Hate Crimes: July 2006 Archives

This from Israel - a “friend” to the United States. Gee, I can’t wait to visit Israel.

So let me get this straight... Israel wants to kill gays with Molotov cocktails. Iran wants to kill gays by hanging them. It seems to me that the countries are one in the same when it comes to the value of life and human rights.

In protest of the 2006 WorldPride Parade, scheduled to take place in Jerusalem on August 10, hundreds of letters, advocating “death to Sodomites”, were distributed to Jerusalem mailboxes on Tuesday morning. They promised NIS 20,000 to “anyone who brings about the death of one of the residents of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

The letter appeals to residents of the capital: “don’t let them teach our children their impure ways.”

The anonymous letter also suggests using Molotov cocktails against marchers and adds instructions as to how to make them at home. The explosives are nicknamed “Shliesel Special”, in honor of the Haredi protester who disrupted the Jerusalem Pride Parade last year by stabbing three marchers. (source)

But then this came out....

However, Haredi sources said that the Red Arm for Salvation’s leaflet was nothing to do with them, and that the people on the list were nothing to do with the Haredi community. The leaflet was apparently a “teenage prank”. (source)

So who knows? Maybe it was a prank. On the other hand, there’s no telling if this was really a prank or not. The fact of the matter is, someone came up with the idea in the first place. The only thing it takes to turn a prank into a hate crime or murder is a bit of prejudice, along with a government that will do nothing about it.