shields, but also the "brave resistance fighters" that launched rockets from schools and apartment buildings, thereby placing the civilian population at risk. And of course this event would continue to spread lies about Israel in the service of their agenda that insists of the elimination of the only Jewish state and its replacement by a 23rd Arab state.


Fortunately, when Rev. Williams heard about this, he cancelled Glide's participation immediately. This was, to put it mildly, not taken well by the organizers. According to this post on IndyBay , (the agitprop website for our local radical extremists), one of their leaders responded as follows:

"Dear all,

I deeply regret to inform you that Glide Memorial is no longer willing to host the event on the 27th at their Church, because of Jewish constituency complaining to Cecil Williams! We need to go back to Plan A with everything at Union Square. I will update all the promotional material and Inshallah have it to you tomorrow.


Noura

In the meantime, please contact me and let me know if you
are a member of their Church. We are figuring out if/how to
best move forward collectively, and deal with this overt
racism and general disregard for Palestinian life."


Yep: "overt racism". This from someone who supports the concept that there cannot be justice as long as the Jewish people have national self-determination. This from someone who supports an organization whose charter uses classic anti-Semitic tropes, and calls for the elimination of the Jewish people worldwide. This from someone who supports a group that is turning Gaza into a Taliban-style Islamic regime under Sharia law. And this directed against a church and its leader who are both genuine civic institutions in San Francisco-- because of their work against racism, homophobia, and poverty.

The "genuine disregard for Palestinian life" is what Hamas was doing when it turned the entire civilian population into human shields as it launched thousands of rockets into southern Israel. The "genuine disregard for Palestinian life" is what their so-called supporters do when they insist that every last Palestinian be sacrificed to their goal of eliminating Israel, when they insist that the only "peace" is the destruction of Israel, rather than working towards peace with Israel. It's the same "genuine disregard for Palestinian life" that insisted that the Palestinians must be permanently locked up in refugee camps and kept on welfare--forever.

Noura's e-mail is right2return@gmail.com.








4 comments:

  1. Well stated, thanks for posting this.

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  2. Are you referring to Noura Khouri from the American Friends Service Committtee?
    (AFSC)

    This Noura Khouri?

    "Rabbi Lynn Gottlieb and Noura Khouri are working at the forefront of the pro-peace, pro-justice movement in the U.S. Khouri and Gottlieb, colleagues at the American Friends Service Committee office in San Francisco, have teamed together as an American Jew and a Palestinian-American to educate and advocate for peace and justice in the Middle East. .... Their interfaith work in the Bay area has included organizing Congressional advocacy visits, media campaigns, vigils, fasts, speaking tours, divestment efforts, and delegations to the Middle East. "

    Its hard to imagine that someone involved with social justice in the Bay Area could be so unfamiliar with the work of Rev. Cecil Williams that they could accuse him of racism. The man is as close to a saint as we have locally.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Charge in racism, especially when its become such a dim concept, is very convenient cover for infringement of the human rights

    ReplyDelete
  4. Rev. Williams is a true Christian, and as a Christian he rejected the anti-peace message of the Palestinian group. Personally, I am proud of him. He has always been known for taking controversial stands

    ReplyDelete