Posted on 08/25/2006 10:10:56 AM PDT by veronica
'It's scary': Many worry such a rally could blur the line between freedom of speech and anti-Semitism
Members of Utah's Jewish community are alarmed by a proposed demonstration that will call for "Death to Israel."
A man - whose name wasn't available Thursday - has applied for a free-speech permit from Salt Lake City to demonstrate on sidewalks near City Hall on Wednesday. The city is reviewing the application.
City officials cannot constitutionally deny it based on the content of the message.
Laura Green, director of the United Jewish Federation of Utah, said Thursday that she has received dozens of calls about the planned demonstration. Many fear the rally could incite violence against Jews.
"Based on freedom of speech, people have the right to say what they want to say. There has to be a line between saying what you want to say and preaching the genocide of a population," Green said.
She hopes the city denies the permit, saying the police will be busy enough with the other five demonstrations planned for Wednesday to coincide with President Bush's visit to Utah.
The president will speak to the American Legion's 88th national convention at the Salt Palace on Thursday. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice are scheduled to speak on Tuesday.
"Our police force is going to be taxed to its limits," Green said.
But the police department has given its OK to the protest. Spokesman Joe Cyr said the group sponsoring the rally - listed as Center to Prevent Corporate Media Lying -has held demonstrations before. On average, about nine people show, he said. The permit application anticipates between nine and about 130 demonstrators.
"It's not like they're threatening to kill people," Cyr said. "They're just [expressing] their opinion." Shawn McDonough, the city's special-events-coordinator, couldn't confirm the group had demonstrated before. She expects to decide today whether to grant the permit.
The city would only release the e-mail address of the organizer, who couldn't be reached late Thursday.
State Rep. David Litvack isn't calling for the city to deny the permit, noting the city may not have a choice but to grant it.
But the Salt Lake City Democrat is concerned.
''To say something like 'Death to Israel' - I have a very hard time believing that this does not cross the line of being anti-Semitic. It's one thing to disagree with a country's policies . . . [it's another thing] to actually call for a destruction of a people, the destruction of a country.
''It's scary, as someone who is Jewish; it's threatening.''
But Litvack said the message doesn't violate the state's hate-crimes law, which he sponsored. The law addresses criminal, not civil, actions.
"Hate speech, as threatening as it is, as detestable as it is, as violent as it is, is protected as a constitutional right."
Mayor Rocky Anderson, who will speak at an anti-Bush rally on Wednesday, said he doesn't know if the city will grant the Death to Israel permit.
''Do I agree with that sort of hateful expression? I don't. It's so reminiscent of the 'Death to America' slogans that we hear around so much of the militant Muslim world,'' Anderson said.
Earlier this month, The Associated Press reported thousands of Iraqi Shiites chanted "Death to Israel" and "Death to America" in Baghdad to show support for Hezbollah militants fighting Israeli troops in Lebanon.
By being a socialist nutcase, Salt Lake's mayor has issued an open invitation for the loons to take over the city.
Nice, going, Rocky.
The answer to this kind of speech HAS to be more speech, not shutting down this one loon. To often we're on the receiving end of liberal double-speak, "in the interest of free speech, you can't talk because someone will be offended."
Let the loon talk, but speak louder, with more passion and make more sense, the people will get the messsage.
Warning! This is a high-volume ping list.
You can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater but you can scream "death to Israel" in a public street??? The entire topic of the "protest" is incitement and most definitely is a hate crime whatever the nincompoop politicians think.
Hopefully, Code Pink, ANSWER and the others of that ilk will show up at the rally and play prominent parts. I would like to see them explicitly associated with an anti-semitic group so the world sees what they try to conceal.
At least in Utah the vast majority of the dimocRATS are in Salt Lake.
Let the 9 loons put on their stupid sidewalk show. It's not like they're going to convert anybody. Now if only the media could be persuaded to ignore antics like this, instead of giving them 10s of millions of dollars worth of free publicity.
Devout Mormons tend to be pro Israel. I hope there are counterprotestors against these lefty wackos who hate America and Israel.
Utah is a Mormon state: why do they put up with these nutty leftists?
Nonsense. Shouting "Fire" in a crowded theater when there is no fire can lead to many deaths in the immediate aftermath of the outburst, as reasonable people respond to a plausibly true warning of great danger. Reasonable people respond to a little band of loons on the sidewalk shouting "Death to Israel" by calmly continuing to go about their normal daily activities, ignoring the shouting loons, pooping pigeons, and old chewing gum that litter the sidewalk.
Because Utah is one of the United States of America, where the First Amendment applies across the board.
Yes, but it seems to apply only to lefty head cases.
LMAO
But seriously, I have no problem with this protest as long as I can hold my "Mohammed was a cartoon character" rally without fear of decapitation.
No, actually Utah also allows fundamentalist Christian demonstrators to stand just beyond the perimeter of the Salt Lake Temple (where many weddings take place, with photos on the grounds afterwards) brandishing signs reading "Mormons believe God f****d Mary" and other equally boorish slogans. Obnoxious cranks come in all stripes, and in this nation they all have First Amendment rights.
"Hate speech, as threatening as it is, as detestable as it is, as violent as it is, is protected as a constitutional right."
As well it should be. The Constitution is the best protection we have.
Europe's anti-Semitism and crime wave against Jews has soared despite all kinds of restrictions on hate speech and Holocaust denial.
Jews and their supporters should show up with cameras and share with the FBI if they want to be useful. Driving these people underground is a diservice.
Typical leftist nonsense. Protect the proponents of the ideology of death and destruction.
Completely agree. Let everyone see that the enemy is among us. Opponents of these scum should show up and counter-protest. And don't drown out the "Death to Israel" crowd. Record them. Photograph them. Post it on the Internet. Without these kinds of events, many a terrorist sympathizer would go "un-outed".
Idiots like Anderson are a prime reason that I cross Utah off my list of places to relocate from San Diego. He didn't get into office by mistake. He was elected. I'm close enough to Utah to visit without having to live with the politics.
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