SWC Denounces Banning of Star of David LGBTQ Flags at ‘Dyke March’ in Chicago

June 26, 2017

“The banning of LGBTQ flags with a Jewish Star of David from the Chicago ‘Dyke March’ brings disgrace to a movement that is dedicated to equal rights for all. Equal rights that is except for Jews who dare to celebrate their ties to their people and the Jewish homeland,” charged Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a leading Jewish Human Rights NGO.

The organizers of the march told the Windy City Times the event was a pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist one and asserted that the flags were ‘offensive’ and that their presence ‘made people unsafe’.

“I have no doubt that the Star of David makes anti-Semites feel uncomfortable — but unsafe? Clearly extreme anti-Israel activists are desperate to be kept safe from the truth on the ground in the Middle East. Tel Aviv recently hosted a massive Gay Pride Parade, but a similar event in Turkey was met with police firing into crowds of people trying to march. In the Jewish State, gays serve in the military. In Iran, gays are publicly hung.” Rabbi Cooper continued, “The unbridled hypocrisy and anti-Semitism of these campaigners degrades the cause for equality for all in our society and for LGBTQ rights around the world.”

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The Simon Wiesenthal Center is one of the largest international Jewish human rights organizations with over 400,000 member families in the United States. It is an NGO at international agencies including the United Nations, UNESCO, the OSCE, the OAS, the Council of Europe and the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino).